The two smiling guys in the pic brandishing stickers like ticket scalpers are none other than Senators Ian MacDonald and Matt Canavan, the latte(r) forced to resign as Minister for Resources and Northern Australia because his mother made him an Italian.
The wholehearted support by the Bulletin for Adani shone through yet again when a major story about a respected Indian journalist forced to resign over allegations that "crony capitalism " involving the Indian government and Adani did not see the light of day in the paper .
On the other hand , the story broke during the launch of an Adani $l.4 million PR advertising campaign . And on one day , the Bulletin ran an Adani strap advert across the front page, a full page two and the entire back page , the bill for which would put a lot of money in the Murdoch coffers .
However, Fairfax Media reported that two Nobel economics laureates, Amartya Sen and Sir Angus Deaton , and 155 scholars from around the world had expressed their concern over the Adani incident involving journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.
Thakurta was editor of the Economic and Political Weekly, a publication that combines scholarly articles with political analysis. He wrote two articles that raised concerns about the connection between the Narendra Modi Indian Government and Adani .
One alleged the government had modified its regulations for special economic zones to suit the Adani Group, resulting in a $98million bonanza . The second said the Indian Government had failed to take action despite the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence claiming that some Adani companies dodged taxes trading in diamonds and gold .
As a result he received a legal notice from Adani demanding removal of the articles claiming they were defamatory and harmful to the reputation of their client . Thakurta hired a lawyer to draft a reply and sent it to the Adani Group . He did so without informing or consulting members of the trust that own and run the Weekly . On discovering this , the trustees confronted Thakurta, saying his action breached rules; he acknowledged the lapse and apologised .
However , the trustees went further , ordered him to take down the articles and stop writing under his byline . Thakurta told the online newspaper The Citizen that on hearing this demand , he resigned for two reasons .
Since then , his resignation has snowballed into a controversy over why the trustees took such draconian action over what was essentially a not very serious procedural lapse by Thakurta,while ignoring the actual merits of the allegations .
"No factual inaccuracy has been pointed out in what was written and published . The letter from the lawyer representing Adani is an attempt to harass and threaten. It is akin to a SLAPP-a strategic lawsuit against public participation - except that no case has been lodged in any court or law,"Thakurta told Fairfax Media .
The Wire , a non-profit news website run by the Foundation for Independent Journalism also carried the two articles and had also received letters from Adani lawyers ordering them to remove them .
The report went on to say the incident highlighted the use of India's defamation laws by rich businessmen to silence criticism by the media . Thakurta , it continued , had co-written a book, Sue the Messenger : How Legal Harassment by Corporates in India is Shackling Reportage and Undermining Democracy .
While the Townsville Bulletin did not run this story , Townsville Magpie online weekly strongly criticised Adani and the paper over its coverage of Adani . It made the point that the Bulletin would have made a lot of money running the prominent Adani advertisements. Local commercial TV coverage of Adani was also lacking , the Magpie added.
One alleged the government had modified its regulations for special economic zones to suit the Adani Group, resulting in a $98million bonanza . The second said the Indian Government had failed to take action despite the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence claiming that some Adani companies dodged taxes trading in diamonds and gold .
As a result he received a legal notice from Adani demanding removal of the articles claiming they were defamatory and harmful to the reputation of their client . Thakurta hired a lawyer to draft a reply and sent it to the Adani Group . He did so without informing or consulting members of the trust that own and run the Weekly . On discovering this , the trustees confronted Thakurta, saying his action breached rules; he acknowledged the lapse and apologised .
However , the trustees went further , ordered him to take down the articles and stop writing under his byline . Thakurta told the online newspaper The Citizen that on hearing this demand , he resigned for two reasons .
Since then , his resignation has snowballed into a controversy over why the trustees took such draconian action over what was essentially a not very serious procedural lapse by Thakurta,while ignoring the actual merits of the allegations .
"No factual inaccuracy has been pointed out in what was written and published . The letter from the lawyer representing Adani is an attempt to harass and threaten. It is akin to a SLAPP-a strategic lawsuit against public participation - except that no case has been lodged in any court or law,"Thakurta told Fairfax Media .
The Wire , a non-profit news website run by the Foundation for Independent Journalism also carried the two articles and had also received letters from Adani lawyers ordering them to remove them .
The report went on to say the incident highlighted the use of India's defamation laws by rich businessmen to silence criticism by the media . Thakurta , it continued , had co-written a book, Sue the Messenger : How Legal Harassment by Corporates in India is Shackling Reportage and Undermining Democracy .
While the Townsville Bulletin did not run this story , Townsville Magpie online weekly strongly criticised Adani and the paper over its coverage of Adani . It made the point that the Bulletin would have made a lot of money running the prominent Adani advertisements. Local commercial TV coverage of Adani was also lacking , the Magpie added.
The Townsville Bulletin did manage to run a front page report the first day of the ALP state conference in the city , headed LABOUR'S GREEN ADANI REVOLT , revealing what is already known, that many people, across all political parties , in all states and territories, are against Adani, which umpteen banks, including the Bank of India, will not touch with a barge pole .
 |
There was an anti Adani protest outside the conference which included some ALP members . A STOP ADANI banner , above, was hung on Castle Hill . Wendy Tubman of Stop Adani Townsville explained the banner was also part of a campaign against climate change .
There was no way the federal government could justify giving Adani a billion dollar loan , she said .The money should instead be spent on projects delivering long term jobs in sustainable industries like renewable energy , agriculture and tourism .
The Bulletin ran the "Twitter " supplied photograph with a story headed COPS CHECK ACTIVISTS' HIGH JINKS , claiming police were investigating if those involved in flying the banner , near the iconic " Saint " graffiti , had broken the law on the heritage listed peak .
|
