MxMIndia

Tag: Arnab Goswami

  • There have been some serious questions asked about whether Times Now under Goswami practised journalism at all, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Arnab Goswami’s Newshour: Journalism or Theatrics?

     

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    It’s the biggest media news of the week, no question there. Hell, the year, the decade or at any rate since November 2008. Arnab Goswami, editor-in-chief of Times Now, emperor of the Newshour, copyright holder of “The Nation Wants to Know”, asker of the “Burning Question”, ruler of the airwaves, has quit. Of course, you already knew that, even if you’ve been living on Mars. The Indian nation which wants to know is hampered neither by geographical boundaries nor by the limits of space communication.

     

    It’s the biggest media news definitely. But what does it mean for journalism? For at least a year, if not more, there have been some serious questions asked about whether Times Now under Goswami practised journalism at all, at least not in the way most of us journalists understand it. This is after making allowances for the allowances that television makes with journalism.

     

    There have always been journalists who think it is their duty to toe the government line. But Goswami seemed to take that several notches further, he took up cudgels on behalf of the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre and fought battles on its behalf. Anyone who disagreed with the government was anti-national and guilty of treason.

     

    In his emotional farewell speech to his team, in a video easily available on the internet, Goswami is heard saying: “Don’t lose faith in independent India… Nobody can teach us independent media. It has come and I have been able to do it only because of you.”

     

    There is no question that Goswami’s brand of primetime news debates took the nation by storm. Since he shot into the limelight during Times Now’s coverage of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, he has come a very long way. He was no longer the man in the background, playing second-fiddle to those who were the then Star News’s star anchors, Barkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai.

     

    He slowly built his own distinct identity as he built up an identity for his show. He put up one of the best defences of women’s rights I have heard on Indian television. He took up people’s issues which other news channels did not.

     

    But as time passed, and especially since May 2014, Newshour became less about journalism and more about melodramatic theatrics from both the anchor and the panellists. It also became about all-out support for the government at the Centre. And it made that fatal mistake for journalists – it stopped asking questions of the authorities. How often has Goswami repeated his “never ever never never ever” outrage with any member of the BJP, as he had done with BJP member Meenakshi Lekhi, after the BJP came to power at the Centre?

     

    That the Bennett Coleman management and Goswami seemed a bit out of sync has been evident for a while. There were strong rumours that Goswami was on his way out earlier this year as the group’s flagship newspaper The Times of India and Times Now seemed at odds with each other. However, on February 29, the “editors” of the group put out a statement which put forth the idea that BCCL is a “federal structure” where each media outlet within the group can follow its own path.

     

    The statement made some intriguing points, if you read between the lines: “Federalism in this Indian tradition is, therefore, a balance between two conflicting forces that always apply to any collective human endeavour – authority and liberty. Neither can exist on its own, both need to feed off each other, and they always challenge each other. Progress is a tug of war between authority and liberty. Federalism provides for the best solution to this conflict because, while there is an authority, the powers of that authority are limited by liberty, and those powers diminish as the collective grows.”

     

    But perhaps even such hi-falutin’ thinking has its limitations. Over the past few weeks, tweets from BCCL managing director Vineet Jain have shown a complete dissonance with Times Now over the news channel’s stance on Pakistani artistes performing in India. Jain emphasised the need for India to stand up for its liberal ethos and encourage “soft power”. If Times Now had that much courage, it would have dubbed its own managing director a pro-Pakistani traitor, the way it had TV journalist Barkha Dutt and indeed every person who disagreed with the government on its Pakistan policy.

     

    In Goswami’s farewell speech he also said, “We have nothing but our professional ability.” That is absolutely true. But it is also evident that the definition of professionalism is not absolute. The way Goswami has practised it in recent times is not the way journalism deserves to be practised.

     

    There are rumours that Goswami is looking to start his own news channel to “challenge the hegemony of the West” or, conversely, that he and a BJP-inclined MP and a Murdoch-owned TV conglomerate will launch Fox News in India. We wish him well and are certain he will thrive especially in Rumour 2!

     

    **

     

    What will happen to Times Now? I have no doubt it will survive because everyone knows that no one is indispensible. But as Pradyuman Maheshwari, editor-in-chief of MxMIndia has pointed out on this website, Times Now’s problem is that it has not built up a second line. So Times Now may take a while to recover.

     

    And as fellow MxM columnist Jaisurya Das stated in a recent column: “Well, this is left to be seen but I certainly don’t envy the TOI group at this stage. They over-marketed him and now face serious brand erosion. One man, one show and the entire media house rides on him…”

     

    **

     

    Interestingly, here’s Akshaya Mukul of The Times of India and winner of a Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism on why he refused to accept the award from Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “I cannot live with the idea of Modi and me in the same frame, smiling at the camera even as he hands over the award to me.”

     

    Mukul, a senior journalist, won the award for his book The Making of Hindu India. He referred in his refusal to attend the event to the events at Patiala House Court in February this year, when journalists were attacked by lawyers led by a BJP member, OP Sharma.

     

    Well there are journalists and there are journalists within a “federal structure”, right?

     

  • While Times Now will find the going tough without Arnab Goswami, can the mega-editor manage with Times Now… an analysis

    Will Times Now survive without Arnab Goswami?

     

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    Let’s face it. Times Now = Arnab Goswami. And Arnab Goswami = Times Now

    We may add as ‘as of now’ for both the equations. For, all of that’s going to change. Soon.

    Goswami has quit Times Now.

    We still don’t have an official confirmation from Times Network, but there’s reason to believe that his resignation has been accepted. News organisations – the best of them – are not known to practise what they preach: be transparent about what’s happening within, dismissing them as an internal matter.

    The question is will Times Now survive without Arnab Goswami?

    Despite being around for over a decade, with a near-eight-year domination of the ratings roster, the channel has not built a quality second level.

    It’s not that we haven’t seen similar situations in the past. When Rajdeep Sardesai quit NDTV, there was just a dent, but the impact was more significant when he exited CNN-IBN. In the case of CNN-IBN though, Sardesai had built a reasonably good third line.

    CNN-IBN did take a beating for a while, but it survived and has been doing well. It’s reasonably independent, despite all the fears of being owned by the Mukesh Ambani business empire.

    At a much larger level, similar existential questions were asked if the Congress and India could survive without Indira Gandhi. Or would Reliance survive after Dhirubhai Ambani. Etc etc. The Congress rebuilt itself, and even if there were some hiccups when the brothers split, it’s been a smoothsail for the Reliances.

    But things are a little different for Times Now and television. Last year, MxMIndia carried an analysis based on BARC numbers on how Times Now ratings fall when Arnab is absent.

    It needed an interview with the Prime Minister to get CNN-IBN to beat Times Now. But it’s back to playing second-fiddle all-India.  An India Today and NDTV 24×7 are around, but despite the presence of some top names and talent, the numbers aren’t good enough to surpass Times Now.

    The reason for this is that the public at large hasn’t found the content on other channels engaging enough. Will they now gain because Times Now would be minus its megastar? Also, how will all of this impact Times Now’s revenues? Will advertisers desert the channel’s primetime or stop paying the premium that they so readily paid?

    While Times Now will find the going tough without Arnab Goswami, can the mega-editor manage with Times Now?

    It’s not going to be easy. There are very few media organisations in the country which back you up as well as the Times of India group. Plus it’s got the media muscle. The only way a new entity can get the masses glued – even if it’s in urban centres – is if it’s got deeeeeep pockets.

    We should know through the day if Arnab Goswami is going to do his show tonight and if the Times Network makes an announcement.

    The Nation Wants to Know!

     

  • It’s true. Arnab Goswami has quit Times Now

    By A Correspondent

    It’s true. It’s true. Yes, it’s true.

    Arnab Goswami has quit Times Now as Editor-in-Chief and President News.

    He is understood to have tendered his resignation today. He convened a meeting of senior editorial staffers at around 3.30pm saying that unless the management asks him to continue, the Newshour telecast tonight (Tuesday, November 1) will be his last.

    Goswami is learnt to be starting his own venture with funding from a few investors. There are rumours of this venture being funded by industrialist-politician Rajeev Chandrashekhar and Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News. There are also rumours that Star India CEO Uday Shankar may be associated with the venture. However, there are some contradictions here.  Murdoch’s Star India has exited the Indian news media since non-Indian companies aren’t allowed to have a majority shareholding.

  • AIMA & Storm the Norm organised a conclave where leading lights in business and the arts shared their real-life stories + Interview with Sam Balsara

    Storming with Insights!

    The launch of the website Insight Buzzar- a platform for storytellers to share their stories with the world

     

    By Anuka Roy

     

    The All India Management Association (AIMA) in association with Storm the Norm – a thinktank of passionate bunch of marketing, innovation and entertainment professionals hosted a conclave called ‘InsightStorm’. It was an interesting format where leading lights from art and business came together to share the insights from their respective fields and also get insights from each other.

     

    “The best insights are gained from conversations,” said Firdose Vandrevala, President, AIMA in his welcome speech at InsightStorm, the first edition of which was held on Wednesday, August 10.

     

    The Conclave was divided in to two halves. The morning half was called ‘Being Extraordinary’ and the post-lunch half was called ‘Doing Extraordinary’. These two broad categories were further divided in to sub-categories.

     

    In the ‘Being Visionary’ session, Indian film and television actor Kabir Bedi represented the art side and shared insights from his life and career. “Opportunity is a very strange thing and it does not come with marching brass bands,” he said. Bedi reminisced about the financial struggles he went through during his college days and which in turn helped him in being motivated to achieve and aim for bigger things. His concluding insight was, “Success is not an end. There are other worlds to conquer.” Ajay Bijli, owner of PVR Cinemas, represented the business side. But this session was a little different. Instead of Bijli sharing his insights straight away, he was asked three questions through which he explained the insights. He shared with the audience how his mini goal of offering something new to cinema goers gave birth to a bigger opportunity and more importantly the introduction of multiplexes in India.

     

    The next session was about ‘Being Pioneer’. Multidisciplinary artist and storyteller Raghava K K and Shabir Momin, MD and CTO at ZengaTV.com represented art and business respectively. This session was predominantly about the art of storytelling and how it can be used profitably for business purpose. “Live the best story you can create,” said the storyteller. Momin narrated a personal experience of how his talented sister-in-law was initially hesitant to commercialise her painting talent but now, with his help, she is an established painter. Momin’s insight: “Do not mind, I will convert your art in to movement.” Finally, they both had a common insight for the audience. “Story is the new money and the companies who understand it will flourish.”

     

    On one hand there was the national award winning film producer, screenwriter and director Vikas Bahl representing art and on the other side Ananya Birla, founder of Svatantra Microfinance, one of the youngest participants of the Conclave represented business. Birla spoke how at the mere age of 17 she wanted to be an entrepreneur and a catalyst for change in rural India. She said, “There are no finishlines, just milestones to be celebrated.” Bahl said that trust is a very important factor in being a leader. So, the trust on thoughts and people should always be maintained. He also added, success and failures should be embraced equally.

     

    In the midst of these insightful sessions, Anisha Motwani and Ranjan Malik, Co- founders and Managing Partners, Storm the Norm Ventures, launched their website Insight Buzzar, which will be live in the next few weeks. It is a platform for storytellers to share their experiences and stories, which can be under any category from business to entertainment or anything they want to share with the world.

     

    Actor, model, producer and social activist Dia Mirza and Neeraj Roy, MD and CEO, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment were the speakers in the ‘Being Innovator’ session. “When an individual’s thoughts are inclusive of humanity, then an individual’s happiness in benefitted by multiplicity,” said Mirza. She spoke about personal experiences and how sometimes most of us tend to think our personal problems to be much bigger than the real problem that exists in the world. Roy made the audience laugh by stating that he founded the company on April Fool’s Day and that is why his people do not take themselves seriously. According to Roy, “Storytelling will become more immersive, interactive and gamified, with video becoming like ‘Air’.”

     

    Two successful business stories were shared by Radha Kapoor, Founder and Executive Director, Indian School of Design and Innovation (ISDI) and Raj Nayak, CEO, Colors – Viacom 18 respectively. Kapoor described the journey of ISDI and shared her insights. She said, “Good design may not always make commercial sense but going forward every business must make great design sense.” “We wanted to jump out of the box, we wanted to break free,” said Nayak about how the channel was conceived. He explained the journey of Colors so far. He concluded by saying, “Breaking the status quo and finding a differentiating factor is the key.”

     

    The ‘Doing Extraordinary’ part of the conclave started with Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-chief and President, Times Network and Sam Balsara, Founder, Chairman and MD, Madison World and Madison Communications.  The session was on ‘Conceive’.“Go with your gut feeling,” said Goswami. He said that during the Commonwealth Games scam story, he was initially paranoid whether to break the story or not but ultimately he went with his gut and broke the story. A veteran marketing services professional, Balsara said, “It is an advantage to recognise that you are at a disadvantage. And, if it is safe, it is risky.” According to Balsara, many great ad campaigns do not see the light of the day because they could not be sold. Hence, the ability to sell is very important.

     

    The ‘Design’ session was initiated by Ashwin Sanghi, Author and Mahesh Murthy, Founder, Pinstrom and Co-founder, Seedfund. Sanghi narrated a funny story about his first book. When he went to a bookstore to see how his book was doing, he could not find it initially. Finally when he did find it, he purposely went and kept it in the best seller’s shelf. “An effective lie is one that stays as close to the truth as possible,” he said. Murthy described his investments in startups and how he noticed that the biggest brands in the world do not advertise. He said, “The dominant brand or name in a category is now the one who spends the least on advertising.”

     

    Rohan Joshi, stand-up comedian, writer and television presenter and Ashish Hemrajani, Founder-CEO, Bigtree Entertainment helmed the ‘Launch’ session. Joshi stressed on the obsession of clients about videos going viral and advised them not to think about the same since it takes away the essence from the larger picture. “A brand cannot demand a ‘viral’. It can only demand content. Virality is the internet’s decision, not the client’s,” he said. Hemrajani explained the rollercoaster ride of bookmyshow.com and how bid data helps them knowing their customers. He said, “Creating friction by asking information from users does not make for learning enough about your users.”

     

    The participants of the ‘Scale’ session were founder and blogger of MissMalini.com, Malini Agarwal and Radio Jockey, Actor, Anchor, Writer and Director Roshan Abbas. The common element between both of them was that both dared to dream and have been very successful in their respective fields. This session was predominantly about finding happiness in what you do and being happy in general. “It is great to scale fast but it’s ultimately about how long you last! Iconic brands are designed for longevity,” said Agarwal. Abbas stressed on the fact that it is important to find your replacement, so that you can focus on what has not been done. He said, “Start with spirit. Supplement with systems. And, find the balance between them.”

     

    Earlier in the day, painter and sculptor Jatin Das shared his story with the audience. He expressed his disappointment about the changing scenarios in terms of art and how commercialised it has become. “We buy more and see less, media celebrates the rich not the richness of our culture, change that at a primary level,” he said.

     

  • First Project of Innovative Real Time Data Journalism Garners Top Ratings for Times Now on of May 19 Election Results Day

    GroupM, Mindshare & Gramener partner to co-build data driven visual solutions

    By A Correspondent

     

    Mindshare is partnering with Gramener, leading data visualization company to create data-driven visual solutions for actionable insights across the marketing and communications ecosystem.

     

    Data increasingly powers every element of the marketing mix –source of growth, consumer behavior, content creation, mix optimization and measurement. This partnership leverages GroupM & Mindshare’s strong customer reach and Gramener’s compelling visual analytics platform to create solutions that leverage dormant data assets and bring them alive through cutting edge visualization.

     

    The first project undertaken after the partnership was for the leading English news channel Times Now on May 19th 2016, when the State election results were announced. The team put together a unique, real time visualization of historic and current data that helped Times Now stand out strongly in the news clutter and gave viewers a compelling Visual Data Journalism experience.

     

    Speaking about the data visualization products created especially for Times Now, Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-chief, Times Now said, “We were able to collate historic data dating back to the year of independence, and with the help of the Mindshare and Gramener team, we showed our viewers the latest trends and changing political scenario of the country, as the results of the latest State Elections were announced on May 19th 2016. Our reportage on the elections was holistic, and the data presentation helps the viewer understand our political environment better with the in depth analysis of our editorial team.The seamless workflow integration between the production teams of our news network and Gramener on a real time extremely fast paced election result day was a path breaker. I am absolutely delighted with this association.”

     

    Mindshare is a leader in providing strategic media services to a host of blue-chip clients. Adaptive Marketing is the driving philosophy of Mindshare and data is at the core of Adaptive Marketing. This partnership will enable the creation of bespoke products in the data management & visualization space.

     

    Prasanth Kumar, CEO, Mindshare South Asia said, “To truly deliver on our philosophy of Adaptive Marketing, it is critical that Data is brought alive and put to best effect. Our partnership with Gramener will help us deliver this consistently and in a compelling fashion. We will announce our first joint product very soon”

     

    Naveen Gattu, co-founder at Gramener added. “We are excited by this partnership. It will help us untangle the data footprint and create powerful decision making tools for every marketing manager and executive.”

     

  • No brainer, say brand specialists. His voice is precious. He should’ve been approached for endorsements ages ago!

    Arnab Goswami to endorse Glycodin?

     

    By A Conespondent

     

    You don’t need to go too far to know that Arnab Goswami  is the No 1 news anchor.  If you start watching his nightly Newshour from the very beginning, you can’t miss the promos on how the show is the most popular and he’s the most trusted news presenter/editor/etc etc.

    Keeping in mind his popularity, it is learnt from unconfirmed sources that Goswami has been approached by Alembic, the makers of Glycodin to endorse the cough syrup. Reasoning the choice, our source said: “Night after night, he shouts out loud and even though he’s speaking to a microphone, the fact that he does it every day is remarkable.”

    According to the information received, Goswami refused to take up the offer initially. “I am able to retain my voice not because of cough syrups and Kanthils. It’s only because of the love of the nation, and because the nation wants me to ask questions,” he is said to have told the bestselling cough syrup’s brand manager.

    What eventually clinched the contract was not the multi-crore endorsement cheque, and nor was it a lifelong supply of Glycodins, but the assurance that the adline will say: “This is what I recommend to all my guests on show who need to shout out loud and have to leave the show coughing!”

    Detailed info and Part 2 of the story here 

     

     

  • The Autocar Show will air on ET NOW on Fridays starting December 11, 2015 at 10:30 pm with repeats on Saturday (11:30 am and 3:30 pm) and Sunday (10:00 am and 2:00 pm)

    Autocar joins hands with Times Network for new auto show

    By A Correspondent

     

    Times Network has tied up with Autocar India to offer viewers car reviews by the most authentic and highly insightful car experts on two news channels in India, ET NOW and Times NOW.

     

    Autocar India is widely quoted by the media across the globe for its detailed views. In addition to providing car reviews in the most insightful manner, the magazine gives its readers unmatched access to the automobile industry news. With the likes of Hormazd Sorabjee, Editor – Autocar India, who has three decades of experience, and Narain Karthikeyan, India’s first F1 racer set to grace the television screens, viewers can be assured of the most engrossing and informative ride of their lives with every episode of Autocar India.

     

    Arnab Goswami

    Speaking on the partnership, Arnab Goswami, President – News and Editor in Chief, TIMES NOW and ET NOW, said, “We are delighted to have tied up with India’s most respected experts in the automobile circuit to launch The Autocar Show. I am sure that Hormazd and his team will make the show a one-stop destination that caters to the needs of everyone interested in the magical and enticing world of automobiles. The Autocar Show, which will air on ET NOW and Times NOW, will add to the world class quality, variety and relevance of our programming bouquet.”

     

    Hormazd Sorabjee, Editor – Autocar India said. “We are thrilled to have tied up with Times Network which will give a huge boost to the popularity of The Autocar Show. It’s not just the fact that both ET Now and Times Now are undisputed leaders in their genres but the high energy and passion of the Times Network that motivates us to go that extra mile to deliver cutting edge content.”

     

    The Autocar Show is bound to keep viewers hooked with the variety of its content. The show will review the latest Skoda Superb before any other Indian media! It will look to heighten the enthusiasm through feature activities that have never been carried out before such as driving the Lamborghini Hurracan to Khardung la Pass, the highest motorable road in the world! In addition to such feats, the show will keep viewers informed through its segment that will shed light on the automobile market scenario.

     

    The Autocar Show will air on ET NOW on Fridays starting December 11, 2015 at 10:30 pm with repeats on Saturday (11:30 am and 3:30 pm) and Sunday (10:00 am and 2:00 pm).

     

  • An eclectic mix of international speakers, top-notch professionals, academics & students did the audience proud, writes Jaisurya Das

    Jaisurya Das: Kappa, Meen Curry & the IAA Summit

    A glimpse from the streetfood festival hosted by Mathrubhumi group on Day 2 of the Summit

     

    By Jaisurya Das

     

    Shah Rukh Khan, Mammooty, Sachin Tendulkar, Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev and earthy crooner  Papon topped with pyrotechnics and Kappa – Meen Curry and you have glitz, glamour and intrigue like never before.

     

    Kerala – God’s Own Country – played host last week to over 700 Delegates from all over the country at the Silver Jubilee Summit of the International Advertising Association India Chapter. An eclectic mix of international speakers, top-notch professionals, academicians and students did the audience proud at every session.

     

    Srinivasan K Swamy, IAA India President, welcomed delegates while Faris Abouhamad, Global President and IAA chairman and Pradeep Guha, Summit Chairman & Area Director IAA Asia Pacific, gave their short and crisp Introductions to the Silver Jubilee Summit.

     

    Amitabh Kant; Secretary, Industrial Policy & Promotion , Government of India delivered a keynote address with almost a rehearsed élan. Kerala and tourism have always been synergistic, yet the transition from being known only for Kovalam (The ‘Done to Death’ beach near Thiruvanthapuram ) to a destination that has immense diversity, was a carefully planned strategy. “Brands are made by people,” said Kant.

     

    Now , we have to agree with that don’t we ?

     

    The sheer diverse plethora of eminent speakers (that includes the glam world) who spoke at the Summit rendered it Unique . Srinivasan Swamy and Pradeep Guha gushed about the immense response they got.

     

    While Cindy Gallop (Founder & Former Chair of BBH, USA and founder of MakeLoveNotPorn ) explained the need of a new world order, Paul McCarthy, author of Online Gravity, outlined how gravity giants attracted huge investments . Undoubtedly a reality that was seconded by Abhay Pandey, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital. Simon Kemp, Regional MD, ‘We Are Social’, Singapore, was emphatic about how social will disrupt all the fundamentals of the marketing mix. We would imagine it already has, Simon. We are still trying to find the method in the madness called social!

     

    That’s probably why Sanjiv Puri, President – FMCG, ITC Ltd, felt that building globally acceptable brands wasn’t easy. Understanding the equity of tradition is the essence, remarked Puri.
    A meaty day met its match when the Mathrubhumi group took over the evening and ferried the entire lot of delegates to the boat jetty at Marine Drive. Half-hour later, the boats approached what seemed like an enchanted island. It was Bolgatty, resplendent with exquisite lights and the resonance of the unmistakeable ‘Chhenda , the Traditional Drum.

     

    The overcast skies came alive with the startling pyrotechnics, much like the famed ‘ Trichur Pooram ‘ where neighbouring temples symbolically compete with each other using fireworks. This festival incidentally attracts visitors from across the globe.  More often than once it is the fireworks and the majestic elephants that has the audience spellbound, year after year.

     

    Malayalam film icon Mammooty stole everyone’s heart with his inimitable baritone intonation and sheer presence. Street food in Kerala has its own charm, and the Bolgatty Island came alive with food stalls , picklesellers and the like. All that was served was homecooked or made right there , making it even more authentic and rich in flavour and tradition. Shreyams Kumar of Mathrubhumi played a perfect host and ensured every one was taken care of well.

     

    The third and final day of the Summit was a mixed bag of glamour, intrigue and emotion what with Sachin Tendulkar, Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev, Arnab Goswami etc sharing their experiences and views on ‘What’s Coming Next’.

     

    Tendulkar was his calm, composed self, in conversation with Prasoon Joshi. He talked about how a good advertisement could help him in addition to the brand and how he respected his father’s wishes and refused all tobacco and liquor ads. “Let the country talk about the past innings, you think about the next,” he said. ” Take that extra step, don’t give up” was his positive advise to all. The master blaster and Prasoon Joshi handed over the stage to the ever-charismatic spiritual leader Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev.

     

    His deep voice and incisive views enthralled the audience. “Why create the ghost, fight with it most of your life, and then win over it,” remarked Vasudev.  “Success is Joy. ” he said while advising the audience to be positive in life.

     

    Rahul Welde, Vice President-Media , Unilever Asia, Africa, Middle East, Turkey and Russia, was lucid in his talk focussed on the power of custom content. “Don’t be in the advertising business. Be in the content business,” he said with passion. Custom content is the future where speed is the new currency.

     

    One also saw the likes of 21-year-old Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, OYO Rooms, in conversation with Sam Balsara, Chairman, Madison. Sameer Nair, the man who brought Koun Banega Crorepati and Amitabh Bachhan to the small screen, and currently Group CEO, Balaji Telefilms, talked about how word of mouth is now word of social!

     

    The Chief Minister of Kerala Oommen Chandy was all praise for the IAA for having brought the Summit to Kerala. This, Chandy said, was the largest advertising conference to be held in the State.

     

    The Summit ended with Arnab Goswami talking about how his breed of journalism is disruptive. “You have to be like a pin prick for the society to change.” remarked the Newshour man.

     

    Kerala will indeed a special place in many hearts, be it the Kappa and Meen Curry or the diverse energy that came together for this Summit.

     

  • BARC data shows how the ratings of channels & shows is impacted when star presenters are absent… Goswami included

    There Is No Alternative to Arnab!

     

    We don’t know whether you would consider this news good or bad.

     

    But here’s a fact: despite all that some of us may say about the Arnabification of television news, he rules the English news space.  He dominates cooler conversation and college canteen chatter. His Newshour clearly sets the agenda for what India chats about the night and morning after.

     

    The other day, one overheard this conversation between two professionals on a Mumbai-Bhubaneswar flight. “Arnab dekha. Kya chutney banaya woh guest ka!”

     

    We now have data to prove that when there’s no Arnab Goswami on Times Now, viewers go elsewhere.

     

    We also requested BARC on looking at how other English news channels fare when Arnab is also absent. Interestingly viewers do move to other channels, though that’s not the case in the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) space where the absence of Kapil Sharma may have impacted Colors, but didn’t see other GEC ratings leapfrog.

     

    Go through the slide show.  And, yes, Times Now may as well call itself ‘Arnab Now’.

     

  • Held in Mumbai on Tuesday (June 30), the event saw a cross-section of mediapersons and well-known personalities talking on the rise of the platform

    Discussion on emergence of Twitter in storytelling

    By Dyanne Coelho

     

    Popular microblogging platform Twitter hosted an interactive and informative conference entitled #RiseWithTwitter highlighting the future of mobile storytelling in India and the emerging uses of the platform. Held in Mumbai on Tuesday (June 30), the event saw a cross-section of mediapersons and well-known personalities talking on the rise of the platform.

     

    For instance, Meghna Pant, Indian literary fiction writer and financial journalist shared an inspiring tale of how she tweeted the Mahabharata in just 100 tweets.

     

    Times Now Editor-in-Chief, Arnab Goswami  joined Rishi Jaitley, Market Director, India and South East Asia in an engaging session to discuss the applications of Twitter in the world of journalism. The Lalitgate hashtag (#Lalitgate) coined by Times Now after the recent expose, has earned 43.2 million tweets in a six-day period, Twitter revealed. “Television gets me an audience five times bigger than digital,” Goswami said but added that both mediums are now working in a complementary fashion. “We’re six years away from a digital explosion,” he said of research and he advised that if you are working in the field of digital, hang in there, things are going to explode with change.

     

    Balu Nair, the creator of the Twitter handle @BloodDonorsIn explained how Twitter as a medium is being used for a cause. If any patient is in dire need of a blood transfusion, the family or friends can tweet at the handle with the requirement. Nair explained that kind souls have even travelled cross city to donate blood to those in need thanks to the handle.

     

    MN Reddi, Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru in the session ‘The Mobile Microphone’ moderated by Mid-Day Editor Sachin Kalbag pointed out the advantages of Twitter for himself as a person of authority and responsibility. People feel safer because they feel connected to the Commissioner and they get immediate responses to their queries and/or complaints, however rumours are still a huge issue in the world of social media, he said. Henry Jenkins, American media scholar and professor of communication and journalism at USC, brought to note that many scandals would not have hit as hard as they did if it depended only on the media. It is the people who have created the buzz on social media and brought issues to light he said. He cited the example of the hashtag #CNNFail a few years back that trended on Twitter, and which was created by the public to express their disappointment of CNN’s coverage of the aftermath of the Iranian election coverage. Sunil Chhetri of the Bengaluru FC football team highlighted the negativity a platform like Twitter brings to him as a player and to sportspersons in general. “When we lose a match, I dread looking at my phone, because the fans tweets are further depressing. So I check them only a day after once I have calmed down,” he explained.

     

    While people like sportspersons or celebrities can afford to wait a day to respond to tweets, brands don’t have that luxury, Deepali Naair, CMO, Mahindra Holidays said. For brands what is important to engage in conversations that matter to people, she said.Abu Mathen George of the Ministry of External Affairs discussed how his team handles multiple Twitter handles to cater to various needs of Indian citizens. Twitter was used extensively to carry out the evacuations of Indians from Yemen, he explained. People could tweet at the handle about their whereabouts and the Ministry would respond with nearest ports or planes for them to get to. A similar strategy was used during the Nepal earthquake. The importance of engaging the audience on a mobile global platform is key, the panelists Manan Mehta, VP, Yash Raj Films, Abu Mathen George of the Ministry of External Affairs and business journalist Shaili Chopra discussed in a session moderated by Anant Goenka, Director of the Indian Express group.

     

    Nitish Tipnis, Director Sales and Marketing, Hover Automotive India, Deepali Naair, and Shivnath Thukral, Group president, Corporate Branding and Strategic Initiatives at Essar engaged in audience  in an interesting discussion on humanising brands on social media. Whether you are a relatively formal brand like Essar, or a fun brand like Mahindra Holidays, it’s all about keeping the conversation casual on a social media platform, yet getting your word across to the right target audience.

     

    “India is one of the leading markets in terms of user base,” Taranjeet Singh, Country Business Head, Twitter India, said. “Growth in India has been phenomenal. We work with over 600 brands and we have recently launched TV targeting as well because we realised that many people tweet about the content they are watching. Twitter India is way ahead of the business plan in terms of revenue,” Singh revealed.

     

  • Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu was the Chief Guest at the Red Ink Awards of the Mumbai Press Club

    Press Club Mumbai awards Red Ink Award to Prannoy Roy, others

    By Dyanne Coelho

     

    “I have heard a lady anchor on a Hindi channel, twirling her hair and saying, ‘Break kebaad, aapkoek rape dikhaenge’,” Dr. Prannoy Roy, winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award said to a stunned audience as he talked about the ghastly tsunami of tabloid journalism that has inflicted the Indian media space. The co-founder of the NDTV Network was speaking at the Mumbai Press Club RedInk Awards for Excellence in Indian Journalism 2015, where he was felicitated with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

     

    Often known as one of the most respected and trusted anchors in Indian journalism, Dr. Prannoy Roy blasted the tabloidization of news in India, and put the blame on advertisers. He criticized the journalists that keep their sources too close and hence alter the path of their story and emphasized the importance of maintaining stricter defamation laws so that journalists themselves cannot get away with slack trends in reporting. Talking about the lowering of standards of Indian journalism, Royretorted, “If this decline in quality continues, I believe three years from now, the Indian media will have no credibility left and Sir (pointing to Suresh Prabhu) you know what that means. It happened to politicians a long time ago.”

     

    Roy, however, stressed that the laws of defamation must be governed by the courts and the legal system and that the government must never ever have a say in the Indian media.

     

    Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, who was the chief guest at the event after CM DevendraFadnavis was a no show, suggested that media houses should work on ‘Making News’ while chasing ‘Breaking News’. “A lot of positive news is left uncovered in this new trend,” he said.

     

    A panel discussion – Celebrating the Voice of Dissent- was conducted that included senior journalists Shekhar Gupta, former Editor-in-Chief of the Indian Express, Srineevasan Jain of NDTV, Krishna Prasad, Editor-in-Chief of Outlook and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu. The discussion was moderated by Sachin Kalbag, the Editor of Mid-Day.

     

    The media professionals expressed concern at some politicians turning ‘mini dictators’ and trying to threaten the freedom of speech. They also took a jab at the BJP government for the comment made by a party member that every Hindu woman must have at least four children.

     

    The RedInk Award for Impact Editor of the year went to Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-Chief of Times Now, for his ability to capture eyeballs and expand audience reach with what in his own words is ‘the longest one hour television news debate.’ On being asked what he has to say to those who criticize his form of journalism saying that it has a negative impact, Arnab is quick to respond, “We are in the business of news, not in the business of compliments. So for us criticism and praise in equal measure is okay, as long as we do our job honestly.”

     

    The RedInk Award for Journalist of the Year, instituted for the first time, went to Sreenivasan Jain of NDTV for his consistent investigative work epitomized in his series ‘Truth versus Hype’ and other programmes. Scroll.in was awarded the ‘Best News Start-Up of the Year’ for scaling up its influence rapidly as an alternative source of news and features.

     

    The RedInk Award for business journalism in the print medium went to Dinesh Narayanan of The Caravan Magazine and in the television space went to Dibang from ABP News.

     

    The award for Crime journalism in print was shared by two journalists, Leena Reghunath of the Caravan Magazine and Vinod Kumar Menon of Mid Day. In the broadcast space the RedInk award for excellence in crime reporting went to TarunNangia and Dipu Rai of Zee Business.

     

    Sharad Vyas ofMid Day bagged the award for excellence in Environment reporting, while in the broadcast category, the award was shared byUmeshKumavat from ABP News and Rajat Singh of AajTak.Kumawat’s wife walked up on stage proudly to receive the award on his behalf as he was in Nepal reporting at the time.

     

    In the category of Health and Wellness, the RedInk award in the print space went to Johnson Poovanthuruth from Deepika Magazine and to Nikita Saxena from Caravan Magazine. For the broadcast category, VrushaliPurandare of TV-9 walked away with the award.

     

    The Redink Award for the Human Rights category in print went to SalilTripathi, from The Caravan Magazine and for television to Shams Tahir Khan of AajTak.

     

    The much-awaited RedInk award for excellence in political reportage in print went to Dinesh Narayanan of The Caravan Magazine and in broadcast; it went to Jitendra Dixit of ABP News.

     

    Caravan continued to steal the show as  Rahul Bhatia walked away with the RedInk award for excellence in sports journalism in the print space, whereas Suprita Das of NDTV won the same in the broadcast space.

     

  • Did Arnab Goswami and his channel overdo the nationalistic bit post India's debacle in the World Cup? Ranjona Banerji & Pradyuman Maheshwari comment

    Down with Times Now, #RejectArnab

     

     

    Time to #Reject Arnab

     

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    In 2008, well before 26/11 or the Mumbai terror attack, I had written that Arnab Goswami is a lot better than Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt (and of course a host of other stars on NDTV). He asked the tough questions, he spoke for you and me. There were no holy cows in his book then.

     

    Around November 26, he did the smart thing of sticking around the studio and not getting out on the field. Whether it was because he feared for his life or whether it was by intent, it worked well for the channel because it had its best man in the studio helping in the packaging of the channel.

     

    Over the years though, the success has got him to turn arrogant on television. If you don’t agree with his line of thinking, even the gods won’t be able to save you. If we thought that Karan Thapar would heckle his guests and often speak more than the people he was quizzing, Arnab takes this art to an all-new level. He just doesn’t allow them to speak beyond half a sentence.

     

    He’s aggressive. He’s offensive. Sadly, he’s also repulsive.

     

    But all of that has worked for the channel and him. He attracts maximum ratings and political leaders love to be on his show because it gives them great visibility.

     

    Ad spots on his show are a few x times more expensive than those on some other English news channels. It’s all going right for the man. And his channel.

     

    But many of us find him crossing the limits for a few years now. The problem with Arnab is that he doesn’t believe in half-measures. He goes on the rampage. I would like to not offer any analogies with the behaviour of other beings, but anyone who comes in his way, is mauled.

     

    Bottomline: Arnab is getting obnoxious. And needs to be tamed soon. If the The Times of India group doesn’t do it, the law-enforcers could.

     

    Ideally of course he should be subjected his fate by viewers who could reject his channel and watch others. But, then, the alternatives aren’t energetic enough. So there are many who still consider him the best of the lot. Plus it’s entertainment. Since the next season of Bigg Boss is still some months away, Newshour is the show everyone loves to watch. There the inmates scream at each other, here the studio guests do that. And so does the master of ceremonies: Arnab Goswami.

     

    Now, as Ranjona Banerji writes alongside, even his lieutenants are doing it.

     

    On the evening after India was humbled by Australia in the semi finals of the 2015 World Cup Cricket, after various elements on social media had converted their dismay to jokes and jibes, one would’ve expected an Oxford-educated Arnab to put things in perspective and not fuel the cause of the lumpen elements.

     

    But what we saw was an unnecessary whipping up of nationalistic passion. Stuff that we can do without. Time to Reject Arnab. Let’s hashtag it, as he loves to do. #RejectArnab

     

    		  

    No longer any connection to journalism

     

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Ding dong ding dong… hear that? It’s the death knell of journalism being rung in India thanks to Times Now. That Times Now is on a collision course with both good sense and reality is well known. But did the new channel reach the end game on Thursday, March 26, after India lost in the semi-final of the Cricket World Cup against Australia in Sydney? The answer could well be “yes”.I can safely say that I have never been as appalled with a pair of journalists in 30 years in the profession as I was with the display that Anand Narasimhan and Tina Sharma Tiwari put up on television after the semi-final. People reacted with so much anger to their “#ShamedAtSydney” hashtag running across the screen that #ShameonTimesNow was soon trending on Twitter and continued to do so up to Friday morning.

     

    Fans react with irrational anger when their favourite team or player loses. But for journalists to outdo badly behaved fans deserves the strongest condemnation. Not only were the two anchors foaming and frothing at the mouth but they seemed unable to distinguish between their roles and that of a fan ready to burn an effigy. It almost seemed as if they were egging fans on to misbehave; and suggesting that any such behaviour was justified.

     

    Some of the panellists on Times Now just after the loss, like Charu Sharma, Atul Wassan and later Zaheer Khan tried to inject reason and sense into the discussion. But neither the anchors nor Saad Bin Jung were having any of it. For them, India capitulated, Dhoni should have cried like AB De Villiers of South Africa, Kohli was distracted by Anushka Sharma’s presence and the team played like “stupid amateurs”.

     

    The trouble is that all these are believable as reactions from loony fans. Not from journalists who are either supposed to report on proceedings or, as in the case of TV, ask other people to analyse them. The spectacle of Narasimhan and Sharma-Tiwari screeching at the guests was unedifying and appalling. The two of them are supposed to be sports journalists but there was no semblance of any understanding of sport visible from them. Narasimhan had a mega tantrum over the rights of fans versus sense and Sharma-Tiwari had her own hissy fit about Dhoni’s apparent lack of emotion at the loss – as determined by her.

     

    What viewers might have wanted to see was some analysis of what went wrong. The panellists on the side of reason (the wrong side as far as Times Now was concerned) argued that the Indian team had played well so far, mentioned how well Australia had played, pointed out that there was no reason for the Indian players to purposely play badly. But the anchors were having none of it.

     

    The defining moment for me was Sharma-Tiwari questioning the lack of application by the Indian players. The irony was that neither she nor Narasimhan showed any application to the tenets of journalism. It is tempting to blame Times Now’s editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami for this behaviour. By manipulating The Newshour as his personal soapbox, he appears to have encouraged his staff to become rabble rousers and instigators. Even if he did not instruct either of them to behave in this manner, he has clearly inspired them. I did not watch Goswami himself on Thursday because I had had enough of the channel by then. But my colleague Pradyuman Maheshwari had his own share of heart attacks watching The Newshour.

     

    I have defended Times Now and Goswami before, if only because I felt he had a finger on the pulse. But I fear that I have to concede defeat. Times Now may provide entertainment of the lowest and basest kind but it no longer has any connection to journalism.