Thursday, March 10, 2005
Indian Blog Shut Down By Big Media House
Update: Mark Glaser reports on the David and Goliath battle between Mediaah! and the TOI in the Online Journalism Review. Read the email interview he did with Peter Griffin.
mediaah! , the first Indian media watchdog blog, has been forced to finally shut shop.
Its a sad day for independent journalism in India. 
The author, Pradyuman Maheshwari had quit his job and was blogging fulltime, hoping to make it a paying proposition.
He posted snarky observations and gossipy bits about the going-ons behind one of the biggest media houses in India (which I cannot name here), and this is the statement he made on his blog.
This is to inform all our readers that Mediaah! has chosen to cease publication. I received a legal notice from the esteemed lawyers retained by a leading Indian media group who asked me to delete 19 posts from the Mediaah! weblog and also refrain from writing anything similar and defamatory.
There were three options available to me:1. Delete the 19 posts, and get on with life
2. Don’t delete them, ignore the notice, and go on as if nothing happened
3. Don’t delete the posts, just delete the blog (or ALL that has been published earlier)I have chosen the third. I have not deleted the 19 posts. I have not apologised for what has been written.
Several of you have written in to say that I should continue blogging. That I should fight them. There’s someone who has even kicked off an online petition. While I would like to thank you all for the support, I would urge you to appreciate my predicament. As a solo performer, I don’t have the time, energies and monies to fight a biggie. If I would delete the posts and continue, the guys could still pick on everything I write, and slap a hundred notices on me.
Thanks to the Ryzers and Peter Griffin for initiating a discussion on this.
I will definitely sign the online petition to withdraw the legal notice against mediaah! and if you care for free speech in India (or anywhere in the world for that matter) I suggest you do the same.
