Sunday, June 13, 2010

When A Boycott is Not One

If you are being boycotted against but you don't happen to be the most read newspaper of the island. That's what you need to deduce from an observation that Rabin Bhujun made on his Face-a-face radio show on Monday. MP Nita Deerpalsing was his guest and he was her punching ball.

Deerpalsing also brought up a couple of interesting points: when an investigative magazine called Le Mag was facing a boycott in the 1990s Jean-Claude de L'Estrac happened to be no. 3 in the government and Le Matinal didn't receive any government advertising when Berenger was Prime Minister.

Make sure to listen to the last segment where you get some even smarter observations from Mr. Bhujun: boycotting one newspaper cannot be compared to boycotting a whole media group... and the boycott against Le Mag didn't last even a year and it was not the most read publication of the island at the time.

Guess Mr. Bhujun will find it perfectly ok to be discriminated against once La Sentinelle loses a couple of spots in the local media rankings.

42 comments:

Vikramg said...

I find that you are clearly against Lexpress and your conclusions are blinkered.

The boycott of a newspaper to press conferences and the allocation of advertisement are two totally different issues at hand.

We all know that each political party have their own partisan newspaper, with a low circulation, which they feed via government advertisements.

From a business perspective, however, one would have to publish their ad in newspaper with the higher circulation/the niche market one wants to penetrate/target.

Thus, rightly so, if a newspaper has a low circulation and its not affiliated to the party in power, one can expect that the number of ads given to it by the government will be negligible.

On the other hand, if the newspaper is among the most read in the country and you refuse to publish any ads in it, then obviously something is fishy.

On another note, the fact that Nita mentioned previous cases of newspaper boycott only shows the pettiness of this current regime and one of the main reason why the country can never prosper. They are like children blaming their friends. When will the political parties ever grown up!

Anonymous said...

1. Mo pas connais si kelqun finne remrker que il me semble ramgoolam p besoin passe plus te temps alle verifier ki lexpress finne ecrire ki concentrer lor so trvaille. moi mo trouver ki ramgoolam un peu childish, un chnache li pas premier ministre uk.

2. Mo aussi demade moi si zot pas finne remarker ki ramgoolam fine expliquer ki li ti enna pou alle meet up with un certainne madame(ki aussi dans si pas dans parlement EU) mais pas finne capave explique rationale ca visite la. Parfois li pas connais commnet li pou faire passe un chose unimportant pou important.

by the way mo pas connais ki faire tromelin important comme ca....si mo memoire bon mo croire tromelin li just 1 km square et li pas ca important la. servit nous largent public for nothing.

akagugo said...

Enfin, mo trouver ki ça pé alle trop loin. With that Le Mag story, it's as if a "batté-rendé pas faire di-mal"... Mo cwar ki enn gouvernment bizin concentrer lor so program mais péna pou alle amerde li alle pez licou enn commentateur - li ti bizin "win them over" avec enn performance ki faire so pire critique re-avale so prop vomi. C'est coumsa ki mo trouve l'exercice du pouvoir, pas enn séance batté-rendé. Li bien enfantin ça zistwar-la.

Lor-la, l'express pé enkor plaingner-mem! My friend, untel pé ignore toi, to faire pareil ar li?? A-kot to professionalisme? Move on, man, look forward, work and show that you are of a different metal...!
Non, different metal, no way!
Mo pe rappel ki pendant enn débat dans UoM 9 weh, lepok kott ti pe enkor capav organise debat sans bann proto-VoH vinn maltraite bann intervenants/invités - quelque temps apres l'affaire Macarena, mo ti gagne JCDL ek Sarat Lallah (à l'épok Miniss Télécommunication) lors portée, mo lance enn missile lors Jean-Claude ki ti pe commence drafter so internal Code d'Éthique / de Déonthologie: "Eski bann mem principes ki ou'nn metter dans ou Code ki'nn guide ou quand ou'nn décide pou publier bann noms bann mamzel/madam ki'nn participe dans Macarena Party?" Jean-Claude reponn par faire enn longue historique la presse et besoin déonthologie sipaki enkor... Couma dir mo'nn dimann li kifer le-ciel blé, li repon "parski li pas vert"!! Mari laraz mo ti gagner ça-jour la!! Mais ça zistwar zordi-zour avec Navin-la pe faire moi rappel ki Jean-Claude c'est enn politicard comme tous les autres, made of the same crap: aussi rancunier et tétu que les autres!

Anonymous said...

Mo krwar ou dans lerer. Se pa kilometre kare ki knote aster la, c lamer atour la terre. Moris li pa zis 1872 km kare me li fer 2 million km kare. Tromelin li important pou Lafrans lakoz so approvisionnement en thon. Dimanne misie Navin, limem misie knoow tou, li mem nou tou nou mari isi dan Moris. Papa tio vanne Diego, Piti ape vanne Tromelin aster !!

akagugo said...

"L’Etat s’est engagé en Cour suprême, en ce 14 juin, à ne plus interdire l’accès aux journalistes de La Sentinelle Ltd, aux conférences de presse et fonctions officielles organisées par le gouvernement."

In http://www.lexpress.mu/story/12972-accord-entre-l-etat-et-la-sentinelle-pour-mettre-fin-au-boycott-des-journa1istes.html

Alors, officiellement, il n'y a pas de boycott maintenant.

Allez, arett la-guerre. Make peace, tou korek, sakenn faire ce pour quoi il est payé à faire: son travail. Basta!!

Sanjay Jagatsingh said...

@Vikramg: I am clearly only against crap.

Boycotts come in different flavours but they remain boycott. Lexpress has been the mouthpiece of GLDs for a while now: they love Ramgoolam when he has Sithanen or Berenger in his government (who implement neocon policies) but despise him if they are not.

Lexpress may be the most read daily but that doesn't mean government can't get the ads with as good a coverage in Le Mauricien, Le Matinal and Le Defi Quotidien.

Besides shouldn't government have a blog/website where it puts all its ads (more people go on blogger than on lexpress.mu)? That could save it a lot of money.

Am not sure I agree with you on what Nita's comments show. It doesn't hurt to pinpoint how some have double standards.

@Anonymous: pa ti kav pli dakor ek ou: Ramgoolam bizin diriz nou karavan enn pwin c tou.

@akagugo: enn kestion petar sa!!! Wi zot pense moris c le sant du mond ek lexpress c le sant moris.
Wi gouvernman bizin vinn lir kozelidir, pardon bizin fer zot travay...

lakeminou said...

Seki plus joli ladan c'est kan madam Deerpalsing repross a missie Bhujun qui lexpress tous le temps bizin gagne le dernier mot ek zot NDLR lor ban commentaire lor lexpress.mu.
Bhajun defan li mais seki ironique ek komik ladan apre ene ti mama ou tan jerome boulle intervenir ek ene ti pe pli tar c'est Finlay Salesse ki p intervenir.
Non selman zot fer NDLR me zot aussi fer NDLR audio. Lol! Comme quoi zot pa envi laisse dimun exprime zot... lexpress prone pensee unique. Pas etonnant ki Finlay Salesse presque aussi popiler ki Mamie Clown.

Lepep Araze said...

Zoli dialog sa lakeminou! Sof ki sa pratik la pa zis lexpress ki fer. Petet depi bann lane mirak ki sa fin kumanse. Zot kwar ki tu dimun aval labwet, lamson ek so golet dan sa pei la!

Anonymous said...

Eski MBCTV donne nou droit de reponse ? Pourtant chaque telespectateur paye li Rs 1200.00 par an. Ou anvi get MBCTV ou pas envie, li coupe sa kas la lor ou bill CEB chaque mois. Tandis ki lexpress.mu ou pas paye pou lir li, li free mo croire, non ?

akagugo said...

@ lakeminou:

Enn vilain kalott pou Mamie Kloune ça! Eutaa, li pas merite ça...

Vikramg said...

@SJ:
Ads Coverage
Certainly they can get the pt across via different papers. Discounting the others you mentioned, Le Mauricien is the only other daily that has the greatest readership.
As a someone wanting wide publicity I would certainly choose the papers with highest readership.

Blog/Website:
Certainly very good idea.

Also, we can have an online business portals where all the government contracts/purchase requirements are listed and everyone can bid for them.

akagugo said...

@ Vikramg:

Ads coverage:
Dakor. Parski quand gouvernement rode faire execute bann projets, li passe par tender, ek tender documents exige toutt-sortt garanties pou faire enn maniere assurer ki contracterr pou ascertain ki contracterr-la ena experience, assise financiere et resources humaines compétentes pou effectively perform its duties as per the Scope of Works et ki gouvernement sorti avec best value for outlaid money. If you need best penetration of your notices, you go with the papers with largest readership. Mais dans cas publication bann government notices/tenders ces derniers temps, gouvernement pe neglige enn dans bann most-read ek pe choisir bann zournal ki ena moinss lectorat, donc less penetration of the market. You are thus ending up with less competition. C'est enn argument ki ti parett pliss valable ki ça-bann campagne national plaingner dans tou editorial ek interview (dernier en date, enn debat/interview R Bhujun ek K Ramsahye lors Radio-Sousou) ki bann representant La Sentinelle inn gagner pou participer/faire. Mo ti rode passe ça message-la lors comments-zone lexpress.mu, mais pakoné kifer, li pa'nn parett.
Mais selment, enn lott koter, si ti pousse analogie avec tender notices a-l'extreme, ti capave trouve gouvernement lance tenders pou publication de tous government notices, ek award contrat-la enn-sel journal... Mari dimal-ça!

Link for accessing Procurement Notices for "government contracts/purchase requirements": http://www.gov.mu/portal/sites/eprocurement/ilsv.jsp

Anonymous said...

Lakeminou: si l'emission la ti pli long sirman ti pu tan Meetarbhan et ki sait meme JCDL intervenir (ek vine dire nous couma empowerment foundation pann kass oken pake... hihi)

Anonymous said...

Et cette photo d'emeutes qui arrive la c'est par hasard? http://www.lexpress.mu/story/13036-la-dette-exterieure-du-gouvernement-represente-un-cinquieme-du-pib.html

Vikramg said...

@akagugo

As expected, you were censored by the administrator. The same has happened to me before.

Thanks for the link.

@SJ
Forgot to mentioned that, L'express do take cheap shots or like you mentioned promote Sithanen. I'm still trying to digest why Mansoor needed an interview to show insight into his personal life!

Anonymous said...

I was a bit deveived not to see any photo of emeutes. Instead there is a nice picture of Pravind Jugnauth !

Sanjay Jagatsingh said...

@akagugo: it would be interested to know how much less competition there has been since government is not publishing its ads in one of the most read paper. I doubt it makes a big difference because:

1. people have some basic rationality: if they know they are not gonna find government ads in l'express but they will in le matinal I don't think they won't adjust accordingly.

2. lexpress may be the largest daily but it's not like it has a 3/4 market share or what. Le Mauricien, Le Matinal and now Le Defi Quotidien together sell much more papers than l'express.

akagugo said...

@ SJ
Wep sir. Dakor nett lor touldé points. Mo'nn deja dire enn commentator ki saki nou faire dans travail pou konner ki tenders inn fini floated c'est acheter tous journals pou alle chercher. Mais c'est peut-être pas mem policy partou, et c'est la kott gouvernement perdi exposure à bann potential competitors. "How much less" - ha, difficile mesurer, mais capave gagne enn l'idée fairly accurate si (gagne accès à et)nou analyse bann audited income statement de chaque publication pou konner commier vente zott faire par année, donc par jour/semaine depanding on their frequencies - lerla capave comparer.

Alorss, best way forward c'est one tender exercise for all government notices in one newspaper (with a minimum sales of say, 50,000 per day/publication?) for 2, 3, 6, 12 months?
Lekel parmi tou sa-bann ki declare indépendants-la pou ose compete entre/contre zott confrères la?

Sanjay Jagatsingh said...

@akagugo: mo pense ki tu dimun ki bid pu sa bann tender la ena akse internet. Donk zot kav download ban dokiman la depi sit gouvernman. Dexieme zafer c ki ena overlap ent ban zurnal parski ena plizier dimun ki lire plis ki enn lagazet. Ti bizin fer enn ti venn diagram pu check bann overlap.
Ena enn fason pli fasil pu chek nivo kompetition pu bann tender. Nek ena guetter komie bidders finn ena a travers le temps pu sak tender.
Ala enn lot ti travay pu competition commission ou bien pou MRC.
Best way forward c ki bann zurnal fer zot travay kuma bizin.Enfin si zot enkor envi kontinier existe.

Anonymous said...

Mo fine lire tou zotte banne comments lor tender etc. Me seki bizen comprend se ki gouvernement donne Le Matinal ene serum pou li kapav kontinie sorti sinon depi longtemps li ti pou fini disparet. Kiran Ramsahaye limem fine admet ki pou li break even, so lagazet ti bizen vendre Rs 10.00 Alor ki lipe vandre li Rs 5.00 sa ve dir ki pe perdi Rs 5.00 lor sak lagazet. Si mo komprend bien, kas la bizen sorti quelque part pou kouvert frais ? Tell me if I am wrong?

kifer said...

I left a comment for this article http://www.lexpress.mu/news/363-blogs-recit-vrai.html since yesterday but it was never published. By the way it is not the first time that my comments do not get through.
Please publish it on your blog. Thank you.
---------------------------------
L'express nous amene dans un monde ireel tous les jours avec des parti pris honteux. Mansoor/Sithanen ont affaibli l'ile Maurice avec leurs recettes de la Banque Mondiale. On a qu'a voir les chiffres d'endettement exterieur du pays divulgues au parlement mardi. SVP arretez de diaboliser tout les gens qui ont eu le courage de se revolter contre ces deux economistes incompetents. Et on sait qu'on peut compter sur la sentinelle pour mettre sur votre page principale l'enregistrement des deux appels de Mons. Sithanen a Rashid Imrith.
C'est pas grave de censurer ce commentaire. Il ressortira ailleurs.

Anonymous said...

Do not expect Meetarbhan to get your comments on Sithanen published dear. Sithanen is his close friend.

Mistika said...

This one goes to all those whose comments are edited or quarantined by l'express and those who still do not capture its "independence".

American Academic Adel Smith Simmons wrote in MODERN MAURITIUS, The Politics of Decolonization:

The CREOLE ELITE which she described as LIGHT-SKINNED FREE COLOUREDS wedged between the slaves and the Franco-Mauritians in the 19th century hierarchy.

This large colored community grew from LIAISONS between FRENCH SETTLERS and their SLAVES. The French father freed his children, but did not accept them into his family. The children, as they grew up, tried to enter the European community to make it clear that they were not SLAVES.

CREOLES, therefore, began to ADOPT the customs and habits of the Franco-Mauritian from which they were legally excluded; a WHITE SKIN, wealth, and a classical education became their goals. Slavery had left them without LANGUAGE, or TRADITIONS, so like CREOLES in other countries, they took on those of the most prestigious and influential community.

On Mauritius, that meant adopting the Franco-Mauritian LANGUAGE and RELIGION and participating in FRANCO-MAURITIAN POLITICS on the Franco-Mauritians’ terms.
Distinguished lawyers, journalists, and literary figures, they rested their claim to participation in Government on THEIR EUROPEAN CULTURE.

They were often rewarded with Honours, decorations and knighthoods from the British sovereign- the first Mauritian to be knighted were a CREOLE. Not surprisingly, they were rarely sympathetic to the plight of the CREOLE MASSES ( FREED SLAVES) or THE INDIAN INDENTURED LABOURERS.

Jealous of their position, they were careful to avoid ASSOCIATION with or EVEN ADMITTING that they knew the lower classes.

akagugo said...

@ Mistika:

OK, thank you, but how does it relate to the matter at hand, i.e., government and para-statal bodies choosing newspapers other than l'express to publish its notices?

Unknown said...

Bhujun is not a journalist. He was the press attache/propaganda machine of Sithanen for the past many years. Must be quite sad now that the 'Banque Mondiale Marionette' is gone. But not totally sad because Sithanen's other half still there.

akagugo said...

Ala enn ti l'exemple "investigative journalism" ki ti-a-bon tourvé dans Dodoland: it's about a defective piece of equipment that was simply by-passed instead of being properly repaired:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10362139.stm

lakeminou said...

Voila quelque chose ki besoin lire. C'est Mr. Bhujun ki explik couma li ti arrive a meme conclusion(s) qui Sithanen.

"So I go on to the other issue. I'm a believer in advocacy journalism. What is meant by that is that journalists take side on the basis of issues at stake. The best possible way of illustrating this is l'express and l'express dimanche's position on the "Sithanen reform."

We felt that a thourough economic reform was to be undertaken. We felt that a national residential tax was necessary, we felt strongly about business facilitation and income tax reform. I for one wrote numerous articles before the first Sithanen budget in 2006 to hint at where government economic policy should head. These were not opinion pieces, but economic analysis that tended often to conclude that such and such economic reform was important. Sithanen eventually did just that. He is honest to the point to agree that the press somehow convinced some of his own collegues to give his reform a try!"

Mais quel coincidence. C'est plis qu'une chance de cocu sa.

Et la derniere phrase "qui la presse a reussi a convaincre les collegues de Sithanen d'essayer la reforme." Dire plutot Bhujun et co ine faire ene manipulation ehontee de l'opinion public sur les ordres des ultra-conservateurs de notre societe.

Lire la suite.

kifer said...

@lakeminou: Bhujun nous prend vraiment pour des idiots. He even adds "Maybe we will be able to be a no-bullshit society one day. But it's just not gonna happen next year or in 2 years time…". We better not become a no-bullshit society otherwise he may run out of a job.

Kranti said...

Guetté bann kamwad, lexpress couma tou zurnal li pas couma ene bann secte ki vinn vendé lakaz par lakaz. Li plis kuma bann religions ki ena zot place lapriere fixe et ou libre pou rentrer et prier. Mo oule dire ki nou ena ene choix pou acheter ene zurnal ou pas, pou lire li ou pas et sa depann zis lor nous! Si Ramgoolam croire en boycottant lexpress ou autre, li pe prive nou so penser ki li aussi croire ki nou bien bizin, li pe faire fausse route acoz li ena ene boite ki appelle PMBC (prime minister broadcasting corporation)! PMBC aussi nou lib pou guette ou bien non, mais nou pas lib pou decider si nou bizin payer ou bien non! Akot liberation tv vous-zot, comme dirait Mme Bappoo(pou li tous zaffer c'est vous autres - pas li mais nous!. En tant ki citoyens, nou pas bizin support aukenn boycot lapresse, MAIS nou bizin kapav donne nou lopinion lor seki nou croire li correct ou pas.

Anonymous said...

Incroyable ce que la chirurgie esthetique est capable de faire de nos jours!!!

Anonymous said...

Bravo Rabin for winning the CNN Multichoice African Journalist 2011!!!

PM besoin alle cachiette!!!

Fatuma Noor must be hating herself for not writing in English.

Anonymous said...

Competition must have been indeed very tough for Rabin in Francafrique...lol

Rabin Fun Club said...

Bravo Rabin, suis convaincu que maintenant on peut aussi compter sur vous pour un dossier beton genre Le bal du dodo revisited avec Jacky, lui le grand justicier devant l'Eternel, et vos autres collegues les uns les plus delirants que les autres - Rainer et Prayag mis a part - comme co-stars. Allez montrez vos detracteurs vos c... pour secouer le label de l'idiot de service a la Raj! Pour commencer shootez-vous avec http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm6LUF11a_0

lakeminou said...

La je pense que R.B. besoin mettre son talent pour continuer le travail de Genevieve Dormann.

Ou peut-etre comprendre l'influence des sondages bidons dans un quotidien du matin sur les resultats des dernieres elections generales.

Et quid de ce fameux advocacy journalism qui avait reussi a convaincre les collegues de R.S. du bien-fonde des reformes?

kifer said...

@Rabin Fan Club, @lakeminou

Good points.
In my opinion, the article is yet another attempt to do what lexpress has always done namely to try to divide-and-rule. They reduce carefully chosen citizens of Mauritius to members of different castes.

Bhunjun seem to have taken that baton from Finlay Salesse who used to publish lists of Hindu-Mauritians classified into different castes during each election.

I have to say that it bugs me why Amnesty International, Blok 104 and Rezistans ek Alternativ have not spoken a single word on this issue. I was under the impression that they were not happy with citizens of Mauritius being placed in four categories for the best loser system. Well, maybe they will now come up with a statement.

Anyways, I do not think that the article of Bhujun had any effect in this age of internet speed.

As for the prize it would not surprise me that the judges suffer from the Stiglitz syndrome -- they are talking about an issue on which they do not have enough information and are unaware of the context. By this I mean that Bhujun does not have a strong pen and is a pretty boring journalist who works for a media group which is anything but independent. You just need to spend a few minutes on his blog to find about this.

Anonymous said...

Couma dire Bhajun fine casse un grand paquet. Est-ce qui lui faire mieux que notre Champion du Monde James Agathe?

17 des 27 finalistes ont gagne quelque chose. La lutte avec le Benin a du etre coriace.

Anonymous said...

Tiens, tiens. Silence radio?

Anonymous said...

Un grand moment de fierte nationale. Glo-o-ry to thee...

Et l'annee prochaine 'barrer la caisse' - Topp Prize.

akagugo said...

The comments list to this post is getting very long...

Let me add this to the already very long list of comments:

Our dear Rabin vainly tried to answer the question that JCDL was unable to answer some years back: ""Eski bann mem principes ki ou'nn metter dans ou Code ki'nn guide ou quand ou'nn décide pou publier bann noms bann mamzel/madam ki'nn participe dans Macarena Party?"

It's only now that I understand why he's so adamantly not letting go of the bone: Merci Anonymous of July 27, 2011 9:38 AM...

And to date, he's not yet allowed by final rebuttal to his soft-balled pseudo-arguments.

Il faut laisser au temps le temps, non?

Sanjay Jagatsingh said...

@akagugo:
Eh vremem. Kuma dir bizin pran enn bis expres pu al la fin sa la lis komenter la.
Laisser le temps au temps? Pul so ledan dile kav tomber tu ek sa!!!

akagugo said...

Le Mauricien rattrape so retar: li montrer ki li, li pa'nn ferr pon: (1) a decent summary of the leaks (here), plus (2) a short report on the PM's quasi-paranoid distrust of his own cabinet.

L'express, Defi pa mentionn MAM ek deputy CP zott nom, alorss ki lezott ti ferr pont depi mercredi dernie. Ou-bien silans-la li pa si innocent ki sa...

akagugo said...

Boycott or not, even the biggest and best have gone this way. Let's wait...