Messing up the day’s Hindu, scrambling to find a news item which could possibly rewrite the development history of the state, Mr Prasad and me were surprised and thoroughly disappointed. There wasn’t even a mention of the Vizhinjam tender clinched by the LANCO group yesterday. Ten minutes later when Malayala Manorama deliberately kept the news out of the broadsheet’s main pages, I wasn’t surprised, everybody knows where their ink comes from and flows to. Mathrubhumi carried the news in the middle page, three column.
One news item which was picked up by Forbes, Reuters and Wall Street Journal, which sent the LANCO stock up 10% in the bourses yesterday, found no mention in “India’s National Newspaper” and Kerala’s own Manorama which claims to have 7 billion readers as of today.
For Manorama online readers, Vizhinjam Port will be India’s deepest Port, India’s largest container transhipment Hub, the biggest infrastructure project in Kerala (pegged at 2 billion dollars) and work begins in 10 months time.
Official Press Release from LANCO is here
Excerpts: Vizhinjam, with a 15 metre natural draught and proximity to international sea routes, is best suited for the development of a world class, all weather deep-water port.The Vizhinjam port, situated about 16 km south off Thiruvananthapuram and at 10 nautical miles from international sea routes connecting Europe, Persian Gulf and Far East, when developed would attract a fair share of the container transshipment traffic meant for India, currently handled by international ports at Colombo, Malaysia, Al-Salalah (Oman) and Singapore.
To continue my rant, the same media which celebrated the “Smart City” deal((the inking of the deal was broadcast live) which looks puny in comparison to Vizhinjam or the upcoming Technocity, the same media which filled pages with the Vallarpadam Hub deal which is one fourth the size of Vizhinjam - chose to ignore one of the major developments in the state’s history.
If the question is Why should the media coverage be so important? The answer is, it raises the stakes for the people involved. It puts pressure on the administration to deliver when people are aware of it. Imagine the impact on the LDF government if the “Smart City” project goes cold. That is media’s job and in case of Vizhinjam they are doing a very bad job.
Vizhinjam is the result of the creative activism of a lot of people, a dream shared by millions of people, with powerful lobbies inside and outside the country working against it. The stakes are high, it is important to wake up and keep watch - closely.
Did I create fear from a happy news?
Cool!
P.S: Chk out the WALL in Talkies page, will keep updating
18 responses so far ↓
1 mathew // May 15, 2008 at 9:41 am
well said Brahma..I was myself peeved at the pathetic response from local media..it is really sad when I have to read about something that happened in my city in reuters or wall street..Infact I would have even missed out this news itself but for Ajay’s blog…
Maybe atleast through blogs we are getting some info on this…and its ridiculous when you think that why such a happy news is not shared properly and all those goonda activities happening in the state gets prime coverage!!
2 jiby // May 15, 2008 at 12:14 pm
i don’t understand bvn…there is something bigger in the media’s blacking out of this big news.
manorama is consistently anti-left…i think they would have blacked out the news to not give the govt any credit and does this have to do with vallarpadam too? as for the hindu…wud the TN lobby be behind the blacking out of the news? and as for a quality read like mathrubhumi i read somewhere that there is a change happening in its upper tiers…wud that be the reason for their demotion of this news?
i have believed that the media in kerala has more freedom to do their work than any other place - such under-reporting is pitiable. thank you for highlighting this news!
3 Vivek // May 15, 2008 at 11:57 pm
I totally agree! Boycott these biased press & get news from other online sites like Yahoo, blogs etc. Seems Manorama & Deepika are pushing for Vallarpadom port & Smart City. That may be why they avoid news on Technocity & Vizhinjam port!
4 Karthik // May 16, 2008 at 12:05 am
Brahma,
This is great news! But I find the omission in Hindu to be surprising.
Lets hope the work completes as per the schedule. The investment climate seems to be getting better in Kerala. Let this be the first major step towards better ones.
5 BVN // May 16, 2008 at 2:31 am
Mathew, right! all the malayalam newspapers are writing cover to cover on how many girls Manoj Madhavan raped, how he met them and things. are they so dumb to miss this?
Vivek, the bias is so evident. I remember the day “Smart City” went thru…malayalamanorama had a full front page news saying “Smart Kerala”. Any idea whats happening to “Smart City” - thats the funniest part.
Karthik,
Its tough to get land in Kerala, the Hindu’s omission continues for a second day. they have covered Aamir calling his dog Sharukh
6 BVN // May 16, 2008 at 2:47 am
Jiby,
I’m surprised and not sure if we should start calling Hindu “India’s Tamil National Newspaper Since 1878″, even today there is no mention.
About why they are doing it, as we have no info, lets speculate taking a page out of IV Sasi’s Balram vs Tharadas
These media barons are sitting on a lot of surplus cash, they invest in Wayanad in land banks through this guy Tharasdas in the Gulf. Tharadas works his connections over there and creates a story that this Gulf company will create an IT park giving 90000 jobs in Wayanad (total IT workforce in all IT parks in Kochi combined is 6000 now!). Politicians and ministers in the nexus starts talks and sign a deal which is near to non-viable.
The resulting Euphoria pushes up land prices in Wayanad from 60,000 to 3 lakhs in two years time. If these people have invested a total of 500 crores in land, they make a clean profit after all other costs of about 2,000 crores.
Nobody follows up on the project or some small bodyshop is created. Everybody exits once the land bank is sold to property developers.
The media barons, politicians, Tharadas and the Gulf Company makes huge money.
In the mean time any news about IT parks etc in other places will be completely ignored by the media barons because the Corporate real estate developers will have limited funds and they want to invest in the most happening place! the hoopla around Wayanad will drive atleast a major chunk of them there and the land banks sell like hot cakes.
Otherwise, what is happening to “Smart City” - the insider jokes are scary!, what is happening to Vallarpadam?
I’m just speculating - you know what to replace what with
7 Payyan // May 16, 2008 at 6:33 am
Forbes, reuters and WSJ have reported not on the significance of the project as such, but for the significance it holds for Lanco Infratech Ltd and their consortium. They have merely mirrored the information given to them by the consortium.
Having said that, I am bewildered by the total media blackout of this story in Kerala. I expected at least the ‘party channel’ to take this up. But saw nothing of the sort. There is still a lot of money to be made for our politicians and real estate barons in this project. Even if they dont have a head start in the gold rush, I cant quite understand why they would turn away when an opportunity comes to them.
I think it is a waste of time trying to discuss the ulterior motives of mainstream malayalam media moghuls. HINDU was a shocker though. But then if the local media does not care, why should the ‘National Newspaper’?
8 BVN // May 16, 2008 at 8:03 am
Payyan,
you’re right, that was corporate news feed. But still, when was the last time a worth while corporate news feed originated from Kerala.
think the papers understand that big ticket ports are not the answer to the millions living in abject poverty. Nor is the new four lane NH project in Kerala. It takes real editorial courage to see through these development projects
kudos to them for covering Gopumon’s slapgate and Manoj Madhavan’s blue film business - that is editorial discretion
9 jijuanair // May 16, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Hi all,
I have been following this project for a longtime.yes me too eagerly checked the papers for any news regarding the port.It just left me infuriated to find that there was no news.I pitied the
so called newspapers.The paper which says it has the maximum circulation in Kerala(The news reads like a novel with no matter and lot of movie like imagination which makes a person commit suicide-i believe the reporters arethe same ppl who write novel in their weekly magazine) did not even acknowledge the news.That it self says a lot about the commitment of the so called newspaper to the society.But a national paper like Hindu missing this news is unpardonable.Vizhinjam is te only second place in the whole universe which is by nature a mother ort.Once this port comes to effect TRIVANDRUM will be the hub of business in Kerala with its IT and cosmopolitan population and educational institutions coupled with VSSC .Please politician make this port a realty and prove to us that you guys are not stupid.We trivandrum guys atleast deserve that much for bearing your strikes and lectures all day.
10 Seifudeen // May 16, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I dont understand what is the responsibilitties of Kerala Media. They are interested to highlight where there is rape. This community should wake-up from simply money making. They have to learn atleast a few things about our economy and its sustainity.
11 kuttan // May 17, 2008 at 9:57 am
Malayala manorama is disgusting in that they spread more of lies than truth. They are against development of Trivandrum as can be seen from their ommission of development news around Trivandrum.
It is a pity that this newspaper calling itself popular daily has gone down to dogs and whims of regional bias.
Irrespective of any political party in power, development of any region should be welcome by people and media. Malayala manorama has failed pathetically in covering development news of Kerala state capital whereas projects that never come up in other regions of Kerala are unduely projected. Shame on MM.
12 binu // May 17, 2008 at 10:01 am
I doubt whether the Malayala Manorama lobby is trying to sabotage vizhinjam project as it is clear they want only Vallarpadom port at any cost in their backyard.
13 Kutti // May 17, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Manorama (though founded by an illustrious son of Kerala) is now almost a thrid rate gosip paper. So also Indian Express.Both of them have vested financial interests in Kochi. Its sad that The Hindu which is a first rate paper is slowly giving more coverage to unimportant things in Kochi. This is the reason, news about Vizhinjam does not make to front page.
14 Alex // May 22, 2008 at 8:38 am
Disheartening.
Try pointing this ‘omission’ to The Hindu.
There is no point in talking about Malayala Manorama. It has ceased to be a NEWS paper long time back.
15 BVN // May 23, 2008 at 4:08 am
jiju, “We trivandrum guys atleast deserve that much for bearing your strikes and lectures all day.” - thats a really good one
Seifudeen, they are awake
Kuttan, adding to that, MM has 2nd highest no of readers in the Capital city
Binu, think so, yes
Kutti, yeah, mainstream media has failed
16 BVN // May 23, 2008 at 4:09 am
Alex, letter to Editor mail id bounces for the Hindu :)…there inbox is full, somebody needs to clear up the junk
17 scorpiogenius // May 24, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Its better not to whim about MM and its pimpworks. That paper is not even worthy enough to wipe the s**t off your ass…
Its gladdening to hear the news about Vizhinjam. The consortia seems solid enough to carry out the job and this will be a new era in the development of the city and the state.
Lets not fret over the media coverage matters. The hard truth is that print and visual media coverage is a great back up for any project but since it has appeared in Int’l and other prominent national business channels, it would do Vizhinjam a world of good. Its sad to see Trivandrum always receiving the stick from local dailies, but it seems as if we have to live with it at least for a while.
But how long can Manorama or their asslickers cover up a jewel? The economy of the city is beginning to flourish, IT giants like Satyam & Oracle have announced their interest in the capital and major infra upliftments are well on way. Vizhinjam port will be the crown! So when the whole world starts noticing, MM will surely have to open at least one eye…
Afterall its BUSINESS!
18 Midhun // Jun 3, 2008 at 3:06 am
We can confidently look for Trivandrum development news in Kerala Kaumudi.
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