MxMIndia

Category: MEDIAAH!

Season 3 of Pradyuman Maheshwari’s no-holds-barred commentary on the media

  • Mediaah! does an analysis of the various Impact Person of the Year nominees and forecasts who could be the winner this year (and next year)

    Mediaah! Who will be the Impact Person of the Year 2013 + Why Uday Shankar is the Mediaperson who created maximum impact this year

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    As I write this, I have been inundated with calls and smses asking me who the Impact Person of the Year is for this year. I was associated with the exchange4media group for nearly three years, but I am not much in touch with people from the group. So I don’t really know.

     

    And I am not invited for the IPOY event ever since I quit. Nothing alarming about it. This is how things work in the media. You will not find the Filmfare editor at the Screen awards or vice versa. You will not find the Overdrive boss at the Auto Car India awards. This isn’t how it works in advertising… many of Lowe’s competitors assembled for its internal awards earlier this year.  And you can be sure to find rival film-makers at each other’s film release.

     

    But that’s not the reason for writing this. The question is who will win the Impact Person of the Year to be presented this evening (Friday, Dec 6). Since IPOY is based on voting monitored by IMRB, the award-winner is selected as per voting from the fraternity. There have been rumours that it is Vineet Jain, Vice-Chairman of Bennett, Coleman & Co, and a little birdie has told me who the winner is, but let’s look at the nominees (in alphabetical order of their last names):

     

    Rajan Anandan Managing Director, Google India

    Punit Goenka, MD and CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL)

    Vineet Jain Managing Director, Times Group

    Bharat Patel, Former Chairman, ISA and Hemant Bakshi, Chairman, ISA

    Rahul Sharma, Co-founder, Micromax Informatics

    CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia

    Sameer Suneja, Global CEO, Perfetti Van Melle

     

    Let’s start with the process of elimination. Messrs Patel and Bakshi have done some splendid work in their own professional lives and they need to be commended for the ISA to the stand up to the IBF in the controversy on the television measurement boycott, but I am not very sure whether they would quality for the IPOY.

     

    Sameer Suneja goes out next. His ascent is noteworthy, but he’s not the first Indian corporate honcho to go overseas. Rahul Sharma’s rise is well-known, but 2013 was not the year of Micromax. In fact, Nokia has been shining high.

     

    The four nominees in balance are Rajan Anandan, Punit Goenka, Vineet Jain and CVL Srinivas. Google has done great work for the last few years, but nothing buzz-creating in 2013. So the choice has to be from amongst Punit Goenka, Vineet Jain and CVL Srinivas.

     

    All three are good contenders, but the buzz around the time the voting is done was maximum for Vineet Jain, especially since The Times of India is celebrating 175 years.

     

    My vote though for the Person of the Year who created maximum impact in 2013 is Uday Shankar. The year has been clearly his – given Star’s major foray in sports, consolidating Star Plus, the rise of Life OK, his own stature as an industry leader and every thing else that Star India has been doing. Aaj ki tareekh mein, Uday Shankar is the man with the midas touch. Unfortunately, Impact magazine doesn’t repeat Person of the Year winners, which many think is unfair, but then that’s their rule. Uday was IPOY 2010.

     

    Next year, assuming the successful implementation of a BARC-administered television measurement system, I would think Punit Goenka and Shashi Sinha will be Persons of the Year. Both deserve huge accolades for the rapid strides being taken on measurement. Yes, it took BARC a huge amount of time to take off, but then building a consensus amongst three sets of stakeholders isn’t easy. The buy-in has to be complete because they all need to pay for the new service.

     

  • The MxMIndia yearend special 'awards' for work done in the year that few others could manage to do

    The Mediaah! Dubious Achievement Awards 2013

     

    Okay, folks. The now-regular MxMIndia special on the last day of the year: the Mediaah! Dubious Achievement Awards 2013.

     

    Before we set out to presenting them, a request: these ought to be taken in the right spirit and wherever required, be seen as indicators for improvement. As they say in Bambaiyya: dil mein mat lena

     

    The NitiCentral Award for being Always Right

    to Firstpost.com

    for well, do we need to really spell it out?

     

    The Sachin Tendulkar will-he-wont-he Award

    to Sam Balsara

    Every time a Martin Sorrell and Maurice Levy come to India, that’s the question which they are asked: are they buying Sam Balsara. But like the master blaster, Sam is also keeping the entire industry and will do it when he thinks the time is right

     

    The N ‘BCCI’ Srinivasan Award for Not Budging from his Kursi Award

    to Colvyn Harris

    for continuing to stay on as CEO of JWT even after the Ford Figo fake ad scandal rocked his agency

     

    The Angry Bird Award for Terrorising the Media, okay pigs

    to Twitter

    for doing to the media what governments, underworld, corporates have not been able to do

    Runner up: Facebook

     

    The Andha Kanoon Award

    to Soli Sorbajee, Ombudsman of NDTV

    for ducking the real issues afflicting the news network (and the news media) and giving inane responses to complainants

     

    The S Sreesanth Award for being a ‘kalank’ on the fraternity

    to Tarun Tejpal

    The tag of corruption and unethical practices has been plaguing news media for a while and Tarun Tejpal took the rep of editors to a new low with his alleged act with a young journalist who treated him like her father

     

    The Datta Samant Award

    to Saira Menezes and the People Magazine team

    for fighting for their rights with the Outlook management even if it meant doing it via the Labour Court

     

    Runner-up:

    Indrajit Gupta & team, former Forbes India editor and his team of senior eds

     

    The Main Chup Rahoongi prize

    to Churumuri/Sans Serif

    for keeping quiet when it needed to be most vocal on the sudden closure of the Outlook group’s People, Marie Claire and GEO magazine and the forced resignations of most of the staff because the blogger is also Editor of flagship Outlook magazine

     

    The Sachin Tendulkar record-breaking performance

    to Srinivasan K ‘Sundar’ Swamy

    for showing the other ad & marketing associations/clubs how it’s not too difficult being hyperactive and purposeful

     

    The Modi Xerox Copy is Better than the Original Award

    to DNA’s Page 2 Society Special

    for turning out to be better than the more than just inspired from Mumbai Mirror’s dna’s page 2 society-watch column

     

    The Albert Einstein Award

    to various creative gurus

    for plagiarising from international creatives and then saying great minds think alike

     

    The Bata Hawaii Chappal Award

    to Rajdeep Sardesai

    for flip-flopping on whether to turn left or right.

     

    The Mulayam Singh Yadav Blood is thicker than Water Award

    to N Ram and family

    for reinstating his family to helm the business a year after bringing in top-notch professionals to steer the ship

     

    The Bernard Madoff Award for getting rich and screw all principles:

    to most media managements

    for putting making money above the basic tenets of journalism and newsgathering

     

    The Mine is Bigger than Yours Filmi Khans Award

    to news channels

    For all claiming to be the number one news channel at the same time, confusing the hell out of viewers.

     

    The Push Me-Pull You Dr Dolittle Award

    to The Times of India and Hindustan Times editions in Delhi

    for each claiming that they are The One.

     

    The Tehelka Award for Tell-Alls on Media Houses

    to Caravan Magazine

    for revealing everything you wanted to know and even what you didn’t about Arnab Goswami, The Jains, Network 18…

     

    The Red Bull Award for Energizing Employees

    to Abhijit Avasthi

    for the first man in advertising to talk about how the Creative Abbies weren’t energizing his team any more

     

    The Who-Cares-About-Brevity-Being-the-Soul-of-Wit Award

    also to Caravan Magazine

    for saying in a 100,000,000,000 words what could be said in a 1000.

     

    The Invisible Man Award

    to NDTV’s Prannoy Roy

    for playing hide and seek with viewers.

     

    And finally

    The Not Manmohan Singh Award for Staying Silent when the Nation Wants to Know

    remained with Arnab Goswami

    for deafening the people of India most successfully again. The pointing finger points… and heaven help Meenakshi Lekhi if it’s pointing at her.

     

    also awarded to Arnab for the same reason:

    The Vicks ki Goli Award for Shouting at the Mighty and not Losing his Voice (and job) Award

     

    Contributed by Ranjona Banerji and Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

  • Pradyuman Maheshwari reacts to the many claims made by the MIB in a 'Bharat Nirman' series ad

    Time to call Minster’s bluff. 6.5/10 performance by UPA-run I&B ministry

     

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    It’s perhaps unfair to damn only Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari for his performance. Successive occupants of that office – under various regimes – have made a mess of things over the years. Right from the time of BV Keskar, the first mantri who banned Hindi film songs on Vividh Bharati to occupants such as LK Advani, IK Gujral and Sushma Swaraj who didn’t do much for the sector. Ministers like Priyaranjan Dasmunshi and Anand Sharma were on war with many broadcasters and Ambika Soni was by far the best of them all though the digitization execution process was messed up when she was at the helm.

     

    Earlier this week, as part of the Bharat Nirman series of ads, the DAVP inserted an ad making several claims under the headline “Empowering People Through A Liberal Information Order”.

     

    I think it’s important that someone were to call the minister and ministry’s bluff. The text in italics is my response to the points made in the ad.

    • Several policies issued and implemented for the liberalization of Print Media Sector in last 10 years

    Is it? Like? Save appeasing the sector with DAVP ad hikes, there’s precious little done 

    • Television industry grew from Rs 18,300 crore in 2006 to Rs 50,140 crore in 2014

    This would have happened any which way. No marks for the UPA 

    • Total number of TV channels increased from 130 in 2014 to 788 in 2014

    Again no credit to UPA for this. In fact, the government has been sitting on many applications and approvals over the last few months 

    • 3 Crore Set-Top Boxes installed in the first two phases of digitization

    Yes, Digitization is an achievement of the government. But look at what happened with it? Chennai is not fully digitized. Kolkata faced several hiccups. Phase 2 is nearly 90 percent, which is heartening 

    • New policy guidelines for Television Rating Agencies issued in 2014

    One is not very sure whether the government should be getting into policing television audience measurement. That should be left for the industry. Thankfully, the government hasn’t got into IRS or advising ad duration on radio and column centimetres/ad-edit ratio in print 

    • New policy guidelines issued for Headend in the Sky (HITS) Broadcasting Services and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV)

    It is fine to issue guidelines, but an IPTV, for instance, has been a non-starter. And HITS is just about a nice acronym 

    • Radio industry grew from Rs 600 crore in 2006 to Rs 1540 crore in 2014

    Would’ve grown more had news been allowed. Isn’t it ironic that all and sundry can start news channels – on satellite and cable – and our radio folks aren’t trusted? 

    • 245 FM channels in 85 cities since 2005. In the next phase 839 channels proposed in 294 cities

    Phase III? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Phase III has become a joke. We’ve heard about it just so often. Even the Mumbai Metro would’ve started, but our government would be sitting on the papers. 

    • Community radio stations increased from 64 in 2009 to 163 in 2014

    For a country of a billion-plus people, 163 community radio stations is an apology. Not enough done to evangelise it.

    • Foreign Direct Investment for five segments of broadcasting sector revised in 2012

    And what about news? So FDI can be upped in critical segments like telecom, but not so in news. Just why?

     

    • Overhaul of the Cinematograph Act, 1952 by Justice Mudgal Committee

    Some welcome steps here? Implemented? 

    • National Media Centre with ultra modern facilities inaugurated

    No point having just one in Central Delhi. The Central Telegraph Offices in various cities which had press rooms should’ve been upgraded too. News journalists exist in other parts of the country too, Mr Minsiter! 

    • National Museum of Indian Cinema being set up in Mumbai

    Better late than never… but would’ve been nicer to coincide with 100 years of cinema.

     

    What the ad doesn’t tell us is the several things the government hasn’t been able to achieve. Make Doordarshan an independent and top quality pubcaster like the BBC, for instance. Some attempts to improve DD News were nullified by interference in newsroom operations.

     

    Ever since Manish Tewari has taken charge as the Minister, he has waxed eloquent on the paradoxes of the industry qua (his favourite word) exigencies of the business. He has even tried to police the cable trade on ownership issues since the networks in his home state of Punjab are managed by his political rivals.

     

    The government has tried its best to keep the issue of self-regulation issues alive by scaring the news media on and off. Under the pretext of protecting the interests of consumers, the 10+2 ad cap was introduced which saw much resistance from news broadcasters.

     

    The government hasn’t been able to do much on Paid News. Newspapers still carry paid content with or without disclaimers in fine print.

     

    So how would you rate the last 10 years of the UPA-run I&B Ministry? I would give it a 6 on 10. Okay, let’s make it 6.5, because it could’ve even gotten worse.

     

  • Views from Ranjona Banerji and Pradyuman Maheshwari on the media's new found hate for Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party

    Kejriwal and the Media: Ranjona Banerji & Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

     

     

    Ranjona Banerji: Kejriwal’s threat to democracy?

     

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The media, willy-nilly, has become part of these elections. Not as the “fourth estate” of democracy but more like a “fifth column” which is out to destroy institutions – that is, if you listen to our politicians of all colours and persuasions and try to assess the anger on social media. But why blame politicians or Twitter and trolls alone? The media itself – and here most fingers will have to point to television – has behaved in extremely irrational and even unprofessional ways when it comes to bread and butter journalism.

     

    Starting from the extraordinary coverage of the India Against Corruption movement in 2011, television decided to become a player rather than an observer. Even I got taken in by the exhortations of TV anchors in 2011 when they talked about millions of people taking to the streets in support of the Anna Hazare-led movement to clean up public life. Alas, when I arrived at Azad Maidan, there were less than 500 people present. Not the hundreds of thousands promised by well-positioned TV cameras.

     

    But once India Against Corruption transformed itself into a political party – the Aam Aadmi Party – and Anna Hazare was replaced as the movement’s leader by Arvind Kejriwal, TV started to change its tune. The tide was now against the movement. None of the surveys running up to the Delhi state elections could predict what AAP would do. The Congress would be struck down and the BJP would win is what we were told. Instead, we had the AAP forming a very close second. So much for election surveys, psephology and astrology.

     

    Once the AAP formed the government, the wrath of television knew no bounds. Of the English channels, Headlines Today and Times Now were the angriest. Every hand gesture of AAP members was dissected and denigrated. This is not to suggest that the AAP had a perfect month in power – far from it. Indeed, their law minister Somnath Bharti’s unconscionable midnight raid looking for sex workers in Khirki Extension deserved the strong condemnation it received. But the poor AAP did not even have the short “honeymoon” period accorded to everyone else by the media.

     

    Since then, some TV news channels of all languages have abandoned all objectivity and decided that the AAP has to be their primary target. The fact that some journalists have joined this party has enraged them even further. The AAP has reacted with matching bile and Kejriwal has decided that he will arrest mediapersons if he comes to power. What a wonderful circus of democracy. Enter the clowns, exit all good sense.

     

    Some mediapersons have now had additional tantrums about the threat to democracy promised by Kejriwal. All this is sans irony, especially of the threat to journalism as practised by them. Never mind.

     

    Here are some other media views:

    Senior journalists question the overreaction to Kejriwal: http://www.thehindu.com/news/ national/why-overreact-to-kejriwals-criticism-ask-journalists/article5789153.ece

     

    And Shekhar Gupta speaks as an “aam patrakar” in The Indian Express: http://indianexpress.com/article /opinion /columns/national-interest- main-hoon-aam-patrakar/

     

    **

     

    The upshot is that the AAP has to be treated as one more political party. Neither angel nor devil. And that ought to hold true for all of them.

     

    Ranjona Banerji, senior journalist and columnist, is Contributing Editor, MxMIndia. The views expressed here are her own. Twitter: @ranjona

     

    		  

    Mediaah!: Time media shows Kejriwal his place

     

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    Not many moons ago, Arnab Goswami could be seen screaming at anyone who didn’t agree with him that there was an Arvind Kejriwal wave sweeping the country.

     

    Arnab isn’t too kind with anyone who disagrees with him. His body language changes and his head shakes in denial the moment the guest with an opposing view opens his or her mouth.

     

    In fact, even before a guest finishes his first two or three words, Arnab opens his mouth and the two can be seen to be talking together. But that’s his style, and people love the Times Now editor-in-chief for that.

     

    The problem for Kejriwal is that soon after his party’s great showing at the Delhi elections, he started negating the highfalutin statements he made before the polls and after them.

     

    Many in the media – and this writer included – had then regarded Kejriwal as the messiah who God had sent to cleanse the country’s political system. And as it often happens, it propelled him to dizzying heights.

     

    Some of my friends and colleagues in the profession didn’t think too much of Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal. I thought they would come around the man and his ways soon enough. After all, weren’t there many who thought a certain Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was nuts with his satyagraha and non-violence movement?

     

    I was proved wrong and to my dismay – quite like the disillusionment I had with the BJP post L K Advani’s Rath Yatra and the Babri Masjid desecration in 1992 – Kejriwal made a mockery of himself and all that he stood for.

     

    In fact things have gotten so bad now that even though the AAP leader could well be speaking the truth, no one really trusts him.  The media at least doesn’t.

     

    We know the media isn’t above board. There is corruption in many newsrooms.  Paid news is rampant, and despite all of the Election Commission’s efforts, the smart ones still get away. There is paid news even for non-political content, but I don’t think Kejriwal will be too bothered about the other kind of parties.

     

    But is it right for him to question the integrity of news channels just because they are now treating him the way they treat all others? Just because they are questioning every act of his, which they wouldn’t just six months back?

     

    I have found Arnab Goswami unduly harsh on Kejriwal (see: Is Arnab being too harsh on Kejriwal, mid-day, March 13:  http://www.mid-day.com/articles/is-arnab- being-too-harsh-on-kejriwal/15156104), but that’s no reason for anyone to rubbish him (Arnab) and suggest that he and other newsroom bosses are on the take from Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi.

     

    The News Broadcasters Association acted on it a few days after the utterance and his issued a warning to the AAP leader. The message from the NBA: stop the trash, Mr Kejriwal, or our members will stop covering you.

     

    While Arnab Goswami was pretty scathing on his News Hour, the real blow came from Rajat Sharma on his show ‘Aaj Ki Baat’ on Times Now. Coming on air when he was down with fever and a bad throat, Mr Sharma was scathing in his criticism of Kejriwal and exposed his doublespeak in a one-hour show.

     

    Meanwhile, Arvind Kejriwal and AAP would’ve been taught a lesson not to subject the media to their loose talk.  Damn the media, and be ready to get damned.

     

    Although Pradyuman Maheshwari is Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of MxMIndia.com, the views expressed here are his own. Twitter: @pmahesh

     

     

  • 10 things that the new information and broadcasting minister must achieve… in Mediaah!

    Tasks for the new I&B Minister

     

    When news came in late last week that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was keen on integrating similar ministries, I expected the progressive, media and more importantly one of the most digitally savvy politicians in the country, to integrate the ministries of I&B, telecom and I&T. While each may have areas that need special attention, there is need to look at communication of all kinds in a focussed manner.

     

    Prakash Javdekar was appointed Minister of State with independent charge of information and broadcasting. But along with that he was given charge of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. Also shared charge of Parliamentary Affairs. One learns that environment etc will be taken away as and when someone suitable is found.

     

    Here are 10 things that we would like Minister Javadekar to achieve in his tenure:

     

    #1 Only self-regulation

    Successive governments are known to tinker with the content freedom for news and current affairs, TV fiction and advertising. One hopes that Mr Javdekar will not succumb to these pressures and like Ambika Soni will keep all the sensitive souls at bay.

     

    #2 Ban paid content

    It’s a toughie and very difficult to police, but if the BJP is keen on rooting out corruption then it must wipe out all forms of paid content. It may mean taking on the big and mighty in media, but it’s got to be done.

     

    #3 Don’t interfere in Doordarshan and All India Radio

    Doordarshan will celebrate its 55th anniversary this year, but is a sleepy giant. And All India Radio is a forgotten one. Sadly, both entities reach out to more people in the country than all the private channels. The government must allow them to run independently and allow them to run without commercial pressures.

     

    #4 Push for news on FM Radio.

    There are a countless news channels and even more cable TV set-ups so one really doesn’t understand why news on FM is not allowed. By insisting on only AIR news to be carried is pointless. The minister must allow news on FM radio and let the medium flourish.

     

    #5. Clear the mess on distribution

    The TRAI has had to work overtime on distribution and the previous regime did some good work on digitization though with some mess in execution in between. The entire country is not digitized yet, so the minister needs to push things there. Then there is the issue of carriage fees which continues to be a matter of dispute between broadcasters and distributors

     

    06. New rules of social media

    Given that the social media has seen an explosion in the last five years, UPA-2 saw it embroiled in a few controversies around the social media and whether or not it should be policed. While there can be no denying the fact that one can’t condone defamation and unfair practices online in the name of freedom of expression, the government would do well to exercise caution before taking any action.

     

    07. Don’t get bullied by Big Media

    The problem with every successive government is that they buckle under pressure from the big media players. Whether it’s on DAVP rates or land at lower rates, the government would do well to ensure a level playing field for all media entities

     

    08. Promote low budget films

    The multiple and television revolution has helped the lot of film-makers who do not have access to big money. The government must do its bit to help in supporting those without access to big monies

     

    09. Content on telecom

    While we do not like the government to interfere in industry, it must ensure that content providers get their due from telecom players who have ensured that they keep the lion’s share of revenues

     

    10. Leave the business alone!

    Measurement, 10+2 ad cap, regulation… all issues that the I&B ministry has been busy with over the last few years. These should be best left to the industry players and associations. No need for the government to poke its nose

     

  • If there's one person from the AAAI who can organise a worthwhile Goafest, it's Sundar Swamy. The IAA is supremely active thanks to his leadership and I find him exceedingly keen on doing things and he knows the art of getting things done.

    Mediaah!: Why Goafest hasn’t lost the plot and deserves one more chance

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    I write this more in response to Anant Rangaswami’s article on Firstbiz and his Facebook posts. What I like about Anant’s writing is his definite views on issues, many of which I agree with.

     

    But on Goafest, he’s been unduly harsh. His point on Facebook: Goafest has lost the plot. It’s press release offered a programme with just time slots and no mention of speakers and topics.

     

    I received the communique too, and chose to not carry a report on it because it didn’t say anything at all. It was an advance intimation of the programme, but could have been held back for a few days with some names.

     

    I also agree with Anant that Goafest in the summer is a nightmare (my descriptor, not his). Since I sweat a lot, I can say that it’s terrible even in the aircon. So, even though the event is indoors, the walk or buggy ride to your rooms could see you drenched in sweat. Your eyes could be burning all day and even the world’s best coolants wouldn’t work.

     

    Last year’s Goafest could best be described as forgettable. It had loads of negatives. The Creative Abby was a disaster (albeit for a fault that wasn’t of the organising committee). First a controversy about the Ford Figo scam ads saw the exits of some high profile staff at JWT and Ford, then the Tata Chemicals scam ads that were eventually pulled out of the competition and later the controversy around scam ads and plagiarism.

     

    Somewhere along this was the decision by Ogilvy to not participate in the Abby. Ogilvy had huge misgivings about the awards, and Ad Club prez Shashi Sinha tried his damnedest to get them back. But Messrs Piyush Pandey & Co didn’t budge.

     

    When Pratap Bose took charge as Ad Club president last year, he resolved to ensure a buy-in from all towards the Creative Abby. That doesn’t seem to have happened thus far.

     

    To add to the confusion, the AAAI delayed the Goafest announcement and later found the elections as reason to postpone the dates. Then came the news that Nakul Chopra had opted out of the Goafest chair position.

     

    Finally Srinivasan K Swamy, better known in the frat as Sundar, took charge. I’ve interacted with Sundar a fair deal in the recent past, especially as head of the International Advertising Association India Chapter of which he is the head. I believe if there’s one person from the AAAI who can pull it off, it’s him. The IAA is supremely active thanks to Sundar’s leadership. I find him exceedingly keen on doing things and he knows the art of getting things done.

     

    I am not sure how Goafest 2014 will be. I have heard people say that some regular sponsors have declined to be associated this year. But Sundar is confident of a turnaround and I think he ought to be given a chance.

     

    Yes, I do think Rajesh Kejriwal’s Kyoorius Awards with the coveted D&AD partnership, has stolen the thunder from the Abby, but there’s space for multiple awards. We’ve seen how other disciplines – radio, digital, outdoor and PR, for instance – have multiple awards and they are all doing well. So ditto with creative.

     

    I have heard some angry comments amongst industry elders about Anant’s Firstbiz piece and I was told that some pressure may be exerted on Network18 via the media agencies asking him to refrain from writing nasties against Goafest. I hope that doesn’t happen, that wouldn’t be right.

     

    Sadly, Anant’s views are echoed by many in the industry. Before Sundar’s name was announced, even I wasn’t sure whether there was any point in conducting this year’s edition.

     

    Sundar & Co have an uphill task ahead of them. But I think they need to be given a chance.

     

    The industry deserves a good, celebratory Goafest. The format, the timing and the awards are a problem. Perhaps the organising committee and AAAI need some younger blood taking the lead on Goafest. Perhaps it may be a good idea to get a professional body to conduct the show – Kyoorius, e4m, Campaign/Haymarket… whosoever.

     

    I know what I am going to do: have MxM support Goafest until before the event happens. The coverage of the conference (and the awards and the fun element) will then take over. And on that, we’ll be brutally honest about how it is.

     

  • Mediaah! Comment on the Abby at Goafest and Kyoorius. Plus: five suggestions for both for next year

    Tale of Two Awards: Abby & Kyoorius

     

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    It’s perhaps unfair to write this comment after the Kyoorius Awards are held. For, one can’t help comparing the Abby awards which were held at Goafest 2014 earlier this month with Kyoorius which happened last Friday.

     

    To compare the Abby with Kyoorius would be as incorrect as comparing the experience of a multicuisine restaurant in the neighbourhood with that of a five star hotel.

     

    However, I was happy to see that Goafest 2014 happened. It proved all naysayers wrong. Given that the event had an all-new organising committee head as late as February, what we saw achieved was indeed a herculean task. And it required the collective charm of Srinivasan Swamy and all of the Goafest and Advertising Club biggies to pull it off.

     

    It speaks a lot about the solidarity and the desire to keep the Goafest flag flying high that many major and small agency heads were present.  Almost all media agency captains were in attendance, and they possibly ensured that the sponsorship monies came in.

     

    However,  as Goafest celebrates its tenth year of existence next year, it will need to do loads more to ensure it doesn’t lose relevance.

     

    One, get a better set of speakers.Curate the conference well. Ensure speakers don’t promote their own organisations/ brands/ work.

     

    Two, ensure all agencies participate. Iron out the differences, give in a bit if necessary but get everyone on board

     

    Three, consider organising it in a season that’s not so sunny and sweaty. Announce the dates well in advance

     

    Four, raise the bar on the awards production. It’s not going to be easy to match the standards set by Kyoorius, but it’s got to be done. Outsource the organising, professionalise it.

     

    And lastly, Five: Agreed advertising is not about Creatives any longer. But to see the absence of many (most?) creative whizkids was unfortunate. Puhleez get them back!

     

    But I think the most important thing is: Don’t live in denial. I have heard some unverified stories about agencies not participating in Kyoorius as they didn’t want to upset the AAAI. A few potential sponsors of Kyoorius reportedly said they were intimidated. One agency biggie is said to have even threatened to speak in the negative about Kyoorius to a pink paper if the dates weren’t moved.

     

    Advertising is about being edgy and stylish. But being cocky and arrogant will take Goafest and the Abby nowhere.

     

    As for Kyoorius, Friday’s event was not an awards show. It was an extravaganza. Rajesh and I were speaking about the need for a credible alternative to the Abby some months back. But buoyed by some active encouragement from various industry friends, he walked the talk and got D&AD to back the advertising and digital awards. I must confess I wasn’t too impressed by the design awards presentation last year.  Although the D&AD judging process was excellent, one of the emcees goofed awfully. The production values were very Abby-like, one could say.  In fact that was the only downer in an otherwise super Designyatra.

     

    So even as MxMIndia wrote about all the good stuff that was scheduled to happen at the awards night, I wasn’t sure about how it would be.  Rajesh gave me a sneak peek of what to expect, but no preview can capture the real thing.

     

    Of the various awards ceremonies I have attended over the years – especially in advertising and marketing, this was by far the best.

     

    But it was just not about slick production or good food and drink or taking care of lesser stuff like offering food to drivers and arranging for Meru cabs so that people can drink away. Or ensuring there is more veg than non-veg, as the non-veggies have the option to consume veg, but not the other way around. It was about the Awards itself. The process was excellent. I heard murmurs that there were certain scams here too, but there was much care taken to weed them out.

     

    Having produced a winner, here are five suggestions for Kyoorius and Rajesh for next year:

    1. Ensure the message is sent out to all and sundry in the creative world that they must participate. Lowe included.
    2. Factor in effectiveness and include more categories, but stick to the D&AD credo and values
    3. Announce dates for next year early
    4. Am sure there aren’t profits from Year 1, but it would be good to see some of the monies being ploughed back for the trade
    5. Just be yourself.  And start thinking of how you are going to better the show next year!

     

    But , of course, there’s a Designyatra (and Digiyatra) scheduled from September 11 to 13. For those who haven’t been there, and for those who’ve seen the Kyoorius extravaganza on Friday, it’s got the same style. And the good thing is that you wouldn’t want to head to the bar through the day. The content will ensure the high.

     

  • Oh, yes, it will. Just as an NDTV will minus Dr Prannoy Roy and Barkha Dutt. Though not necessarily so for Times Now sans Arnab Goswami

    Mediaah! Will CNN-IBN survive without Rajdeep Sardesai?

     

    Mediaah! By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    Rajdeep Sardesai’s decision to quit CNN-IBN isn’t like that of an employee leaving any organisation. Had he not quit NDTV in 2005, he wouldn’t have not gone on to team up with Sameer Manchanda and Raghav Bahl and set up the channel.

     

    In Bahl, Rajdeep found an able ally and his teaming up with Manchanda, one of the sharpest brains in the business, ensured that the new channel started operations near-instantly. Rajdeep quit NDTV in April and CNN-IBN went on air in December 2005, and its instant success contributed much to Bahl’s fortunes as well as image of being a television news tycoon.

     

    Until early 2008, Rajdeep and his channel were the clear leaders. They had trounced NDTV early and the year 2006 and 2007 belonged to them. Rajdeep was voted ‘Impact Person of the Year’ in 2006 and was clearly the toast of town and the must-have guest in the capital’s political circuit.

     

    However, from 2008, after much fumbling and a really terrible take-off,  Times Now started gaining ground. This columnist, then writing on exchange4media.com, commented much to the annoyance of many how Arnab Goswami was a better, more aggressive, news anchor.  If Rajdeep would frown on his shows, Arnab would ask the tough questions. He was bratty, and often abrasive, and represented the mood of the viewing masses.

     

    The November 26 Mumbai terror strike changed things dramatically for Arnab and Times Now.  It was the undisputed leader. Simultaneously there was a sense of outrage against Barkha Dutt, though not as much against Rajdeep, who was equally shrill in his coverage from the terror zone. But then so were most other television journalists, including Times Now staffers.

     

    What emerged from Arnab’s show right then and the scene hasn’t changed dramatically ever since is that there’s little else other than the Newshour on Times Now. The other popular programme is Total Recall, but that’s Bollywood nostalgia.

     

    NDTV has established a huge second and third layer, though other than Prannoy Roy and Barkha Dutt, the rest of the cabin crew  – Vikram Chandra, Sonia Verma Singh and Sreenivasan Jain – pale in comparison even as they can hold fort for a month or two. Quite like CNN-IBN where Bhupendra Chaubey was an excellent stand-in for Rajdeep on the days he took off, but is he the man who can steer the channel to the top slot amongst English news offerings? Can his interviewing skills match those of Arnab?  The answer is a clear No. Read that in 200 points, all caps.

     

    So will CNN-IBN survive after Rajdeep Sardesai’s exit? Oh, yes, it will. Just as India not just survived but thrived after Indira, the Tatas after JRD, the Aditya Birla group after Aditya Birla etc etc. Also, remember, we have had channels which have meandered directionless for years. Headlines Today, for instance. Or even NewsX.

     

    Headlines Today has seen a fresh lease of life after the entry of Karan Thapar and it will gain more respectability with newly appointed vice chair and editor-in-chief  Shekhar Gupta on air.

     

    There were rumours that both Arnab Goswami and Barkha Dutt were approached by Reliance Industries for the top editorial job at CNN-IBN. Barkha is said to have spent a few days in Mumbai recently and even though she denied the news posted by Sahara Samay on its website last week, many believe she may well accept the job now that it’s clear that Rajdeep has exited. A well-known face like Barkha’s will ensure that Rajdeep’s absence is not felt by viewers.

     

    Meanwhile, a new top deck is reportedly assuming charge at Network18 and an announcement is likely to be made on who will lead the company in the absence of most biggies in the organisation.

     

    Will Rajdeep join the India Today group, as was speculated? Or is he taking time off to write a book? Since MxMIndia doesn’t revel in breaking news or carrying wild gossip , we recommend you look up other trade sites for that. What we would like to reinforce are three things.

     

    1. Had Rajdeep Sardesai not existed or not quit NDTV, CNN-IBN would’nt have been around or at least not happened as early as December 2005. Of the various news channels, CNN-IBN has an excellent reporting team, even though many were retrenched last year.

     

    2. The success of any leader is indicative by how it manages operations after he or she leaves. Prannoy Roy has ensured that. Arnab hasn’t. You don’t want to watch the 9pm bulletin when he’s not on air. Rajdeep has a good B and C team but none of them with the same profile has him

     

    3. CNN-IBN (and IBN7) will survive for sure. But it’ll need a new face soon.  Clearly, money is not going to be the constraining factor for this recruitment. For Mukesh Ambani and Reliance Industries Limited, that’s hardly a worry. What the master and his advisors have to convince the big and famous editors is that they will be allowed to operate in a free and frank manner.  That they will be allowed to carry news which may be negative on them. Now will that will be a tough ask?

     

    There are many who  believe news journalism is doomed with the active entry of Reliance Industries in news media. That, as I have written earlier, is an incorrect assumption. Most of our big publications were set up by business houses – large or small.  Moreover,  we do know of some well-known media conglomerates indulging in corrupt or incorrect practices.

     

    If in the true spirit of business, Mukeshbhai and Reliance Industries do not devalue the brand, there is no stopping CNN-IBN and the rest of the media empire from attaining greater heights. If considerations of the rest of their businesses impact the editorial policies, the Ambanis know what happened to TheSunday Observer and the Observer of Business and Politics in the 1990s.

     

    Interesting times ahead for sure.

     

  • If Prime Minister Narendra Modi was really keen on a compact government, combining ministries that could be orchestrated together, he should’ve got Communications and Information Technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to hold additional charge of I&B.

    Mediaah! Why the new I&B ministry rejig is disappointing

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    The near-midnight missive on Sunday that Arun Jaitley was to be the new information and broadcasting minister was disappointing.  To me it appeared more of a sop to the senior BJP leader in lieu of the defence ministry that was given away to former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. It could of course also be because Olympic awardwinning sportsperson Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore is too much of a newbie to deal with a crucial ministry like I&B as Minister of State.

     

    But then defence was always an additional responsibility and even Mr Jaitley is reported to have said that soon after taking charge of finance in May 2014 . So there was no real need for a sop.

     

    My concern with the new I&B minister is his reputation of flexing muscles with the media (and editors) unkind to the BJP. Jaitley is smart and I hope he allays all fears… especially the one in some quarters that the regulators could be sent chasing media entities that take on the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

     

    The other reason for disappointment is that if Modi was really keen on a compact government, combining ministries that could be orchestrated together, he should’ve got Communications and Information Technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to hold additional charge of I&B. Technology and communications are the new drivers of the media and Prasad has led I&B in the past.

     

    And my last peeve: former I&B minister Prakash Javadekar made a statement that “ideologically” and “philosophically” he would work towards the abolition of his ministry. By virtue of this reshuffle-cum-expansion, not only has Modi rubbished Javadekar’s view, but has only added on one more caretaker for the portfolio.

     

    Sigh.

     

    Pradyuman Maheshwari can be reached via Twitter at @pmahesh. The views expressed here are his own.

     

  • Do we think HuffPo India it has a future and is the Times of India-HuffPo marriage the right match or a mismatch, asks Pradyuman Maheshwari in Mediaah!

    Mediaah! HuffPost and Times of India — Great Match or Mismatch?

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    I am personally delighted to see the launch of the India edition of Huffington Post. Two reasons: One, we hear from politicians and the TV channels that India’s stock is rising in the world order, but it’s another thing to have an international news vehicle like Huffington Post enter India. And, two: I take great pride in the fact the Editor-in-Chief Sruthijith KK (SK) has been a friend. He was out there helping raise public opinion about this blog when it was in an independent avatar and was being taken on by a leading news daily.

    He was part of my team at dna in 2006-07, although he didn’t report to me directly. I was in touch with him till around a couple of years back, but met him at his office a couple of weeks back when I was in Noida.

    I am not very sure whether I have helped shape his career, but it surely feels good to see someone rise up the ranks to one of the most coveted jobs in the country. He was a good colleague, excellent at his job and went on to do some great work at Mint, Economic Times and later as editor of Quartz.

    The reason for this piece is not about SK or the fact HuffPo has entered the country, it’s about:

    1. Do we think HuffPo India it has a future?

    2. Is the Times of India-HuffPo marriage the right match or a mismatch?

    Does HuffPo have a future? Of course it does. Am sure the spreadsheets would’ve been done, but a lot depends a lot on how long the two partners keep investing in it. And, more importantly, how much the flavour of the US edition is retained here.

    There are a few other players who are into similar ventures in India: FirstPost, Scroll, Daily O, TheNewsMinute and Quartz. The last of these is where SK worked until recently, so he is obviously clued in to the kind of work HuffPo India needs. The scale is different of course. From the first look, HuffingtonPost.in appears to promise several stories every day, some original and many curated. It will have its set of blogs, and I am sure many of these will make for a good read.

    When I heard about HuffPo choosing Times of India as its partner in India, I was unsure if it would work. The internet requires a different style of operations which large media companies in India haven’t been able to establish. That’s one of the reasons why most websites of mainstream media print entities aren’t any great shakes. But the choice of SK and the dozen-odd journalists he has hired is excellent and could well get the team to produce compelling content.

    And finally to the point of whether TOI was the right choice for HuffPo India? My view: I am not sure. This isn’t the first time HuffPo has aligned itself with the big fish. In France, it’s partner is Le Monde. So TOI is not a special case.

    But what happens when TOI does some disdainful stuff like the focus on Deepika’s cleavage. Will HuffPo India damn it? Will it carry a campaign on Paid Content or something around the Arnab Goswami brand of primetime television journalism?

    I remarked on this when I met SK recently but didn’t push for an answer and get him on the backfoot. He obviously knows that it’s not easy to have a mainstream player like The Times of India as one of your parents.

    It’s not that one Times group publication hasn’t damned another in the past. I remember an editorial in The Times of India and Maharashtra Times taking on Vinod Mehta’s case on a  story on Maharashtra strongman YB Chavan in 1989.

    An India Today report sums up what happened following the publication of the YB Chavan story in the Independent (a daily that the Times of India ran from 1989 until the mid-1990s):

    “Intriguingly, the most scathing criticism of the report came from the editorial columns of the paper’s own sesquicentenarian sister. After excoriating “juvenile zeal for sensationalism”, the Times of India concluded: “The hysterical self-righteousness of sections of the press is only a facade for perpetrating politically-motivated intellectual terrorism.”

    So, Ariannan Huffington and Sruthijith KK  need not feel intimidated by Big Brother Times of India. There’s precedence.

    In a  2865-word opener Ms Huffington, talks about her views on India and what her site will be doing here. She writes:

    “And while HuffPost India will be reporting on all the challenges India is facing and all that is dysfunctional and not working, we’ll also be relentlessly telling the stories of what is working. To start with, we are spotlighting organizations that are tapping into Indians’ collective creativity and compassion to improve the lives of individuals and communities.”

    Just the kind of stuff that works in India and the rest of the world.

    Back to where we started.

    1. Do we think HuffPo India it has a future? Yes, it does. Will it be a financial success? We aren’t sure, but if The Times of India group isn’t able to manage this, who can?

    2. Is the Times of India-HuffPo marriage the right match or a mismatch? This isn’t going to be run by the TOI bosses at Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, but the boys and girls at Times Internet headed by Satyan Gajwani. So, things could well be different. But what happens when someone screws up in the paper or the channels or there’s a negative story in one of the various events that the group organises? We hope that there is no reason for such an eventuality, but given that there’s just too much at stake for The Times of India group in India, if things get too uncomfortable, no marks for guessing what will be given a go-by.

    But it would be fair to give Ms Huffington, Mr Satyan Gajwani and Mr Sruthijith a fair chance with the India edition of Huffington Post. Best wishes to them!

     

  • Inviting entries for the 'dubious' and other yearending awards which will be 'presented' on MxMIndia tomorrow, December 31

    Have you sent your nominations for the Mediaah! Dubious Achievement Awards 2014?

    You read about this last week. The popular (and infamous) Mediaah! Dubious Achievement awards. Will be presented at 11am India Time on MxMIndia.com.

     

    There are awards and awards and awards. But this one is special. It’s no-holds-barred. Because only MxMIndia (and Mediaah!) have the you-know-what to deliver these awards.

     

    Holy cows, better watch out.

     

    The Mediaah! Dubious Achievement awards are, as the name suggests, for achievements that are dubious. It’s a fun feature that MxMIndia carries annually and the objective is to have some fun at the expense of others and ourselves.

     

    Let’s take a few possibilities:

     

    The Congress under Rahul Gandhi Award for Loyalists Dumping the Party Award

    To CNN-IBN business executives and editors for exiting from the channel the moment the full acquisition by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries

     

    The Lagaan Award for Extra-Long Ad Films Award

    To Pepsi-Kurkure Gharwali Diwali Ad which went on and on and on even as it was fun watching

     

    The Ajay Devgn Award for ‘Aata Maazi Satakli’

    To Rajdeep Sardesai for giving one ‘kaan ke neechey’ to the NRI audience  at Madison Square Garden in New York City

     

    The Hum Aapke Hain Koun Award

    To Delhi journalists who were the shown the finger by the new NDA government as we now have a PM who doesn’t taken then on overseas visits and prefers to bypass the very journos who propelled the BJP to winning position

     

    Get the drift? If you want to send in your entries for these, inbox them to pradyumanm@mxmindia.com. Confidentiality assured. We will protect your identity if you don’t want it disclosed.

     

  • Presenting the much-awaited Awards that you find only on MxMIndia every year!

    The Mediaah! Dubious Achievement & Yearend Awards 2014

     

    So here we are: the MxMIndia Dubious Achievement and Yearend Awards. Remember, this is a fun feature that MxMIndia carries annually and the objective is to enjoy at the expense of others and ourselves.

     

    Here we are:

    The Congress under Rahul Gandhi Award for Loyalists Dumping the Party Award

    To CNN-IBN business executives and editors for exiting from the channel the moment the full acquisition by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries

     

    The Lagaan Award for Extra-Long Ad Films Award

    To Pepsi-Kurkure Gharwali Diwali Ad which went on and on and on and on even as it was fun watching it

     

    The Cheerleader Pompom Award:

    To be shared by Barkha Dutt and Rahul Kanwal, for being most faithful to Narendra Modi.

     

    The How Cold is the Water Award:

    To The Week That Wasn’t for gently getting its collective toes wet in tentative attempts to make fun of the Prime Minister and the BJP.

     

    The Incredible Hulk Emeritus Award:

    To Arnab Goswami of Times Now for having the loudest voice in television – again!

     

    The Last Minute Most Insensitive Headline Award:

    To the Economic Times for this: “Damn! Malaysia Again. 162 Vanish. AirAsia this time.”

    (Wrong on most counts as well)

     

    The Bravery to the Reader Award:

    To Caravan for writing the longest stories in journalism filled with excruciatingly small irrelevant details.

     

    The No More Bosom Buddies Award:

    To The Times of India’s Twitter account for offending film star Deepika Padukone, women, men, people generally all over the world.

     

    The Extraneous Noise That I Have to Suffer Award:

    To Bachi Karkaria for dismissing social media with two cruel strikes and yet listening to what it had to say about disinviting Tarun Tejpal from the Times Literary Carnival.

     

    The I Wish I Was A Writer Award:

    To Priya Gupta of the Times Supplements and Medianet for writing the worst article in defence of the Times of India after the fracas with Deepika Padukone’s cleavage. Also, the How to Upset Purists, Feminists, Traditionalists, Analysts all in one Go Award.

     

    Also: The Archaeological Survey of India Award for Reaching New Depths In Journalism Award

    To Priya Gupta of Bombay/etc Times for her masterpiece (with pointed graphics) on Deepika Padukone and her cleavage appeal

     

    The Panvati Position Award

    To the Editor-in-Chief of the India Today group. MJ Akbar was hardly there, the offer was withdrawn to Siddharth Varadarajan at the 11th hour and Shekhar Gupta joined with much fanfare only to feel humbled. Hence the Panvati (bad luck in Bambaiyya) Position Award.

     

    The Ajay Devgn Award for ‘Aata Maazi Satakli’

    To Rajdeep Sardesai for giving one ‘kaan ke neechey’ to the NRI audience at Madison Square Garden in New York City

     

    The Hum Aapke Hain Koun Award

    To Delhi journalists who were the shown the finger by the new NDA government as we now have a PM who doesn’t taken then on overseas visits and prefers to bypass the very journos who propelled the BJP to winning position

     

    The Laut ke Buddhu Ghar Ko Aaya Award

    To Shekhar Gupta who switched from NDTV 24×7 to HeadlinesToday and now back at comfortable territory at NDTV 24×7

     

    The Bagpiper Award for Doing the Daaru while Discussing what India Wants to Know

    To Vinod Mehta for not shying from drinking through the extra-long News TV discussions. After all Khoob Jamegi News Jab Baithkar Peeyenge…

     

    The Most Misused Word in TV Debates Award:

    To “Should” for featuring in everyone: should people stand up, should people sit down but never, “Should TV anchors just shut up.”

     

    The Short Term Memory Loss Award:

    To election pollsters for getting it wrong and claiming they got it right.

     

    The 9X Award for a Non-Starter Channel

    To Sony’s new GEC, Pal. Ratings are sad, this channel aspired to be a Zee killer. Alas, it virtually killed itself doing so.

     

    The Most Promising Debut Awards

    To Rajesh Kejriwal and his Kyoorius Awards. Showed the world that even boring award shows can be made be snazzy

     

    The Old Is Gold Award

    To Big FM to turn some of its stations to retro and attain ratings and rankings

     

    The Award for organising several Award Shows

    To the Exchange4media group for organising innumerable awards and events through the year.

     

    The Aayega Aanewaala Award

    To BARC, the audience measurement body for broadcasters. One expected it to happen by end-2014, but it now appears it will happen only by April 2015

     

    The Milkha Singh Award for Promoting New Sports

    To Uday Shankar and Star India for bringing sports out of the closet and converting them to super-leagues. After Kabaddi, kho-kho, lagori (7 tiles), gilli-danda?

     

    The Down in the Dumps Award

    To the Indian Readership Survey. The industry bodies may have agreed to not dispute but that didn’t mean it would back it. Only one round is out of the 2013 edition, and life goes on. So do we need a readership survey, a research council….?

     

    Contributed by Ranjona Banerji and Pradyuman Maheshwari and various others