Indian Institute of Planning and Management advertising and blogging controversy
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management advertising and blogging controversy involves media investigations of statements in IIPM print advertisements related to salaries, job placements, quality of education, and visiting professors. It is one of the first blogging controversies in India.[1] The controversy started in October 2005, when an article taking an in-depth look at the statements by IIPM in the press advertisements was published in JAM Magazine, a fun and satire magazine. The article was written by Arjun Ravi and edited by Rashmi Bansal. Later another blogger, Gaurav Sabnis, an employee of IBM who published Vantage Point, posted this article in his blog with a link to the article on the JAM website. Officials at IIPM read the post on Sabnis's blog and threatened to burn IBM laptops and Sabnis was forced to quit his job. The event caused an uproar in the Indian blogging community who supported Sabnis and Bansal.[1] Later, other studies by Careers 360 Magazine (2009), MBA Channel (2009)[2] argued that IIPM's claims in the ads were unjustified. In August 2010, JAM was ordered to remove the story from its website. Jam noted on its website that "in furtherance of the order dated 1 June 2010 by the Hon civil Judge no 1 at Cachat, Silchar...," JAM was "temporarily removing the link to the article."[3] In May 2010, the court upheld that the contents of the Careers 360 article were "prima facie defamatory" and issued bailable warrants against Maheshwar Peri, publisher Careers 360 and Outlook, and Mahesh B Sarma, editor of Careers 360 magazine.[4][citation needed] In September 2011, the Delhi High Court dismissed a petition filed by Outlook Publishing Private Limited and Maheshwar Peri, publisher of Outlook and Careers 360, and "upheld the order passed by the metropolitan magistrate" with respect to a criminal complaint filed by IIPM's sister concern, Planman Consulting India Pvt Ltd. The Delhi High Court held Outlook, Maheshwar Peri and other petitioners (except the Directors of Outlook) "prima facie liable for publishing [the] derogatory and defamatory article."[5][4]
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[edit] Sequence of Events
In its June 2005 issue, JAM (a fun and satire magazine)[6][dead link] carried an article by Arjun Ravi[7] (namedIIPM: Tall Claims) where he claimed that IIPM's advertisements were misleading. Arjun Ravi also stated that IIPM uses rankings from 2003. The article was removed subsequently by a court judgment against JAM.[3]
Rashmi Bansal, the editor of the JAM magazine, published similar content in her blog, and this story was picked by other bloggers such as Gaurav Sabnis.[1] IIPM sent a legal notice to Sabnis, eventually resulting in Sabnis being forced to resign from his job.[8] Business World India magazine, of which Rashmi Bansal is a contributing editor,[9] in its October 2005 issue, covered the issue. The magazine reported that facilities including the swimming pool, 300-seater auditorium, seven amphitheatre classrooms, and mini golf course were restricted to IIPM's Delhi campus only. IIPM, in response to these findings, stated, "We have only one campus. The rest are branches." The magazine also reported that the average age of IIPM faculty is 27 years, and the international faculty mentioned in IIPM's advertisements only gave one-time lecture to the students. Both Arjun Ravi at JAM and Businessworld stated that the institute did not provide them with detailed statistics on student placement.
IIPM issued a statement countering the allegations raised by the magazines. IIPM said that these allegations were a result ofinferiority complex that IIM alumni (like Rashmi Bansal and Gaurav Sabnis) suffered due to IIPM (referring to IIPM's 'Dare to think beyond the IIMs' positioning statement), and that the articles were shallow lies, and an attempt to spread baseless rumours.[10]
[edit] Court judgement against JAM
In August 2010, JAM reported that "in furtherance of the order dated 1 June 2010 by the Hon civil Judge no 1 at Cachat, Silchar...," JAM was "temporarily removing the link to the article."[3]
[edit] Court judgement against Outlook, Careers 360 and publisher Maheshwar Peri
In 2009, IIPM filed a criminal defamation charge against Careers 360.[4] According to Arindam Chaudhuri, Honorary Dean of IIPM, the courts in February 2010 had admitted IIPM's defamation cases against Outlook and Careers 360.[11] In May 2010, the court upheld that the contents of the Careers 360 article were "prima facie defamatory" and issued bailable warrants against Maheshwar Peri, publisher Careers 360 and Outlook, and Mahesh B Sarma, editor of Careers 360 magazine.[4][citation needed] In September 2011, the Delhi High Court dismissed a petition filed by Outlook Publishing Private Limited and Maheshwar Peri, publisher of Outlook and Careers 360, and "upheld the order passed by the metropolitan magistrate" with respect to a criminal complaint filed by IIPM's sister concern, Planman Consulting India Pvt Ltd. The Delhi High Court held Outlook, Maheshwar Peri and other petitioners (except the Directors of Outlook) "prima facie liable for publishing [the] derogatory and defamatory article."[5][4]
[edit] Coverage in the Indian Media
IIPM's official response[12] to the controversy was to state that the controversy was motivated by jealousy of IIPM on the part of IIM alumni and professors. It issued the following statement:
"We are stunned as to how the people from IIMs, who are the most pampered people of India, suffer from so much inferiority complex from IIPM that, given the first opportunity to pen something (be it the so-called IIM L professor Amit Kapoor, or ex-IIM students like Rashmi or Gaurav and all the other IIM students on the net and other media), they stoop down so low as to write relentless lies about us and spread baseless rumours about IIPM. But beyond a point, IIPM cannot allow this kind of shallow rumour mongering to go on and had to take an action. IIPM always believed in intellectual debating and not in false allegations with defamatory ulterior motives. Therefore, in the general interest of our existing students, as a policy decision we have decided that we will take legal action against any form of media trying to spread baseless lies and rumours about us with malicious intent. For the rest, our law firms will decide on how best to proceed and bring such liars to justice. About Gaurav Sabnis, all we have to add is that yes, we approached IBM and asked them to take proper action against someone spreading baseless lies against a reputed institution. They did what they must have deemed fit after their internal examinations and procedures."
Businessworld came out with an article in its 31 October 2005 issue titled "When the Chickens come home". In addition to reporting on the controversy, it investigated the claims made by IIPM in its advertisements. (Rashmi Bansal is mentioned in that article as a contributing editor of Businessworld). The Businessworld article pointed out the discrepancy between IIPM's use of the words "campus" and "branch".
[edit] Notes
- Footnotes
- References
- ^ a b c Barun Roy (2008). Beginner's Guide to Journalism. Pustak Mahal. p. 46. ISBN 9788122306842. http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=u4anImQkPRYC&pg=PA46&dq=iipm.
- ^ Schwertfeger, Bärbel (2009-07-07). "IIPM: For a handful of dollars". MBA Channel. http://www.mba-channel.com/channel/article/iipm-international-Cooperations-Kooperationen/. Retrieved 11 December 2009.
- ^ a b c "IIPM: Tall claims". http://www.jammag.com/careers/n/showart.php?art_id=149.
- ^ a b c d e Pioneer News Service (9 May 2010). "Careers 360 faces defamation charge" (Text/HTML). News Article. CMYK Printech Ltd.. http://www.dailypioneer.com/254540/Careers-360-faces-defamation-charge.html. Retrieved 30 August 2010.[dead link]
- ^ a b Delhi HC rejects Outlook Publishing’s plea, The Pioneer, September 24, 2011, staff reporter
- ^ "JAM Venture Publishing Pvt Ltd". Jammag.com. http://www.jammag.com/disclaimer.htm. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ Beginner's Guide to Journalism – Google Books. Books.google.co.in. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=u4anImQkPRYC&pg=PT46&lpg=PT46&dq=%22Arjun+Ravi%22+JAM&source=bl&ots=C3SFI9mLLQ&sig=vh5v1J_m0JOdXBL5whr9TMldEdo&hl=en&ei=BBQmS9foDpCgkQWY09WnAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CBYQ6AEwBzgK. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ "Let your blog speak for you". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 31 October 2005. http://www.hindu.com/edu/2005/10/31/stories/2005103100610200.htm. Retrieved 20 June 2008.
- ^ The best B-schools, a Business World article where Rashmi is mentioned as contributing editor. Archived from[http://www.businessworldindia.com/oct0305/editors_note.asp the original
- ^ Outlook Magazine article- "Bite in the Blog Bark" (Requires free registration)
- ^ B school ranking scamsters exposed" Sunday Indian website retrieved on 14 February 2010
- ^ Outlook Magazine article- "Bite in the Blog Bark" (Requires free registration)
