MxMIndia

Category: PRINT MEDIA

  • DNA T20 has always positioned itself as a non-professional cricket carnival that brings with it a month-long dose of entertainment

    High five in DNA T20 season V @ New Delhi

    By A Correspondent

     

    With four successful seasons in the past, DNA gears up for its fifth season of what is popularly known as ‘DNA T20’ amongst top media agencies, at the Jamia Hamdard
    University grounds, New Delhi from March 31.

     

    DNA T20 has always positioned itself as a non-professional cricket carnival that brings with it a month-long dose of entertainment for the participating teams as well as their families, who come to cheer them up.

     

    The tournament offers to be a platform for DNA’s business associates, to know each other better beyond the boundaries of their offices, indulge in friendly banters over food and beverages, share spaces in pictures together and display their passion for the game on-field. It is that time of the year when ‘celebrating together’ is top priority on everyone’s mind and not trade, which is generally a routine throughout the year.

     

    With 12 participating teams facing against each other at an entirely different echelon, one need not be as talented as Tendulkar or as dedicated as Dravid. The DNA T20 raises the spirit of Cricket.

     

    Furthermore, lofty passions and the excitement of experiencing something ‘live and unrehearsed’ during the T20 matches spices up the game to a whole new level.

     

    Supported by Citibank and Frito Lays, with Carlsberg as the beverage partner, Crystal Mirage as the trophy partner, DNA T20 – Season V promises to be one fascinating event.

     

  • With 5 editions of Divya Marathi, it now covers complete centralMaharashtra. Divya Marathi, Solapur is also the 65th Edition of the Group

    Divya Marathi launches fifth edition from Solapur

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Dainik Bhaskar group announced the launch of the fifth edition of its Marathi newspaper, Divya Marathi, from Solapur.

     

    Solapur with an urban population of more than14.7 lac and a high per-capita income of Rs61,700 is one of the major cities of South-western Maharashtra. The first edition of Divya Marathi from Aurangabad started in May 2011 and soon other editions from Nashik, Jalgaon and Ahmednagar were launched. With 5 editions of Divya Marathi, it now covers complete central Maharashtra. Divya Marathi, Solapur is also the 65th Edition of the Group.

     

    “Through the Solapur launch of Divya Marathi, we continue to steadily enhance our footprint in Maharashtra and we now have 5 strong Marathi editions along withAurangabad, Nashik, Jalgaon and Ahmednagar, said Sudhir Agarwal, Managing Director, DB Corp Limited, commenting on the successful launch.

     

    The key proposition of Divya Marathi  Solapur launch campaign continued to be based on presenting an unbiased and fearless newspaper – “Na Ravanchi, Na Sahebanchi, Aata Chalel Tumchi Marji” (Neither influential class, nor Politicians, now public opinions will matter! ) – a theme that was central to the launches of the other 4 editions of Divya Marathi.

     

    Commenting on the success Nishit Jain, State Head; Maharashtra said: “The success is a reflection of the critical role brand building can play for a new entrant. It reflects across our processes. Our planning has been meticulous, including our strategically classifying city to understand its demographic nuances. This sharp focus on planning, management, marketing and branding has resulted in a successful launch of Solapur edition.”

     

  • The latest offering from Magna is the 'The Ultimate Bible for Men'

    Every man’s new ‘Mandate’

    By Archita Wagle

     

    Saturday saw the launch of Magna Publications’ latest offering Mandate. The launch was held at the yet-to-be-opened F Bar and Lounge (The F Mumbai). The event was attended by well known personalities from the corporate and entertainment world.

     

    The magazine’s tagline ‘The Ultimate Bible for Men’, tells all about Mandate – the team is not promoting it as just a magazine, but as a way of life, commitment to understand what the new age man wants.

     

    The magazine will carry detailed profiles of famous male personalities, spinets about upcoming gadgets, fashion labels and automobiles. The magazine also promises ‘break through features, international personalities, exotic holiday destinations and hard-talks with legends across fields. Mandate will also feature columns on issues related to business, sports and sex columns, all penned by well-known celebrities.

     

    Speaking to MxMIndia at the launch party, Yuvraj Juneja, editor, Mandate brushed aside any concerns over other similar lifestyle magazines which are already present in the market: “Our magazine covers what a man desires, but more importantly it tells him what he should desire, we are giving him options. That’s where Mandate stands differently from other magazines. In the market there are magazines which are content heavy, some are picture-oriented and some are very layout-oriented. But Mandate has a correct balance. We cover everything from fashion to gadgets to holidays in-depth. Our magazine is targeted at the men belonging to the age group of 20-30.”

     

    The launch issue of the magazine seems to living up to its promises. The cover features Virat Kohli, Ranbir Kapoor and Yash Birla and the inside pages carry in-depth interviews with the three, the magazine also features styling tips, a picture heavy feature on the “Man’s most desired” cars and some other interesting features.

     

  • It's now official. Jagran Prakashan Limited has announced its acquisition of NaiDunia, the leading daily of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

    Jagran announces NaiDunia acquisition

    It’s now official. Kanpur-based Jagran Prakashan Limited has announced that it has acquired Suvi Info Management (Indore) Private Limited. Naidunia Media Limited is a subsidiary of Suvi and is engaged in publishing the leading daily NaiDunia in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

    Launched in 1947, NaiDunia has over the years become a major player in the Central Indian states. It has multiple editions — from Indore, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Bhopal in MP and Raipur and Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh.

    Said Mr Mahendra Mohan Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director of Jagran, “This was a logical market expansion for us and enables  us to strengthen our presence in Central India. Nai Dunia is a newspaper with a very strong team and has demonstrated editorial excellence over the last decade.”

    According to a Jagran communique, NaiDunia’s current circulation base is around half a million copies per day with the readership growing 2.6 times over the last five years.

    For the cash-rich Jagran group, the NaiDunia acquisition follows that of Mid-Day two years back. The inorganic growth process will continue, a source close to the development had told MxMIndia last week. “We are well on our way towards implementing our strategy for inorganic growth through mergers and acquisitions as on the one hand it allows to begin with a sizeable scale with much lesser investment and on the other hand, it saves long gestation period typical of print industry. The acquisition will enable us to leverage our existing network and will have significant operating synergies.”

  • Jagran Prakashan makes giant entry to Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh with Nai Dunia buy

    With Nai Dunia in the bag, Jagran is #1 print group

     

    By Archita Wagle

     

    There was no press conference announcing the deal. The Kanpur-based Jagran Prakashan Limited (JPL) simply did it by notifying the stock exchanges. The acquisition of Nai Dunia was done via Suvi Info Management (Indore) Private Limited which in turn owns Naidunia Media. It was an all-cash deal.

     

    What it does for the Jagran group is significant as its hold on the Hindi belt becificant, a factor that could help strike better contracts with advertisers. In fact, as an analysis with IRS 2011 Round 4 numbers shows, the Nai Dunia acquisition has helped JPL become the numero uno print media group in the country (see accompanying story: Saala Jagran No 1 print media group ban gaya…)

     

     

    Announcements of the deal on the front pages of Nai Dunia (left) and Dainik Jagran (right)

    According to an analyst from a domestic brokerage firm, this deal makes sense to JPL as the enterprise value assigned to Nai Dunia is Rs2.25 billion and had JPL planned a greenfield expansion in MPC, the total cost could have run into at least Rs3 billion.

     

    In an email interaction with MxMIndia, Mr Amit Jaiswal, Company Secretary, JPL clarified that JPL has acquired only Nai Dunia. NewsX and Webdunia are not a part of the deal. Talking about the changes after the deal he said: “Mr Vinay Chhajlani will continue as Advisor to Board. His vast experience of print and knowledge about the market will be quite useful for us. We will add some new members to the team at senior level in sales, marketing and editorial. Our corporate brand team will help in branding and communication. As far as the staff, the erstwhile promoters have already rationalized the staff strength to a large extent.”

     

    Commenting on the acquisition in a communique, Mr Mahendra Mohan Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director of Jagran said, “This was a logical market expansion for us and enables us to strengthen our presence in Central India. Nai Dunia is a newspaper with a very strong team and has demonstrated editorial excellence over the last decade.”

     

    Nai Dunia is the flagship publication of Naidunia Media Limited, which was launched June 5, 1947. Nai Dunia features amongst the top 10 Hindi dailies of India and has multiple editions in MP and Chhattisgarh and is the third largest read newspaper in Madhya Pradesh and the fourth largest read newspaper in Chhattisgarh (IRS Q4 2011). According to a Jagran communique, Nai Dunia’s current circulation base is around half a million copies per day with the readership growing 2.6 times over the last five years.

     

    The industry is almost unanimous in saying that the deal is windfall for both the parties involved, especially JPL, which can now enter the Madhya Pradesh-Chattisgarh (MPC) market. JPPL, controlled by GD Gupta family publishes the Jagran editions in Bhopal and Rewa in Madhya Pradesh and JPL, promoted by the PC Gupta family, has been barred from using Dainik Jagran banner in MP as it has been in litigation since 2007. But with the Nai Dunia acquisition, the other option for JPL, they are entering the MPC market with an established newspaper, which is the second largest newspaper in terms of readership and business volumes in MPC.

     

    “JPL will benefit in terms of circulation and readership as it gets two new territories, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, with the acquisition of an established and well-known newspaper. JPL couldn’t enter Madhya Pradesh as per the agreement in the family, but now taking over Nai Dunia has opened the MP market for them,” said Mr Vijaydutt Shridhar, senior MP-based journalist and ex-editor of Navbharat.

     

    Mr Abhishek Karnani, Director, Free Press Journal which also has an edition in Indore, echoed Mr Shridhar’s sentiments: “The takeover deal is a windfall for both, JPL and Nai Dunia. Entering the MPC market was the next logical move for JPL. Initially the market had only Dainik Bhaskar and Nai Dunia but several local new publications with strong backing were launched in the market. Nai Dunia made a smart move in selling out rather than being marginalised in the market.”

     

    Says Mr Sundeep Nagpal of leading media consulting firm Stratagem, “This is in line with what other leading groups have done – like the Times of India group did with Vijaya Karanataka.” According to Mr Nagpal, the acquisition is a win-win for all parties involved.

     

    “With Nai Dunia’s acquisition, JPL has gained foothold in an important and growing market for Hindi publications. Nai Dunia never grew much beyond Indore, though they had launched editions in other cities. But with an aggressive player like JPL taking over we can expect to see Nai Dunia growing in other centres too. JPL has now entered Dainik Bhaskar’s territory. We can now expect a good fight,” said Mr Janardhan Pandey, associate VP, DDB Mudra.

     

    Stockmarket analysts though are a little cautious about this face-off as they believe that DB Corp will not be impacted because of the entry of JPL from a short to medium term perspective. But they say that Patrika would be impacted as Jagran would become aggressive to win back the No. 2 slot in MPC. The analysts also feel that the price paid (net of tax benefits) is inexpensive and should derive benefits in the medium to long-term.

     

    For the cash-rich Jagran group, the Nai Dunia acquisition follows that of Mid-Day two years ago and the management plans that Nai Dunia will be consolidated once a year just like Mid-Day.

    Saala Jagran No 1 print media group ban gaya…

    By A Correspondent

     

    Question: Until last fiscal, which was the largest print publishing house in the country?

    Answer: No, the answer is not Dainik Jagran. It’s Dainik Bhaskar, In fact, Jagran was at No 3 until two days ago, just behind the BCCL group. But with the buyout of the Nai Dunia group, Jagran now becomes the largest print media group in the country. Check tables below:

     

     

     

    Note: MRUC does not share detailed IRS numbers with the media. Given that we had adequate time for the confirmation of the Nai Dunia buy, we collected the information from what MRUC shared with us and from respective media entities.

     

     
  • The Havas Media CEO for South Asia has put in her papers and is all set to put in her learnings of 28 years as Head of Customer Strategy at The Times of India group.

    Anita Nayyar quits Havas, to join BCCL as Head of Customer Strategy

    By A Correspondent

     

    Havas Media CEO – South Asia Anita Nayyar is moving on and is joining Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd (BCCL) as Head of Customer Strategy.

     

    A Havas Media spokesperson has confirmed the development. While a hunt is on for Ms Nayyar’s replacement, Mr Mohit Joshi, until now Managing Partner of MPG India, has now been elevated to Managing Director.

     

    “It is a challenging role and I will be able to utilise all the learnings of 28 years from the agency side,” Ms Nayyar told MxMIndia indicating that she will continue to be based in Delhi.

     

    Ms Nayyar has been with Havas since 2007 and prior to this was Executive Director at Starcom and Vice President at Mudra Communications.

     

    Said Mr Vishnu Mohan, CEO, Havas Media APAC, “After five years, Anita leaves behind an organization seven times stronger with several specialist brands that today are over 40% of group’s portfolio and a strong talent force that are leaders in their own right. We thank her for her stewardship and wish her every success in this new stint on the other side after 28 years in the agency business. We are at present in the process of identifying a suitable leader for this role and should make an announcement to that effect shortly.”

     

  • Diptakirti Chaudhuri will move on to a new role in the Digital domain and Parveen Gupta will move to the position of Head, Marketing for HT Delhi

    Meanwhile @HT: Diptakirti Chaudhuri head strategy & new biz-digital, Parveen Gupta to head mktg in Delhi

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hindustan Times has announced that Mr Diptakirti Chaudhuri will move on from his current role as Head- Marketing, HT Delhi to a new role in the Digital domain as Head, Strategy and New Businesses, Digital Business. In this new role, he would be a part of the Leadership Team of Digital Business, and be responsible for working on new category evaluation and entry. In this role, Mr Chaudhri will directly report to Amit Garg, Business Head-Digital. Mr Chaudhri is a Mechanical Engineering Graduate from the Jadavpur University and an MBA from XLRI.

     

    Mr Parveen Gupta will move to the position of Head, Marketing for HT Delhi. In his earlier roles, Mr Gupta was a critical driver in the relaunch of both HT and HT City. He will be responsible for the entire consumer & product agenda for the brand with. He will report to Rajesh Ramakrisnan, Marketing Head, Hindustan Times. Mr Gupta is a Production Engineering Graduate from Punjab Engineering College and holds an MA and MPhil in Sociology from JNU as well as an MBA from the ISB.

  • The contest is simple and effective! Readers have to find a mnemonic dot that appears in two advertisements in the Hindustan Times every day

    HT innovates to increase ad engagement

    By A Correspondent

     

    Given the continual struggle of advertisers to grab attention of consumers, Hindustan Times has launched an initiative to engage its readers with the advertisements appearing in the newspaper daily.

     

    Called ‘Spot the Dot”, Readers have to find a mnemonic dot that appears in two advertisements in the Hindustan Times every day and message the brand names to a shortcode. Respondents stand to win attractive daily and weekly prizes such as watches and laptops.

     

    “As leaders in our field, we have always strived to innovate and set new benchmarks. We believe the advertisements are an important part of the newspaper, and a reader looks forward to the combined package every morning. This contest further increases engagement with the ads, and the response has been quite remarkable,” said Shantanu Bhanja, VP Marketing, HT Media.

     

    Dinesh Jain, CEO, Hover Automotive India, an advertiser with HT, added: “Spot the Dot is a unique initiative undertaken by HT, which helps in building brand recall and creating buzz around the brand. We applaud HT for this initiative.” Promoted every day in the paper through innovative ads, the promo has generated buzz amongst the readers as well as the advertiser fraternity.

     

    HT Media Limited is one of India’s foremost media companies, and home to three leading newspapers in the country in the English, Hindi and Business news segments – ‘Hindustan Times’ (English daily), ‘Hindustan’ (Hindi daily, through a subsidiary) and ‘Mint’ (business daily). ‘Hindustan Times’ was started in 1924 and has a more than an 85-year history as one of India’s leading newspapers. The Company also has four FM radio stations – Fever 104 FM inDelhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata.

     

    The Company has also made a foray into the Internet space through its subsidiary Firefly e-Ventures Limited and has launched successful portals, www.Shine.com, www.HTCampus.com, www.Desimartini.com. These are in addition to the existing websites livemint.com, livehindustan.com and hindustantimes.com.

     

  • As a part of this initiative, HT will contribute 5 paise every day from every Metro copy sold in Delhi-NCR towards creating a corpus which will fund education of over 10,000 children over the year

    HT launches ‘You Read, They Learn’ initiative

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hindustan Times has announced the launch of ‘You Read, They Learn’ or YRTL, a year-long initiative to help educate underprivileged children, on Wednesday.

     

    As a part of this initiative, launched initially in Delhi-NCR, HT will contribute 5 paise every day from every Metro copy of the paper sold  towards creating a corpus which will fund the education of over 10,000 children over the year. Besides this contribution, HT will raise the issue of children’s education rights and focus on the problems that need immediate attention and will strive to find solutions.

     

    Commenting on the occasion, Mr Rajiv Verma, CEO of HT Media Limited, said: “We, at Hindustan Times, strongly believe that a newspaper has the ability to drive positive change in society. As a newspaper, we are intrinsically linked to the cause of education. With this initiative, we wish to contribute strongly in the space of pre-primary and primary education as we believe that education is every child’s right.”

     

    “To begin with, HT is partnering with Pratham Delhi Education Initiative and Child Rights And You (CRY) to utilise the funds for bringing underprivileged children to the classroom. Going forward, we will also engage with other NGO partners working in this space,” he added.

     

    Mr Sanjoy Narayan, Editor-in-Chief, Hindustan Times said: “Our reporters and writers will dig out stories of change, of people making a difference and of readers’ contribution to the lives of children whom nobody has time for. ” Said Mr Shantanu Bhanja, VP-Marketing, HT Media: “As socially conscious citizens, our readers want to do their bit for society, but are usually constrained by time. The YRTL initiative allows them to contribute to a meaningful cause in the course of their daily life.”

  • The Press Club Awards for Excellence in Journalism have been instituted to promote best practices among journalists

    Press Club Awards for Excellence In Journalism

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Press Club Mumbai has received overwhelming participation from journalists all over India for its prestigious ‘Press Club Awards for Excellence in Journalism-2012’. With over 500 entries, participation has gone up more than 4-fold from last year. Currently, judging the entries is underway and the final Awards will be held in Mumbai on May 5, 2012 at the NSCI Club, Worli.

     

    The Awards will be conferred for excellence in print journalism in six categories for best writing in ‘Crime’, ‘Cricket’, ‘Entertainment’, ‘Health & Environment’, ‘Politics’ and ‘Business’; in addition to the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism’. Citations and prize money of Rs1 lakh in each category will be awarded to the winners and runners-up from each category by eminent journalists and corporate partners.

     

    The past couple of months witnessed over 500 entries from journalists pan-India. The jury finalising the winners comprises prominent journalists and personalities including Sanjay Manjrekar, Ayaz Memon, Sambit Bal, Brett Lee, Clive Lloyd, Shabana Azmi, Khalid Mohammad, Amit Khanna, Mahesh Jethmalani, Meenal Baghel, Uday Kotak, N. Jagannathan, Bittu Saighal, Cyrus Guzder, Vithal Kamat, Yogendra Yadav, Vinod Sharma and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.

     

    The Press Club Awards for Excellence in Journalism have been instituted to promote best practices among journalists and encourages good quality writing, fair play and high ethical standards.

     

    The response from corporate partners too has also been immense with 6 corporate brands coming on board to back the awards. These include Podar Enterprise for the K.N.Prabhu Award for Cricket Writing, Yes Bank for the Best Business Writer,

    Glenmark Pharmaceuticals for the Environment / Health Awards, MCHI for the Political Story of the Year, Eros International for the Entertainment category and the Adani Group for Lifetime Achievement.

     

     

  • A second expanded edition of Paranjoy Guha Thakurta's book on 'Media Ethics: Truth, Fairness and Objectivity' was launched in the capital on April 27

    Paranjoy Guha Thakurta upgrades book on ethics

     

    By Shruti Pushkarna

     

    Veteran journalist, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta came out with a second expanded edition of his book, ‘Media Ethics: Truth, Fairness and Objectivity’. The revised edition of the book was launched in the capital on April 27 at the India International Centre.

     

    The first edition of this book had come out in 2009. When asked, why he decided to bring out a second edition, Mr Thakurta told MxMIndia, “After the book came out three years ago, a lot of people came up with suggestions on how this book could be improved. So this book is about 40 per cent bigger than the earlier edition and there are new chapters…there is an entirely new chapter on corruption in media. There’s also a new chapter on Reality television and some of the existing chapters have been drastically rewritten and revamped.”

     

    ‘Media Ethics’ discusses key ethical issues in media today, delving into issues like truth, objectivity, sensitivity and privacy. The expanded edition has new chapters on paid news and reality television. It has also has revised chapters on introduction to media ethics, media market, new media and ethics of advertising.

     

    Attending the event were senior journalists, academicians and students. The launch was followed by a discussion on media ethics by an eminent panel comprising Chief Election Commissioner, SY Quraishi, and senior journalists, Vinod Mehta and Rajdeep Sardesai.

     

    Media has to inform and educate…

    Addressing the gathering at the book launch, Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi said, “The title of this book, truth, fairness and objectivity is an acid test of media’s fairness. This book is a virtual encyclopaedia and Paranjoy is a crusader of media ethics.”

     

    Mr Quraishi, in his address, also touched upon issues like paid news, opinion polls, hate mails on social media and the whole debate around freedom of expression in the internet age. He said: “Media has a duty to inform and educate the citizens of this country. And, in the context of elections, media has assumed new proportions. There was a revolutionary 30 per cent increase in the voters turn out in UP this year because of the partnership between the CEC and the media.”

     

    Talking about freedom of expression, he said, “No one wants to encroach on freedom of expression but there are some things which are illegal. Anonymity of the internet media is disturbing and damaging.” Mr Quraishi concluded by saying that media is like the eyes and ears of the society and we should do everything possible to check malpractices in media.

     

    Editors are like ordinary people…

    Mr Vinod Mehta, Advisor, Outlook magazine started his address by saying that the custodian of any media organization is its Editor. If the Editor is corrupt, the organization is corrupt. He said: “The biggest myth about media is that editors are like gods, that they are independent, that they make no mistakes and they are on a social mission to tell the truth. While this might largely be true, it is highly exaggerated. Editors are like ordinary people, often most opinionated, and they have a view on everything. So they come with their own baggage. So what you get in media is various shades of opinions where the editor’s point of view is reflected. After this polarization of views, in the end you get something approximating the truth.”

     

    Mr Mehta added that one of the greatest assets of media, which is public trust, is declining and the uproar that used to be about the fourth estate has gone down significantly in the last few years.

     

    According to Mr Mehta, two reasons for the rise of unethical practices in media are: the reluctance on the part of media persons to admit their mistakes and secondly, intense competition, which has created its own problems. He also said that Editors often assume a larger than life role, thinking that they are setting the national agenda. He said: “We journalists are not players, we have the best ring side seats but we are not players, we can’t get involved in the game.”

     

    On self-regulation, Mr Mehta said: “We in the media are always telling the other guy what’s wrong, we never correct ourselves. Self-regulation is always for the other guy. So I believe we need a strict code of conduct.” Mr Mehta also suggested that all Editors like politicians should declare their assets on the Editors’ Guild website.

     

    Problem lies in the business model…

    Mr Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief, IBN18 Network confessed: “Media is more powerful than ever before, but it is also less respected than ever before. In this age of quantification we are facing a credibility crisis.” But he added that the viewer has almost a ‘schizophrenic’ attitude towards the media, so the messenger (media) who is expected to play ‘god’ is repeatedly shot at. Mr Sardesai indicated two main threats to the main stream media, internal and external. Talking of the external threat he said: “The business model is the main problem. The declining ethical standards are because of how the business model is, where 95 per cent dependency for revenues is on advertisements. The channels have to pay what is called a carriage fee, which is actually illegal and completely unethical.”

     

    Mr Sardesai offered ‘disclosure’ as a solution to paid news. He said: “If it is paid news, then it needs to be said that it is paid news. Disclosure is the only way out, tell the world it is paid news. If an advertiser or a political party is sponsoring a certain programme, then you need to mention outright that the show is sponsored by xyz. But the problem is, in this era of maddening competition and declining revenue, who will set the rules of disclosure?”

     

    Speaking of the internal threat, Mr Sardesai said that this is one area where you can’t blame the proprietor. He said: “Who asked us (journalists) to replace sense with sensationalism, to replace news with noise? The moral compass that makes journalism different from any other profession has gone.” Mr Sardesai cited the example of theNorwayissue where a domestic problem within a span of no time took the shape of a diplomatic battle.

     

    He also added that what has changed about media today is the fact that the public is turning against media, the public is willing to teach media a lesson. For ethical cleansing to happen, Mr Sardesai concluded, “We have to name and shame the transgressors and the naming and shaming has to happen by someone within the system.”

     

  • Lonely Planet is recognised as the traveller's best friend the world over, and as the flag-bearers of this brand in India

    Lonely Planet Magazine India announces Travel Awards 2012

    By A Correspondent

     

    Lonely Planet Magazine, India has announced its first Travel Awards, which celebrate the best travel experiences available to Indians, and anoint the best service providers, the preferred places to stay and the destinations Indians most love to visit.

     

    Lonely Planet is recognised as the traveller’s best friend the world over, and as the flag-bearers of this brand in India. The team felt that there wasn’t yet a credible benchmark in the country. There was nothing to measure the standards the increasingly sophisticated Indian traveller has come to expect.

     

    The aim of the awards is two-fold. One, to celebrate those who are giving the Indian traveller the experience he or she wants. Two, to spur non-winners to do better still, to provide a richer experience and please the Indian traveller; and in doing so, to aim for the trophy next year.

     

    The ethos is simple – if, and only if, the Indian traveller is satisfied and happy with what you have laid out, will you win the trophy.

     

    The team believes the Lonely Planet Magazine India Travel Awards 2012 will provide the benchmark Indian travellers are looking for. The winners will become part of an exclusive club of travel facilitators, hotels and destinations that Indians love and will return to.

     

    The winners were chosen by readers for the benefit of other readers. Voting was through a reader poll (online and in the magazine); there were 39 categories to choose a winner in, making these the most extensive and industry-wide awards yet seen.