By A Correspondent
On July 25, 2012, senior journalist and adperson Anil Thakraney had interviewed Mirror Editor Meenal Baghel.
Given the announcement of the closure of the the bran as a daily newspaper in Mumbai and Pune, a re-read of the interview is a must. Here’s the link: https://www.mxmindia.com/2012/07/our-battle-is-to-out-think-toi-meenal-baghel/
Meenal Baghel is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Mirror, the nation’s most sprightly newspaper. Mumbai Mirror was launched seven years ago, and today the paper has editions in Pune, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. A part of the Times group, Mumbai Mirror boasts of a fantastic circulation of nearly 600,000 copies, and it’s become the city’s favourite compact paper.
Meenal relives the journey with us, and speaks candidly about the many challenges she’s faced along the way. We also discuss her first book, ‘Death in Mumbai’, which received wide critical acclaim.
I did a stint with Mumbai Mirror some years ago, and this gave me a chance to watch her in action. Meenal can be a demanding editor, she can be impatient, she can be tough. While these qualities don’t endear her to some, they have played a huge part in her success. I have to say she’s the most passionate editor I have worked with.
By Anil Thakraney
It’s been seven years editing Mirror. How’s the journey been? Tell me the highs and the lows.
The high obviously has been to see the paper become an important part of Bombay. We have been successful in forging an emotional connect with the readers, which is very important. We get an enormous number of people calling in with stories. And we’ve routinely broken a lot of stories, so those are the big highs. The low is that the paper is still a bit inconsistent. You know, when we started the paper, it used to be called Mumbai Error. I wish we had a cleaner start in terms of the paper being more finished. But it’s been a sort of work in progress. We have learnt a number of journalistic lessons along the way because the market has changed, the reader has changed. For instance, when we were at Mid-Day, you could get away with a lot of things. But in this day and age, you can’t.
Give me an example
Like sometimes when, just to break the monotony, you put an entertainment story on the front page, there is a backlash. People now expect a more serious newspaper, it’s something different from what I had envisaged. But that’s also because there’s so much of entertainment everywhere that people don’t want more of it.
One story you regret
We ran the FIR of the TISS girl who was raped. That was a mistake. Because the details in the FIR were very graphic on what had transpired. And you realize that you may have ended up titillating. I regret that story, we got terrible feedback for it and we apologized for it.
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“I don’t think journalism offers enough challenges to the really bright people any longer.” |
I still see a number of typos in Mirror. Is this an un-lickable problem?
I think there is a very real problem with journalism today, and it’s not only limited to Mirror. The problem is that the deskies is a disappearing breed. And it’s going to be a big challenge over the next few years. Also, there are very real problems we are facing, and these are going to change the profession drastically. It’s so rare to find people who want to come into journalism because they want to be journalists. For example, when you ask people, ‘Who edited this copy?’. Invariably the response will be: ‘I looked at it/I glanced at it/I skimmed through it.’ Another thing is I don’t think journalism offers enough challenges to the really bright people any longer. There is an attrition problem across aboard. People want to try out various things. When you and I were growing up, it was about sticking to a profession, a career path, and that no longer holds true. People now have the advantage of taking breaks, taking gap years, studying, etc. The journalism hours don’t allow too much of a personal life. And I think HR, owners, publishers, editors need to take all these things into account.
Is the passion for journalism diminishing in young India?
I think the important thing now is personal growth and personal life. That has taken precedence over wanting to change the country.
What was Vineet Jain’s brief to you when you signed up for Mirror?
His brief was very clear. He said it should be a smart paper and that it should be different from the Times of India. And because it’s a compact size, there are elements of a tabloid that you can incorporate. In fact, when we started the paper, there were a lot of conflicting opinions, so I was a little tentative in the beginning. And then one day he called me and asked why was I so tentative. He said, “I have given you this brief, just stick to it. And don’t be apologetic about it.†So that was wonderful.
You think this country is ready for a Brit style tabloid?
No. Though it’s very interesting because everybody is trying to incorporate the tabloid elements, but you can’t be openly unabashed about it. We are not ready for it. For instance, look at the responses Dr Vatsa’s column gets.
Guess it’s a tightrope walk. You want to be tabloidy, and still have to be aware the nation isn’t ready
Yes. Sometimes in the newsroom we think we can do a story, but when we see the backlash the next day, we start being more careful by censoring ourselves.
And the problem is if you play safe and cut down on controversy, you get dangerously close to the TOI
Yes. So what we try and do is this: I always say our competition is the Times of India. Because we go with the TOI. Now the TOI has massive width, they do like sixty stories at an average. So our battle is to out-think the TOI, in the sense that ‘this is what they will do, so let’s do something different’. We can get away with some naughty things that they can’t.
Lots of court cases?
Actually they’ve come down, ever since we’ve become safer. (Smiles.) But there’s also a lot of frivolous litigation, which is easily dealt with.
More editions in the offing?
At the moment, no.
And for Mumbai Mirror, are you still as hands-on as ever?
See, I am out for lunch with you! (Laughs) But yes, I like being hands-on. There are times when I can breathe down people’s necks. But I am trying to back off a little now that we have a very competent senior team. I also realize that people should be given more space, but it’s difficult. (Laughs.)
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“The TOI has lots of products that come with it, but everyone doesn’t necessarily read all of them, right?” |
Meenal, the perception is that Mirror benefits a lot from being the TOI’s free paper. Without that advantage, your circulation would be nowhere close.
I am lucky and I won’t question my luck. We have a great readership, thanks to the TOI. But then you have to capitalize on that luck, you still have to deliver a good product. The TOI has lots of products that come with it, but everyone doesn’t necessarily read all of them, right?
If you were a standalone paper, how much circulation do you think you’d lose?
I guess we’d retain 60%. Because Mirror has become a genuine commuter’s paper. You have to travel in the train to see how many people carry it. It started off as a guilty pleasure, which people didn’t want to acknowledge they were reading, but they were all reading. But over time it has also become a lively paper. And that can’t be said about too many other papers in town. And people like that.
Would you say Mid-Day was your training ground?
Absolutely. I had always worked with broadsheets before that – Pioneer, Asian Age and The Indian Express. So when I joined Mid-Day, for a while it was like, where the hell have I landed? This is not how journalism is done. For the first six months I had no idea what I was doing. But I was in a senior job and I was getting paid an X amount, and I must tell you I HATE giving up. And then one day I went for a walk and said to myself the paper won’t change because of me, there was a reason why this paper was so beloved in Bombay. And that was the Eureka moment for me. I decided to try and understand it rather than look down upon it. And that changed things. I must say I learnt a lot from Aakar Patel (the then editor of Mid-Day). I learnt a lot from what the paper did on Page 1 and on headlining.
One Indian print editor you most admire.
I owe everything I learnt in journalism to MJ Akbar. About writing, about making pages, about what not to do, etc.
It’s been seven years at Mirror. Don’t you feel the itch? Isn’t it tiring to do the same thing day in and day out?
I keep wondering why nobody else offers me a job! I am joking, of course. Which is why doing the book was wonderful for me. It gave me a chance to step back and follow a story that had been fascinating me. And it was extended journalism. I have always felt when the number of days you feel bad about what you do exceeds the number of days you feel good, you should quit. I haven’t reached there. And there’s always something exciting happening.
Being a hard-edged journalist, how do you reconcile with something like Medianet?
That’s easy, because we don’t have Medianet in Mirror.
But it’s there in your group.
It doesn’t affect my life, so I don’t care about it.
You aren’t asked to carry plugs?
No. And it’s one of the things that has pleasantly surprised me. They have maintained the Chinese wall from the start.
They have left you alone?
Yes. And there’s another reason. Mirror is a small paper in the group, so it’s not necessarily the focus. We are a small cog in comparison.
Have you ever been asked to drop a story?
(Pauses) Not drop a story. I think what one learns over a period of time is that you have to pick your battles. I’ll give you an example: If there’s an entertainment story which is coming right ahead of the Filmfare awards, where somebody is going to be performing, and I have a damaging story on that person, would I delay it by a few days? Yes, I would.
There used to be intense rivalry between the Independent and the TOI. Is it the same with you?
Not rivalry, but there is great competition. When the TOI does something, and we’ve missed it, I give my reporters hell. And I am sure JoJo (Jaideep Bose) does the same when we get something.
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“Mid-Day killed itself. And I feel really bad. I feel bad that what was such a robust paper is no longer that.” |
You’ve pretty much killed Mid-Day. Feels good?
The paper killed itself. And I feel really bad. I feel bad that what was such a robust paper is no longer that. We all worked very hard out there. We worked our asses off at Mid-Day and we used to take great pride in the paper being so robust, that it was second only to the TOI.
What would you do if you were editing Mid-Day today?
I’ll bring in more energy. What’s going for Mirror despite the inconsistency is that it’s never dull. And dullness in journalism is a cardinal error. Especially if you are a tabloid.
Let’s shift to your book, ‘Death in Mumbai’. Does Meenal think Maria Susairaj got away lightly?
I must tell you I ended up liking her quite a bit. I feel that she is a manipulative woman and that she may be a tease. But that’s not a crime, there are a lot of women like that out there. Did she kill or abet the killing? I don’t think so. She was in love with Emile Jerome, she really wanted to marry him. But he wasn’t committing to her. When he killed this guy, it was, in her mind, like his commitment to her.
When you started writing, was there something you had decided you won’t do in the book?
The only thing I told myself is to not be judgmental. Because someone else’s idea of morality could be different from mine. Like, I started out with a certain view of Maria but it became something else.
In fact, that was the only criticism I read about the book. As a journalist, readers expected you give us your own view. Perhaps as the epilogue.
There were genuine difficulties. Something happened in a room where there were only three people. One guy is dead and two are in jail. There is only so much information I had. And I genuinely did not want to play judge.
You have always kept a very low profile. Marketing the book must have been tough.
(Laughs.) It was! It was terrible. The only time you would see me on television was on things that were related to the book. Otherwise I wouldn’t be caught dead going on TV.
Any more books coming up?
I would like to write more books, but I love this job too much. Ideally I’d like to do both. But I haven’t thought of another subject so far. Might be interesting to write fiction.
Would you like to edit the TOI?
No. I think it would be fun to edit a broadsheet, but I don’t think I am ready to edit the Times. It’s the biggest paper in the country, it requires a greater understanding of business, politics… and I don’t think I am ready for it. Also, it requires certain people skills which I perhaps don’t have.
Don’t rate yourself high on people skills?
I think I am very good. But I need to be more patient. I can be impatient and that’s a serious shortcoming.
You are 43. Don’t want to marry?
It’s too late now (Laughs).
Is it important to be single to edit a high pressure daily? Is it a price one pays?
Sure. It’s a price a lot of women, more than men, have to pay for any high pressure job. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a fact. I may have been married, but it would have been very difficult with children.
Photographs: Fotocorp
By Anil Thakraney
Just finished reading Meenal Baghel’s ‘Death in Mumbai’. And must say, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Apart from the fascinating subject itself… the sensational murder of television executive Neeraj Grover and the subsequent nefarious deeds by the killer and his partner, model/actress Maria Susairaj… what interested me is that the author is a journalist and former colleague.
When a reputed journalist writes a book, you can be assured of authenticity of material, and particularly so in Meenal’s case, I have known her to be a journalist of high integrity.
I must say the writing is sharp and the style captivating. You simply cannot put the book down. What the author has been able to do very effectively is to bring out the motivations and compulsions of the three participants in the sordid drama. After reading the book, one has a clearer idea of what drove the three to that extremely lethal point, from where there was no possibility of return to innocence.
And Meenal’s done her research, she’s done the leg work, she’s journeyed into their past and studied their behavioural patterns over a period of time.
The section I most enjoyed reading is where the author paints a colourful picture of the very showy and the very wannabe Oshiwara area of Mumbai. The desperation to make it into the showbiz, and the sexual price many young people have to pay in the process. The most hilarious chapter is on the TV queen Ekta Kapoor and her mother, some recounts of the two leave you in splits, the tragedy notwithstanding.
All in all, a great first effort from Meenal. The only disappointment (for me) was not being able to get a clear point of view from the main accused, the navy officer Emile Jerome. Since he was the man who executed the heinous crime, his voice is key to the story. I suppose the author would have found access to the man extremely difficult, and therefore one can’t really blame her.
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PS: Must read: Facebook has announced a $5 billion initial public offering. And here’s what Mark Zuckerberg says to investors. His long message gives you an idea of how razor sharp and cunning the man is when it comes to capitalizing on human interaction in the virtual world.
Link:Â http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/02/zuck-letter/
By Archita Wagle
“Modern journalism, which is about 100 years old, has a tradition of journalists going on to write books,” feels Naresh Fernandes, Editor, Time Out and author of Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay’s Jazz Age, which was launched recently at the Goa Literary Festival.
And probably that is the reason that so many take the plunge from writing a story to writing a book. So then in spite of having a day job, why does a journalist, whether a reporter or one of the editing team, take the time and trouble to write a book.
Sometimes it is just the desire to share the experiences that the person has gone through like Rashmi Kumar, Features Editor, Deccan Herald, whose first book, Stilettos in the Newsroom is an effort to chronicle her experiences in the newsroom. “I felt that I was a misfit in the newsroom, I was not well-connected or aggressive or as street smart as others. I still am not. But I was always sure that I wanted to write,” she said.
Sometimes it is a personal passion that translates into a book, as with Arunava Sinha, Head, ibnlive.com and cricketnext.com, who translates Bengali classics and contemporary literature. Mr Sinha said that he has been translating for a long time but he started publishing only five years ago.
There is a story waiting to be told in every subject, so how does a journalist decide on the topic to base his/her book on? Is it something that they are passionate about, or something that they want to explore in depth? Mr Fernandes’ Taj Mahal Foxtrot was an idea that took root when he was doing an article on jazz for Man’s World. “While doing the article I realized that there was a story in there aboutBombay’s cosmopolitanism. I decided to explore the idea in-depth in a book.”
For Siddharth Bhatia, author of The Navketan Story Cinema Modern and consulting editor, Asian Age, the book was something he had toyed with for years. “I was fascinated by films made in the 50s and 60s, especially those made by Navketan. I would have written this book much earlier but it was only recently that Devsaab agreed to give time for the book.”
Writing a book while continuing with the day job of being a journalist isn’t an easy task. Sitting up late at night, working on weekends, fitting time around a busy schedule become a part of a journalist-author’s life. There are times when they suffer from the classic writers’ block. They go away, keep the book aside, take sojourns, or sometimes just keep hacking away. But they don’t give up. And if they do, the publishers are always there to remind them. “I pitched the idea to the publishing house and they accepted. After that I just kept it aside, it was they who reminded me that I had a book to write,” said Ms Kumar.
If one were to look at the books that have been written by journalists over the years, one notices that there is a mix of fiction and non-fiction. Though almost all journalists agree that non-fiction is easier to write as it deals in facts, something that is a “natural progression from being a journalist” as Mr Fernandes says, but he is also quick to point out that writing non-fiction is tougher than fiction as “we have to construct the narrative out of facts, we can’t let our imagination take over when we hit a blank spot”.
Writing is a book is never easy but what after the book is written or even halfway complete, how easy or difficult it is to get it published. Do the journalists pitch their proposals to the publishing houses or vice versa?
Priya Kapoor, director, Roli Books explained the process of publishing a non-fiction book. The publishers have a commissioning program. Sometimes there might be an event of interest like the IPL controversy. They then research on what has been written about the topic, who has been covering it, how has the person covered the topic and then approach the person they feel is best suited for writing the book.
“When we commission non-fiction books, 70 percent of the time, we approach them. Sometimes it is because the person has been covering the subject for a long time or because they have access and contact required to do the book or if writing about the topic excites them,” she added.
She illustrated her point by citing an example: After 26/11, Roli decided to come out with a compilation of articles and perspectives on the terror attack in a book. Everyone was working around the clock. It was here that the journalistic discipline of sticking to deadlines came useful. The book was on the stands in January the following year.
That makes it sound as if it is easy for the journalists to get their books published. But that is not the case all the time. “It is not very easy for journalists either to pitch for getting a book published. We might get an extra point for our ability to adhere to deadlines, but that is all that we get as an advantage,” feels Mr Bhatia. He is the first one to point out that he isn’t an authority on films, but when he approached the publisher, Harper Collins, something did click and the rest has been published as Cinema Modern, a look at Navketan, cinema in the 50s and 60s and India’s history along the way.
But not all journalists stick to writing non-fiction. Some like Sidin Vadukut, Sonia Faleiro and Rashmi Kumar also venture into fiction. “I would not say it is all fiction. My book is part fiction and part autobiography. I have left it to the reader to figure out which is fact and what is fiction,” explained Ms Kumar, whose book Stilettos tracks the journey of Radhika Kanetkar’s slow raise in the world of newspaper and finally her wedding.
Some even venture into other territories like translating. Arunava Sinha has already translated works like My Kind of Girl by Buddhadeva Bose, considered to be one of Bengal’s foremost writers of the 20th century, Harbart by Nabarun Bhattacharya and Three Women by Rabindranath Tagore. Mr Sinha would love to give up his day job but agrees that he doesn’t get paid enough to pursue his passion full time. “It is not a profession, but a passion. Money is not my primary consideration,” he stated.
After the book is complete, it goes to the editor to be edited. How easy is it for a journalist to give up something that s/he has toiled for to another person who will very critically edit it? Most reporters say that they are used to the fact that their ‘copies’ would be ruthlessly edited. As Mr Bhatia very succinctly puts it, “The book editors have a particular way of editing. They look at continuity, the flow of the book, contradictions in chapters and so on. I was fortunate to work with one of the best editors of Harper Collins. He pointed out several things that I would have never noticed as I was too close to the subject.”
Even Ms Kapoor agrees, “It is not as if journalists interfere more with the editing process than any other writer. But sometimes looking at a particular subject we might give them some leeway, with respect to their sources and contacts.”
But Ms Kumar begs to differ, being from the editing side of the business. “I never had a problem with the way my story was edited. But I also edit copies and that is something that is now internalised. I made sure that the material I submitted was clear and concise,” she said.
Mr Fernandes took nearly eight years to complete his book, working around his job. Bhatia could only focus full time on the book after he quit his job. Mr Sinha makes it a point to sit at night and focus on his translations. Ms Kumar is now ready with her second “tongue-in-cheek” book on a 30-something girl’s matrimonial adventure search. But they are not ready to quit. “After all one day I will retire from my day job, but I can continue to write as long as I want,” says Mr Bhatia. Indeed aptly summed.
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Coming attractions
After the release of Mumbai Mirror editor Meenal Baghel’s debut novel Death in Mumbai, which Priya Kapoor, Director, Roli Books describes as a “well written and well researched book which makes the effort to get inside each character, 2012 will see the release of S Husain Zaidi’s book “From Dongri to Dubai” on Mumbai’s underworld and the history of gangsters.
Mr Zaidi, resident editor of Asian Age/ Deccan Chronicle, already has two books on the underworld connection to his credit, Black Friday (which was made into a film) and Mumbai Queens, which chronicles the tales of Mumbai’s female gangsters.
He took four years to complete the book according to Priya Kapoor. If there are no further developments or twists, the book is set to be released in the first quarter of 2012.
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