The rise and fall of the Dame called Barkha Dutt

[sandesh]

From: Murty Aditham
Subject: The rise and fall of the Dame called Barkha Dutt
To: feed...@ndtv.com
Date: Saturday, 27 November, 2010, 14:28

 

Dear Shri Pronoy Roy,
I am aged about 68 years and I have been a very avid
follower of NDTV channel for many many years because
I always thought that the channel  gave a fair and
balanced view, without being aggressive, hysterical and grandstanding
on political issues. I looked forward to watching the "Big Fight"
and "We The People" every week though my wife wanted the week ends to be spent on
going to movies/eating out.There was always some clash of interest at our house but
majority of the times I used to prevail over my wife. Such was the attraction and hold ur 2
programmes have had on the viewers though It was annoying  sometimes to see that
the channel aired repeat programmes without even ackowledging that they were doing so.
It was indeed a great pleasure to watch Barkha Dutt anchoring the much awaited
and admired"We The People" on Sundays covering socio and political issues,projecting various views of the distinguished guests and the diverse audience.
I was an unabashed admirer of Barkha as I felt she was ferociously independent,
gritty and fearless in gathering news in very difficult situations and at the same time
fair, objective and balanced in her news analysis though some people were of the view
that she was seemingly anti BJP, as was the case with many English speaking
anchors  in other channels.But I did not have complaints on that score
till----------- the recent damning exposures on tapes where Barkha was caught
participating in the phone conversations with a political  lobbyist and giving the
unfortunate impression that she became some sort of a "Fixer" in the murky
political dealings with her proximity to the political leaders, particularly from the
congress party.Frankly speaking, these revelations have devastated many of
her admirers and we are bewildred and outraged that she, who we thought
was a beacon of hope in these slanderous and degrading  political
atmosphere,  has let us down badly.No amount of protestations by the channel
and/or by her that her actions were purely the  means for news gathering and in line
with her professional activity, would  convince many of us of her innocence. She
was guilty of impropriety and breached the jouranalistic ethics as in the case
of that pompous anchor,columnist and commentator called Vir Sanghvi.
Yesterday, I watched the programme conducted by Karan Thapar on CNN IBN
on the exposure involving the lead media persons-Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi
who were roundly criticised by the fellow panelists like N.Ram for their transgressions.
Therefore, please do not give some lame excuses defending the actions of
Barkha, who we are sorry to note, had played no less role in the gigantic 2 G spectrum
scam and she(along with that Vir Sanghvi) was in one way or the other responsible for getting that scum Raja, the communications portfolio, and her tarnished name will be forever
remembered along with the infamous Raja whenever the 2G Spectrum scam is discussed..We
request u to take off Bharka from the air to ensure some crediblity to ur channel and
If u still persist with her on the channel, we will have no alternative but to migrate
to another channel as we have no respect or regard for that lady who has fallen low
in our esteem and trust.
with regards,
Murty Aditham