The NewsX saga has rolled out to its end with the sacking (‘firing’ whatever you want to believe) of 78 employees. However, as usually happens in such cases there has been immense amounts of back-biting and bitching. Nobody other than the truly incompetent should lose their jobs, and believe me there are enough truly incompetent people in this industry. But whenever there is a drastic purge accusations fill chain emails about why A, B or C didn’t lose their jobs and what their political or apolitical connections are.
Here is the funny thing, emails are possibly the worst way to spread canards – IP logging and all, with Google, MSN and Yahoo more than happy to bend over backwards and provide IP addresses. Heck, Airtel even wrongly sent a techie to jail by handing over data and is offering him a restitution of Rs 200,000. That would not have covered the cost of flowers at Sunil Mittal’s daughter’s wedding. But then again, as some of you say, Apple’s and Orange’s.
The dead-tree industry is not doing much better than the indirectly dead-tree industry (Thermal power plants, I know it is a bit of a stretch, but with little time to blog lately spare me) from what I hear. The Times and ET apparently have so much inventory to spare that they’re handing it over to ET Now by the bucketload and I’m yet to see any signs of life on that front. A colleague who is closely related to someone senior in the channel joked that he managed to see the channel for the first time in Allahabad.
The interesting evolution has been with CNBC-TV18’s programming, suddenly it is less about the markets (Markets are so 2007-2008!) and quite corporate but stories that would have been buried as single-columns are getting mad amounts of airtime. Bajaj’s biggest engine yet is a ten-minute story? No doubt, there are some good stories, but somehow I always seem to notice the bad ones.
That said, with Wimbledon on, I don’t really see too much news TV. Actually, last week with MJ’s death I watched too much CNN and BBC. Actually with Iran and all the celebrity deaths (Billy Mays died last night!) I don’t see the Indian news channels much. The ones I do end up watching are the Bangla news channels because of their Maoist coverage.
Back to CNBC-TV18 in an oft-talked about piece of news that is now final, the network has been given permission to start three new channels – ‘South’, “Gujarati’ and ‘Channel 3’. The first two I can guess, the third I’ve been trying to figure out. Not that I think that I will be target audience for any of the three. And just how much money is there in business news? Enough to support so many channels, or is TV18 copying from the Times playbook and using the ‘flanking’ product idea. Interesting to see if this can work in Business channels, it did not work for UndieTV with city-focused channels. Then again, Raghav B is a bit more adept – but why have The V do a show on business tycoons – that show is a snooze fest for us in the know and ends up sounding like a circle jerk festival.
Back to the start of the tale, I feel bad for people who lose jobs in a weak economy and an even weaker media. Not everybody who has lost a job is truly incompetent or a twat. Some people are nice guys, and I wish them well. As for why I haven’t been blogging as much as I used to, I have generally been very busy of late. My Cover Story run rate has shot up and with several more interesting stories in the pipeline, I find myself spending less time in office. I guess things will settle down, and I must admit not being in office is not a great thing at all in this weather. F***, it is hot and with Anil Ambani not providing us electricity, things might get worse.
One last thing, may Anil Wilson’s soul rest in peace. Amen!
Showing posts with label CNBC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CNBC. Show all posts
Monday, June 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Nostalgia
Those of you born earlier than me, before everything became computerised and before your music player started weighing 25 grams and became the size of - heck I can't even find a size equivalent for the new iPod Shuffle, it is insanely small. Carrying 1000 songs in something that small just highlights how far we have come. Just take a look at these pictures from the 1970's to get an idea how a newspaper was put together. I don't know about you, but I first walked into a large press and saw the bustle of a typical newspaper office in 1984, as a five-year old. Telex machines, typewriters and the sheer volume, and today people tell me that I type loudly at one-tenth the volume of the 80's. Cell-phones, Google, desktop designing and layouts, the world has come a long way...
And why would I have opinion on Fake IPL player -one of the people I thought could have written it denied it. I still believe the writer is a Bengali, because of a couple of references (and the tortured emotions towards KKR - which is why like the good Delhi boy I am I support Veeru's team), may or may not be in South Africa - a couple of bad mistakes (VJM wasn't in Cape Town for the opening ceremony - he was his cars in Shanghai) and is adept at the medium. I might be wrong here, but I personally believe that the blogger is either a journalist or a member of the production crew. Or and this is highly unlikely, a back-room member of KKR.
On this post, do you really think that we are tarring the organisation thanks to the actions of one man? I don't think so, firstly the editor, or the resident editor does have a say in the news selection, was somebody sleeping? The second and far more nefarious possibility is Private Treaties - ET did go gung-ho in printing Private Treaties news, the inside pages were full of news that really didn't cut the grade. Several leaked memos and reports have highlighted how Private Treaties have damaged the bottom-line, but the SEBI report has damaged the 'moral' line so to speak. How is The Economic Times therefore any different than India TV? Somebody has to ask this question, and I am.
Listen, I have nothing against Bennett, and as I told a couple of people when the shit the fan that ET should have used the SEBI report as an excuse to clean up its act - apologised on the front page instead of ignoring it. Standing up for some semblance of values is 'supposed' to be a bad thing according to some people? What world do you live in? The PR agency involved was deep in the doo-doo also - but the question that needs to be answered - desperately - was this done as a matter of policy? Making people scapegoats doesn't help for too long, just as hiding behind a few semantically challenged lines in autobiographies don't.
The slowdown is pummelling CNBC's reputation in the US, ET is the scapegoat here and believe me, this is only going to get worse, because I'm not sure if people have monitoring the interwebs for what is going on forums. Because there is a hell of a lot of anger, you can see how CNBC TV18 has reacted (a virtual change in their line-up) - I scout around web forums quite often just to see how people react. I don't like what I read sometimes, but weirdly enough, this is what journalism has also become - it is essentially to troll blogs and monitor Google Trends as part of the job. We can't all live in our little f'in cocoons and have stories delivered in small brown packets or over email.
Also, according to certain sources at ET TV, the great white elephant might be further delayed beyond the rumoured May 1 launch date (I can't nor will I confirm this), not helped along by integration issues. Cutting salaries of people in print who are supposed to help deliver the exclusives while the TV guys keep their 2008-peak salaries is leading to trouble. But that is like stating the obvious, and I have a funny feeling a few more reports might make it into the public domain soon.
So just a word of advice for anybody 'leaking' any reports - please 'leak' your report through Wikileaks - for reasons of libel and then link back to the Wikileaks site. Hosting any report which is copyrighted to someone else may not be in your best interests given how trigger happy the legal arms of some media firms might be.
And why would I have opinion on Fake IPL player -one of the people I thought could have written it denied it. I still believe the writer is a Bengali, because of a couple of references (and the tortured emotions towards KKR - which is why like the good Delhi boy I am I support Veeru's team), may or may not be in South Africa - a couple of bad mistakes (VJM wasn't in Cape Town for the opening ceremony - he was his cars in Shanghai) and is adept at the medium. I might be wrong here, but I personally believe that the blogger is either a journalist or a member of the production crew. Or and this is highly unlikely, a back-room member of KKR.
On this post, do you really think that we are tarring the organisation thanks to the actions of one man? I don't think so, firstly the editor, or the resident editor does have a say in the news selection, was somebody sleeping? The second and far more nefarious possibility is Private Treaties - ET did go gung-ho in printing Private Treaties news, the inside pages were full of news that really didn't cut the grade. Several leaked memos and reports have highlighted how Private Treaties have damaged the bottom-line, but the SEBI report has damaged the 'moral' line so to speak. How is The Economic Times therefore any different than India TV? Somebody has to ask this question, and I am.
Listen, I have nothing against Bennett, and as I told a couple of people when the shit the fan that ET should have used the SEBI report as an excuse to clean up its act - apologised on the front page instead of ignoring it. Standing up for some semblance of values is 'supposed' to be a bad thing according to some people? What world do you live in? The PR agency involved was deep in the doo-doo also - but the question that needs to be answered - desperately - was this done as a matter of policy? Making people scapegoats doesn't help for too long, just as hiding behind a few semantically challenged lines in autobiographies don't.
The slowdown is pummelling CNBC's reputation in the US, ET is the scapegoat here and believe me, this is only going to get worse, because I'm not sure if people have monitoring the interwebs for what is going on forums. Because there is a hell of a lot of anger, you can see how CNBC TV18 has reacted (a virtual change in their line-up) - I scout around web forums quite often just to see how people react. I don't like what I read sometimes, but weirdly enough, this is what journalism has also become - it is essentially to troll blogs and monitor Google Trends as part of the job. We can't all live in our little f'in cocoons and have stories delivered in small brown packets or over email.
Also, according to certain sources at ET TV, the great white elephant might be further delayed beyond the rumoured May 1 launch date (I can't nor will I confirm this), not helped along by integration issues. Cutting salaries of people in print who are supposed to help deliver the exclusives while the TV guys keep their 2008-peak salaries is leading to trouble. But that is like stating the obvious, and I have a funny feeling a few more reports might make it into the public domain soon.
So just a word of advice for anybody 'leaking' any reports - please 'leak' your report through Wikileaks - for reasons of libel and then link back to the Wikileaks site. Hosting any report which is copyrighted to someone else may not be in your best interests given how trigger happy the legal arms of some media firms might be.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Connecting the dots...
But first, kudos to the Supreme Court for standing up for 'true' secularism rather than the Muslim-pandering that typifies those like the CPI(M) who want to keep communal forces out. I mean even The Hindu editorial team disapproves. I don't condone Varun Gandhi's statements, but the fact remains that his statements have found an eerie resonance outside the 'liberal' classes. Why?
I think the Muslim minority in India is being badly let down by its leaders, voting en masse as a religious block rather than for those who want to help them progress. And the attacks, even those not inside our borders are beginning to scare people shitless. Yesterday's attack happened 12 kilometeres from our international border (and I'm scared that it isn't a question of 'if' another attack happens in India but 'when', and honestly dying for someone elses twisted political cause is not how I want to go), and when 'Too-scared to run for Election' Singh meets 'God' (a.k.a #44 Barack H.Obama) they won't be discussing the economy and outsourcing and why the Indian government should pitch in to save General Motors India (fantastic PR plant one must admit to PTI, no questions at all about how they're sinking), which is flailing about pretty much as badly as the parent company. Nope. They'll be discussing Af-Pak and the fact that India is sitting down right next to a powderkeg.
Now back to the 'dots' thing I mentioned. Remember as a kid sometimes you never followed the numbers in sequence when connecting the dots just to see what happened? Well I did. Yes, I was a twisted kid. Now, yesterday's post spoke of the editorial and marketing tie-up between Mint and CNBC-TV18. Now, and this I must clarify is complete speculation and I could be totally off the ball here, but what if this signifies the first baby steps towards Raghav Behl's acquisition of Mint?
Think about it, RB is deperate to build a print empire, his acqusition of Infomedia prove that. Many of those publications are floundering and delays in the launch of Forbes India make ET Now's delays seem ordinary. Now, RB failed with the FT India launch and Mint could well lose the WSJ tie-up because WSJ wants to launch a facsimilie in India. Now, what if, TV18 takes over Mint, obviously there will be jostling over the price and all that, but think about it for a second? See, HT Media's results will show that Mint is a bottomless money pit and despite getting rid of several high-profile, high-cost and lazy people, Mint still bleeds far too much money. Worse still, while Mint does fantastic features, as a 'News'paper it is falling further and further behind. RB buys Mint, HT Media manages to make some money or at least save face, RB can position CNBC's agenda and the FT content into Mint which has a ready-made brand. Win-win for everybody.
Just my two paise here, and I could be skipping far too many dots, but I have been thinking about this possibility. Anyway, I have a lot of work over the coming few days, so there might be fewer posts than usual. Have a great week, and did anyone catch the Australian Grand Prix, what a race!
I think the Muslim minority in India is being badly let down by its leaders, voting en masse as a religious block rather than for those who want to help them progress. And the attacks, even those not inside our borders are beginning to scare people shitless. Yesterday's attack happened 12 kilometeres from our international border (and I'm scared that it isn't a question of 'if' another attack happens in India but 'when', and honestly dying for someone elses twisted political cause is not how I want to go), and when 'Too-scared to run for Election' Singh meets 'God' (a.k.a #44 Barack H.Obama) they won't be discussing the economy and outsourcing and why the Indian government should pitch in to save General Motors India (fantastic PR plant one must admit to PTI, no questions at all about how they're sinking), which is flailing about pretty much as badly as the parent company. Nope. They'll be discussing Af-Pak and the fact that India is sitting down right next to a powderkeg.
Now back to the 'dots' thing I mentioned. Remember as a kid sometimes you never followed the numbers in sequence when connecting the dots just to see what happened? Well I did. Yes, I was a twisted kid. Now, yesterday's post spoke of the editorial and marketing tie-up between Mint and CNBC-TV18. Now, and this I must clarify is complete speculation and I could be totally off the ball here, but what if this signifies the first baby steps towards Raghav Behl's acquisition of Mint?
Think about it, RB is deperate to build a print empire, his acqusition of Infomedia prove that. Many of those publications are floundering and delays in the launch of Forbes India make ET Now's delays seem ordinary. Now, RB failed with the FT India launch and Mint could well lose the WSJ tie-up because WSJ wants to launch a facsimilie in India. Now, what if, TV18 takes over Mint, obviously there will be jostling over the price and all that, but think about it for a second? See, HT Media's results will show that Mint is a bottomless money pit and despite getting rid of several high-profile, high-cost and lazy people, Mint still bleeds far too much money. Worse still, while Mint does fantastic features, as a 'News'paper it is falling further and further behind. RB buys Mint, HT Media manages to make some money or at least save face, RB can position CNBC's agenda and the FT content into Mint which has a ready-made brand. Win-win for everybody.
Just my two paise here, and I could be skipping far too many dots, but I have been thinking about this possibility. Anyway, I have a lot of work over the coming few days, so there might be fewer posts than usual. Have a great week, and did anyone catch the Australian Grand Prix, what a race!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Interesting
This news item seems interesting, in fact it is really quite interesting given dynamics in business television and dailies with the entry of ET Now in a few weeks (months?). While the valuation demands are a bit on the insane side, The Economic Times still breaks a lot of stories and ET Now will be seen as major competition to CNBC-TV18.
At the end of the day, according to ratings, and ratings do matter no matter what people say about 'prestige' and all, Times Now is the leading English news channel in India. They have in a few years pretty much overhauled more established channels with more experienced reporters. That is not to say that there are no issues there, but they've done it and one reason was that CNN-IBN and NDTV concentrated far too much on each other allowing these guys to quietly storm past. Now, with CNBC-TV18 taking ET Now's threat a lot more seriously and the fact that when it coimes to 'first' at least with post-result interviews, CNBC is a tough act to beat, it should be interesting. The only problem is the timing and the slippage of the launch date.
The tie-up also will serve Mint in good stead hopefully given that their news reportage has been slipping of late, in fact in certain beats they seem to be almost non-existant. I do not know what an 'editorial and marketing' deal entails, but given CNN-IBN's and Hindustan Times' closeness (the two organisations constantly co-operate on things like 'Indian of the Year', all sorts of Polls - expect a pro-Congress opinion poll shortly, and I don't know that there is a poll but if there is it has to be pro-Congress) this deal is not surprising. It seems the best way to deal with the Times of India Group behemoth is to tie-up. Or let the giant trip itself up, which it seems the rather controversial Private Treaties organisation seems to have done. After all the hullaballo of a year ago, the silence now speaks volumes.
At the end of the day, according to ratings, and ratings do matter no matter what people say about 'prestige' and all, Times Now is the leading English news channel in India. They have in a few years pretty much overhauled more established channels with more experienced reporters. That is not to say that there are no issues there, but they've done it and one reason was that CNN-IBN and NDTV concentrated far too much on each other allowing these guys to quietly storm past. Now, with CNBC-TV18 taking ET Now's threat a lot more seriously and the fact that when it coimes to 'first' at least with post-result interviews, CNBC is a tough act to beat, it should be interesting. The only problem is the timing and the slippage of the launch date.
The tie-up also will serve Mint in good stead hopefully given that their news reportage has been slipping of late, in fact in certain beats they seem to be almost non-existant. I do not know what an 'editorial and marketing' deal entails, but given CNN-IBN's and Hindustan Times' closeness (the two organisations constantly co-operate on things like 'Indian of the Year', all sorts of Polls - expect a pro-Congress opinion poll shortly, and I don't know that there is a poll but if there is it has to be pro-Congress) this deal is not surprising. It seems the best way to deal with the Times of India Group behemoth is to tie-up. Or let the giant trip itself up, which it seems the rather controversial Private Treaties organisation seems to have done. After all the hullaballo of a year ago, the silence now speaks volumes.
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.
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.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Hey...
To answer a comment, I had the news on Timesgroup's new 'flanking' business paper two weeks ago! In other news, it appears that all ET journo's - well most of them anyway will soon be given TV lessons (starting in about ten days time) as the paper intends to leverage its brand in the TV World as well because they know they can't fight CNBC-TV18 unless they do that. And CNBC-TV18 is preparing for the onslaught with a round of promotions!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Business News
Anonymous first commenter, I don't know who you are, but I whole-heartedly agree with you. I still don't know why a fourth channel is coming into the English business news space, and maybe a market downturn will be good for the industry in the sense when shit the fan people start looking for scapegoats. But, that said, Undie profit has been way too patchy, they can't hang onto their better people, half their presenters look like they're coming off a hard night of powder, which is strange because I'm fairly sure they're not snorting (Lifestyle journalists on the other hand...).
I've always found Profit confused about what they want to say, and the problem is that with NDTV as an organisation changing focus by entering the GenEnt space, Profit which suffers from a lack of direction will be like the Bismarck - rudderless and heading to her fate.
I will not pass judgement on UTVi just yet, I think it has a while to go. maybe following the CNBC model works from them initially, maybe unlike some other channels, UTVi will evolve into a better channel, but as you pointed out, can it compete with the CNBC brand? As for ET Now, I just have a bad feeling about it, Times Now is a much improved channel but it took them a while, however business news is a whole new ballgame. But somewhere down there I have a bad feeling about all BCCL properties because I think this 'Private Treaties' crap is going to come back and bite them in the ass. Hard. Well, I want it to.
he joker in the pack might still be Mint-TV a.k.a Fox Business a.k.a Whatever the hell they choose to call it. While the mother paper, good as it might be, continues to bleed copious amounts of cash, a TV operation may not be such a bad thing, if the Murdoch's take control. I mean, say what you will about Rupert, I don't think he'll be doing 'Simon Says' like the boys at CNBC-TV18.
Anyone have an opinion on 'Colors 18' as yet?
And by the way, to the powers that be at NDTV - Blogs should not be regulated and don't invite people with next to no idfea of the medium to discuss the topic. You twats! Is TV News regulated? It should be, shouldn't it? After all, didn't some channels do more damage to Arushi's reputation than those inept policemen? Brakha, welcome to the new world of the media, and be scared. Very scared!
And on popular demand... running a retromercial special here. And YouTube's Indian servers are acting up, so it might say the video is no longer available, so try to reload them.
Gold Spot - Orange and Sweet and god knows if the colours they used would be considered safe today.
The way we ravelled. Well, my dad had a Lambretta.
Lalitaji!
More Classic Stuff!
And from before I was born...
I can't embed this one, but how they've grown!
I've always found Profit confused about what they want to say, and the problem is that with NDTV as an organisation changing focus by entering the GenEnt space, Profit which suffers from a lack of direction will be like the Bismarck - rudderless and heading to her fate.
I will not pass judgement on UTVi just yet, I think it has a while to go. maybe following the CNBC model works from them initially, maybe unlike some other channels, UTVi will evolve into a better channel, but as you pointed out, can it compete with the CNBC brand? As for ET Now, I just have a bad feeling about it, Times Now is a much improved channel but it took them a while, however business news is a whole new ballgame. But somewhere down there I have a bad feeling about all BCCL properties because I think this 'Private Treaties' crap is going to come back and bite them in the ass. Hard. Well, I want it to.
he joker in the pack might still be Mint-TV a.k.a Fox Business a.k.a Whatever the hell they choose to call it. While the mother paper, good as it might be, continues to bleed copious amounts of cash, a TV operation may not be such a bad thing, if the Murdoch's take control. I mean, say what you will about Rupert, I don't think he'll be doing 'Simon Says' like the boys at CNBC-TV18.
Anyone have an opinion on 'Colors 18' as yet?
And by the way, to the powers that be at NDTV - Blogs should not be regulated and don't invite people with next to no idfea of the medium to discuss the topic. You twats! Is TV News regulated? It should be, shouldn't it? After all, didn't some channels do more damage to Arushi's reputation than those inept policemen? Brakha, welcome to the new world of the media, and be scared. Very scared!
And on popular demand... running a retromercial special here. And YouTube's Indian servers are acting up, so it might say the video is no longer available, so try to reload them.
Gold Spot - Orange and Sweet and god knows if the colours they used would be considered safe today.
The way we ravelled. Well, my dad had a Lambretta.
Lalitaji!
More Classic Stuff!
And from before I was born...
I can't embed this one, but how they've grown!
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
How to save face!
The funny thing with having a competitive news industry is that sometimes stories that appear in rival publications or television channels are almost drowned out. Unless of course the break is too big to ignore, when most rival papers just shrug and start follow-up reporting. Like this break by the Times of India yesterday. This story deserved to be a flyer and yesterday every TV channel was agog with the news, and Priyanka even went on record saying she 'did visit' Nalini in jail. So therefore this headline in The People's Daily of Chennai was bewildering. Personally, I thought it stank of sour grapes, but this headline implies that the 'First Daughter' of the country is a liar. The body copy is more rational, but the headline is worse. But then again, this is the People's Daily which insists that the Dalai Lama clique is guilty of terrorism and that we should play softy-softy with the Naxals. But of course, there is this Sunday ET headline which contradicts itself - growing during a recession? Aren't growth and recession mutually exclusive - this is economics no?
There has been a long and interesting history of how to save face when you miss a story and your editor calls you in to explain. There is the patented ToI/ET method, which I remember was told to me many years ago by a women who was then in ET - "If it has not appeared in ET, it isn't news", in response to why she lifted a story I had done for HT a month ago. Thankfully, said reporter isn't in ET anymore. There is the 'HT method' which is to deny everything that appeared in the Times, no matter how stupid you look - therefore when the Times questioned why Delhi's legislators were so lazy and got into trouble for printing public statistics because said lazy legislators did not like being called lazy, HT gleefully reported that the Times was hauled up. Of course, this is the same paper that until yesterday pretty much defended the insane BRT corridor (and if it wasn't for Delhi's Chief Secretary realising the chaos the BRT has led to, would have continued to defend it). And now we have the afore-mentioned method in The Hindu, which today according to a story in Mint are so scared of Times that they want to raise money by selling a small stake to Fairfax of Australia - the guys who run the Sydney Morning Herald among other papers.
In other news, we finally have the first edition of The Financial Chronicle - or at least a e-Paper since there might not be a Delhi edition for a while. Yes, and you have to login for the service, so I really don't care to read much beyond looking at the front page. The IPL fiasco has become more interesting, firstly with Lalit Modi being forced to back down by the newspapers, which has made the broadcasters who agreed to many of the terms upset - so now they are threatening to boycott the IPL, poor guys!I think the BCCI which can take on the ICC, Cricket Australia and the ECB has met its match with the Indian media. Anyway, come what may, I'll be in the clubhouse at Kotla on saturday to see the Delhi Daredevils take on the Rajasthan Royals (McGrath vs Warne!), so if any of you are coming there, I'll see you there.
And finally NewsX, I watched it for a while yesterday, and yes while the anchors might have English issues and some of them overcompensate by putting on fake accents, this is not a problem restricted to this channel - after all nobody can understand some anchors at Headlines Today (even in real life) and some achors at Undie and Rajdeep TV have 'issues' to put it bluntly. Liked the fact that the layout was clean, the anchorettes looked good and there were no talking head shows. I mean not that one would liked to see 'The Champagne Bathtub Chronicles' (Which led me to an interesting question, how many Champagne Baths would Rs 7.96 crore buy?), but so far so good. Not that I'm going to watch much. And I have one question for CNBC TV18, do they have a features anchor/reporter other than Shereen? Really, I think the poor girl is going to die soon with her workload!
There has been a long and interesting history of how to save face when you miss a story and your editor calls you in to explain. There is the patented ToI/ET method, which I remember was told to me many years ago by a women who was then in ET - "If it has not appeared in ET, it isn't news", in response to why she lifted a story I had done for HT a month ago. Thankfully, said reporter isn't in ET anymore. There is the 'HT method' which is to deny everything that appeared in the Times, no matter how stupid you look - therefore when the Times questioned why Delhi's legislators were so lazy and got into trouble for printing public statistics because said lazy legislators did not like being called lazy, HT gleefully reported that the Times was hauled up. Of course, this is the same paper that until yesterday pretty much defended the insane BRT corridor (and if it wasn't for Delhi's Chief Secretary realising the chaos the BRT has led to, would have continued to defend it). And now we have the afore-mentioned method in The Hindu, which today according to a story in Mint are so scared of Times that they want to raise money by selling a small stake to Fairfax of Australia - the guys who run the Sydney Morning Herald among other papers.
In other news, we finally have the first edition of The Financial Chronicle - or at least a e-Paper since there might not be a Delhi edition for a while. Yes, and you have to login for the service, so I really don't care to read much beyond looking at the front page. The IPL fiasco has become more interesting, firstly with Lalit Modi being forced to back down by the newspapers, which has made the broadcasters who agreed to many of the terms upset - so now they are threatening to boycott the IPL, poor guys!I think the BCCI which can take on the ICC, Cricket Australia and the ECB has met its match with the Indian media. Anyway, come what may, I'll be in the clubhouse at Kotla on saturday to see the Delhi Daredevils take on the Rajasthan Royals (McGrath vs Warne!), so if any of you are coming there, I'll see you there.
And finally NewsX, I watched it for a while yesterday, and yes while the anchors might have English issues and some of them overcompensate by putting on fake accents, this is not a problem restricted to this channel - after all nobody can understand some anchors at Headlines Today (even in real life) and some achors at Undie and Rajdeep TV have 'issues' to put it bluntly. Liked the fact that the layout was clean, the anchorettes looked good and there were no talking head shows. I mean not that one would liked to see 'The Champagne Bathtub Chronicles' (Which led me to an interesting question, how many Champagne Baths would Rs 7.96 crore buy?), but so far so good. Not that I'm going to watch much. And I have one question for CNBC TV18, do they have a features anchor/reporter other than Shereen? Really, I think the poor girl is going to die soon with her workload!
Monday, March 03, 2008
Chiddu ko gussa kyon aata hai?
Is it just me, or are all of you who have read Chiddu's post-Budget interviews in the papers or watched him on TV feeling that Chid's has been in a bad mood of late. Not enough leggy failed models in his life maybe? But, his outburst at Raghav Behl beggars belief. I'm not a big fan of CNBC-TV18, but all that raghav did was ask a lot about the 'waiver' and how the government plans to pay for it. A few too many times, but since Chiddu has no clue about an answer, he could not give a straight answer and got pissed off. After he took his microphone off, we hear that the camera's kept rolling and interestingly, the Finance Minister suuposedly threatened the channel which created the 'Cult of Chiddu' with these words, "You see what I do to you." Even more surprisingly he did not blow up at Raghav but a poor cameraman doing his job.
The only reason I can figure out from Chid's is that he was pressurised into this budget by Madam and her coterie of ministers. Read this ToI story for an idea, of course the Prime Minister, who I can comfortably say has been India's most ineffectual Prime Minister ever, couldn't save him. You saw the adverts the next day!
Anyway, this is an election budget, the budget will get passed, and by the Monsoon session around August the Nuclear Deal will also go through. The Commies will withdraw support and elections will be called for September or October. Or so the thinking goes. I mean a winter election is so much better than a April-May election. Of course, it would be interesting to see if they still pull off an election if the monsoons are weak.
To answer a comment calling me a 'townie', no buddy, I have actually travelled more in the hinterland than most journalists, definately more than most journalists working under the cover of 'business journalism'. Hero Honda and Airtel between them have done more for the 'farmers' than decades of Congress governance. Why is there no public transport in backward parts of the country, because politicians and bureaucrats have siphoned off crores from State Transport Corporations and refused in some cases to allow private operators to run. Kerala is a good example (though it is the scariest state in the country to drive in, I once did a run through Kerala all the way to Aleppy and back in a Scorpio) where private operators operate a lot of buses at high-frequency and thus people use it. It might be a bad example since Kerala is also possibly one of the easiest states to organise transportation in. But when I was in Vidarbha a few years ago, our driver told me that farmers often blew up their funds on motorcycles and TV sets. Unbridled consumerism funded on debt isn't just a problem in urban areas. My Hindi is pathetic, not that it helped in Vidarbha anyway, but I ain't no townie!
There has been a failure of governance for far too long in this country, not just in the farms but also in the cities. And believe me, I also think that the BJP is as bad as the Congress. There is absolute failure of governance in Madhya Pradesh for example. And in cities, I think it should be mandatory for all city councillors, mayors and in Delhi's case the hare-brained Shiela Dikshit to master SimCity4, in fact, they should learn the Transportation Expansion pack of the game. I mean what next? A congestion charge in Delhi, a la London?
Did anyone see Papermint's fantastic hatchet-job/self-congratulatory pages today? Surpriosed at the Red-Dots that ET got?
The only reason I can figure out from Chid's is that he was pressurised into this budget by Madam and her coterie of ministers. Read this ToI story for an idea, of course the Prime Minister, who I can comfortably say has been India's most ineffectual Prime Minister ever, couldn't save him. You saw the adverts the next day!
Anyway, this is an election budget, the budget will get passed, and by the Monsoon session around August the Nuclear Deal will also go through. The Commies will withdraw support and elections will be called for September or October. Or so the thinking goes. I mean a winter election is so much better than a April-May election. Of course, it would be interesting to see if they still pull off an election if the monsoons are weak.
To answer a comment calling me a 'townie', no buddy, I have actually travelled more in the hinterland than most journalists, definately more than most journalists working under the cover of 'business journalism'. Hero Honda and Airtel between them have done more for the 'farmers' than decades of Congress governance. Why is there no public transport in backward parts of the country, because politicians and bureaucrats have siphoned off crores from State Transport Corporations and refused in some cases to allow private operators to run. Kerala is a good example (though it is the scariest state in the country to drive in, I once did a run through Kerala all the way to Aleppy and back in a Scorpio) where private operators operate a lot of buses at high-frequency and thus people use it. It might be a bad example since Kerala is also possibly one of the easiest states to organise transportation in. But when I was in Vidarbha a few years ago, our driver told me that farmers often blew up their funds on motorcycles and TV sets. Unbridled consumerism funded on debt isn't just a problem in urban areas. My Hindi is pathetic, not that it helped in Vidarbha anyway, but I ain't no townie!
There has been a failure of governance for far too long in this country, not just in the farms but also in the cities. And believe me, I also think that the BJP is as bad as the Congress. There is absolute failure of governance in Madhya Pradesh for example. And in cities, I think it should be mandatory for all city councillors, mayors and in Delhi's case the hare-brained Shiela Dikshit to master SimCity4, in fact, they should learn the Transportation Expansion pack of the game. I mean what next? A congestion charge in Delhi, a la London?
Did anyone see Papermint's fantastic hatchet-job/self-congratulatory pages today? Surpriosed at the Red-Dots that ET got?
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Best newspaper Budget coverage...
Yes, and the award goes to... The Times of India. Or so I think. The Economic Times lost the plot, Papermint was a bit too understated, EchTee didn't get the plot. The other business dailies weren't bad, but nobody exactly reads them. The channels yesterday did go a bit overboard, but surprisingly I thought that Undie Profit did a fairly decent job everytime they did not cut away to the BOmbay studio audience, but CNBC was still very good. Didn't watch the other channels so I won't comment.
What I will comment about is the budget. In his interviews, where Chiddu has learnt from Dubya (and Star Wars) he has defended the Rs 60,000 crore waiver package to farmers. His best quote I heard was in my publications interview (though we edited this bit out), "You are either for the farmer or against the farmer!" when he was asked a question on this move of his encouraging delinquency (he did not give one straight answer and looked terribly pissed off). Absolutisms are very dangerous things, but anyway. While I do not think a lot of thought has been put into the waiver, and I'm sure Chiddu (Chodu) will think of the way to raise the funds to pay off the banks after he believes he will re-elected (hopefully not, because by all indicators, the AIADMK will sweep TN) and hopefully, the rest of the clowns will lose too.
But, while the waiver is a political stunt, is it a very bad thing? Is it as bad as promising electricity for two hours and then delivering sub-standard electricity. Well, the problem is that a large majority of Indian farmers are still unbanked (and lend money from dalals, who I don't think are as generous as Chids out here) and while this will undoubtedly help farmers, lifting them away from a cycle of debt I also think that banks might now be loathe to give out loans in rural areas. Anyway, the loan only covers 'agricultural loans', and many farmers, in places like Vidarbha are indebted because of their other loans, to buy things such as motorcycles. Though, I did think that the folks from Hero Honda were quite happy since farmers will now be able to afford more bikes and drive themselves to indebtedness on a new cycle altogether.
Of course, because the waiver is being done super-fast, presumably for an October election, there might not be time to teach the farmers the virtues of fiscal discipline, which has to be done. I also believe that this scheme will see a high-level of corruption down the line and actual implementation could be a challenge, which could blow on the UPA's face.
BREAKING : We knew Chiddu had a short fuse, but he reportedly walked out from Raghav Behl's interview with him today on CNBC (which will be edited out now) and Shereen was sent to scamper after Chids with her smile. Heard that did not work either. If you have a video of the walk-out please to mail across or send me the YouTube link.
But anyway, check out the trailer from Tarsem Singh's new movie called 'The Fall' which was shot extensively in Jodhpur and Ladakh. The plot might end up being horrible, but what amazing imagery!
What I will comment about is the budget. In his interviews, where Chiddu has learnt from Dubya (and Star Wars) he has defended the Rs 60,000 crore waiver package to farmers. His best quote I heard was in my publications interview (though we edited this bit out), "You are either for the farmer or against the farmer!" when he was asked a question on this move of his encouraging delinquency (he did not give one straight answer and looked terribly pissed off). Absolutisms are very dangerous things, but anyway. While I do not think a lot of thought has been put into the waiver, and I'm sure Chiddu (Chodu) will think of the way to raise the funds to pay off the banks after he believes he will re-elected (hopefully not, because by all indicators, the AIADMK will sweep TN) and hopefully, the rest of the clowns will lose too.
But, while the waiver is a political stunt, is it a very bad thing? Is it as bad as promising electricity for two hours and then delivering sub-standard electricity. Well, the problem is that a large majority of Indian farmers are still unbanked (and lend money from dalals, who I don't think are as generous as Chids out here) and while this will undoubtedly help farmers, lifting them away from a cycle of debt I also think that banks might now be loathe to give out loans in rural areas. Anyway, the loan only covers 'agricultural loans', and many farmers, in places like Vidarbha are indebted because of their other loans, to buy things such as motorcycles. Though, I did think that the folks from Hero Honda were quite happy since farmers will now be able to afford more bikes and drive themselves to indebtedness on a new cycle altogether.
Of course, because the waiver is being done super-fast, presumably for an October election, there might not be time to teach the farmers the virtues of fiscal discipline, which has to be done. I also believe that this scheme will see a high-level of corruption down the line and actual implementation could be a challenge, which could blow on the UPA's face.
BREAKING : We knew Chiddu had a short fuse, but he reportedly walked out from Raghav Behl's interview with him today on CNBC (which will be edited out now) and Shereen was sent to scamper after Chids with her smile. Heard that did not work either. If you have a video of the walk-out please to mail across or send me the YouTube link.
But anyway, check out the trailer from Tarsem Singh's new movie called 'The Fall' which was shot extensively in Jodhpur and Ladakh. The plot might end up being horrible, but what amazing imagery!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
X Update and more.
On popular demand, this is what we know. Meetings have happened at Jodhpur Mumbai and now a meeting is taking place in Delhi. Essentially the meeting is between The V and Pratim with a view to saving the marriage, but from all indications is marriage is beyond saving, and these talks are on essentially to ensure that the divorce is as amicable as possible. But with some is the News X camp upset at Pratim's wife's vitriol-laced attacks on them and their 'Dear Leader', they want their pound of flesh and it seems they are going all guns blazing to get it.
Talking about TV, it seems that certain builders with plans of starting a lifestyle channel with a soon-to-be-driving-an-Audi A4 channel head might have been pushed back a bit. But these guys intend to start a network of 18 channels in the next five years, all of them apparently showing off the virtues of their bungalows I presume. UndieTV's latest partner, NBC has sent over a group of Yanks to teach their senior reporters the art of American journalism. But you see, I do not think the problem is with UndieTV but such paragons of journalism such as News 24, which are so mind-bogglingly inane, I really worry.
Anyway, on yet another TV note, while everyone talks about the News X saga, another yet-to-be launched channel has been quietly building up an extremely solid team. The Govindraj Ethiraj headed yet-unnamed UTV Business has been getting some solid people, so much so that they have gotten CNBC TV18 scared and worse still, people at Undie Profit are dreading dropping off the radar to third spot in the business stakes. I don't believe Govind will manage to beat Udayan and Co, but I am pretty sure much like Mint became a #2 overnight in the business daily space, so will this channel in the business channel stakes. This news item about UTV buying out ITNation becomes rather relevant in this context as well, because I am sure Govind, a longtime blogger who is quite a tech-head too will leverage these purchases on teh channel. Should be interesting to track that too. Erm, I don't hold out much hope for Mint TV with their current staff, but is Mint TV an euphemism for the Fox Business channel in India?
What about NDTV Imagine? Well I get it on Tata-Sky, but I can't be bothered to watch it yet, but then again I haven't exactly had the time of late. But do make time to watch Star Stories on BBC Entertainment, fantastic show, and MTV's 'Meet or Delete' show I believe is doing quite well.
Talking about TV, it seems that certain builders with plans of starting a lifestyle channel with a soon-to-be-driving-an-Audi A4 channel head might have been pushed back a bit. But these guys intend to start a network of 18 channels in the next five years, all of them apparently showing off the virtues of their bungalows I presume. UndieTV's latest partner, NBC has sent over a group of Yanks to teach their senior reporters the art of American journalism. But you see, I do not think the problem is with UndieTV but such paragons of journalism such as News 24, which are so mind-bogglingly inane, I really worry.
Anyway, on yet another TV note, while everyone talks about the News X saga, another yet-to-be launched channel has been quietly building up an extremely solid team. The Govindraj Ethiraj headed yet-unnamed UTV Business has been getting some solid people, so much so that they have gotten CNBC TV18 scared and worse still, people at Undie Profit are dreading dropping off the radar to third spot in the business stakes. I don't believe Govind will manage to beat Udayan and Co, but I am pretty sure much like Mint became a #2 overnight in the business daily space, so will this channel in the business channel stakes. This news item about UTV buying out ITNation becomes rather relevant in this context as well, because I am sure Govind, a longtime blogger who is quite a tech-head too will leverage these purchases on teh channel. Should be interesting to track that too. Erm, I don't hold out much hope for Mint TV with their current staff, but is Mint TV an euphemism for the Fox Business channel in India?
What about NDTV Imagine? Well I get it on Tata-Sky, but I can't be bothered to watch it yet, but then again I haven't exactly had the time of late. But do make time to watch Star Stories on BBC Entertainment, fantastic show, and MTV's 'Meet or Delete' show I believe is doing quite well.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Hard Times
I subscribe to quite a few odd-and-ends feeds and newsgroups about desi media happenings, but I was surprised to see that a letter from Shekhar Gupta to all Express employees made it out into the internet as fast as it did. Keep in mind, most of these letters usually filter through senior journalists, not on an online newsgroup. Obviously, someone wasn't happy about the announcement and frankly after reading that mail, I felt sorry for the paper. Honestly, the closure of the newspaper's office late last year during the 'sealing drive' in Delhi hit them hard. But, the fact of the matter remains, in times like these when people are willing to pay a bomb to recruit people, so much so, that EchTee recruits people from America (again, I wonder if the management thinks that eventually one transplanted NRI will click?) you can't tell everyone, 'Times are hard, no increments!'
I don't agree with the Indian Express' politics, and the paper vacillates wildly from side to side, but it remains an institution and does have some good people working there. Pity that they have no good people in their marketing department. It is quite obvious that the paper would be in even more trouble had it not been for tenders, but as newspaper space-sellers would tell you, tenders don't make much money, and the Express itself has to share most of their tender money with The New Indian Express down south. At the same time, the group continues to flog a very dead horse, their business paper - FE, which has become a sort of training school for future business journalists.
I personally don't think the 'Express' is over, they've gone through a lot worse, but it does speak volumes that a paper which could have re-invented itself in the media boom, did not do so. Hopefully, they will get their act together soon, because if they don't manage, there won't be too many people left. As it is people are already jumping ship!
On another note, Govindraj Ethiraj, who has joined as the boss of UTV's new business channel has been reaching out to his former colleagues at CNBC and those that left CNBC. There has been a lot of movement in Bombay, and according to sources, this is just the start of another insane round of salary increases. And at the same time there are plans being drawn up for another financial daily/weekly by one or both of the R's (Ronnie and Raghav). Let the offer letter's begin!
PS : INX will call their news channel 'News X', what sort of name is that!
I don't agree with the Indian Express' politics, and the paper vacillates wildly from side to side, but it remains an institution and does have some good people working there. Pity that they have no good people in their marketing department. It is quite obvious that the paper would be in even more trouble had it not been for tenders, but as newspaper space-sellers would tell you, tenders don't make much money, and the Express itself has to share most of their tender money with The New Indian Express down south. At the same time, the group continues to flog a very dead horse, their business paper - FE, which has become a sort of training school for future business journalists.
I personally don't think the 'Express' is over, they've gone through a lot worse, but it does speak volumes that a paper which could have re-invented itself in the media boom, did not do so. Hopefully, they will get their act together soon, because if they don't manage, there won't be too many people left. As it is people are already jumping ship!
On another note, Govindraj Ethiraj, who has joined as the boss of UTV's new business channel has been reaching out to his former colleagues at CNBC and those that left CNBC. There has been a lot of movement in Bombay, and according to sources, this is just the start of another insane round of salary increases. And at the same time there are plans being drawn up for another financial daily/weekly by one or both of the R's (Ronnie and Raghav). Let the offer letter's begin!
PS : INX will call their news channel 'News X', what sort of name is that!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
