I just read the first issue of Open, and first impressions - and like I said when I saw the dummy is that in terms of sheer design it blows the pants off all the other newsmagazines in the country. As far as content, I was a bit iffy about the cover story but some of the other stories were excellent.
I will not take a call on long-term viability, as these are tough times for the media and even more established and richer brands are up shit creek, but I do feel that Open will force a hell of a lot of other products to get their design acts together.
Mint aside, most Indian newspapers are horribly laid out, in fact what surprises me about Mint is that its mother-publication despite so many changes is still 'confused' in terms of layout, but no non-lifestyle magazine has a layout that can currently touch Open. I hope thay can maintain design integrity (with ad-sales schmucks always ready to sacrifice editorial at the altar of money), in fact this is a sincere hope.
Give it a look-see, I may not agree with everything inside but I repeat it is very agreeable on the eyes.
PS: Maxim just shut down their UK edition.
Showing posts with label Mint. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mint. Show all posts
Friday, April 03, 2009
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.
Monday, February 23, 2009
All-new?
According to ContentSutra this is the new look of the Hindustan Times done by Mario Garcia. Very Guardian-esque play of colours there (what next- a Communist Red web page?) - frankly whatever little we can figure out this looks pretty good, even though the business section stinks of Mint - maybe that is because according to one story, Mint will be doing the business section for HT. Makes sense if you ask me. Anyway the question is not whether the redesign looks good, but whether they'll be able to stick to through thick and thin. The folks at Mint, and there are some very good people at the top there to make sure the design isn't broken, have ensured that. Will they be able to be so rigourous several floors below?EDIT: According to a couple of senior folks down at HT, this is a red herring. Well, that is a pity then, but according to ContentSutra the sources are solid. Hmmm....
EDIT 2: On the 'Let There Be Light' campaign somebody mentioned - my post from August 2005.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Erm.. like what?
Firstly I read this. Times and NDTV? Interesting. It is no secret that Times is hurting, the group is still in the Black despite being burnt on long-term newsprint contracts but they're making money. At least the print side is, television is a different kettle of fish. But a tie-up might make sense for both sides. NDTV has no experience of making money. None whatsoever. Times knows how to make money, but their experience of TV is well, the less the said the better. So Times+NDTV in Delhi. Maybe. But then again, NDTV is hedging, they've tied up with The Hindu in Chennai, though with a freeze on capex this year, that channel may not see the light of day.
Also, there was this very interesting graphic in Mint (PDF) recently and that puts what P. Sainath (who in reference to later in this post, refused a gong) says in context. Sainath accused mainstream media of ignoring agrarian India and well, looking at 2008 coverage that is horribly true (though, The Hindu was also measured). However, I suspect that 'International Affairs' includes all news of Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka and lets be honest our neighbours have been newsy this year and I'm sure that 95 per cent of the coverage was from these three countries, four per cent on Obama and one per cent on the rest of the world. 'National Security and Defence', I presume would include all terror blasts and 2008 had one hell of a lot of them. Yup, go down the chain and you see that 'Public Policy & Governance', 'Education' and 'Science & Tech' is way down the list. As the column accompanying the graphic says, this should be a wake-up call to Editors, there can be substantial improvements in coverage.
A little birdie tells me in reference to a 'pompous ass' mention in a Sunday column that someone is very upset that he didn't get a gong. Journalists close to the government always get gongs and god forbid that the BJP come back to power later this year and all chances of any gongs or Parliamentary posts might go away. But to abuse a senior bureaucrat Hmm, corrigendum or not, that was intended, but then again MKN still has his job. That said, it is good to know that the Sangh leadership is finally managing to talk up against the extortionists that are the rabblerousers and rioters across the country.
The BJP's 'Digital Cell' is trying hard to project Advani as youthful, through his 'website', and in the process is sending a lot of money to Mountain View but incidents like Mangalore do not help, demographics and voter profiles are changing and until the Sangh can get a grip of its loony wing and get kids into the fold, things are not going to change. India needs a credible right-of-centre party and increasingly, it seems to be the Congress which after ditching the Commies has started treading ever so slightly to the right.
Also, there was this very interesting graphic in Mint (PDF) recently and that puts what P. Sainath (who in reference to later in this post, refused a gong) says in context. Sainath accused mainstream media of ignoring agrarian India and well, looking at 2008 coverage that is horribly true (though, The Hindu was also measured). However, I suspect that 'International Affairs' includes all news of Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka and lets be honest our neighbours have been newsy this year and I'm sure that 95 per cent of the coverage was from these three countries, four per cent on Obama and one per cent on the rest of the world. 'National Security and Defence', I presume would include all terror blasts and 2008 had one hell of a lot of them. Yup, go down the chain and you see that 'Public Policy & Governance', 'Education' and 'Science & Tech' is way down the list. As the column accompanying the graphic says, this should be a wake-up call to Editors, there can be substantial improvements in coverage.
A little birdie tells me in reference to a 'pompous ass' mention in a Sunday column that someone is very upset that he didn't get a gong. Journalists close to the government always get gongs and god forbid that the BJP come back to power later this year and all chances of any gongs or Parliamentary posts might go away. But to abuse a senior bureaucrat Hmm, corrigendum or not, that was intended, but then again MKN still has his job. That said, it is good to know that the Sangh leadership is finally managing to talk up against the extortionists that are the rabblerousers and rioters across the country.
The BJP's 'Digital Cell' is trying hard to project Advani as youthful, through his 'website', and in the process is sending a lot of money to Mountain View but incidents like Mangalore do not help, demographics and voter profiles are changing and until the Sangh can get a grip of its loony wing and get kids into the fold, things are not going to change. India needs a credible right-of-centre party and increasingly, it seems to be the Congress which after ditching the Commies has started treading ever so slightly to the right.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Peace?
The Israelis and Palestinians can't do it, but over at everyone's favourite sniping ground HT House, it seems peace has broken out. Unless this column was written earlier. But that is unlikely, but then again. And when it comes to the Campaign story, I really have to be back The V here, the flyer was decidedly one-sided. Some people know why, but it seems that the master of ad-sales still has some friends in the world. And my god, as I am watching 'Slumdog Millionaire' again with my brother, I suddenly realise how bad some of the acting is, alright Anil Kapoor has to ham, and he does it well. But, seriously, I'm dreading the papers even if Rahman wins a deserved Oscar. If Slumdog doesn't win, just read the conspiracy theories on the fourth of February. No, you'll end up watching them throughout on the third. And if Slumdog does win, God help us all!
EDIT: According to his website, this was his last column and Pursuits will henceforth appear only online. So peace obviously has not spread, oh well so much for hoping. Also while similar to a previous column on spies, this was a new column.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Hoo Boy!
I don't quite believe everybody has realised just how much shit has been thrown up by The V's unprecedented attack on Mint. But there was, as the Israeli's would say 'unintended casualties', one of them being Campaign India which was brushed of as 'never heard of'. Maybe that is because Mint also has a little thing called 'Campaign' (or had) but Campaign (the real one) is one of the leading advertising publications in the world, and though I am not a regular reader my friends in advertising tell me that the Indian edition (much like most 'Indian' editions) is not a patch on the British one. Anant Rangaswami of Campaign India takes serious objection to The V's article and well, calls The V a liar for saying 'never heard of'. This is getting to be so much fun!
Lightning Rod
I really didn’t think that 2009 would start with a media bang – first a letter of resignation and then a column of indignation. Both posts became lightning rods for comments from both sides. Not that I should be surprised after the events of December 2007 and January 2008 when a constant stream of News X news flowed through this blog. And I take issue up with Vir, not just because he holds exchange4media up as a paragon of journalism (please!) but because I believe the coverage here was far better than anywhere else. Just kidding but anyway.
People have called and asked me what I think on the matter, now I’ve got divided loyalties. I believe Vir is a blessed writer, one of the best in the country. On television, it might be a different thing, but he is an amazing writer. Sukumar has the country’s best collection of graphic novels. In fact, both these guys have a bit in common with their attitude towards plebs, far too much in common, but I’m not going to go into that issue.
What would I have done? Lets look at it from both sides with my rather limited understanding of the media after almost a decade of working here and generally being myself.
As a columnist whose column was dropped, I would have written an indignant column in a rival paper or now that technology (of all things, given the person involved) allows make sure that I write a stinging rebuke (far better than the column incidentally) and make sure that it ‘leaks’ out to a media content ‘aggregator’ or ‘blog’ from a friendly source – which is exactly what happened and then wait and watch the fun from the moral high ground.
Also, remember to buy enough bandwidth to make sure that when two hundred people press the link on aforementioned blog (mine) at the same time the site doesn’t go under and leads to another round of speculation.
As an editor, it is my prerogative to decide which column goes through and which column doesn’t. No-one else can decide that, and no columnist, no matter how good (even Jeremy Clarkson or A.A Gill good), has absolute rights. However, given the equation in this case – this is no ordinary columnist not just because of his writing – I believe the piece should have been carried. Along with a rebuttal, a detailed rebuttal of the allegations mentioned in the piece and not least of all the bunkum about ‘gut’ feeling.
Sure, many of us are very lazy, but if we all started writing articles based on gut feeling, I would be spending a lot of time with Ramalinga Raju in jail for defamation or write that the price of fuel might come down by ten bucks based on some random sheet of paper, the fact of the matter is that political reportage still has that cloudy area where contacts determine everything, business reportage is based a lot on facts and figures reported to SEBI. The rules were made by politicians. Just because I might feel that daal mein kuch kala hai doesn’t mean I say it without resorting to facts. Sentiments are nice, but you can not be sentimental (in a matter of speaking) when writing. And what is with the Dhirubhai Ambani love?
Not least because that the columnist involved was an interested party and while I agree that Mint’s initial coverage of the INX saga was very one-sided, once their other media reporter (and I wish Sruthijeet all the best at ContentSutra, he is one the country’s best media reporters) came onboard the coverage improved manifold. Doing so would still have stirred the honey-pot and the bees might still have stung, but the moral high ground would not have been ceded.
Listen these are just my two cents on the matter. I know there are far higher political hi-jinx behind all of this and the philosophy of ‘never forget, never forgive’, is in play. By no means is this the end of the matter, and I will try and keep everybody posted on what happens next. As always please do comment and leave your opinions. Have a great weekend and Republic Day.
People have called and asked me what I think on the matter, now I’ve got divided loyalties. I believe Vir is a blessed writer, one of the best in the country. On television, it might be a different thing, but he is an amazing writer. Sukumar has the country’s best collection of graphic novels. In fact, both these guys have a bit in common with their attitude towards plebs, far too much in common, but I’m not going to go into that issue.
What would I have done? Lets look at it from both sides with my rather limited understanding of the media after almost a decade of working here and generally being myself.
As a columnist whose column was dropped, I would have written an indignant column in a rival paper or now that technology (of all things, given the person involved) allows make sure that I write a stinging rebuke (far better than the column incidentally) and make sure that it ‘leaks’ out to a media content ‘aggregator’ or ‘blog’ from a friendly source – which is exactly what happened and then wait and watch the fun from the moral high ground.
Also, remember to buy enough bandwidth to make sure that when two hundred people press the link on aforementioned blog (mine) at the same time the site doesn’t go under and leads to another round of speculation.
As an editor, it is my prerogative to decide which column goes through and which column doesn’t. No-one else can decide that, and no columnist, no matter how good (even Jeremy Clarkson or A.A Gill good), has absolute rights. However, given the equation in this case – this is no ordinary columnist not just because of his writing – I believe the piece should have been carried. Along with a rebuttal, a detailed rebuttal of the allegations mentioned in the piece and not least of all the bunkum about ‘gut’ feeling.
Sure, many of us are very lazy, but if we all started writing articles based on gut feeling, I would be spending a lot of time with Ramalinga Raju in jail for defamation or write that the price of fuel might come down by ten bucks based on some random sheet of paper, the fact of the matter is that political reportage still has that cloudy area where contacts determine everything, business reportage is based a lot on facts and figures reported to SEBI. The rules were made by politicians. Just because I might feel that daal mein kuch kala hai doesn’t mean I say it without resorting to facts. Sentiments are nice, but you can not be sentimental (in a matter of speaking) when writing. And what is with the Dhirubhai Ambani love?
Not least because that the columnist involved was an interested party and while I agree that Mint’s initial coverage of the INX saga was very one-sided, once their other media reporter (and I wish Sruthijeet all the best at ContentSutra, he is one the country’s best media reporters) came onboard the coverage improved manifold. Doing so would still have stirred the honey-pot and the bees might still have stung, but the moral high ground would not have been ceded.
Listen these are just my two cents on the matter. I know there are far higher political hi-jinx behind all of this and the philosophy of ‘never forget, never forgive’, is in play. By no means is this the end of the matter, and I will try and keep everybody posted on what happens next. As always please do comment and leave your opinions. Have a great weekend and Republic Day.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Hello, I'm back...
Miss Me?
Apparently, quite a few people did. I didn't shut down the blog, but I did take some time off-line, no Internet and the phone number was a new AT&T number and since in the US they charge you for the 'privilege' of getting a text message, I got the news about Mint at a considerable cost to myself. The US is an insane telecom market, and a pretty crazy media market too. But nothing can come close to the Middle East, I was stuck with a bunch of Arabs and Lebanese (including a diva who will make some of our telly Diva's tantrums look ordinary) who could only talk about a shoe. Or the lack of one.
Anyway, back to the media. One person is heading back to the US and two others have run away to Rio. I have previously on this blog admitted that I like Mint, and I maintain that Mint is a great way to catch two-three day old WSJ features for cheap and Mint itself does some pretty good features, but the paper has a startling lack of news nowadays. Which is strange considering the Wall Street Journal carries one hell of a lot of 'news', even though in the US the 'economy' is the big news. Along with a shoe, that is. In my two weeks in the States, I got inundated with shoe references. But that is besides the point really.
Why did Raju N run away? Well, he does get a nice India reference on the resume, but in a way the end of the SAJA-era in Mint will not be mourned by many. Raju, by all indications has been wanting to leave for a while. And that should also help Mint bring down its costs. Suku is a great guy, even though he has a scary fetish with Alan Moore, though that is a hell of a lot better than the fetishes some editors have. But, seeing the 'new' Mint of late, and while it still looks good, it is being hollow on straight news by a suddenly improved Business Standard.
And as one person I spoke to pointed out, the success or failure of an editor should not be judged whether they launched a 'good' product or a 'well-designed' product, but whether the product is profitable or at least has a clear path to profitability. Mint, and to be fair, it is not alone, does not have one. Some predicted that Mint would have a purge, and such a thing might be good for the newspaper. Periodic purges help media organisation just as much as they help political parties (so in that case, why hasn't there been one in ET, the other horribly bloated and rapidly degrading media outlet there? My logic does not always hold true). A leaner, meaner Mint might be good for everyone involved, including HT Media's bottom line. Mint still does some good features, but with the agreement with WSJ going to run out sooner or later, the paper needs to stand on its own two feet, and right now it is barely able to crawl.
And page counts are taking a terrible hit aren't they? The era of 28 pages seems to have come and gone. And as for the couple in Rio, evidently Brazil does not have a extradition treaty with Singapore, but I'm not quite sure of that. Anyway, it also appears that the number of suitors for the network in question now involves every media house there is, but with holes being found during the audit trail, things aren't good. Let me get back up to speed and I'll ply you with more info.
Apparently, quite a few people did. I didn't shut down the blog, but I did take some time off-line, no Internet and the phone number was a new AT&T number and since in the US they charge you for the 'privilege' of getting a text message, I got the news about Mint at a considerable cost to myself. The US is an insane telecom market, and a pretty crazy media market too. But nothing can come close to the Middle East, I was stuck with a bunch of Arabs and Lebanese (including a diva who will make some of our telly Diva's tantrums look ordinary) who could only talk about a shoe. Or the lack of one.
Anyway, back to the media. One person is heading back to the US and two others have run away to Rio. I have previously on this blog admitted that I like Mint, and I maintain that Mint is a great way to catch two-three day old WSJ features for cheap and Mint itself does some pretty good features, but the paper has a startling lack of news nowadays. Which is strange considering the Wall Street Journal carries one hell of a lot of 'news', even though in the US the 'economy' is the big news. Along with a shoe, that is. In my two weeks in the States, I got inundated with shoe references. But that is besides the point really.
Why did Raju N run away? Well, he does get a nice India reference on the resume, but in a way the end of the SAJA-era in Mint will not be mourned by many. Raju, by all indications has been wanting to leave for a while. And that should also help Mint bring down its costs. Suku is a great guy, even though he has a scary fetish with Alan Moore, though that is a hell of a lot better than the fetishes some editors have. But, seeing the 'new' Mint of late, and while it still looks good, it is being hollow on straight news by a suddenly improved Business Standard.
And as one person I spoke to pointed out, the success or failure of an editor should not be judged whether they launched a 'good' product or a 'well-designed' product, but whether the product is profitable or at least has a clear path to profitability. Mint, and to be fair, it is not alone, does not have one. Some predicted that Mint would have a purge, and such a thing might be good for the newspaper. Periodic purges help media organisation just as much as they help political parties (so in that case, why hasn't there been one in ET, the other horribly bloated and rapidly degrading media outlet there? My logic does not always hold true). A leaner, meaner Mint might be good for everyone involved, including HT Media's bottom line. Mint still does some good features, but with the agreement with WSJ going to run out sooner or later, the paper needs to stand on its own two feet, and right now it is barely able to crawl.
And page counts are taking a terrible hit aren't they? The era of 28 pages seems to have come and gone. And as for the couple in Rio, evidently Brazil does not have a extradition treaty with Singapore, but I'm not quite sure of that. Anyway, it also appears that the number of suitors for the network in question now involves every media house there is, but with holes being found during the audit trail, things aren't good. Let me get back up to speed and I'll ply you with more info.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
In the name of Fair and Balanced
Just to prove that I'm not Fox News - Barkha gave an interview to Mint earlier today and I disagree with the main thread, the media is the fourth estate and like any other 'estate' int is fallible and it is answerable to those who watch and read it. Targeting the media is being done by whom right now? The public, and Ms. Dutt they have the right to target you as much as they have the right to target me. You are a higher profile journalist and therefore get more criticism than most, but to argue that you (or 'the media' at large) doesn't deserve criticism is juvenile. Barkha has also written a massively long monologue on the NDTV website, best of luck if you can finish reading it, but still did not answer a few questions about her coverage, but anyway... Actually I'm hungry right now and need something to eat.
PS: NDTV's stock is one of the highest climbers on the NSE today, climbing 28.3% - it is still trading at under a quarter of its peak value, but something is cooking. Is there actually a deal in place to dispose of the Entertainment business or was HT's defence of NDTV a sign that something really spicy is cooking there. Bad move for both if you ask me personally from an editorial point of view (not just given the links with CNN-IBN) but strategically it does make sense - print needs TV and TV needs print and dot-coms suck any which way. That said, seeing more junk from NDTV Profit in Mint would be sad!
PS: NDTV's stock is one of the highest climbers on the NSE today, climbing 28.3% - it is still trading at under a quarter of its peak value, but something is cooking. Is there actually a deal in place to dispose of the Entertainment business or was HT's defence of NDTV a sign that something really spicy is cooking there. Bad move for both if you ask me personally from an editorial point of view (not just given the links with CNN-IBN) but strategically it does make sense - print needs TV and TV needs print and dot-coms suck any which way. That said, seeing more junk from NDTV Profit in Mint would be sad!
EDIT: Some of the posts on the aforementioned Facebook group wall make for bad reading for UndieTV. Actually, I would be worried that this group is getting larger and larger and people who would otherwise be sympathetic to the channel are joining up. As someone I know told me just now about my epithet for the channel - 'Is barr toh chaddi utar gayi!'
Don't get me wrong by the way, I am not some right-wing loony railing against NDTV. One of my dearest friends is a senior reporter there and I dispassionately believe that he is one of the best reporters in what he covers. There are several brilliant reporters and journalists who work in that organisation. But, anger, and particularly this sort of post-mortem anger comes for a reason and that is the reason I'm banging away about the profession needing to take last week's event as an excuse for some serious introspection. And that could start by NDTV stopping to 'censor' comments on Barkha's reply immaturely. Listen, I put a hell of a lot of comments that are rather rude to me up here. It is called taking the rough with the smooth, maybe taking things with a more rational bent would do you guys some good.
And while I won't link back lest I reveal my identity, but a shout-out to RS! Thanks, but do I really rant that much?
Saturday, October 25, 2008
And before I sign off for the weekend...
Just thought I would bring something to every one's notice, though I'm a bit late to the party.
Raju says that Sunita is a 'thief' (or at least employs thieves). (would this be called Copyright 'Infringemint' in this case?)
SpicyIP's take on the issue - (this is a great blog for anyone who tracks IP matters in India).
Such fun! Stay tuned for more and wait until Sunita's 'dear friend' Suhel wades into the issue.
PS: Anyone else planning a trip down to watch Russell Peters in Delhi? And Vodafone please stop sending me twenty SMS's a day with messages that I can win money and women by calling a special number.
Raju says that Sunita is a 'thief' (or at least employs thieves). (would this be called Copyright 'Infringemint' in this case?)
SpicyIP's take on the issue - (this is a great blog for anyone who tracks IP matters in India).
Such fun! Stay tuned for more and wait until Sunita's 'dear friend' Suhel wades into the issue.
PS: Anyone else planning a trip down to watch Russell Peters in Delhi? And Vodafone please stop sending me twenty SMS's a day with messages that I can win money and women by calling a special number.
EDIT: I've been sitting in office waiting for playbacks and generally surfing around - found a fantastic blog which a sure sign of the times!
Monday, October 13, 2008
A Contrarian View
Yes, I like reading Mint and no I'm not angling for a job there - even though Mint pays bucket loads of cash, even if you barely have enough experience. But, let us not go there. I got this rather angry email from a reader who wanted this printed - this isn't defamatory or scurrilous sadly, but to the guys at Mint who read this blog, pass the contents of the post below on to RN, since it is addressed to him (this blog is only the notepad).
PS: Before the post, I hear that our Sonia's Goebbels is on his death-bed? I have no love lost for Priya Ranjan, but the guy supposedly has a collapsed left ventricle. I doubt there will be dramatic changes in media policy if PRDM were to go now, but he did a fantastic job herding the masses during the Nuclear vote. As for Indian football, well we languish in the 120's now, but there have been flickering signs of life lately.
---------------------
Dear Mr. Narisetti,
I'm a believer like you are. I believe in the transformative force of journalism, and the written word in particular. That's why I've braved low salaries, professional humiliation, inflated egos {"I'm as good as Henry Luce, if not better," proclaimed one editor in a closed door "knowledge" (I hate to use the franchise-contracting, vernacular expression "gyaan") durbar he loved to hold}, and virtual ostracisation from my community in one little corner of the country that your paper loves to homogeneously lump as "south of the Vindhyas".
I believe that human beings—artistes, politicians, writers, bureaucrats, entrepreneurs, and even journalists—are at their creative and innovative best when they set out to create wealth. There's no greater joy and excitement in this world than chronicling that process of wealth creation. Business journalism gives you that vantage point. I shared your belief about the crying need for "lighthouse" journalism as opposed to the "lamppost" journalism being practiced in much of the mainstream media in India. It sounded like a line from one of your SAJA convention speeches, but on face value, it did sound most noble.
Looking at the rather eclectic collection of bylines in your paper, it appears you don't have time of the day for anyone who hasn't been a general assignment reporter, or at least an office help at Smyrna Post or such like. I'm not so sure if you'd take someone who's hardly crossed the shores of this country inhabited by the great unwashed, too seriously, but here's my two paise worth anyways.
I read you blog "Kudos to The Economic Times" dated September 28, 2008 where you manifest your elation at the business news market leader The Economic Times waking up to the fundamentals of good journalism. Maybe it's my blinkered worldview, but I'm not so sure if it befits the editor (who in private circles claims to run the only world class print product in India) to reproduce the internal memos written by a rival editor. This when you can't even be 100 per cent sure of the letter's provenance and veracity. I clicked on the top right corner of your website to check if the Mint "Code of Ethics" has any clues. "Editors, by virtue of their positions of authority, must be ethical role models for all employees. An important part of an editor's leadership responsibility is to exhibit the highest standards of integrity in all dealings with employees, customers and the world at large. Editors must avoid even implicit or unspoken approval of any actions that may be damaging to the reputation of HT Media, and must always exercise sound business judgment in the performance of their duties," says para VII. If it is transparency and the readers'-right-to-know that you put above everything else, wouldn't your paper have served such interests better by explicitly naming the trouble besieged private bank that was borrowing short-term funds at a scary 20 per cent-plus interest rate? Surely, sir, the goings on at a bank that has safe keeps the hard-earned monies of millions of Indians is more important than the internal machinations of a paper you and your closest colleagues loathe.
Mint's coverage of the media as any other business sector was a refreshing change. In an environment where proprietor interests made it virtually impossible for journalists to write objectively about rival media houses, Mint's reportage was praiseworthy till you undid all the good work by putting out a biased and self-congratulatory audit of news reports soon after Budget 2008. Mint not surprisingly came out smelling of roses having got nearly every Budget related story right whereas, you primary rival ET, according to your painstaking research put out just about 10 accurate stories out of 15 in the run up to the annual February end exercise that one of your most important lieutenants had consigned to the dustbins not so long ago. You claim to know little about ET's editor Rahul Joshi. Neither do I (I've only heard about his legendary ambidextrous prowess with the Blackberry, and his ability to text at the speed of light) nor do I hold a brief for the paper he edits. But as a reader, I'm certain ET carried more than the 15 Budget stories you cared give it credit for in you audit. On the matter of reproducing the letter (and not for the first time in your paper) in question, do I detect a voyeuristic pleasure? You claim that "the reason to applaud ET is not to make this a back-handed compliment". A few sentences later you quote your deputy's bottomline. "Let's continue to focus on what we do and need to do and not on what others don't do." Well if that wasn't a back-handed compliment, show me another.
Actually, your deputy is right. You'd do well focus on what you should do. For a start, give the readers news, and stop pretending to be WSJ's facsimile edition. All this "unbiased and clear-minded chronicling of the Indian dream" appears quite like the "discovery of India" trips undertaken by the green horn heir apparent of the country leading political party. Just as he discovered the plight of Vidarbha cotton farmers last year, one of your editors too woke up to pleasures of hailing a radio taxi in our metros, a good two years after some of these happy chappies made their crores in this business. And in the latest (beer sodden) issue of your much acclaimed weekend magazine Lounge, you told us about the abundant supplies of craft beer in India (or was it Gurgaon?). Helpful tip: It helps to get out of your gated Delhi colonies, and swanky condos to look for a story.
Sir, honourable practitioners of this profession did exist (the owner of this blog, for example) before you decided play the knight-in-the-shining-armour. And this was by no means a Mickey Mouse journalism league, for you, and your fellow brown sahibs to come rescue. Get off your high horses, stop the grandstanding (this country can't handle two N Ram's for gods sake), and remember it's not the White Man's Burden anymore. As businesses discover everywhere in the world, arrogance towards the local market is the highway to Erehwon (Kellogs found that out, and maybe in the course of time you too will).
Your friend Lefley in Cincinnati won't disagree.
--------------------------
PS: Before the post, I hear that our Sonia's Goebbels is on his death-bed? I have no love lost for Priya Ranjan, but the guy supposedly has a collapsed left ventricle. I doubt there will be dramatic changes in media policy if PRDM were to go now, but he did a fantastic job herding the masses during the Nuclear vote. As for Indian football, well we languish in the 120's now, but there have been flickering signs of life lately.
---------------------
Dear Mr. Narisetti,
I'm a believer like you are. I believe in the transformative force of journalism, and the written word in particular. That's why I've braved low salaries, professional humiliation, inflated egos {"I'm as good as Henry Luce, if not better," proclaimed one editor in a closed door "knowledge" (I hate to use the franchise-contracting, vernacular expression "gyaan") durbar he loved to hold}, and virtual ostracisation from my community in one little corner of the country that your paper loves to homogeneously lump as "south of the Vindhyas".
I believe that human beings—artistes, politicians, writers, bureaucrats, entrepreneurs, and even journalists—are at their creative and innovative best when they set out to create wealth. There's no greater joy and excitement in this world than chronicling that process of wealth creation. Business journalism gives you that vantage point. I shared your belief about the crying need for "lighthouse" journalism as opposed to the "lamppost" journalism being practiced in much of the mainstream media in India. It sounded like a line from one of your SAJA convention speeches, but on face value, it did sound most noble.
Looking at the rather eclectic collection of bylines in your paper, it appears you don't have time of the day for anyone who hasn't been a general assignment reporter, or at least an office help at Smyrna Post or such like. I'm not so sure if you'd take someone who's hardly crossed the shores of this country inhabited by the great unwashed, too seriously, but here's my two paise worth anyways.
I read you blog "Kudos to The Economic Times" dated September 28, 2008 where you manifest your elation at the business news market leader The Economic Times waking up to the fundamentals of good journalism. Maybe it's my blinkered worldview, but I'm not so sure if it befits the editor (who in private circles claims to run the only world class print product in India) to reproduce the internal memos written by a rival editor. This when you can't even be 100 per cent sure of the letter's provenance and veracity. I clicked on the top right corner of your website to check if the Mint "Code of Ethics" has any clues. "Editors, by virtue of their positions of authority, must be ethical role models for all employees. An important part of an editor's leadership responsibility is to exhibit the highest standards of integrity in all dealings with employees, customers and the world at large. Editors must avoid even implicit or unspoken approval of any actions that may be damaging to the reputation of HT Media, and must always exercise sound business judgment in the performance of their duties," says para VII. If it is transparency and the readers'-right-to-know that you put above everything else, wouldn't your paper have served such interests better by explicitly naming the trouble besieged private bank that was borrowing short-term funds at a scary 20 per cent-plus interest rate? Surely, sir, the goings on at a bank that has safe keeps the hard-earned monies of millions of Indians is more important than the internal machinations of a paper you and your closest colleagues loathe.
Mint's coverage of the media as any other business sector was a refreshing change. In an environment where proprietor interests made it virtually impossible for journalists to write objectively about rival media houses, Mint's reportage was praiseworthy till you undid all the good work by putting out a biased and self-congratulatory audit of news reports soon after Budget 2008. Mint not surprisingly came out smelling of roses having got nearly every Budget related story right whereas, you primary rival ET, according to your painstaking research put out just about 10 accurate stories out of 15 in the run up to the annual February end exercise that one of your most important lieutenants had consigned to the dustbins not so long ago. You claim to know little about ET's editor Rahul Joshi. Neither do I (I've only heard about his legendary ambidextrous prowess with the Blackberry, and his ability to text at the speed of light) nor do I hold a brief for the paper he edits. But as a reader, I'm certain ET carried more than the 15 Budget stories you cared give it credit for in you audit. On the matter of reproducing the letter (and not for the first time in your paper) in question, do I detect a voyeuristic pleasure? You claim that "the reason to applaud ET is not to make this a back-handed compliment". A few sentences later you quote your deputy's bottomline. "Let's continue to focus on what we do and need to do and not on what others don't do." Well if that wasn't a back-handed compliment, show me another.
Actually, your deputy is right. You'd do well focus on what you should do. For a start, give the readers news, and stop pretending to be WSJ's facsimile edition. All this "unbiased and clear-minded chronicling of the Indian dream" appears quite like the "discovery of India" trips undertaken by the green horn heir apparent of the country leading political party. Just as he discovered the plight of Vidarbha cotton farmers last year, one of your editors too woke up to pleasures of hailing a radio taxi in our metros, a good two years after some of these happy chappies made their crores in this business. And in the latest (beer sodden) issue of your much acclaimed weekend magazine Lounge, you told us about the abundant supplies of craft beer in India (or was it Gurgaon?). Helpful tip: It helps to get out of your gated Delhi colonies, and swanky condos to look for a story.
Sir, honourable practitioners of this profession did exist (the owner of this blog, for example) before you decided play the knight-in-the-shining-armour. And this was by no means a Mickey Mouse journalism league, for you, and your fellow brown sahibs to come rescue. Get off your high horses, stop the grandstanding (this country can't handle two N Ram's for gods sake), and remember it's not the White Man's Burden anymore. As businesses discover everywhere in the world, arrogance towards the local market is the highway to Erehwon (Kellogs found that out, and maybe in the course of time you too will).
Your friend Lefley in Cincinnati won't disagree.
--------------------------
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.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Why PR sucks in India...
When you give a product out for review, check it once before you hand it out to make sure it works. You know, that is a nice and rather simple thing to do. Instead of being mindless drones that keep calling on my mobile number unable to gauge the level of my irritation at times. "Is this a good time?" just doesn't cut it on the etiquette front - texting does. Sorry, but after having a rather harrowing day fending off some people I'm rather bugged.
As for Outlook Business, I knew that Sonal Sachdev is going to Undie Profit. What can you say - frying pan to fire or rock to hard place? I don't know which analogy fits better. And as for one comment, about how Mint resembles Apple - great looking product but lacking substance - I liked that actually. But just look at the great top of mind recall of Apple and the fact that the all the 'cool' people use Apple. That said, I would like to point out that Apple PR in India borders between the horrendous and the abysmal.
In fact, BS could well still be ahead of Mint in circulation and readership, but among the people who matter, Mint is slowly but surely building up tremendous equity. Just shows you what a little bit of patience and some decent marketing can bring about. For a previous example, just look at the way the Times decimated Deccan Herald in Bangalore and riding roughshod over HT in Delhi. The latter example is quite dramatic, it was a slow and steady erosion for years and then the 'flip' happened. I worked in HT those days and people screamed and shouted that 'HT had better editorial content' and other yada yada, while The V started a personal crusade against Medianet (though since then, paid placements have ripped through Indian journalism, everyone is guilty). But today, ToI is a strong #1 in Delhi, and strangely enough has improved its editorial ever since it took over pole position. Again, some of you might read far too much into this, but I'm just saying it as it is. Lessons have been learnt, but defensive strategies can also be formulated, and it would be interesting to see the phalanx that BCCL develops (and be assured they will) and maybe the new TV channel is a start.
And someone is desperate for me to cover NewsX and UTVi, and I'll be brutally honest - I'm sorry I just don't watch either channel. I've switched a lot of English viewing over to Times Now - and there are two (male) anchors on X whom I just can't stand (one can't speak) and UTVi somehow just doesn't seem to enthuse me. Neither channel does, you know, and there is no compelling reason to watch them. Sounds silly, but really, that is the way I feel.
As for Outlook Business, I knew that Sonal Sachdev is going to Undie Profit. What can you say - frying pan to fire or rock to hard place? I don't know which analogy fits better. And as for one comment, about how Mint resembles Apple - great looking product but lacking substance - I liked that actually. But just look at the great top of mind recall of Apple and the fact that the all the 'cool' people use Apple. That said, I would like to point out that Apple PR in India borders between the horrendous and the abysmal.
In fact, BS could well still be ahead of Mint in circulation and readership, but among the people who matter, Mint is slowly but surely building up tremendous equity. Just shows you what a little bit of patience and some decent marketing can bring about. For a previous example, just look at the way the Times decimated Deccan Herald in Bangalore and riding roughshod over HT in Delhi. The latter example is quite dramatic, it was a slow and steady erosion for years and then the 'flip' happened. I worked in HT those days and people screamed and shouted that 'HT had better editorial content' and other yada yada, while The V started a personal crusade against Medianet (though since then, paid placements have ripped through Indian journalism, everyone is guilty). But today, ToI is a strong #1 in Delhi, and strangely enough has improved its editorial ever since it took over pole position. Again, some of you might read far too much into this, but I'm just saying it as it is. Lessons have been learnt, but defensive strategies can also be formulated, and it would be interesting to see the phalanx that BCCL develops (and be assured they will) and maybe the new TV channel is a start.
And someone is desperate for me to cover NewsX and UTVi, and I'll be brutally honest - I'm sorry I just don't watch either channel. I've switched a lot of English viewing over to Times Now - and there are two (male) anchors on X whom I just can't stand (one can't speak) and UTVi somehow just doesn't seem to enthuse me. Neither channel does, you know, and there is no compelling reason to watch them. Sounds silly, but really, that is the way I feel.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Take back the city tonight...
This is the reference to the headline in case you're interested. And the single is already out on the torrent sites, sometimes I wonder if I am actually downloading faster than I can watch stuff after my speed upgrade with Airtel, which is worth every penny if you ask me.
I still maintain that Mint is beating all other papers hands-down on their financial markets meltdown coverage - tight focussed, no mad large point size headlines but decent, rational coverage. I guess I'm part of a small (but gradually increasing) minority, but as a business journalist I have switched over to Mint as my first business paper. I still read Times of India first - the loo read, but Mint is now the tea read. Don't get me wrong, ET still has a hell of a lot of news, much, much more news than Mint, but you can do a quick scan and get everything. . Other than the political pages of ET, which are dangerously right-wing and quite entertaining (in language terms, but I won't get bitchy now).
Not reading ET in the morning is still heresy, whereas not reading the other papers is quite acceptable - think about it, everybody has a finite amount of time. So two general papers (ToI and EchTee) and two business papers (ET and Papermint) plus Mail Today for sheer entertainment and drama value. I completely agree with Sandip on the point that Mint has taken a massive lead over the others in brand-recall terms. And for that, they have to be congratulated, but I really do not feel there is sufficient space for yet another paper right now. Sure there might be if you consider that a paper is nothing but a billboard printed on paper, but I would rather spend my time doing something more productive than reading ten newspaper.
That said, Mint's on-again, off-again TV venture might never take off if ET TV manages to position their heavy artillery correctly. Though, if I understand correctly from some folks who have shifted there, there is an idea to to have some sort of integration between the supplements and the TV channel. So you'll see Brand Equity and Corporate Dossier on TV. Which given the current state of those two supplements may not be the best idea, they both need a dose of Viagra. Maybe TV will be that Viagra, who knows?
Plus, while Outlook is on the verge of launching a man's magazine, the group could be shutting one of its three business magazines, and given that Outlook Money is a market leader in a very small market, I'm not so sure what that holds for the other two. This at a time when rumours of Outlook's long-term prospects are being bandied about, especially since there is very likely going to be an ownership change. Plus, is the Sakaal Times dream finally over, with one bunch of contracts town up?
Also, the slowdown has meant that some plans of launching additional channels by several groups, including a couple of real-estate companies might be put on hold. Inflation is up, and provional numbers are usually a little off. I don't know if the hold-out will be till the state elections in a few months. Talking about elections, Madam Shiela of the crazy bus project is looking less and less likely to win. When a senior BJP leader whose name has been bandied about as a potential CM of Delhi (but he claims he is better off as a BJP strategist) jokingly says that the "BRT Corridor is imposing economic sanctions on those who live on it", (in context of him missing a couple of court appearances, despite leaving well on time) I have hopes that the project will finally be shown the door.
Only a couple of months to go for the nightmare that two mad professor's placed in South Delhi to be over! Long live democracy! And I'm opening my edition of Spore tonight, so if I disppear for a few days, I'll be on my home PC on a lot of Red Bull.
I still maintain that Mint is beating all other papers hands-down on their financial markets meltdown coverage - tight focussed, no mad large point size headlines but decent, rational coverage. I guess I'm part of a small (but gradually increasing) minority, but as a business journalist I have switched over to Mint as my first business paper. I still read Times of India first - the loo read, but Mint is now the tea read. Don't get me wrong, ET still has a hell of a lot of news, much, much more news than Mint, but you can do a quick scan and get everything. . Other than the political pages of ET, which are dangerously right-wing and quite entertaining (in language terms, but I won't get bitchy now).
Not reading ET in the morning is still heresy, whereas not reading the other papers is quite acceptable - think about it, everybody has a finite amount of time. So two general papers (ToI and EchTee) and two business papers (ET and Papermint) plus Mail Today for sheer entertainment and drama value. I completely agree with Sandip on the point that Mint has taken a massive lead over the others in brand-recall terms. And for that, they have to be congratulated, but I really do not feel there is sufficient space for yet another paper right now. Sure there might be if you consider that a paper is nothing but a billboard printed on paper, but I would rather spend my time doing something more productive than reading ten newspaper.
That said, Mint's on-again, off-again TV venture might never take off if ET TV manages to position their heavy artillery correctly. Though, if I understand correctly from some folks who have shifted there, there is an idea to to have some sort of integration between the supplements and the TV channel. So you'll see Brand Equity and Corporate Dossier on TV. Which given the current state of those two supplements may not be the best idea, they both need a dose of Viagra. Maybe TV will be that Viagra, who knows?
Plus, while Outlook is on the verge of launching a man's magazine, the group could be shutting one of its three business magazines, and given that Outlook Money is a market leader in a very small market, I'm not so sure what that holds for the other two. This at a time when rumours of Outlook's long-term prospects are being bandied about, especially since there is very likely going to be an ownership change. Plus, is the Sakaal Times dream finally over, with one bunch of contracts town up?
Also, the slowdown has meant that some plans of launching additional channels by several groups, including a couple of real-estate companies might be put on hold. Inflation is up, and provional numbers are usually a little off. I don't know if the hold-out will be till the state elections in a few months. Talking about elections, Madam Shiela of the crazy bus project is looking less and less likely to win. When a senior BJP leader whose name has been bandied about as a potential CM of Delhi (but he claims he is better off as a BJP strategist) jokingly says that the "BRT Corridor is imposing economic sanctions on those who live on it", (in context of him missing a couple of court appearances, despite leaving well on time) I have hopes that the project will finally be shown the door.
Only a couple of months to go for the nightmare that two mad professor's placed in South Delhi to be over! Long live democracy! And I'm opening my edition of Spore tonight, so if I disppear for a few days, I'll be on my home PC on a lot of Red Bull.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
General Rants.
Has anybody noticed that a couple of papers have very quietly increased their news-stand prices over the past few days? The cost of newsprint is beginning to hit home hard, particularly with salary budgets for editorial being massively overshot (primarily because they were unreasonably low in the first place). Anyway, on the gossip front the latest concerns Outlook Group, and the gist of the story goes that the group is up for saleand that the old, bespectacled man who runs the place wants to go and start something new all over again. Yawn!
Anyway, Mint and CNBC-TV18's coverage of the global meltdown yesterday was far superior to that of the competition simply because they happened to have the 'alliances' in place. I think CNBC-TV18 did the smartest thing by switching over to US markets coverage instead of boring the world with their evening schedule and Mint's coverage today was brilliant. Though, I do think that it was a particularly unfortunate day for Morgan Stanley to place a front-page advert in both ET and Mint. Though, personally, my favourite story in Mint today was buried deep inside. Great feature and with the general interest news-magazines obsessed with Bollywood and Lifestyle, I guess the papers will take over the highly readable social interest features space.
I don't know why, but Mint is slowly becoming great lazy afternoon reading - still doesn't quite fit into the essential morning read category for me, but definately a paper to chew over - and it freshens your breath as well.
No wait...
As for the comment that seeing pictures of death and devastation will help us grow balls, I don't think so. Here is the problem, thanks to mass media pictures of death and devastation has made many of us immune to pictures of suffering, we all live with thirty-second attention spans. Heck, I don't know what I started writing this post on - "Oh shit, people dead... Damn Liverpool is winning over Man U... She slept with whom?" Those are our lives, we mourn if we have to mourn, but the rest of the world carries on.
I just think that some channels went overboard on Saturday, they added to the panic and confusion - created scrums at Hospitals blocking entrances for medical personnel and blast victims and generally were a nuisance. Maybe something good will happen out of the market meltdown, meybe some investors will start pulling out - maybe we'll see 400 channels instead of 500.
Anyway, Mint and CNBC-TV18's coverage of the global meltdown yesterday was far superior to that of the competition simply because they happened to have the 'alliances' in place. I think CNBC-TV18 did the smartest thing by switching over to US markets coverage instead of boring the world with their evening schedule and Mint's coverage today was brilliant. Though, I do think that it was a particularly unfortunate day for Morgan Stanley to place a front-page advert in both ET and Mint. Though, personally, my favourite story in Mint today was buried deep inside. Great feature and with the general interest news-magazines obsessed with Bollywood and Lifestyle, I guess the papers will take over the highly readable social interest features space.
I don't know why, but Mint is slowly becoming great lazy afternoon reading - still doesn't quite fit into the essential morning read category for me, but definately a paper to chew over - and it freshens your breath as well.
No wait...
As for the comment that seeing pictures of death and devastation will help us grow balls, I don't think so. Here is the problem, thanks to mass media pictures of death and devastation has made many of us immune to pictures of suffering, we all live with thirty-second attention spans. Heck, I don't know what I started writing this post on - "Oh shit, people dead... Damn Liverpool is winning over Man U... She slept with whom?" Those are our lives, we mourn if we have to mourn, but the rest of the world carries on.
I just think that some channels went overboard on Saturday, they added to the panic and confusion - created scrums at Hospitals blocking entrances for medical personnel and blast victims and generally were a nuisance. Maybe something good will happen out of the market meltdown, meybe some investors will start pulling out - maybe we'll see 400 channels instead of 500.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Monday, June 02, 2008
Trouble at HT Media?
You don't have to make up stories about HT anymore. Not that I ever did.
The Resident Editor of the Delhi paper is off to Dubai and this fact has been written about by a Gulf newspaper. (EDIT: Link corrected) The RE of the Bombay edition runs off for a three-month holiday with his wife, who heads the weekend supplement of the group's financial paper by threatening to quit. Increment's are so bad at the main paper that tens of more people are leaving to join anywhere they can find (now, apparently Sakaal Times is the latest destination - Sharad Pawar's not so bright political fortunes aside), and it seems people on the edit page of the paper have no idea of the term 'copyright'.
Of course, these poor increments are offset by the fact that Papermint is handing out huge salaries, though after the recent shuffle at the top, is supposedly looking for a new new boss - though that appears peculiar. This coupled together with the fact that James, a son of the Murdoch is coming to India to discuss a potential tie-up with another paper group for launching a general paper is even stranger. And there is that little thing about Papermint, have you seen their 'video reports' on their website, these are the rudimentary beginnings of their proposed business TV channel.
And as I asked in my previous post, what on earth has Vinod Mehta been smoking lately? And to answer one commenter. Yes, tech is a lot cheaper than before, and spending collosal amounts on hardware to service small numbers of customers is not a big deal anymore, leasing tech is quite common and the incremental cost of serving new customers is pretty close to zero, but you still need to spend on a decent content management system as well as some amount of fairly expensive hardware. There is a cost, and while you can set up a website for next to nothing, setting up a decent website with content coming in fairly regularly, and one one that can handle a good amount of traffic and stream videos and what have you will still cost. Of course, the cost of tech is probably lower than the cost of an overpaid and idiotic manager, but that is another story.
The Resident Editor of the Delhi paper is off to Dubai and this fact has been written about by a Gulf newspaper. (EDIT: Link corrected) The RE of the Bombay edition runs off for a three-month holiday with his wife, who heads the weekend supplement of the group's financial paper by threatening to quit. Increment's are so bad at the main paper that tens of more people are leaving to join anywhere they can find (now, apparently Sakaal Times is the latest destination - Sharad Pawar's not so bright political fortunes aside), and it seems people on the edit page of the paper have no idea of the term 'copyright'.
Of course, these poor increments are offset by the fact that Papermint is handing out huge salaries, though after the recent shuffle at the top, is supposedly looking for a new new boss - though that appears peculiar. This coupled together with the fact that James, a son of the Murdoch is coming to India to discuss a potential tie-up with another paper group for launching a general paper is even stranger. And there is that little thing about Papermint, have you seen their 'video reports' on their website, these are the rudimentary beginnings of their proposed business TV channel.
And as I asked in my previous post, what on earth has Vinod Mehta been smoking lately? And to answer one commenter. Yes, tech is a lot cheaper than before, and spending collosal amounts on hardware to service small numbers of customers is not a big deal anymore, leasing tech is quite common and the incremental cost of serving new customers is pretty close to zero, but you still need to spend on a decent content management system as well as some amount of fairly expensive hardware. There is a cost, and while you can set up a website for next to nothing, setting up a decent website with content coming in fairly regularly, and one one that can handle a good amount of traffic and stream videos and what have you will still cost. Of course, the cost of tech is probably lower than the cost of an overpaid and idiotic manager, but that is another story.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Biz TV
Since my TV life revolves around what Tata-Sky decides to show me, it appears that UTVi Business has been alive for a while but I can't see it anywhere, not even on my office telly which has an old-fashioned coaxial cable sticking out its backside. So, will wait till then. In other business channel news, Abheek is being tapped up supposedly to head up ET TV(Money TV or whatever it will be called) and Raju, who has throttled back at Papermint, supposedly will look after Mint TV, which will be HT's first foray into television since the ill-fated Home TV fiasco in the late-90's. Strange that Mint might launch a channel because another story doing the rounds is that old man Murdoch, keen to enter the Indian print market might actually 'break' the deal with HT Media (which would ironically help Mint make money) and launch something like WSJ India with either ABP, or as it seems likely the man who bought a test team for the IPL. So, sometime next year you might see the Good Times Street Journal or something as convoluted as that. Wonder where the journalists are, and I don't think I'll get a job anytime soon the way I blabber.
Oh yes, and at NDTV which has a scatterbrained 'convergence' division (they're organising a summit on 'media trends' with a sworn Luddite as the lead keynote speaker) there are plans to launch a print media division too. I don't think NDTV is quite happy that they have fallen behind TV18 in the 'companies launched recently' stakes.
Oh yes, and at NDTV which has a scatterbrained 'convergence' division (they're organising a summit on 'media trends' with a sworn Luddite as the lead keynote speaker) there are plans to launch a print media division too. I don't think NDTV is quite happy that they have fallen behind TV18 in the 'companies launched recently' stakes.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Going, going...
Yesterday during lunch I got the first of several SMSes alerting me that Jaideep Bose a.k.a Jojo, Executive Editor, Times of India is leaving for greener pastures - the reports are still conflicting some say to Star to launch Star's new newspaper/English news channel, others said he was moving to launch Raghav Behl's new business newspaper which has a tie-up with The Financial Times. Mint is jumping the gun and even writing a story about this tomorrow where Jojo has supposedly 'not denied' the rumours. Alongside that several other top ToI editors are rumoured to be quitting and joining 'other' (strangely un-named) places.
I may be wrong here, but I would go out on a limb and say that Sameer Jain is not in any danger of losing his top editorial staff. I am not sure that this is a 'posturing' game to increase salaries dramatically, but after all these folks have spent the greater part of the last three months trying to put together the Chennai product, and a decent product at that, I am not so sure they would leave. I mean there is something to be said about leaving 'on a high', but I have this suspicion that there is unfinished business to be finished at the Times.
As I said, I may be very wrong, but many of the people spreading the rumours have gotten it wrong several times before, but I am not at all sure about this. Be assured that you will hear more soon.
I may be wrong here, but I would go out on a limb and say that Sameer Jain is not in any danger of losing his top editorial staff. I am not sure that this is a 'posturing' game to increase salaries dramatically, but after all these folks have spent the greater part of the last three months trying to put together the Chennai product, and a decent product at that, I am not so sure they would leave. I mean there is something to be said about leaving 'on a high', but I have this suspicion that there is unfinished business to be finished at the Times.
As I said, I may be very wrong, but many of the people spreading the rumours have gotten it wrong several times before, but I am not at all sure about this. Be assured that you will hear more soon.
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