Not so long ago, in February actually, Tehelka wrote a stinging piece with a really good question: Is Kingfisher A Piece of JunkIJ** Those who flip a magazine rather than read would have surely emerged with the impression that KFA (Kingfisher Airline) is a dodo.
Those who dived deeper in the piece written by Shaili Chopra, the magazine’s business editor, would have been rewarded with a stark confirmation from Kapil Kaul, a respected civil aviation analyst, “It’s cheaper to start a new airline than restart KFA.”
Since no one from KFA was quoted, any more doubts would’ve been set to rest by the comment ascribed to Saj Ahmed of london based Strategic Aero Research, “Whatever assets it has will likely be carved up and any leased jets will be returned to lessors and the airline will cease to look like an airline. It has already been grounded and lost its operating license - there really isn’t a fat lot left of it to even call it an airline.”
This is how cruel - and accurate - Tehelka was. But that, and Vijay Mallya’s mountain of debt owned to public institutions, didn’t stop KFA owner from being a star at Tehelka’s THiNK2013 do in Goa early November. Ironically, ShailiChopra after mauling Mallya in her commentary, gave him unedited play on her twitter:”Mallya at #THiNK2013@vijaymallya,” the Tehelka editor started out.
“Brand Kingfisher was shelved three/four decades ago when my dad was in the business - #mallya@Tehelka#THiNK2013,”the tweets continued, echoingMallya’s version of the brand he inherited from his father. “Asked my dad for 1 lakh rupees to revive Kingfisher beer in the eighties #mallya,” came next.
More factoids followed:
“I looked at the moribund #Kingfisher brand which UB had & it spoke to me. it was cheeky &colorful.decided to relaunch it #Mallya#Think2013IJ.” “The media likes to believe that KingfisherAirlines was surrogate advertising.but no fool will spend 5000 crore for it. #Mallya” “Some colleagues in Parl who come in khadi and ambassador actually have a lot more money than me #mallya#THiNK2013IJIJ” You get the picture. My case against this sort of cheating of the end-consumer can be made via two quick points:
First, did personalities and brands, Mallya being a case in point, accused of stripping serious money from public institutions -- a “massive debt of Rs 15,000 crore…hanging like a Damocles’ sword,” to use the business editor’s massacre of the company -- get a stage to resurrect themselves a few months later in THINKIJ
Mallya here is only an illustrative example. There were other not-so-honourable citizens of India Inc who showed up, if only to be seen breaking bread with Union ministers, notably the FM himself! Second, what is the possible value that companies like RIICO based in Rajasthan, and Noida Authority in, well, Noida, aim to bring to their shareholder as “hospitality and music partners” of THiNKIJ (Check for more such oddities: www.thinkworks.in)
This when, as a newspaper reported, THINKis organised by an entity called ThinkworksPvt ltd. It is entirely owned by Tejpal, his sister NeenaTejpal and the magazine’s managing editor ShomaChaudhary and the only association of Thinkworks with Anant Media Pvt ltd, which publishes Tehelka, is that it buys advertisement space from the magazine. Of course, the sponsors who spoke to the paper “said their understanding was that THiNK Fest was organised by Tehelka magazine.”
There’s another point beyond the obvious and cozy club that the Tehelka founders built around the fuzzy relationship between his investigative magazine and an outright PR event. It’s disdain for the law. Absence of a complaints committee, mandated under theVishaka Guidelines of the Supreme Court, is a stark example. Not only was a committee missing in a publication that gave gyaan to the rest of the world, the reflex action of Tehelka Managing Editor ShomaChaudhury to announceone with feminist Urvashi Butalia reflected more of the same.
The English in the SC guideline clear enough: “…Further, to prevent the possibility of undue pressure or influence from senior levels, such Complaints Committee should involve a third party, either NGO or other body who is familiar with the issue of sexual harassment.” Without any aspersion on Butalia’s credentials per se, Shoma Chaudhury selected a Tehelka columnist, who in lay-man’s terms hardly qualifies as ‘third party.’ The infirmity became self evident when Butalia announced her recusal a few hours back.
Today, the social media, the new guardian,is demanding deep questions. Who will cover the media, is one. And if Shaili Chopra can help us out in the next issue of Tehelka: Is Tehekla (read with THiNK) a Piece of JunkIJ
**http://www.tehelka.com/is-kingfisher-a-piece-of-junk/
(The columnist is CEO & Co-Founder, India Strategy Group, Hammurabi & Solomon Consulting llP. Tweets @therohitbansal).