MxMIndia

Tag: Mediaah

  • A piece of news that's going to generate much sound and angst. Hemant Morparia, one of India's foremost editorial cartoonists, has moved from Mid-Day to Mumbai Mirror.

    Mediaah! Morparia moves from Mid-Day to Mirror, Weekend tweets, The Monday Psssst!

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    Big Switch! Morparia takes his toon from Mid-Day to Mumbai Mirror

    In Mumbai’s media circles, this is a piece of news that’s going to generate much sound and angst. Hemant Morparia, one of India’s foremost editorial cartoonists, has moved from Mid-Day to Mumbai Mirror. There was a time when he could have been called a part-time cartoonist, but since around a decade, he appears to be doing two full-time jobs. The first as a radiologist and sonologist at the Breach Candy Hospital and the second as an editorial cartoonist. Now with Mumbai Mirror, Time Out and a few other publications.

     

    Sound and angst because Mumbai Mirror isn’t an afternoon paper like Mid-Day, but they are kind-of in the same space. So the switch will hurt Mid-Day much. And angst, because it’s sad to see Mid-Day lose Morparia just around the time when it was getting its act together.

     

    In a sense, the Mirror switch is a kind-of homecoming. He started out in the Times building in the late 1980s with The Evening News of India and then the Illustrated Weekly before doing daily toons for Bombay Times for nine years. And then in 2003, he shifted to Mid-Day. Another nine years later, he’s moved to Mumbai Mirror.

     

    I posed a few questions to Morparia on the move.

     

    1. So, why the switch from Mid-Day to Mumbai Mirror?

    > Some change of scene is always good, specially after nine years. It gives you a new audience and new space and new feedback. It helps to re-evaulate your own style and content. I was perfectly happy with Mid-Day, very pleasant people to work with and no problems with them at all. Happy memories with them. Sachin Kalbag is a friend and am saddened to leave.

     

    2. One of my peeves with Mid-Day was that your toon was all over the paper. How much is a fixed slot necessary for a pocket cartoon? Like Laxman had in ToI for years?

    > Ya, a fixed slot is a great attraction for a daily cartoonist, I would say a must. See, a daily cartoon is, or could become, a habit. If all over the place, it does not easily do so.

     

    3. Will we continue to see your toons in Time-Out and elsewhere?

    > Yes, I have only given the daily cartoon slot to the Mirror.

     

    4. So what’s more fun at this stage of your career: doing sonos and xrays, or tooning?

    > Well as I respond to you, I’m at the hospital, having just made a rare diagnosis on an emergency basis at 9pm on a Sunday. I did a sonography on a lady in pain, who just lost her father, two days ago. The diagnosis will be the key to whether she needs surgery or not. With this diagnosis, a surgery has been averted. That does give one satisfaction, undoubtedly. But it’s of a different type from the creative satisfaction that a making a cartoon gives. Creative satisfaction satisfies me first. And that is fun. Medicine and radiology are not fun, but are skills that can be learnt and honed. Being in two professions as different as these give one a sense of balance, proportion and some real-life perspective.

     

    5. Do you find the role of the cartoonist diminishing in the newspaper? There are more illustrations than cartoons offering commentary?

    > I think the reverse is true. Since we famously have a young population and young people enjoy humour, laughs, irreverence, visual stimulation and rebellion, then how can cartoons have a poor future? See how standup comedy has taken off in the country.

     

    6. How would you see cartooning shaping itself in the time of tablets and smartphones?

    > I don’t know. Probably an avenue for many cartoonists who don’t have the space provided by big publishers to access audiences directly and worldwide.

     

    Hmmm. Good to see Morparia welcoming newbies (and possible competition) to the business. Given the nine-year itch, guess the next change will be in 2021. 🙂

     

    Tweets of the weekend

    Until we find a permanent home for this and given that tweets from people across our business are perhaps the best way to keep tabs on what’s happening, here’s a sample of some gems that I picked over the weekend:

     

    Mahesh Murthy (@maheshmurthy): The most amazing discovery at @TimesNow #Foodie Awards? Arnab standing silently on the sidelines 🙂

     

    Satbir Singh (@thesatbir): In Goa, time passes so slowly you can almost hear it go hic hoc, hic hoc.

     

    Shishir Joshi (@joshishishir): What do you do whn a boss asks young reporter to pose as visiting actors fan since the office is falling short of crazy lovers of the star?

     

    Prabhu Chawla (@PrabhuChawla): Norway, gujrat porn gate, Coalgate makes it clear: Media just hypes a story and forgets a story behind such stories?

     

    Lynn de Souza (@lynndesouza): If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman. From Lokmat Women Summit at Pune this morning.

     

    Anant Rangaswami (@AnantRangaswami): Just to make you feel better on a Saturday morning. Petrol now costs 1.40 GB Pounds/litre in London….

     

    The Monday Psssst!

    Is there more freedom to journalists in newspapers or on news television? Well, the likelihood of stories getting killed before they are carried is huger in the papers given the lead time.

     

    Recently, a commentator in a much-read daily found that his/her column was not carried because it was negative on a key political leader. It may have been for the first time in many years, but the fact that a column was dropped from the commentator who is a reasonably sound name in the media was shocking. And by a newspaper which prides on its ethical way of doing things.

     

    So why am I not taking names? Well, I’m sworn to secrecy. The column in question has appeared elsewhere, and all will soon be forgotten.

     

  • Pradyuman Maheshwari on why he’s going to do the trek to Powai for FICCI Frames 2012.

    11 reasons why I am going to be @ Frames this year

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    #1 This is my 11th FICCI Frames. Must say I had lost count of when the event was launched, except when I learnt yesterday that’s it’s the thirteenth edition of the event. If I remember right, I have missed out on just two years. So, couldn’t not make it this year.

     

    #2 This is the only time I visit the the Marriott property at Powai. The Renaissance is a great hotel and I quite prefer it to other convention hotels like Taj Palace in Delhi or Leela at Gurgaon, but three days of the trek here are enough for the whole year!

     

    #3 I can’t do without meeting my Frames friends. Yes, I don’t meet them for the rest of the year… these days I chat with some over Facebook or BBM, but nothing like meeting in the lobby at Frames.

     

    #4 Star-gazing! Thanks to the fact that Yash Chopra is chairperson of the entertainment committee and now with Karan Johar as co-chair, one can’t not find the big stars around. Last year, we had Vidya Balan pre-Dirty Picture. Now, we have Vidya Balan post-Dirty Picture. Ooh, la, la!

     

    #5 There is some serious discussion on digitization and with the presence of all stakeholders – the I&B secretary and the TRAI chairman, the key broadcasters and the distribution biggies, we couldn’t have had a better platform now that the sunset date in metro is a few weeks away

     

    #6 I enjoy Uday Shankar’s keynotes. The industry couldn’t have asked for a better champion. Given that his group is also into films in the country and his own background in news and print, there are few who have a more well-rounded view.

     

    #7 I am also looking forward to the session with all the legal eagles though I am unsure whether the time allotted will be sufficient for a reasonable discussion. Perhaps next year, there should be a day-long discussion with the law-wallahs.

     

    #8 Even though MxMIndia is a media partner and there’s no denying the fact that Frames is the premier event of India’s M&E sector, I have also been critical of a few of the earlier editions. It would get boring and I have seen no real merit in some of the deliberations. I have found media captains snooze and wish I had taken pictures of them. But I see that there is an attempt to get some new names in.

     

    #9 I really like Rajiv Makhni of NDTV and I’m going to try and attend all the sessions moderated by him. In fact I wonder he was only called for three of the sessions… why not all?

     

    #10 Clinch deals, exchange cards and pleasantries and promise to meet. Now that I am in an entrepreneurial mode, all of this assumes much importance.

     

    #11 And for the 11th reason why I am going to be at FICCI Frames this year: Be happy that you are part of the media and entertainment business. Okay, folks in other industry sectors may not think much of us and crib about our work – our newspapers, magazines, channels, films… whatever – but they can’t do without us.

     

    The views expressed here are my own, and not necessarily those of MxMIndia.com and my colleagues.

  • The objective of MJR is not to take journalists to the cleaners. It’s more of a celebration of the profession, and in the process reporting on all the good and bad things in there.

    Introducing the MxM Journalism Review

    So what’s a media, marketing and advertising website doing with a Journalism Review? Isn’t journalism at the bottom of the value chain for some or just one of those things that don’t quite matter? ‘Cos who will advertise on a website/microsite that’s only got journos hooked?

     

    Monsanto, perhaps, given that it was the benefactor for a major award recently. Or the Jaypee group or various others wanting to curry favour with news media professionals.

     

    There’s a reason why the MxM Journalism Review (MJR, for short) has happened. For one, we have received an astounding response to our journalism section. And two, as a media and marketing site, we can’t not track what’s happening in this part of the media. While the pressure of running the rest of the operations has taken a toll over my doing Mediaah! regularly, senior journalist, until last year senior editor at DNA and former colleague Ranjona Banerji’s ‘Freaking News’ has been attracting many hits. Plus Gouri Dange’s column ‘Naming no Names’, Deepa Gahlot’s review of reviews, Newswatch by well-known journos, Anil Thakraney’s frequent ‘hard knocks’ on news and of course our regular fare of stories.

     

    The objective of MJR is not to take journalists to the cleaners. Yes, it’s a ‘review’ but we aren’t watchdogs who like to bark at everyone. It’s more of a celebration of the profession, and in the process reporting on all the good and bad things in there. We don’t think there’s anything wrong with innovative advertising in print. So a coffee-flavoured newspaper is fine and if a newspaper wants to have a full page ad on Page 1 on a big news day, then we guess its folks know how it impacts the brand. We’ll have our commentators do the talking, but we surely don’t believe most publishers are evil.

     

    Yes, we have a very strong view on paid content. Our standpoint on the issue was evident when we were perhaps the only publication which said RJ mentions constituted an incorrect practice… quite the same when a newspaper asks a restaurant to pay for publishing a picture of its opening. We don’t think it’s right. We stand for integrity in the profession and are worried as media companies compromise on ethics when they get into allied activities like events – conferences, awards, et al.

     

    We think journalists who accept bribes are as corrupt as those indicted in the various scams. We believe journos who pass off readymade stories handed to them by PR agencies as their own are corrupt even if they may be senior editors at respected print media. We think award organisers who give out awards without a legit process and/or juries deciding on them must be damned.

     

    We also want private FM radio to air news. We think news journalism – especially local and cultural – will get a huge boost with FM radio. When Markandey Katju went on a rampage against journalists, we were upset because some of it was indeed true, except of course he had no business to do so as Press Council chief.

     

    The MxM Journalism Review isn’t just about news journalism. We are as interested in documenting how the Maxim editor is doing as is the editor of Hindustan Times. We will write about how Sun News is doing as much as, say, YouTube-based film news offering Lehren.

     

    A lot of it is tough doing, but we hope to achieve the impossible thanks to a network of well-wishers across the country. In the process, we may experiment. Our columns and features may upset Editors, CMOs and CEOs. While some may threaten to pull their advertising, a few may choose to invest their faith in us.

    MxMIndia’s MJR will strive to bring you unbiased news and views on Indian journalism. So help us God.

     

    -Pradyuman Maheshwari

    Editor-in-Chief and CEO, MxMIndia

    Email: pradyumanm@mxmindia.com,
    BBM: 23050B5D, Twitter: @pmahesh
    Gtalk: pradyumanm[at]gmail.com

    PS: Taaliyaan!

  • Agnello Dias represents the new face of adland and has done some terrific work, writes Pradyuman Maheshwari

    Mediaah!: Aggie – well-deserved Impact Person of the Year

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    So it’s Agnello Dias as Impact Person of the Year. For the first time in the seven-year history of Impact Person of the Year, an adperson has won the coveted accolade. Guess there have been times when people have come very close, but given the way the selection is done whoever is top of mind in the second half of the year, generally forges ahead (see disclosure).

     

    Deserving choice, and in every way echoes the sentiment of the industry. Aggie, with his Airtel ad, has been the toast of adland. I did a quick dipstick on Tuesday asking for names of the top creative folk in the country. The sample: 11 people from three metros. And this is what 90 per cent of the people said: Piyush Pandey, Prasoon Joshi and Agnello Dias.

     

    Feel sorry for the rest of the immense creative talent that India has, but guess these things happen and I don’t think anyone minds it. While Piyush is around, there is a laaarge creative pool at Ogilvy. Ditto in JWT, Mudra and the mom-and-pop shop based in Patna and Panjim.

     

    Should it have been one of the others?

     

    Haresh Chawla, outgoing Group CEO, Network18 and Viacom18

    Madhukar Kamath, MD & CEO, Mudra Group and Chairman, AdAsia

    Man Jit Singh, CEO, Multi Screen Media

    Rajiv Verma, CEO, Hindustan  Times

    Ronnie Screwvala, CEO and Founder Chairman, UTV

    Sandeep Goyal, Non-Executive Founder Chairman, Dentsu India

    Vineet Jain, Managing Director, Times Group

     

    Guess since it’s the fraternity who decides on who the award should go to, I think the question should be asked to each of us and not the exchange4media group management. For me, Agnello Dias represents the new face of Indian advertising. He is young, dynamic and has done some super work when with JWT and now as an entrepreneur running Taproot.

     

    What you can ask them (and the editorial team) is why they chose Haresh Chawla as Editorial Choice and not Vineet Jain, Sandeep Goel, Ronnie Screwvala, Man Jit Singh, Rajiv Verma and Madhukar Kamath? I think Haresh Chawla deserved it awesomely and since he’s moving out of the Network/Viacom/Web/etc 18 group, there can be no nasties like he was given the award to get more ads.

     

    So just as you may ask as to why cricketer x wasn’t selected for the Australia series, there will be questions asked as to why Haresh and why not Vineet Jain or Ronnie or Madhukar or Rajiv Verma or Sandeep Goel or Man Jit Singh?

     

    Pointless discussion. Many congratulations to Agnello Dias and Haresh Chawla.

     

    (Disclosure: I worked with the exchange4media group until May this year and ran the Impact Person of the Year for the last three years)

    Photograph: Bharat Kapadia

     

    The PR Channel

    Must mention here that I have been think of a specialised PR publication ever since Hanmer & PR founder-bossman Sunil Gautam asked me a question of whether it would work here in India. I didn’t think it would as a standalone, but in a broadbased site like MxMIndia, it should.

     

    SRK: India’s biggest endorser

    His Ra.One may not have worked as well as he would have, but the publicity around it was phenomenal. Clearly the biggest we’ve seen in India. Little wonder that an Economic Times report says that SRK emerged as the most visible celeb on TV followed by Katrina and Kareena. I missed reading it in the Mumbai edition of ET, but here’s a web link: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/advertising/shah-rukh-khan-fmcg-cos-lead-tv-advertising-charts/articleshow/11041079.cms

     

     

    Buzz me if you have a story to tell and gossip to share. Confidentiality assured. Andar ki baat will stay under. There are various ways you can reach me: pradyumanm[at]mxmindia.com, BBM @ 23050B5D, pradyumanm[at]gmail.com, @pmahesh, 98338 76278.

     

    Disclaimer: Although Pradyuman Maheshwari is CEO of MxMIndia other than being editor-in-chief, he chucks those hats while writing Mediaah! So, the views expressed here are entirely his own and not those of the website and the team that runs it (especially the National Sales Head!).

  • For good to triumph over evil, what better place to start than one’s own backyard?

    The Anchor: 10 media evils we’d like to see banished this Dassera

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    It’s Dassera tomorrow, a festival that symbolises good winning over evil. Here’s my list of 10 media evils that I would like to see the end of. You can say that some of these are predictable since I have written about the issues in the past, but they are genuine evils. Banish them!

    #1 Corruption

    The 10-letter word is not just a preserve of government and politicians. It exists in plenty in corporates and the private sector. Our business included. Bribes to get sales deals through, generating revenues by way of money payouts and favours. Sending media buyers and clients to see the FIFA World Cup or Wimbledon tennis is nothing extraordinary these days. Nor is selling of magazine covers, or newspaper or website stories, in lieu of monies very surprising. Ditto with awards: money or just for old times’ sake. Har ek friend zaroori hota hai!

    #2 Paid news

    This has been institutionalised by certain publications even if it’s for just for lifestyle, glamour and brand launch news. It needs to stop, and a dubious disclaimer won’t do. Paid News is prostitution of editorial space and I don’t have to spell out what its practitioners should be called.

    #3 Industry fiefdoms

    Trade associations are supposed to help the lowest common denominator, but in the media we have a situation that some of the aasociations have become fiefdoms and people hardly mentor or help the weaker players. In fact they often attempt to crush them.

    #4 The ratings race

    Revenues happen only if there is proof that your product is read or seen or heard. Nothing wrong with it. But some newspapers are rumoured to go to any extent to fix things. And channels see nothing wrong tweaking storylines for better numbers. Ratings ke liye kuch bhi karega!

    #5 Dearth of talent and disparity in salaries

    There is need for dramatic change here. Some wings of media and marketing are paid fantastically, others pathetically. Journalists, for instance, are very poorly paid in many establishments. Ditto with staffers in Tier 2 cities. The media needs to attract quality talent and offer great content. Both are critical for good content. Alas, I don’t see this changing in a hurry.

    #6 Abuse of Intellectual property

    In Indian media, copyright is mostly defined as the right to copy. Our media companies are fortunate that legal action takes its time or never happens. Else a few of them could be giving the more high profile criminals company in Tihar or Arthur Road. The discipline has to start from the ground-up. Googled pictures must be a no-no and only licensed content must be used.

     

    #7 Fake ads

    It’s not as severe as other issues here, but the fake ads that advertising agencies craft to win awards are not on. Yes, they are a given these days and some leading agencies patronise the practice. But there has to be a way to end it. Perhaps some introspection?

     

    #8 Content sucks

    The self-regulation mechanism has been set up, but I think some of our channels, especially a few newswallahs, could do with a drive to improve content. And a news channel must air news and possibly some kutta-billi stuff. Not the other way round.

     

    #9 FDI blues

    Foreign direct investment in radio was hiked to 26 percent last week and in news channels it’s restricted to 26 percent till date. However, GECs can be 100 percent owned by foreigners. And creative and media advertising agencies too can be fully owned by non-Indians. Given that ad agencies influence media buying decisions and hence can in turn influence the media, why not allow full FDI in news and radio?

     

    #10 No Ethics!

    It’s a dirty word in most media organizations. Look at how many have a Code of Ethics, and insist on employees (and the promoters) agreeing to practise it.

     

     

    The views expressed here are my own and are not endorsed by MxMIndia.com

  • Mediaah! tries to find out which of the news channel stars fit the Times of India descriptor of over-the-top anchors

    Mediaah!: Is Arnab Goswami the “over-the-top anchor” in the TOI ad?

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

     

    This is not the first time that someone from within the Bennett, Coleman & Co empire has taken on Arnab Goswami and Times Now. In the past, Prashant Panday went hammer and tongs at Arnab. The post was on Prashant’s Facebook wall, and didn’t beat about the bush. I must say I was quite surprised that the CEO of a group company which runs the very popular Radio Mirchi network could write all of it so openly (read: An open letter to Arnab ).

    The fact that Prashant wrote it and still has his job speaks volumes for the internal democracy that exists in the group. Though my wicked brain thinks there’s more to it… especially when I saw this ad on the sports pages of the Mumbai edition. Chhota 15×3 ad, but very interesting.

    You must read the text… all of it.

     

    Heated discussions. Accusations and counter accusations. Provocative soundbytes. Panelists competing to outshout each other. Inflammatory visuals. Over-the-top anchors. That’s the stuff TV news is made of. But while it may stir your emotions, does it really leave you better informed about the subject being discussed? Probably not.

    That’s where the print media comes in. Since we don’t labour under the tyranny of having to fill in news 24 hours a day, we can afford to be choosy about what we publish. Beyond the sound and fury of TV’s breaking news, we provide balance, perspective and sober discourse.

    And nobody does it better that The Times of India, the world’s leading English newspaper.We give our readers accurate and balanced news, along with insightful analysis. And we ensure that all points of view are covered. So after you’ve been stirred and shaken by TV news at night, wake up to a bright new day. And get informed by The Times of India.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Not all of it is untrue. Panelists do outshout each other on news TV. Put Jayanthi Natarajan and Ravi Shankar Prasad in one discussion and there’s more noise and less discussion. Also you can be sure you won’t find all the news on television… esp the private channels. Doordarshan News has a lot more meat, but it is soooo boring.

    What deserves another look and no real reading between the lines is a bit from the first para:

    Heated discussions. Accusations and counter accusations. Provocative soundbytes. Panelists competing to outshout each other. Inflammatory visuals. Over-the-top anchors. That’s the stuff TV news is made of.

    So let’s look at the people who dominate the nightly news on the English non-business news channels, which I guess is what the TOI ad is talking about: Rahul Kanwal (Headlines Today), Rajdeep Sardesai and Sagarika Ghose (CNN-IBN), Vikram Chandra, Barkha Dutt, Prannoy Roy (NDTV 24×7) and of course Arnab Goswami on Times Now. There’s also Rahul Shivshankar on NewsX, but my cable operator doesn’t offer the channel, so would reserve comment on him.

    Rahul Kanwal is aggressive and provocative, but he is not sound and fury. Rajdeep has mellowed (and become very good once again), but Sagarika can go high-pitched. On NDTV, Dr Roy and Vikram C are exceedingly softspoken and can’t harm a fly. Barkha still attempts to ask some tough questions, but like Rajdeep isn’t what she used to be around the time of the Gujarat riots.

    The one man who fits most of the attributes described in the Times (of India) ad is Arnab Goswami. I don’t agree with him being over-the-top, though there are many who believe so. I think he asks the tough questions, and is possibly the only one to do so day after day. Yes, he gets carried away, but needs to be cruel with our politicians. And even as I join others in lampooning Arnab for his the-nation-wants-to-know-line, the fact of the matter is that we all really want to know.

    I do feel that Times Now overstretches itself on issues like Pakistan, China or racism, but heck we need it.  As for inflammatory visuals, I think the print media is also fairly irresponsible. Though the impact of television is a lot, lot more on the common man or woman.

    Let’s keep this discussion on. Email Mediaah! at pradyumanm@mxmindia.com and I will carry the best comment here when I am back on Tuesday.

     

     

    Pataudi, RIP

     

    But for the time when he patted me on the back and gave me an autograph, I’ve never met him. But heard loads about him.

    When the news of Tiger Pataudi’s passing came in last night, almost by reflex I called a colleague to check if we could get someone in adland to reminisce dealings with him for endorsements. Then we tried checking on his connections as editor of Sportsworld and for his stint at Dev Features. The Sportsworld team is scattered all over. There’s an interesting tribute by Derek O’Brien in The Telegraph.

    I called Vivek Sengupta on reading his tweet, and finally convinced him to write a few lines. That was around midnight. Vivek may have turned into a public affairs and PR practitioner for a while, but he’s essentially a journo. He knew I wanted him to write, and sent his copy in an hour.

    Meanwhile, we had no luck with getting an adman to write on Pataudi’s ads. But here are two of his TVC that I found on YouTube (the  first a rather long Gwalior Suitings ad and the other being the recent Lays TVC with Saif)

    [youtube width=”350″ height=”260″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iei989o4l-I[/youtube]

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    [youtube width=”350″ height=”260″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTVIrhnt5x4[/youtube]

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Buzz me if you have a story to tell. Confidentiality assured. There are various ways you can reach me:

    pradyumanm[at]mxmindia.com, 23050B5D, pradyumanm@gmail.com, @pmahesh, 98338 76278.

  • DNA ed-in-chief Aditya Sinha's column is a win-win. He will turn into a martyr if he's sacked and a hero if he gets away with it

    Mediaah!: Of a toothless Press Council and spineless Editors’ Guild

    By Pradyuman Maheshwari

    Apologies for not being regular. A colleague has been indisposed. We’ve been getting our share of exclusives and firsts. So a good part of the day is spent in ensuring that MxMIndia turns into a broadbased media website. So all of you who’ve been missing your daily dose of Mediaah!, chill! I don’t think the blog will be a daily, but an update at least three to four times a week?!

     

    Mint editor R Sukumar’s ‘Edspace’ is a delight to read. Pity it doesn’t appear every Saturday. Delight for me because it deals essentially with the media, and often on ethics. For instance, last weekend, he wrote about journalists being responsible for the state in which the profession is in the India – the corruption levels given the direct and indirect favours journos take (see link). Like awards, being part of a government committee. Sukumar hopes the Editors’ Guild of India will debate these issues.

    Being a Delhi-based editor and “an unacknowledged member” of the Guild, I guess he hopes the apex association of editors will do something. My own belief is that it will not. It could do precious little when the paid political news controversy first surfaced a couple of years back and Medianet did a decade ago.

    If the Press Council of India is toothless, the Guild is spineless. And this is despite having editors like T N Ninan, M J Akbar and Rajdeep Sardesai at the helm. Guess it’s one thing writing about the government or demining, say, a Narendra Modi, but another to take on biggies in their own biradiri.

     

    Paid news and Mid-Day

    Mid-Day exec editor Sachin Kalbag makes a brave defence for the paid news practice that his paper indulges in. Quoted in The Big Story on MxMIndia.com earlier this week, he defends the ‘Centre Stage’ feature in his paper that contains advertorials. Just 15 percent of the content is paid for. He also calls the tagline under the Bombay Times masthead as a disclaimer.

    I don’t think people see it as a disclaimer. If The Times of India and Mid-Day are serious about informing their readers that some of the stuff in their papers is published not on the merit of its editorial content but the amount someone’s paid for it, they must clearly state that they are doing it. They must tell the reader that the content in question must not be construed as that done by the paper’s journalists. Just as Mint has been doing about its advertorials. So in every sense of the term, the 15% of the paper’s Centre Stage section is paid content.

    So, lemme repeat what Sachin says:

    My opinion on paid news is very simple: It’s an abhorrent practice. It demeans journalism. I don’t really know when this crept in, but it has plagued the media for decades. Unscrupulous journalists have been on the take for several years, and this is not a new phenomenon. The widely cited example of institutional selling of content space is Bombay Times which introduced a rate card for coverage in the supplement. Recently, the supplement began putting a disclaimer under its masthead. The phenomenon of institutional selling of content space crept into the media for various reasons – but the root cause was always to increase revenue.

    Our editorial policy is very clear: any “Advertorial” is placed in a two-page section called Centre Stage, which is part of the Classifieds section of the newspaper. Centre Stage in Mid-Day is differentiated in various ways from the editorial part of the newspaper. Here’s how: 1) The Centre Stage carries a prominent disclaimer in a large point size under the masthead “People, Parties, Promotions”. This has been happening since the day Mid-Day started Centre Stage, which was more than two years ago. In Centre Stage, we carry items on movie releases and profiles of actors, fashion designers, parties, etc, that happened in Mumbai that week, apart from product launches.

    Close to 85 percent of the Centre Stage advertorial section is non-paid, that is to say the Centre Stage team of writers (this team is not part of the Mid-Day editorial team) interviews people or writes about their parties or products. Around 15 per cent of the items are placed where the content space is sold by the sales team. Once again, these items are only about Bollywood, fashion, parties or product launches. There is a separate, specialized sales team that sells this space, and at no point in time do they dictate terms to

    Editorial, mainly because Centre Stage is not editorial space, but marketing real estate. In fact, there have been several instances when the Editorial staff in Mid-Day has trashed Centre Stage advertisers in the review section of the newspaper, and the sales team has gotten into trouble due to that negative coverage. Yet, we are very clear at Mid-Day that the Sales and Editorial wires do not cross, and that the Chinese wall between them stays even though we may be good friends outside the office.

    We are also very clear that Centre Stage will not carry any “news”, but only information on these three or four categories listed above. There is neither any opinion nor any recommendation made in the section that is endorsed by the editor. In the strictest sense of the term, it is an advertorial. Mid-Day, therefore, has stayed away from “paid news” and will continue to do so.

    Thus, Centre Stage in Mid-Day is institutional selling of content space which I guess has a rate card. I am told revenues are healthy and though they don’t run over a 100-odd crore as Medianet is said to be generating, but even if it’s 1/100th that, it’s too much to sacrifice for stupid things like editorial integrity.

    Guess for some publications, editorial ethics is also an abhorrent practice. It demeans ad sales!

     

    Dabbang Sinha!

    As a strategy, it’s a win-win. He took on the information broadcasting minister in public saying that ever since DNA went ballistic with the anti-corruption drive of Anna Hazare, the government stopped advertising in his paper. (Link to column)

    Now, from whatever I’ve known of Ambika Soni, she’s a pretty reasonable minister. Given all the complaints that every I&B mantri receives, she could’ve made life miserable for media players. Especially broadcasters. Like her predecessors did.

    A senior journalist in the Capital told me that Aditya Sinha’s column last Sunday is sure to see his scalp. Subhash Chandraji could find it too hot to handle, and the Zee supremo needs the government for his plans a helluva lot.

    But this is why I said it’s a win-win for Sinha. If he gets the sack, he will turn a martyr (that doesn’t help much, I can tell you from experience). And if he continues, he’ll turn into a hero because after all, few have had the balls to say the government is kinda blackmailing the press.

    Sample some gems from his column:

    > Soni’s statement led us to infer that our Anna Hazare coverage was being punished by a suspension of government ads, and that Soni met our ad executives just to ensure the point was driven home.

    >This was not surprising because DNA recently has faced suspicion and hostility from the government which has apparently adopted an attitude of “you’re either with us or against us”. The prime minister’s media advisor has privately accused DNA of an agenda against the government, and its Editor-in-Chief of being close to a political party in the opposition.

    >The day after the meeting with Soni, DNA started getting DAVP ads again. Presumably, from the government side, mission was accomplished

    >Loss of business can be measured, but the loss of credibility cannot. Above all, that someone in government tried to be petty and vindictive is, to us, validation that we were doing our job right

    The views expressed here are my own and are not necessarily those of MxMIndia and its editorial team. In fact often it’s in variance with their views. Meanwhile, buzz me if you have a story to tell. Confidentiality assured. There are various ways you can reach me: pradyumanm[at]mxmindia.com, 23050B5D, pradyumanm@gmail.com, @pmahesh, 98338 76278.

     

    Tomorrow:  Is The Times of India taking on Times Now?

  • Pradyuman Maheshwari on why Mid-Day must get back to carrying timepass, Bambaiyya content

    Wanted: a mast, mast Mid-Day

    Pradyuman MaheshwariBy Pradyuman Maheshwari

    We’ve been promising a review of Mid-Day. It would’ve been unfair to do one by just appraising a single day’s edition, so we thought of doing that over the last 10-odd days since the paper went for a new look.

    First off, a couple of disclosures. Okay, let me use the ‘I’ instead of ‘We’. I worked with the group for seven years (1993-2000), was a shareholder for a bit and I take great pride in the rapid strides that current executive editor Sachin Kalbag has been taking in his career.

     

     

    Yet another disclosure, I was invited to write for the paper’s new-look, but declined the offer because of a Medianet-like scheme that Mid-Day runs for part of the paper.

    But let’s get to the relaunch. I’ve always perceived Mid-Day as a Mumbai institution, with the paper celebrating the city and reporting on what’s happening in here. At first, it lost its constituency of the society circuit to Bombay Times and over the last six-odd years, Mumbai Mirror has been steadily eating into Mid-Day’s dominance on civic and Bollywood news.

    The Medianet-like practice that the paper started was the final nail on the coffin. When I spoke to former owner Tariq Ansari for an interview with Impact last year, he said he was against the concept but was forced to given commercial considerations. Well, a couple of crores of revenue is good to have, but all of it at the cost of integrity?

    While The Times of India group clearly says that Bombay Times is an ‘advertorial entertainment promotional feature’, while the statement upfront is a step in the right direction, it’s not enough as it ought to make a very clear announcement of what it means on its main Times of India page as well as on Bombay Times. I’m sure not many have noticed that small line under the Bombay, Delhi etc Times mastheads

    Back to Mid-Day, I believe it must reinforce as identity as a Mumbai paper. The Page 1 story must be ‘Bambaiyya’ in content and outlook, the feel ought to be tabloidy and the stories must have punch. I would like to see the Mate and snippety Diary back on Page 3. Or at least Page 2.

    Despite an edit page and some pretty good (and serious) content, Mid-Day was always known as a timepass read. Sachin was around in Mid-Day those days, so he should know.

    Agreed the look-and-feel has got to be more contemporary, but if it wants to create the same magic as it did until a few years back, it’s got to get its masti back.

    Why jail only for political paid content

    Beware, media barons and editors accepting money for publishing editorial content. While the election commission can do precious little about the corrupt practices of media entities carrying content in lieu of money and not clearly tagging it as an advertisement, it’s heartening to note that all those who are doing it for politics will be put behind bars for 2 years.

    Now, what about those doing it for lifestyle products? Shall we count the years?

    Read: an IndianTelevision report

    What’s a piece on the Campaign A-List doing on MxMIndia.com?

    If you’re surprised why the MxM anchor has Everest Brand Solutions president Dhunji Wadia telling us why it’s great to be on the Campaign India A-List, don’t be. It’s not that he put my name on the mail instead of the Campaign editor’s. We asked him to write it. He did that in record time, in between meetings. (Read Dhunji on the A-List)

    Here’s my take on the issue: MxMIndia is media-neutral and would like to write about every media entity. We will write about all the activities of even those who consider MxMIndia it’s rival. For in my books, no one is. I’ll be happy to cover the activities of all business publications and the media trade publications. This includes the Campaign A-List, the afaqs events, the exchange4media group events etc etc. That is, of course, if an MxM reporter is allowed in.

    Buzz me if you have a story to tell. Confidentiality assured. There are various ways you can reach me: pradyumanm[at]mxmindia.com, 23050B5D, Gtalk: pradyumanm[at]gmail.com, @pmahesh, 98338 76278

  • Hoshiyaar, Khabardaar! Mediaah! cyberspace mein waapis aa gaya hai! No-holds-barred analyses. Mediaah-ishtyle.

    The spirit of Mediaah! lives on

    Hoshiyaar, Khabardaar! Mediaah! cyberspace mein waapis aa gaya hai!The blog is rechristened Mediaah! s3. s3 being short for Season 3, thisbeing the third coming for Mediaah!

     

    After six years of self-imposed exile, Mediaah! returns. In line with the current media order, it’s going to be called Mediaah! s3. s3 being short for Season 3… this being the third coming for the blog. Trittiya, as Amitabh Bachchan would call it.

    And, yes, Mediaah! has a new home @ the all-new homebase for mediapersons and marketers: MxMIndia.com

    Wish me luck. Its my third attempt at being brutal and honest. But like I read Sunil Gavaskar say somewhere that his words may have softened with time, I guess I too may have mellowed in these last few years.

    Plus this time around, Mediaah! is going to be part of a website that I run along with a committed team and friends.

     

    Fastforwarded Flashback

     

    But first some flashback to what really got me off cyberspace and what I’ve been doing all these years. One fine morning, in the middle of the night, on a fine, warm day in the year 2005, I was subject to legal missives from the most powerful newspaper group in the land. My sources in the group’s office told me that the orders were to nail me. There were several friends from India and elsewhere in the world who were willing to fight my case. I tried reviving Mediaah!, but the top legal eagles in the country advised me to be careful. So I depressed the Pause button, and continued with my full-time employment.

    Cut to 2008, where I chucked my job with a leading mainstream media player. I wanted to start an MxM-like site, but I switched to consulting with a college buddy turned journalist and entrepreneur who would run Indiantelevision.com. I was there for just a few months and hopped on to exchange4media.com. Upset with the switch, the buddy even sent my new employers a legal notice.

    I had a fun stint with e4m.com and impact. It’s run by an enthusiastic trio, and a team that’s pretty committed. Little wonder that it’s doing so well. But there were issues which got me to move on.

    It wasn’t easy quitting a cushy job. I felt awful that my family was paying for my principles. But then it’s a great feeling to be able to be able to sleep easy with a clear conscience.

     

    My concerns for Mediaah! s3

    I am not sure if it’s going to be smooth sailing for Season 3 of Mediaah! In fact, I am worried whether I would be able to be as no-holds-barred as I would in the previous seasons. This is because the very people I write about are the folks who will advertise on MxM India. It’ll be a tightrope walk, and I hope to be able to maintain the balance.

     

    The masala

    Okay, okay, I know what you want to know from Mediaah!. What do we feel about G Krishnan’s exit from TV Today. And where’s he going? Are the rumours of his joining ABP or Fox true? What’s the buzz at Bloomberg UTV? Is a former newspaper CEO taking the top job there? What’s our view on the new-look Mid-Day? Can the new look help the paper regain old glory?

    Read all this and more in Mediaah! as we go along. We’ll be back next week. Tab tak ke liye, alvidaah!


    Buzz me if you have a story to tell. Confidentiality assured. There are various ways you can reach me:

    pradyumanm[at]mxmindia.com, 23050B5D, pradyumanm@gmail.com, @pmahesh, 98338 76278.