Saturday, October 11, 2008

Raju Narisetti

Romantic Realist is a nice alliterative title for his blog, but I think Raju's blog is far more realist than romantic and definately the most entertaining signed, official blog of any editor. I'll be honest, some other Mint blogs are dull (I'll skip other adjectives), and the writers would do well to learn from Mr Narisetti. The same actually applies for several other 'official' media blogs, even those written by senior editors - the blogs on IBNLive are boring. I mean, you won't see a post like this on other blogs - talking about the rival paper in a good way. It is no secret that I have become a fan of Mint, yes their corporate news could be better, but I genuinely find that paper a fun read. Is it because (as RN argues) because of the 'Charticles'? I don't know, but I do sincerely believe that Mint is fun to read, now, I don't want RS coming me claiming I don't think that Mint is serious. No I do, but I enjoy reading the paper. A newspaper should be fun to read, or at least you should look forward to reading a newspaper. I read papers often because I have to as part of my job, or because (in the case of ToI) I need to just to keep up. Otrher than ET, the other business papers claim that they have higher circulation, but I'm convinced that Mint has a higher 'mind share', and this is not me making a sweeping, unverified statement. There is a certain 'fondness' with which certain senior executives talk about Mint. And there is decent web-only content on their website. Some people will send in comments saying that the paper doesn't make money and yada, yada. That really doesn't matter to me as a reader. And trust me, I would rather read about a bloodbath on the markets than about a bloodbath on the streets somewhere in India. That said, Mint really must beef up its policy and politics coverage - one could argue that pages 2-3 of ET are poorly written (and extols the Sangh) but they do allow the paper to punch above its weight.
And a note about yesterday's post, I am criticising any person or anchor. I just pointed out the ridiculousness of having a show called 'Wealth Creators' on at a time like this. CNBC's programming has beefed up its features as ET-TV gears up for launch soon (and there is a strong suspicion that ET will have good business features), but they could have held back instead of launching shows slap-bang in the middle of chaos. I mean not exactly a good time to talk about private jets with gold faucets is it? And I wonder if this will mean that even ET-TV will delay their launch. Also, I managed to catch Undie Profit the other day at a hotel, and they do look a bit better, much better than before actually. But there is that 'top of mind' thing with television. I'm not saying that can't be changed, Times Now, despite Arnab is the best English News Channel to watch.
Anyway, Lewis is on pole for tomorrow's race (Go Lewis!) and I'll be watching that on Airtel TV because those guys insisted I try it out. I was amazed that Sunil Mittal's company has after one decade of trying discovered customer service. It was a smooth, nice installation and I'll see if it is any good.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So it means, even if Rahul hadn't written the letter, he can't disown it now that it has the blessings of the two supreme high-priests of Indian business journalism!! I'm no ET fan but Mint has to stop riding that high horse and ask it's reporters and the managing editor to stop talking down to the readers.

Anonymous said...

hey man !! are you angling for a job at the MINT? ever since your ex-boss took the bus for KG Marg - you seem to be waxing eloquent about papermint.

GhoseSpot said...

The real differentiator of MINT is, I think, not it's charticles and graphics but that, it's figured out how to oscillate the readers effortlessly across platforms - print, web (on-line and blogs), mobile - and, perhaps soon, also TV.

It's got great design with reader friendly features. Arguably, it's web-site and on-line ed (livemint.com) is the best among all its contemporaries (I'd rate it better than even MoneyControl.com); the only paper which has succeeded in making its blogs truly interactive and now delivering content over mobile (i-phone).

It is in these that, RN's international experience stands out over his peers in the competition. No other paper - incldg ET - has managed to integrate them so well and effectively. And this is what I believe, will help MINT to create its own consituency in the years to come.

Deceptively Simple: www.indianprint.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

You seem quite disgusted. Not very inspiring for someone like me (A would be journalist). But, I find truth in your criticism also acknowledging that there are exceptions