August 2 2008 Mumbai 1.54am

July 22 to August 2
NO CLUE WHERE THE TAPES ARE
CNN-IBN TV18
Why are you SHIELDING them?

Its been ten days now and still we have no clue what is in those tapes which the CNN-IBN TV News channel produced before the Speaker of the Parliament. Why there has been such a silent, hush-hush, broomed under the carpet act by the said News channel when it promised the BJP top brass that it would telecast the tapes at a given time the same day when the trust vote was underway in the Parliament.

What stopped Rajdeep Sardesai and Raghav Behl & Co. to be the "journalist" they are? The courage was lost? The silence of a media person goes on to state that yes they do not have the guts needed to face the public. Isn't NEWS MEDIA for service to the nation and it's people? Or is it something of a private jamboree?

The BJP day before yesterday issued a press release here:

PRESS RELEASES July 31, 2008

Press Statement issued by Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu

The Bharatiya Janata Party is deeply dismayed by the decision of CNN-IBN not to telecast the "notes-for-votes" sting operation, which the channel conducted with the cooperation of three BJP MPs. The whole country watched with shock and disbelief when the three MPs produced wads of currency notes on the floor of the Lok Sabha on July 22 shortly before the Trust Vote was taken. The money was paid to Shri Ashok Argal, BJP MP, at his residence by a person representing a senior Samajwadi Party leader as "advance" for the MPs to abstain from voting that afternoon. The entire episode and the background that led to that transaction, was filmed through hidden cameras by a CNN-IBN team. Subsequently, the channel interviewed all the three MPs as a prelude to the promised telecast of the tapes.

More than a week has passed since one of the most sordid events in India's Parliamentary history was captured on camera. Now the channel says that it has not aired the tapes since the investigation is "incomplete" and has some "loose ends". This contention flies in the face of all accepted ethics of professional journalism. The job of the media is to bring information gathered by it into the public domain. It is not for a TV channel or newspaper to complete investigations and pronounce a verdict. That job must be left to investigating agencies and the judicial process.

Only one conclusion can be drawn from the channel's volte-face : It has come under severe pressure from the Government and/or certain corporate houses. Consequently, it has not only broken its promise to the MPs to telecast the scandalous episode immediately, but also denied the people of India their sacrosanct right to information in a matter of the highest public importance. It is now up to CNN-IBN to disprove this lingering suspicion.

The mere handling over of the tapes to the Lok Sabha Speaker, that too after a mysterious lapse of 24 hours, is not adequate. Since the entire country saw wads of notes being waved inside the House, the people have the right to know about the origin and circumstances leading to this unprecedented display. The BJP MPs acted in the highest national interest as whistle-blowers on a scandal that dwarfs all previous incidents of parliamentarians being lured with cash to vote in a particular way.

The channel's statement dated July 29, 2008 makes it virtually clear that it has no intention of allowing the people of India to witness the shameful actions of top leaders of the ruling alliance who discarded every norm of public morality to the wind in a desperate bid to save the already tainted Manmohan Singh Government.

In the background of the sting operation's obduracy, the BJP has been compelled to decide that it will boycott CNN-IBN and channels related to it till such time as the unedited tapes of the "notes-for-votes" scandal are telecast. Till then no BJP functionary in Delhi or in the states will appear on CNN-IBN programmes, whether in their studios or outside. The BJP believes that the channel's decision to withhold the tapes from the public seriously compromises the freedom of the Press. The party regrets that instead of upholding the right to information, CNN-IBN has resorted to the suppression of truth.

Even at this stage, the BJP calls upon the channel to revise its decision and telecast the tapes without any further delay. The party will happily review its decision to boycott CNN-IBN as soon as the tapes are aired. The BJP, needless to add, remains deeply committed to preserve and protect the freedom of the press and is prepared to assist, in whatever way possible, media organisations to withstand Government and corporate interference in their working.

____________________________________________________________________

And when I made a comment on IBNLIVE.com on Rajdeep Sardesai's official blog he chose to ignore it but then am NOT the lone person asking him to show the country those tapes!

Here is the link to the blog :

http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/author/1/rajdeepsardesai.html

But then he doesn't have the time or patience to respond to the pertinent question

WHY THE TAPES WERE NOT SHOWN TO THE WORLD?

I guess the next step would be to approach the authorities under the Right To Information Act and ask for details of the CNN-IBN deal and also the kind of monies they make and how much taxes do they pay, etc.

Because I feel as the BJP has said that there were some pressures from the "powers that be" to not to air the same. The CNN IBN has said that there were loose ends in the story and before they could complete investigations the BJP went ahead and blew the cover. WOW!

What was CNN IBN waiting for? For the "culprits" to come clean and give them "exclusive" stories? How inane can they get?

Today we have had another "SENSATIONAL" story of an Advocate Patel who says that he has audio evidence that the "Cash for Vote" scandal was stage-managed by BJP leaders namely Arun Jaitley and MP CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan.

The media was shown a video tape which showed a person getting in and coming out of various houses across New Delhi allegedly from Arun Jaitley's and Ashok Argal's houses with a bag! When the Advocate was questioned he was clueless and said he only had audio recorded the conversation between another MP and the video had been given to him by some unknown persons. Now what does this prove?

Ex BJP MP Uma Bharti is in a soup with a half baked story which doesn't hold ground and there are numerous holes. Guess she is being used as a pawn by the SP & Congress to establish that BJP had stage managed the whole episode. But prima facie its clear that the said audio and video tapes hold no ground till now.

Let's wait and see what unfolds in the coming days when the Speaker and the Parliamentary Committee decides.

Till then we live in a world which is blinded by cowardice and rarely we see a brave face!