The Unhappy Prince: How Reliance buried a book

by Guest Sat Apr 30, 2016 8:15 am

http://thewire.in/2016/04/30/the-unhappy-prince-how-dhirubhai-ambani-buried-a-book-32479/

by Guest Sat Apr 30, 2016 8:19 am

This nomenclature was untangled later by McDonald: “Reliance was a pioneer of envelope journalism. A senior commercial journalist in Bombay recalls that journalists would get vouchers worth up to 2,000 rupees for goods at a Vimal [a Reliance brand] retail outlet called Laffans. Some in senior positions would get regular monthly payments or issues of Reliance shares and debentures at par. Ambani’s moles in the press were known as the ‘Dirty Dozen’, the journalist said. ‘The point man was Rasikbhai Meswani. He was a thorough gentleman. His door was open 24 hours a day for journalists. People would go to collect on first of the month.’ Dhirubhai also realised that the reporter was not the final arbiter of what got published.”

“He also cultivated desk editors and even editors. One who accepted Reliance debentures for himself, and help in arranging bank finance to pay for them, was Girilal Jain, editor of the Times of India for much of the 1980s. The close journalists in the ‘Dirty Dozen’ would not only be used to get favourable news about Reliance printed prominently. They also became an extension of an intelligence network, asking rival businessmen for their frank views off the record about Reliance and then reporting them back. On the theory that rumour and gossip are more keenly heeded because they carry an aura of exclusivity, the pressmen would be used to plant opinions about the merits of Reliance activities and the failings of other companies.

The Unhappy Prince: How Reliance buried a book

The Unhappy Prince: How Reliance buried a book

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