It’s reason for a big Yay! On the afternoon of September 9, 2011, on the happy occasion of Onam that year, MxMIndia launched with some fanfare.
We were very clear from Day 1: that more than even our own stakeholders, our allegiance would be to you dear reader. It took a while for many in the media to get used to this. For years they’ve been happy being subjected to only positive news (and hardly any views). Like very early in our existence, some biggies at a channel weren’t too happy with what a columnist had written about them. Soon enough they figured we had no agenda, and there was no method to our madness. We just let it pass even as we were worried whether it would impact our advertising. It didn’t and the network has been an ongoing supporter in business. Over the years, there have been several attempts to silence us. We’ve also been threatened with dire consequences. Some really large corporates spewed venom or made fervent requests about what our columnists have written. As all our writers will testify, we’ve stood by them. And never got them to change their commentary.
Yes, there were a couple of times when our reporters goofed. We carried info without verifying facts. We apologised, unconditionally.
We are very careful about how we conduct ourselves. We don’t unleash newbies on to captains of the industry. We respect their time and don’t want them to be subjected to inane questions.
So what does MxMIndia stand for? Integrity.
In the world of me-toos, we attempt to be different. We don’t get too excited about breaking news. We don’t think your inbox should be inundated with movements of people or accounts about which you wouldn’t care too much. Not that we haven’t done that in the past. But we try and resist the temptation 99.5 percent of the time.
Other than our unique treatment of news, we’re known for our views. Our columnists have the licence to write on anything. Of course they do that responsibly.
We also love doing interviews. And some of our long copy interviews are fun reading. Or so people tell us.
We don’t do quid pro quos. Recently a potentially big advertiser asked for a story with the promise of year-long advertising. We refused. We don’t mind losing out on revenues, but we won’t compromise our values. Revenues jaaye, but values na jaaye…
We also don’t mix our business with editorial. There’s a clear wall between both functions. So even if a certain media entity is an advertiser with us, we don’t necessarily write about it. Ditto with events. We may be media partners of Conference X, but we won’t necessarily report on it. Conversely, even if we aren’t associated with a media event, we cover it. We self-regulate. We are governed by a Code of Ethics from Day #1.
So how do we rate our own performance so far? We would think it’s a 6 on 10. Okay, make it 5.75. It was an 8 on 10 when we celebrated our first anniv, but since then things slipped a bit. We promised a print edition. Save two annuals and some advertiser-funded booklets, adverse business conditions held us back. We’ve also not ventured into events yet, even though the intent exists.
What next in the coming year? First, our third Annual. Second, a few special initiatives that we are working on. We will of course continue to add on to our focus on editorial content.
Our sincere thanks to the fraternity for supporting us – in business and editorially. Thanks to all our staff – past and present – for having been part of MxMIndia and sharing our vision.
Thank you for keeping the faith.
Best wishes
On behalf of Team MxM,
Pradyuman Maheshwari
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