Journal-2 

Let me now start  today with a current controversy.!!

The supposed cash outs from the chief minister's office to senior journalists

in one form or another this practice has been in existence.

only the methods differ.

In fact it was a common practice during a chief minister's time to pass on envelops to the journos present.

Another widely prevalent practice was the handouts from the secret police funds.

The corporate gifts were a given.

one editor shared an incident with me.

when he was helming the Financial Express the regular reporter was away and a substitute was sent to the annual general meeting of a company.

along with the usual company prospects and other reports he found an envelop containing cash.

he promptly returned it.

there were protests from the management . They considered it an affront to the company. The editor who was Largehearted persuaded the journo to accept it .

a Chief Minister of a Northern State was extremely generous towards the journos covering the secretariat.

The editor who was a stickler for rules had them  shifted  elsewhere.

this earned the newspaper the wrath of the establishment which cut off all advertisements.

later a compromise meeting was held . i do not remember how the problem was solved .

but the editor was later eased out.

Besides!

I was also fortunate to be associated with three wars, several elections and epochal events.

I was witness to the great split of the Congress in 1969, and I would often joke that Bangalore’s contribution or for that matter Karnataka’s to the polity has not been chronicled .when Mr Gundurao was Chief Minister he was not happy with the coverage .

Within hours the offices of Deccan Herald and Indian Express

Were besieged and none was allowed to get in or get out.

I do not recall the hour when the  siege was lifted. But some parts of the state did not receive the copies.

Without taking names a prominent Congress leader was involved.

I participated along with my colleagues on a grand march to Raj  Bhavan.

What transpired later is better guessed.

My conclusion:

Barring exceptions , the newspaper managements have the best of both worlds.

As for the journos, well, a few of them seen and known in the circuit make good.

There goes another encounter I had faced in my journey !!

Share your comments and opinion below, let me a get little boosting for my further posting !!

Have a great time

Journomurthy..!!