Tag: Bhaskar Das

Being a print veteran, we thought it would be appropriate to ask this question and another tomorrow. So let’s hear it from Dr Bhaskar Das in the September 8 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

Q. While unveiling its new look last Monday, HT wrote on the impact of the Covid-led lockdown: Some readers whose newspaper-reading moved online in this period may not return to the print paper. Now that’s a solid admission of a change in habit by one of India’s largest and influential newspaper groups. What say?

A.What’s wrong in it? Business can’t be run with emotion or ego. It’s pragmatism to internalise that a future backwards strategy is the only way to move forward to navigate challenges (technology-led, consumer culture change-led and regulatory ambiguity-led)  of any sector. I really appreciate the initiative.

The attempt was to get him to give a direct answer – giving a name, but then we knew he wouldn’t do that. Without further ado, read Dr Bhaskar Das in the September 7 edition of Das ka Dum. Enjoy and enrich yourself…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

Q. It was Teacher’s Day on Saturday, September 5. Who from amongst the various people you worked with would you say was your best teacher? Or you learnt from the most?

A. I have been blessed to receive continuous lessons from everyone in my life, including you. When one is not bothered about the source of knowledge and one is perpetually curious, learning flows incessantly.

The two best lessons have  come to me from a chariot driver in Mahabharata: 1. Do your duty, leave the result to God and 2. Remain lovingly detached, as opposed to morbidly attached to your task.

Another issue that a lot of people have been raising with us, so we asked the question to Dr Bhaskar Das. Let’s hear it from him in the September 2 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

Q. Since many media organisations are reporting the return of happy days in terms of revenues, do you think they should reverse the job and salary cuts?

A. I can’t sermonise on what an organisation would (or should) do. But it’s natural for companies to restore both jobs and salary cuts when business sentiments improve both for attracting/ retaining talents and to remain competitive in the market by more intense market coverage and customer service. At the same time, one can’t predict which organisation would behave in what manner.

This was an issue that a lot of people have been raising with us, so we asked the question to Dr Bhaskar Das. Let’s hear it from him in the September 1 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

Q. Given the number of sexual harassment/me-too complaints coming from the media in India, do you think our media is a safe place of work for women?

A. Do you have sectoral database of the type of complaints you have referred to? Why did you pick up media for the same. I am not denying the existence but we can’t paint everyone/ every organisation with the same brush. Besides, there are regulatory redressal mechanisms available to combat any adversarial incidents. Corporations are conscious of  safety in the workplace. Hence, it’s too sweeping to comment that media isn’t safe place to work. The rising number of women in workplace contradicts your observation, empirically.

So we weren’t really asking for a positive feedback, but we thought he would add his ‘vishesh tippani’ (special comments). But then just on the day we want him to do that, he gives a straightforward reply. Presenting the August 31 edition of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

Q. So one is not fishing for compliments or brickbats, but your view on the Q&A we had with Arnab Goswami on Friday?

A. Interesting and candid conversation. Both sides have confidence in their convictions. Q&A was direct. Answers were too. Overall my rating for the interview is very high.

An interesting, thoughtprovoking answer, as we always expect from Dr Bhaskar Das. Without any further ado, here’s the August 27 edition of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

Q. If someone wants to start a new business in media, what would you recommend that has a bright, more secure future?

A. The whole search for a secured future is a chimera. Also, what is a secured future? It implies one knows what is going to happen tomorrow. Have any of our predictions materialised in 2020? I doubt. What happened to the forecasting techniques used by every business? So, let’s not kid ourselves. Any business can be so-called secure if it is predicated on sound understanding of the operating environment. One must remember that turnover is vanity, profit is sanity and cash is reality. Before valuation, value in the mind of consumers has to be etched firmly. And each business has to be nimble enough (mentally first) to pivot in consonance with perpetual headwinds.

Straightforward question, straightforward response. Okay, with an element of BDism, but that’s only to expected from our Wizard with Words. Here’s the August 26 edition of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

Q. Given that OTT platforms are attracting a lot of eyeballs, do you think the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime should also explore an AVOD (advertiser-funded) model?

A. Absolutely, if the proposition rationalises  the outlay for the consumers. Ultimately no organisation can be a model business without a business model. With changing time, every business has to recalibrate their business to be in sync with the unfolded reality.

The question is fairly self-explanatory. Let’s hear it from the boss for his view. Presenting the August 25 edition of Das ka Dum with Dr Bhaskar Das. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

Q. The Pitch Madison mid-year report unveiled by Sam Balsara last week painted a fairly grim picture of adspends? But then there are some who believe it could get even worse. Your view

A. Pitch Madison prediction must have an analytics-based rationale. Since I don’t know the methodology, I won’t be able to comment. My observations might have a confirmation bias as at the ground level I see signs of recovery, albeit slow, across most sectors. They may not be comparable to pre-Covid days but being an incorrigible optimist, I believe in human resilience and we shall experience better times gradually. I know my observation might suffer from a confirmation bias due to role of recency in the database.

We think we have asked a similar question in the past. But times are a-changin, and so could ones views. So our end-of-the-work-week question for Dr Bhaskar Das elicits a should-we-say very Bhaskar Das-ish response. Presenting the August 21 edition of Dr Bhaskar Das. Read on…

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar.

Q. If you were granted a wish to live your life again, would you rechart any of your professional or personal moves?

A. Why in the first place should I wish for something else than what I am today, unless I have regrets?! And I don’t have any regret for anything. Anyway, one ought not regret the brief interregnum of manifest phase when one is moving irrevocably towards the unmanifest.