If my Editor's reaction to the news is any indication, Sanjaya Baru's return to journalism, in Business Standard no less, has surprised everyone. "But why?" being the obvious question followed promptly by "Why BS?" Now we can't claim to know the answers, but in the paper that is now pretty much owned by Uday Kotak, Baru's entry means that AKB's dream of becoming boss might never come to fruition. And to become the Editor of a rapidly shrinking paper is quite a fall from grace for a man who had a position equivalent to that of a Cabinet Minister.
And then there is the BJP. Now what on earth can you say about the party? All I can possibly say is that I read Plato's 'Theory of Art' in my first year and remember that the old Greek guy said that catharsis is a good thing. I can only speculate that the BJP is going through catharsis. I won't believe the endless stories of the party self-destructing that will be spread tonight, the cadre has still held unlike the Commie cadre in West Bengal. But if the cadre breaks...
In other news, top-level changes in ET's print edition are around the corner. And 'The V' has alledgedly been slapped with a legal notice for writing about brotherly love (not 377 but the Ambani spat) and this is by the adevertising one. The silent one however, I believe also very upset.
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You don't want the enmity of my friendship!
7 comments:
Dear K,
BS bashing is a common thing. However, what is surprising is that so-called commentators like you never seem to appreciate the fact that BS is an organisation that has been run over the years with a shoe-string budget.
A whole of good people have left the organisation. But Ninan has and continues to run to show and one has to admit, pretty well.
The paper, by itself, may not be best looking or breaking news. But the fact remains that it is among the top two-three 'news'papers in the country.
Unlike an ET, which can carry articles on heresay, BS seldom does that.
Of course, there are ET lovers, BL lovers and now, even Mint lovers. But what is funny is that it is so easy to bash BS.
Yes, the company doesn't go and tell the whole world that when last Mint claimed to be number 2, they lost the damn case and had to pull out the ad. -- BS never reported this.
One can easily turnaround this comment and say that Business Today suffers from a lack of vision and of course, a whole lot of sloppy editing. But then who will argue against the might of Living Media and its moolah.
India Today, the flagship magazine, is completely bereft of ideas. And Headline Today -- well you would know the story better than most.
Anyway, the basic idea was to convey that before using words like -- 'rapidly shrinking paper' and 'fall from grace'... think.
And whether you like it or not, half the senior journalists in this country have worked in BS sometime.
And Ninan continues to be a brilliant editor.
Even in these times, when behemoths like Bennet and Coleman and Living Media have suffered and cut salaries, BS cut the salaries of only the top 100. And by the way, it has been restored.
Sadly, the high and mighty cannot claim that.
K,
Any guesses who the 'six' journalists mentioned by Shourie are? I bet they won't be from BS at least but again you will have a much closer view on the subject :)
K; the BT editor has just started work and it shows the way BT has shaped in the last one year. I would love to see if someone can talk about him in the same breath as Ninan, say 20 years from now. I am not even sure if BT or the current editor will manage to hold on that long to his post out there.
It is very easy to belittle a product that stands on values and has produced some great editors, including the one who ran BT for the longest stretch. Someone, your current editor can tell you more about.
For me as a reader, and not a media professional anymore; there is reason to pick a copy of BS any day compared to copies of BT, which I am very much fine giving a miss.
K; the BT editor has just started work and it shows the way BT has shaped in the last one year. I would love to see if someone can talk about him in the same breath as Ninan, say 20 years from now. I am not even sure if BT or the current editor will manage to hold on that long to his post out there.
It is very easy to belittle a product that stands on values and has produced some great editors, including the one who ran BT for the longest stretch. Someone, your current editor can tell you more about.
For me as a reader, and not a media professional anymore; there is reason to pick a copy of BS any day compared to copies of BT, which I am very much fine giving a miss.
K; BT is known to plug stories; something that a BS would never. This is not to say that other media outlets dont succumb to it. But, then the LMI group no more has credibility or anything great to write home about. Its in fact more like the BJP of today; fossilised at the top
Dear K,
BS and Mint are perfect case studies of how money and marketing muscle can influence a newspaper's fortunes. Pick up any day's Mint and BS and try to compare them in terms of both quality and quantity. You will realise that not only Mint has less number of reports but the selection is also poor. The chaps at Mint are simply clueless about what's going on in the business world. Things have only deteriorated after Narisetti left. But still, Mint sells more.Why? Simply because it has the money to spend on "brand" promotions and print itself on a better quality paper. if Mint thinks that it can hide behind this logic of giving a "different" newspaper, then it is mistaken.
credit should go to Ninan and his team for bringing out a decent (if not an excellent one)product even after all the constraints of money and manpower. It takes lots of guts to take on the goliaths of print media, that too without blinking an eye for 15 long years.
Rumours say that there are 3 big shots in for the new RE post...(corporate, quality and opinion pages head) but if tone of them not makes the cut...can we see someone moving to BS and revitalising their depleted force?
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