MxMIndia

Tag: Prannoy Roy

  • Checkmate, Legacy Media!

    Checkmate, Legacy Media!

    Ranjona BanerjiNow that the Greatest Showman on Earth has been brought down from his Non Biological origins to the hard, bumpy ground of coalition politics, what will happen to the Indian media is the question that some people are asking.

     

    The voter has spoken and both Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party have badly missed the most ambitious target they had set themselves — to win over 400 of the Lok Sabha’s 543 seats. No Indian TV channel had questioned this figure; rather they amplified it as the absolute, incontrovertible truth. The exit polls they conducted and promoted also pushed the same figures or figures close to this remarkable claim.

     

    Reality provided a harsh check and far from 400, Modi’s campaigning skills managed to garner just 240 seats for the BJP. His party managed to lose in the constituency where, as PM, in an extraordinary move for a Constitutional democracy, he inaugurated the Ram Temple. Far from being a winning masterstroke – as the media has projected every act of Modi’s – it turned out to be an electoral damp squib.

     

    Modi will form the next government. The BJP and his allies have the numbers. The Opposition put on a great show but it would require massive contortions to form at best a minority government. But Modi’s third term will exist at the mercy of coalition partners, who have already demanded high returns for the promise of support.

     

    We come back then to the Indian media which has spent the last 12 or 13 years attacking the Congress and other parties while promoting Modi and the BJP as India’s panacea. As counting day progressed, channels were hard-pressed to interpret results, as we have already discussed. Which from a journalistic point of view is criminal, if funny. Possibly they stayed with their own hype, knowing it was lies. Or their heads are so far into Modi worship that they actually believed their own lies. But for any journalist, departure from the expected or the usual or the normal is what makes news – man bites dog. So, the air leaking out of Modi’s balloon thanks to a voter and Opposition pushback is the biggest news of all. Unless, as we know, you are one of the people who’s been charged with pumping air into the balloon.

     

    Mid-Day came up with a killer headline on June 5, taking off from Modi’s own boast: “Ab ki baar, 272 bhi too far”.

    The Telegraph comes a close second with “India cuts Modi Down”.

     

    The rest, as mxmindia.com showed yesterday, played it down with straightforward bread and butter headlines or played around with the coalition angle.

    https://www.mxmindia.com/media/newsstand-and-this-is-how-the-dailies-covered-results-2024-results-on-their-page-1s/

     

    However, most newsrooms have had to deal with the details of the results and what they entail. The fact that voters have signalled unhappiness with government policy. The fact that social factors of religion and caste have re-entered the arena, thanks in fact to Modi’s divisive and discriminatory policies. News agencies and websites have also picked up on the unhappiness within the RSS – the BJP’s parent organisation – with Modi’s style of governing.

     

    Times of India informed its readers that nothing lasts forever: “(Modi) was the BJP’s campaign. And that was the problem. No political brand is immune to political fatigue.” (“18 takeaways from an election which redefined Indian politics”)

     

    I might add here that if the media had identified voter fatigue as it happened and not after the fact, it would have better served its customers and consumers.

     

    As several within the media know, it is the non-traditional non-mainstream non-legacy media which has kept the spirit of investigation and enquiry flying high. Journalists and media teams have taken to digital spaces, and found success there. As much as Youtube is full of propaganda and crackpot sites, it is also full of robust journalism. Several old-timer news junkies woke up on June 4 to be pleasantly surprised by the return of Dr Prannoy Roy and his election analysis on DeKoder Digital, with many from his old NDTV team.

     

    And it is not just big names and definitely not just the English media. Across India, on the ground reporting, news and analysis from local journalists via media like Youtube have provided voters with information which matched their lived experience. This is where the mainstream media failed the most: by harping on BJP propaganda and Modi fandom, they forgot that most basic democratic tenet set down by Abraham Lincoln. That you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.

     

    Many hope that the mainstream media will correct itself. I find myself sceptical. It may try, but there is no comeback from the depths to which several media houses have fallen. The change and direction will now be set by these new voices, and new ventures. It is very hard to relearn journalism when you have wilfully abandoned it for 10 and more years. Voters across India have mentioned the term “Godi media” or media which sits on the lap of Modi when referring to TV channels. They know they are being fooled.

     

    This extraordinary rant by Zee News anchors against media rivals underlines the bizarre world in which Indian TV lives:

     

    https://www.newslaundry.com/2024/06/05/from-india-today-to-india-tv-zee-goes-all-guns-blazing-against-top-media-owners

     

    The other danger is that journalists have lost the game to the public. When a talented YouTuber like Dhruv Rathee can provide better researched analysis on Indian politics than most TV anchors, you have a real danger at hand for traditional media. Years ago, the media tried to shoot itself in the foot by promoting “citizen journalists” only to discover that without basic fact-finding rigour, random opinions are boring and dangerous. But people like Rathee have facts and indepth research at their fingertips. They have beaten the big names at their own game. And they have both viewership and success to cement their status.

     

    The Modi government has been very unhappy with the rare criticism from the foreign media. But as the Economist points out, in a piece which still praises Modi in some roundabout manner, “…the opposition parties have been given a new lease of life; and debate and dissent will be reinvigorated. That may be the most lasting consequence of the 2024 general election.”

     

    https://www.economist.com/asia/2024/06/04/a-shock-election-result-in-india-humbles-narendra-modi

     

    Swati Chaturvedi writes for Russia Today: “Modi was the medium and Modi was the message, complete with a “Modi guarantee” for voters in the most presidential-style elections that India has ever seen.

    And the little guy – the voter – cut the prime minister down to size in the biggest reversal of his political career.”

     

    https://www.rt.com/india/598784-modi-in-limbo-india-election/

     

    The media will know be forced to change its strategy on Opposition leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee and Stalin, to name just a few. From constant attack – merely parroting BJP lines on them – they will have to be analysed more fairly. Their success in the face of enormous odds has changed the game.

     

    That is, if the mainstream media remembers how to play after over a decade of lying down and playing dead just for Modi’s cuddles.

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Friday, and when necessary, on other days as well. Her views here are personal.

  • The crucial factor ailing the product category is that it is steadily losing its core audience, writes Ashoke Agarrwal

    What Ails English News Channels in India? – A Marketing Perspective

     

     

    By Ashoke Agarrwal

     

    Ashoke AgarrwalI am not a media critic. MxMIndia has a trenchant one in Ranjona Banerji, whose twice-weekly column makes for exciting reading whether or not you agree with her.

    However, as a brand and marketing strategist, it is clear that English News Channels in India is a declining product category.

    Both in terms of share of attention and advertising. What gives?

    The product category’s essential advantage is that it potentially addresses an affluent target audience of the educated professional class.

    The crucial factor ailing the product category is that it is steadily losing its core audience. I have only anecdotal evidence to support the assertion, but a reliable poll will prove it as a fact.

    The core reason educated professionals these days shun the gaggle of English news channels is that they find them irrelevant. The tragedy is that despite this quickening decline, their anchors and management do nothing to address the issue.

    Is it because the overweening odour of self-importance prevents them from smelling the coffee? Or are they deer caught in the headlights of impending doom?

    Going by the content they put out daily, it is a sad mix of self-importance and fear.

    At the core of this morass is their focus on politics at the expense of everything else. Further, they practice political news primarily as a debate between second-rate “experts” and political spokespersons from two distinctly opposing camps moderated by an anchor whose bias clearly shows. Night after night, prime time after time, these debates on the minor issues of the day devolve into shouting matches that would embarrass any right-thinking individual. Once in a while, they latch on an “exclusive” – usually a leaked video or document on a minor issue whose authenticity they assert they have not verified but push all day and into that night’s debate!

    Is it any wonder any national aspirationally-positioned brand that values its credibility is reluctant to advertise on these channels? So, it is no surprise that they fight for a shrinking pie of advertising from second-rate brands and rah-rah ads paid through Government coffers. And even this fight is embarrassing as they put out conflicting numbers about viewership, with every channel claiming to be number one.

    From a marketing perspective, the solution for English news channels to become relevant in India is to look hard at the core potential market of educated professionals and entrepreneurs and work towards a better market-product fit.

    At the outset, the channels need to go easy on domestic politics. While their core audience might lean one way or the other regarding domestic politics, most are not rabid enough to even remotely enjoy the kind of nightly debate and slanted news coverage the channels indulge in. They should also realise that the politicians and the powers that be do not care what the English news channels put out.

    The politicians know that the audience for English news is too niche to matter in electoral politics and also the kind that is not swayed by rabid anchors or dueling talking heads. Instead, the politicians focus on regional language channels that deliver pliable audiences by droves. So, the management of English news channels must put aside the notion of currying favour or fearing disfavour based on what they cover on their channels. They can do this by leaving hard-core politics to their regional languages brethren.

    Instead, each channel should focus on building a unique non-political position for themselves. Wion has done so by focusing on international news from an Indian point of view. With better funding, more correspondents and camera teams worldwide and a couple of name-brand anchors, that position is viable, especially as India gains traction as a player on the international stage.

    The other positioning that a channel could build substantial and lasting market share on as a genuinely pan-Indian reporting entity with solid reportage from all, not just Delhi or Mumbai but from all State Capitals as well as the other critical metros anchored by on-the-ground, well-trained, well-spoken reporters. NDTV, during the heydays of Prannoy Roy, delivered on this. But over the past few years, it lost its way as it looked to fight a political headwind by pissing into it. Will the current ownership recognise the strength of the brand DNA and restore it? I will be pleasantly surprised if it does.

    The other positioning is investigative journalism. At one time, the newspapers were the champions of investigative journalism. Alas, they are these days just broadsheet rags fluttering weakly in a digital storm.

    With the India Today DNA, one would have thought that India Today TV would have been the one to fly the investigative journalism flag. Alas, even the mother brand, let alone the TV off-shoot, has sacrificed investigation (except the occasional. mood-of-the-nation or sex survey poll) at the altar of convenience and cost-cutting. If India Today is to reposition the magazine and India Today TV on real investigative journalism, it could regain its lost sheen of being India’s public square where the well-read and the well-intentioned gather to take stock.

    There are nuances in investigative journalism that allow multiple channels to find a unique position under its broad umbrella. For example, one channel could focus on stories with a societal and human angle, investigating developments in cultural mores, health, education, crime, etc.

    Another channel could investigate stories in hard-edged areas like business, management, science and technology. The one English news channel that does well is CNBC because it focuses on a specific area of interest to the educated professional or entrepreneur. This other channel would have a broader focus than CNBC and go beyond the stock market and financial results to developments driving trends and changes.

    Yet another channel could focus on personalities from across cultural, business, scientific and technical fields with bio-documentaries and skillfully conducted long-form interviews.

    The above examples illustrate that there are viable positioning options for English News channels that will take them out of the swamp of politics and regain their core audience. This audience will pay reasonable subscription fees and attract brands with deep advertising pockets.

    The repositioning will take work – it will require substantial capital investments and hiring and retraining people. The alternative, however, is for all the brands in the category to continue on a demeaning race to the bottom.

     

    Ashoke Agarrwal writes on MxMIndia every other Thursday. He focuses on the intersection of technology, marketing and communications, but sometimes like this time around, he dwells on other issues as well. His views here are personal.

     

  • He brought a touch of sophistication to Hindi journalism in the 1990s which reflected the urban mood of liberalised India, writes Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr

    Vinod Dua – the Urbane Hindi Voice

     

     

    By Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr

     

    I must clarify before I go further that I watched Vinod Dua closely through all the election programmes that he presented with NDTV’s Prannoy Roy through the 1990s. (It was only in the last few that I came to know him slightly. I must also acknowledge that he was warm with new friends as well and never made you feel that you are a new friend.)  But it would be unfair to the man if we do not understand his place in the changing media scenario of the country after 1991. The tributes that I have read were that of his close friends, including journalists, but who bonded with him at a personal level. That he has so many friends showed the humane side of him. It is this humane side that was the undertow of his speech

     

    This was even before S P Singh launched the daily news capsule at 9.30 pm, where he signed off with his “intezaar kijiye kal tak”. Dua was a curiosity because the bilingual presentation was an effort by metro Indians to reach out to the Hindi heartland audience. Roy, or Dr Roy as he is known to many of his colleagues, seemed to have realised that without Hindi, the audience would be restricted to the drawing-rooms of the well-heeled. What made me curious as well as amused with Dua was his urbane manner of speaking Hindi, as smooth as the English spoken by Roy and others in the programme. One of way of sounding smooth and polished while speaking Hindi was to throw in a few Urdu words. But Dua did not follow that easy option. He spoke lovely Hindi, and pronounced the Sanskritised Hindi words with ease, without letting the accent fall too heavy on any syllable.

     

    I have always told myself that this Hindi was spoken with a clipped Oxford accent. It sounded good though there were times when the sophisticated ring of the voice became a little tedious even as Roy’s strangely accented English – outdoing the native English speakers – became an irritant.

     

    But looking back a quarter century and more later, it becomes easier to understand the social context. Dua’s was the first Hindi voice of liberalised India. Before him there were the admirable Hindi newsreaders on All India Radio and Doordarshan, who spoke Hindi with the perfect pitch and they made the unmusical official Hindi sound mellifluous. Economic reforms ushered in by the dull P V Narasimha Rao- Manmohan Singh duo excited urban, metro Indians. Roy and Dua reflected that excitement with their nuanced accents.

     

    It might seem uncouth to talk about accents while writing about Dua. But the voice and presence was what made a radio and television journalist. And Dua was that. Neither Roy nor Dua moved from print to the electronic media. Their native soil was the electronic media. When people liked Dua, and there were hundreds of thousands, they liked his sophisticated manner. In understanding Dua’s journalistic career, this becomes the keynote.

     

    One of the questions that came up as I was chatting with MxMIndia editor was: how is it that one of prime movers of television in liberalised India just fell off the map as it were. And it seems to be that he was left behind as what were his strong points – the urbanity in speech and manner – became a handicap as Hindi channels and anchors and reporters increased. The Hindi channels brought with them their earthy flavour of speech quite different from that of Dua. The Bihari accent, the UP accent, and even the Punjabi one, made a niche for themselves. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) once stuck to its stiff upper lip Received Pronunciation (RP) but realised the need to democratise itself and accommodate regional accents of its journalists. Dua represented in a sense the Hindi Received Pronunciation, but soon the democratisation happened. S P Singh brought in earthiness and a certain authority because of his grasp of politics, and he did not fight shy of his Bihari accent. Dua knew his politics, but it seemed as though it was that of a slightly distant observer. The traditional hallmark of a journalist is his or her immersion in politics, and that non-English language journalists display to the hilt. Dua, the Hindi journalist, did not fit the bill. This is not a value judgment about Dua or Hindi journalists.

     

    Dua did a food show in Hindi, which is a lifestyle feature, and which political journalists are shy of doing because they would say that all they know is politics. For Dua, there were things other than politics in life. With his flair for singing, he could appreciate music along with food. And he loved his drink in the manner of connoisseur. He was an epicure in the general sense of term. He loved the good things of life and he enjoyed them. Dua was drawn into a controversy as the me-too movement caught on in 2018, but it came to nothing.

     

    It is important to remember Dua because for a flickering moment he projected a facet of Hindi language and journalism that was at once genteel and knowledgeable. And it is from this vantage point that he became a critic of the Hindutva politics of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and of the manner of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The Hindutva side resorted to his crude arm-twisting methods by filing a case against him in Himachal Pradesh for being an ‘anti-national’, the charge that they bring against anyone and everyone who they disagree with and who they dislike. Dua challenged the false allegation and the Supreme Court ruled in his favour. This is a victory for Hindi journalists as well as journalists in general.

     

    It can be said that he fought the good fight against political tyrants as well as for his life. He won against the political tyrants and lost against the tyranny of the pandemic.

     

    Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr is a senior journalist and commentator based in New Delhi. His views here are personal

     

  • In his inimitable style, Rahul Kishore comments on how the English news channels fared on Counting Day…

    Rahul Kishore rips apart English News TV on Counting Day: The Ugly, The Bad, The Good

    By Rahul Kishore

     

    The 2019 elections for the Lok Sabha will go down in history as the most bitterly fought one ever. The name-calling, character assassination, abuse of parents and families were to be seen to be believed. This was at the politician level, but what was amazing was the battle being fought in television studios.

    It amazes me that educated people took positions and stayed with them for the last two-odd years. Fake narratives were carefully built up and seasoned, reasonably normal anchors stuck blatantly and foolishly to them. Of course one side knew the other is winning somewhat comfortably. It was a battle of unequals: a dominant Prime Minister who was an Alpha Male stacked against a motley opportunist opposition supposedly led by a man who was never serious and changed his persona almost on a bi-monthly basis. From soft Hindutva to getting his sister to the fore, forming a mahagathbandhan to showing a humane side to showering suspect love around — all of it was made up and comical.

     

    Now to support this he obviously got his managers to get wholesale media backing
    The media delivered and how! The entire game was winding up to Election Day and what was on view was amazing as all the anchors barring one or two were stripped completely and displayed biases.

    Among the usual suspects in NDTV was Prannoy Roy who tried to recover some of his mojo. Nidhi Razdan was like a bubbly child, trying to impress the boss. Sreenivasan Jain has this air of intellectual superiority about him which doesn’t hold once the mouth talks. Shekhar Gupta, on the other hand, was shifty and looked as if he knew it was all over. It had actually all begun with Rajat Sethi taking on Nidhi Razdan apart and naming NDTV almost as a Congress backer. And an anti-BJP one. They called only known, pliant guests and were quite happy in their little drawing room which btw had a fossilised senior journalist who besides having nothing of note to say was also having a bad hair day and was trying very hard to behave like a diva. Comical. The entire drawing room looked like a funeral as the numbers started piling up against them. Sorry, Congress.

    Their star Ravish Kumar had a meltdown post exit polls and wanted anchors to be given cabinet posts for backing the BJP… he forgot that his channel used to decide UPA portfolios not so long ago. A waster and self-styled defender of the Congress, his best days are easily behind him!

    NDTV had already set its agenda by inviting a blogger Dhruv Rathee to the channel and getting its staff to translate his utterances in Hindi, instead of following up on the Lanka bombings which had the body count growing. Priorities! Modi must be made to lose! SAD to see.

    India Today had already goofed up with Rahul Kanwal leaking the internal exit poll, then Rajdeep Sardesai claimed it was fake, got trolled and eventually said it was a dummy. Their epic takedown was by Giriraj Singh who hammered them and both though embarrassed were going on with the chat. Rajdeep and Kanwal are not good to watch. They never got Anjana after her Twitter spat with Sardesai. Might have been better than these two. The one thing that stood out was the breaking down of psephologist Pradeep Gupta. Though the two men tried to quickly get some well needed TRPs from that, the only chap who gained was Pradeep himself! How accurate he was!

    Now onto the leader by far: Arnab. The channel was loud and exciting.  Everything was ‘breaking’ and Arnab was in control .The only thing he needs to tell his reporters is that they’re all equal.They look petrified most of the time. Chitra, though mild and calm, has a school principal air about her and was mostly ignorable. It must be said that Arnab is the best Hindi speaker of all the mainstream English anchors. For a northeast guy, it’s never easy and must be applauded. It was business as usual there and he had a young jumpy analyst who was pleasant enough without the airs of a Yogendra Yadav or a Dorab Sopariwalla, Both past their best by date. The best though by far and my fav with her smile knowledge and demeanour was Smita Prakash. She needs to be on TV more. Reminds one of the anchors of yore, on DD where else!

    Barkha – a star always, carried on gamely and was her usual articulate self. Where the telecast suffered was that the lighting was not bright enough, and the panellists were dreary. Sadanand Dhume was weary, pompous and his accent was overbearing. Besides he suffered from the airs of most NRIs who comment on India as if they know it all. Part of the same tribe Shivam Vij made bad jokes and I was wondering why he gets invited at all. Mostly looks like he suffers from flatulence!

    The Opindia site it must be mentioned was mostly great on coverage though Nupur had a serious meltdown post the results and wrote many expletives. Not expected and not done. She could have done better!

    To end, I remember five years back, Hindi channels were all noise and no poise whereas English ones followed decorum. Well, the roles have reversed. Also, one can see that the owners have invested in tech but the journos are not up to speed with it. Needs more involvement.

    The one thing that will however be the moment for me was Arnab’s takedown of arguably the most obnoxious woman ever: Renuka Chowdhury. I think there was some history there but he was brilliant. She was stuttering!

    The drama is over and one can now go back to one’s mundane life having lived through the most exciting and bitter election in living memory. It was fun viewing and lots of masks slipped. As they say, Whattefun

     

    Rahul Kishore is an avid TV watcher and runs his own companies Taurus Infomedia Pvt Ltd and The Icon Image Consulting. He has very strong views on most things in life – politics and the media included. Although there may be more people disagreeing with his no-holds-barred views, the good thing that he is consistent with them. Known for his pro-Modi, pro-Arnab, anti-NDTV, anti-all-those-who-dare-to-question-Modi comments on the social media, RK is also a keen golfer, a compulsive fitness freak and loves posting photographs (with him in them) on Facebook and Instagram. A compilation of his Facebook posts was published in 2014 as a book. You can send bouquets, brickbats and legal suits to him at rahulkis@gmail.com. The views here are personal, and MxMIndia does not subscribe to them.

     

     

  • At the end of the day, this was neither an election ​Budget nor a very effective ​Budget, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Budget 2018: From ‘A-ha’ to ‘Uh-oh’ moments

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Given the lacklustre

    ​B​udgets from Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the last four years, was there really any expectation from this one? The last ​Budget before India goes into election mode? Several predicted that this would be an election ​Budget and to some extent they were correct. But more than anything else, at the end of the day, this was neither an election ​Budget nor a very effective ​Budget.
    It took our brave news channels some time to figure this out. First it was all about whether Jaitley would speak in only English or Hindi or both or this or that. In the New India much loved by our news channels, anything that reeks of token nationalism must be applauded. After some time, Jaitley seemed to stick to English so that was the end of that Vande Mataram moment, which don’t tell anyone, is not in Hindi and was not written by a Hindi-speaking person.

    Some were so excited by the new announcement of a National Heathcare scheme. Others were upset by the reintroduction of long-term capital gains tax on investments after 13 years. Almost everyone was upset by the fact that not enough was done for farmers. A few brave people pointed out that not enough had been done for manufacturing or job creation either.

    On NDTV, Prannoy Roy (the rare occasions that one of India’s most popular anchors appears on TV,

    ​Budgets and elections) was first all about the “A-ha” moment but later in the day added quite a few “Uh-oh” caveats to the healthcare idea. Primarily because no one knew where the money was coming from. To counter Roy’s criticism – and this is my conjecture – anchor Vikram Chandra cut short anyone who criticised the ​Budget or was not from the BJP to allow a pro-BJP person or member to have their say. In fake journalism gobbledygook this is known as being “balanced”.
    Rahul Kanwal on India Today for the short while that I watched that channel was reasonably balanced. Times Now also had a few critical numbers floating the TV screen about in the morning but by the evening, some of the anchors had that look of beatific gratification whenever someone from the BJP spoke. If you turn off the sound – in any case, no one says anything worthwhile anyway – it is a fun game to play because you will know when the anchor receives benediction from the BJP and when it is some devilish person from another party or persuasion speaking. Arnab Goswami of Republic TV looked very smug at some point and that is when, dear reader, I gave up and started reading the various analyses instead.

    Agricultural distress will not be alleviated, manufacturing has no impetus, job growth was barely mentioned in the Budget, the rising fiscal deficit is worrying and no one understands where the money for the healthcare scheme will come from. It was pointed out that similar schemes exist all over India so there was nothing new in this one either. Across all TV channels by the way, the word “jumla” was liberally used. I beg forgiveness from rightwing bigots for my use of the word “liberally” but in this context, it has a slightly different meaning than the red

    ​-f​​lagged “liberal”.
    The long-term capital gains tax was a downer, the fact that the middle classes had been ignored was another and as far as I’m concerned, the use of the term “grandfathered” led me into the dark areas of management and fiscal jargon that I usually avoid. The mangling of language in these sectors could do with a drastic budgetary cut as far as I’m concerned.

    Meanwhile, after the dust settles, India’s media has to figure out how to play the five poll results which also came out on February 1, running alongside the Budget. The Congress won all three in Rajasthan, the Trinamool Congress won both in Bengal. The small consolation for Bhakt News Channels is that the BJP came a distant second in Bengal, ahead of the Left and the Congress. Don’t tell them I said this but eventually someone will factor in the possibility of Opposition coalitions against the BJP and look at the results in Bengal in that light. Nidhi Razdan had a very civilised show on the elections results on NDTV, a welcome break from all the Budget coverage.

    **

    Lastly, the new allegations that two people who Judge BH Loya confided in about his misgivings about the Amit Shah case died mysteriously, and one just managed to survive a freak accident, have received little traction in the media and especially very little on television. Given that the Supreme Court hearings into Loya’s death begin today, that is indeed surprising or is it?

    No prizes for guessing that one right. I only know this much. Both my grandfathers would have been surprised and that is ample proof that I don’t understand what I’m talking about. Or do I?

     

    ​Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She is also Consulting Editor, MxMIndia.​ The views here are her own

     

     

  • A freewheeling chat Pradyuman Maheshwari had with the founder and chief promoter of Republic TV

    Up, close with Arnab Goswami

     [updated, some typos removed and edited for clarity- Ed]

    It’s not easy to do a soft interview with Arnab Goswami. And the problem is that if you do a hard interview, ask him some probing questions including a few on others in the media, it’s possible you’lol be served a legal notice. Which is also fine… if you’re in the kitchen, you must be ready to face the heat. So after some back-and-forth, this interview was fixed for Monday, April 24. It was 10am, we reached a few minutes late, and were called to the editorial conference room. There was much action in the newsroom, some screaming and shouting and laughing and, no, no howling, but it was nice to see a busy newsroom on a Monday morning. Arnab came in within a few minutes, we apologised for the delay and he did the same, and said he’ll come back as his laptop was missing.

    There were some five people in his office who checked his bag, and we thought we had a nice story on our hands: Arnab’s laptop lost. Now could it be that someone from a competitor may have done that. After all its not unusual for confidential data and info leaking out. The first para of a news report was already in our heads. So were the words for a 120-character tweet. The laptop had all his plans, the Excel sheets, the numbers, the projections… everything. After five minutes, Arnab walked in. Smiling. The laptop was found. It was in a bag inside a big. A few minutes later, the laptop came. Steel grey Macbook Air.

    Arnab in person is dramatically different from what you see him on television. Very gentle, very softspoken. And, most importantly, he listens to you. All ears. He doesn’t interject. He doesn’t shake his head while you are taking. Body language isn’t combative. He is like the Raymond’s man. Complete. Well, so are some big-name anchors, but it’s always a delight to meet Arnab, even if you disagree with his brand of journalism. Though there is no questioning his love for the country. And his commitment to credible journalism. He is one of the few journalists in the country who doesn’t mind asking the tough questions, on camera.

    This is one of the reasons why it will be interesting to see if he can do it all over again with Republic TV. What’s also going to be worth tracking is how his channel fares vis-à-vis competition. And whether competition allows him to prosper. But more about that in another story, on another day.

    Excerpts from a freewheeling 35-minute conversation MxMIndia editor-in-chief Pradyuman Maheshwari had with Republic TV founder and chief promoter Arnab Goswami. Enjoy.

     

    Arnab Goswami: First of all, thanks for doing this.

    Pradyuman Maheshwari: I’m very worried about this interview because one shouldn’t be taken to court. For, even though your answers in some interviews have been politically correct, the questions did name organisations and individuals…

    If it carries on like this then all journalists of India will be marching to court all day instead of newsrooms(laughs).

    So the question which, let me ask with a non-trademarked statement: India wants to know when is the launch?

    Very soon, it’s a matter of days now. You’ve seen my newsroom, it’s buzzing with energy, I’m trying to get the product as close to being perfect as possible. There’s nothing like an absolutely perfect launch though. But having said that, we’re trying to sort of stitch things together… bring all parts of the piece together, get the team to integrate, believe in themselves, believe in the product, believe in the news they putout… get very, very familiar with the technology they are using because some of the technology you’re using here is…

    Different?

    Completely, completely new age. And so I want that familiarisation process to carry on so I’m not setting a hard date for launch yet, though if you ask me can I launch? I can launch right now.

    So no Akshay Trittiya launch, April 28th?

    No, no-no.

    May 1, Maharashtra Day, Gujarat Day…

    No, I don’t believe in these any commemorative events or dates. I believe every day is good for news… we should just have a good run, go with the flow.

    But surely you need to inform the distribution folks?

    The distribution guys are more or less informed. I think most of the people are aware of our channel being launched. In fact, we’re getting a push from the distribution guys to launch early. Some places have already started putting up promos on air in anticipation of our launch; our media campaign should be starting soon. So we are almost there.

    The question is that, the last mile, 4-5 days here or there should be a discretion of the producers of the channel. So whenever the producer of the channel says we’re okay to go, I’ll go.

    So, plus or minus the 4-5 days, May 10, May 1?

    Yes. I would say, yes, pretty much around that.

    May 1 and 10 are too far apart?

    Yes that’s what, I don’t know, I frankly don’t know because that’s not a decision I have. I have a very delegated organisation. So when the editor and the editors and the producers come together and say we’re good to go I’ll go. That’s what we’ve told them. That you keep practising till you’re good to go but I’ve also told that  there’s nothing like getting things perfect.

    Right.

    No, you don’t get things perfect even after running a channel for 10 years and I would come back to my previous channel and find things completely messed up every morning… it was like starting every day as if you’re launching a new channel. So it’s not as if 10 years of familiarisation of running a workfloor makes it perfect, because eventually people are people. But we’ll try and get it as good as possible. I’m very confident of our product and I’m supremely confident about our look-and-feel, our stories, our journalism…

    You mentioned that you’re a well-delegated organisation but surely it’s an Arnab Goswami operation.

    Well, I mean, it, it is not, because  we have delegated responsibility to the youngest and most empowered bunch of editors in any channel. We have empowered our production team to a point where the president of the content of the channel is our Chief Executive Producer. They take decisions completely independently, graphics producers, non-linear editing producers, even news editors don’t ask me. My interaction is with the journalists on the stories. That’s my limited interaction. I can’t stop doing that because that’s my bread-and-butter but beyond that I feel that we have created a system where everybody fits in very well into each other like a jigsaw puzzle which comes together every morning and that’s actually what I enjoy doing. The reason I launched Republic is to make sure that people who are 10 to 15 years younger than me are able to do the news faster than I would have. And it’s a joy to see them working together. What I have done is put together my digital output, input, production, graphics and elite teams, all together in one gigantic newsroom which you are seeing here. You wouldn’t see a newsroom like this where everybody is working together and talking and familiarising and there’s no email conversation, generally people are sort of shouting instructions at each other, so its very well-delegated in that sense…

    And what about you?

    They don’t need me to come in.

    You are now more than just a journalist, you are an entrepreneur. You need to look at how the channel will make the monies. How will you ensure that the great work you are doing on Day 1 also happens on Day 365?

    Yes, yes

    How much of that do you think is going to influence your journalism?

    I think you set the basics right and then you say that these are the five things that we’ve got to do. I bring things down to basics, so I say let’s get the basics right. Let’s do these five things right today and then let’s find a way that these five things will be right regardless of who is sitting on the hot seat, so it’s fine. As far as making money is concerned, see, if you’re popular and you’re watched, and you have impact, people advertise on news channels. And then,  I don’t run an extra-lavish operation, neither is it a barebones operation. But if you are watched and have impact, and you have popularity and you have credibility most of all, then people advertise on English news channels. And I’m 100% confident that with the kind of response I’ve already got from the market, before launch, people believe in our product. I mean the best of the advertisers have lined up and are advertising with us from Day 1.

    And the reason they are doing this is because they believe in the product that people put out, eventually it’s about the content. Eventually it is not about anything that you may do, eventually you may have all the money in the world tomorrow, to hire the most expensive lawyers and threaten to sue every competitor, but you will still lose if your content is not up to the mark… that’s it!

    Distribution is also critical, right? You may have the best of content, but if you don’t spend the money on carriage fees and ensure that various DTH operators carry it, you lose viewership. And that’s a lot of money, it’s a guzzler.

    Ah, well, I’m not negative about it.The fact is that we are already quite disruptive in that model. We are India’s first non-encrypted free-to-air English news channel. There’s no other channel in that space. People love us. Wherever I have gone and travelled across the country from Chennai to Kolkata, people have opened their arms.

    You’ll hence not earn revenues from subscription.

    Doesn’t matter. This is a labour of love. I want to make sure that this channel is watched everywhere in India.

    And let me share something very personal with you. I’ve been to people, I’ve met distributors who come and say that one nervous competitor comes and tells them here is six months of money, extra upfront, can you block ‘Republic’ for two weeks? And yet those people say no. Because they know that when ‘Republic’ launches, everybody will want to watch it. People will want to watch my debate. Those attempts have now become what I call antediluvian.

    Hmmm.

    Right, it’s as antediluvian as a crocodile’s skin. You cannot go ahead anymore and say that I will pay you extra money, almost like ransom money, to try and ensure that another competitor doesn’t enter the market.

    But dirty tricks is a common thing in many businesses. A ’90s cola ad screamed “ye cola hai ya gulab jamun’ when a competing brand launched. It happens with various domains… they ensure shopshelves don’t stock the new product.

    Media is different. In media who is the original, who is the copy, is well-known to people, Also,  you’re actually bringing down whatever is left of the quality of your brand by resorting to  desperate dirty tricks measures… because the moment you do it, behind your back people are laughing at you. Behind the backs of people who are trying to pay six months extra upfront money and say don’t meet Arnab, don’t put out ‘Republic’ for two weeks. They’re even desperately saying if you can block ‘Republic’ for 10 days at the launch, we’ll be happy. Behind the backs of these people everybody laughs at them, so they become the laughing stock of the industry. What am I doing? I’m saying to people, I’m a free non-encrypted channel, I will promise you good journalism, I have good reporters, I have good producers, I’ll present a good product. And the entire distribution fraternity has welcomed me with love and open arms.

    You’ve got someone like Sameer Manchanda of Den on your board, you’ve got Asianet which is a huge plus because we do know that English channels are very widely watched in the South. So you have all the big brains backing you…

    Sameer is actually not on the Board, that’s mistaken, Sameer has invested in my holding company along with 13-14 other people. I never mortgage my personal friendships for business convenience.  I have a very professional equation with Den, and will continue to have a professional equation with Den, having Sameer as one of my investors does not influence at all my relationships with them.

    Two charges have raised against you by an industry which is fairly positive towards you. One is about Rajeev Chandrasekhar being one of your primary investors…

    Yes

    That he has strong links to the NDA… That that given Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s association, will ‘Republic’ really be independent as Arnab claims it will be?

    I’m very proud of the investment from Asianet Online Private Limited and why shouldn’t I be? It is the oldest media entity in India. As Asianet was started way back before any news channel including NDTV started. So there’s a history to the organisation, it has another couple of channels with it and I’m very happy to be associated with Asianet. And I hope that I will also be able to contribute to Asianet in my personal and professional capacity in the future, to its growth. And as far as Rajeev is concerned, he has been a media investor for over a decade now, and he’s invested in several other organisations as well and I am very glad that he through Asianet Online Private Limited has an investment here. I’m very proud of the association. Eventually, everyone who is an investor in this company is also a believer in my journalism.

    Hypothetically, and given the way you do your journalism, if you get belligerent on something that could impact Rajeev’s investments.

    It’s a completely hypothetical and ridiculous question. I’ll tell you why. You should check out: Asianet is the most critical of the BJP in Kerala as well. So when all of us who are in the media business, we work on the news that we carry, I don’t need lectures in balance from the Lutyens’ media, who have sold their souls for the longest time; these are the people who left me to dry when I did CWG, when I did Lalit Gate, these same Lutyens’ media was quiet about it, nervously sitting in one corner, not sure how to respond to it when I was taking on the BJP. I was boycotted by the BJP for a month-and-a-half. People who therefore are invested in me know my journalism. I’ll take on everyone and anyone. I’m only going to be on the side of the people.

    Ah!

    So, these are little straws in the wind. These arguments didn’t even fly.

    The other charge…

    And, and, and, and the point is, who is making these charges. Some person, some individual, who after remaining in India, working in India as a journalist for the longest time, still clings on to his American passport and then questions why people like me are nationalistic? I’m very clear about one thing: each one of the investors in ‘Republic’ believes in nationalism.

    And it is time for people in India to come together and put their straight thoughts on how this country can be made great once again. That’s our common belief. That’s not a right wing belief, it’s a nationalistic belief.

    The reason for my question was what we’ve seen in the case of Raghav Bahl and Network18. The channels were doing well but he had to sell out as went through a bad patch. In politics too we’ve had cases parties puling out of backing a minority government because of a fall-out. Is that a possible worry… just in case something goes wrong?

    I don’t worry about anything because I’m so sure of my product. I don’t worry about anything, I’m a content creator. The only thing I worry about is my TV channel. How is the TV channel going to look? What kind of stories am I going to do? What pictures will run? What the graphics will be? I have never looked ahead at all or looked behind. I look at the next thing to do. The next thing to do at this stage of my professional career is to launch an English news channel called ‘Republic’. Then the next thing to do is to expand my digital presence, through Republic World. I will have a next thing to do after that within three or four months. You know me, I’ll keep shifting my goalpost in terms of my next target, every three to six months, but I’ll move wherever the news can go. See I have respect for Raghav, for Prannoy [Roy], for Karan Thapar, for Rajdeep Sardesai, all these people who are much older to me, they have a right to do things their way, they’ve done things their way, why should I comment on them? But this is 2017. I’m doing things my way.

    It’s interesting that you say you have respect for Rajdeep, I thought you’ll were at loggerheads…

    No, I, why should I be at loggerheads? See, Rajdeep comes from a generation of seniors who have done their bit at that particular point of time and it’s good for him. I wish him luck in whatever he does.

    Tell me, how is Republic going to be different from what you did before, is there going to be…

    I don’t even feel the need for it to be different. I was away from TV for a while and I’m back, and what I do now will be watched for what people like it for. I don’t want to try and do anything in life with this forced pressure on me to be different. I don’t want to be different. I just want to be myself and I think that’s good enough if I can break the news that I like in the way that I want to, good shows that I like and integrate good technology. But one thing is there: that if in the process of doing so, I can marry technology with the intellectual prowess of people who are in their 20s and early 30sand  really understand how to funnel TV and digital together, that’ll be some, small contribution I can make…

    This is also the most fickle generation. As in the loyalty doesn’t exist to any specific show… is that a worry?

    No I’m not worried because while it’s a fickle generation I think today you can create new brands very quickly.

    True.

    With good content. I am actually very happy about the fact that today the media is fragmentable and fragmented. It keeps us on our toes. We are not here to build organisations that say that nobody will compete with us and we will try and build moats around ourselves to ensure that our dominance is forever. I can’t do it. Tomorrow somebody can launch another organisation and challenge me. I would be very willing and open to that challenge. It’s fine. No problem.

    In the past, we seen ratings drop whenever you would go on leave.

    Yes

    And, there there was no second line. A few people who could have been second in line moved out. Now that you are doing a business and you are responsible for people’s jobs and people’s livelihood. Will there be a second line?

    Yes, there is a second line

    On Day 1?

    There is going to be a second line on Day 1. Both in terms of anchors and editorial talent, so what I’ve done is that along with our executive editors and editors, there are about seven people in the second line editorially. And there are at least about six people in the second line in terms of anchoring talent. Besides which I have a very very strong and independent production team, which is now being made completely independent, which runs the entire organisation. I have bequeathed the responsibility of running the organisation on editorial on a day-to-day basis to this group, and they are able to manage it.

    You have done that?

    Yes, I have already done that…

    Seriously?

    While I’m managing it of course, I’ve got to be looking at everything in terms of quality control. But if you ask me in terms of day-to-day, minute-to-minute operations, I intend to create a system where the wheels of the organisation run even without me for a few days.

    And this is very important for me to do because then I can strategically look at other ways in which I can improve the quality of the news, improve the quality of the shows which I do. It will give me more time to think and plan. Having said that, even in my previous organisation, I’d already done it. Now what has happened that after I’ve gone, I’m not responsible for, but while I was there, I had run that kind of a system.

    But…

    Since I’m anchoring a critical slot which is doing well, it gives a perception that everything centres around this individual. The viewer associates the organisation with me. But as an organisation, I’ll take you around our studios and our PCR  and you’ll feel it’s not really [a one-person show].

    But you deserve a holiday, you may get busy with other things. So on those days, ratings shouldn’t fall, right?

    No ratings will not fall, don’t worry. We’re going to be up there on the ratings charts.

    Yes, but there should be a clear second line.

    There is a very strong second line. We have Sheetal Rajput who is India’s original war correspondent, she’s is with us as a senior news editor and anchor. Parikshit Luthra, who would do 9pm on CNN-IBN, has joined us. He’s the news editor in Delhi. We have Hariharan who is a very famous anchor from Tamil Nadu, from Thanthi TV. He has also joined us, he’s a fantastic anchor. Niranjan Narayanswamy, who used to be anchoring on Times Now, is also editor and is anchoring on the channel… I have a very, very strong base of anchors on the channel.

    So just in case you’re not on air on a day, who’ll be the anchor?

    We’ll be firing all cylinders, don’t worry. It’s unlikely that I won’t be there because I have this habit of anchoring from all remote locations at any point of time, I carry a camera with me and nowadays, technology is so brilliant, I can anchor with a phone. I have got a software which if I put it on my Samsung phone or any phone, I mic myself up, and I can broadcast from any place in the world. So I’ve got that technology and I’m working a lot on mobile devices for uplinking, and have been experimenting with stuff that is not been done before for uplinking.

    Two other charges… one of which has been also used by other channels that your brand of journalism is more noise and less of news.

    Yes.

    Are you going to be the same and are happy with that charge?

    I mean I’m thankful to all those people who have carried these campaigns.They can keep carrying the campaigns and I am grateful to them. In fact I would request all of them to carry a few more negative campaigns. They help me. In the year before last, India Today did an entire campaign around this ‘more news, more noise’ kind of thing. Even now NDTV did this whole campaign on more news… why don’t they care about what’s going on in their own organisations rather than talk about me? Let them all fend for themselves, I’ll fend for myself. I have a clear philosophy: in this country, you have to shout to be heard. When we say shout, we mean it in a metaphorical way. You have to assert yourself. You have to raise the right issue. And also sometimes raise it to the right amplitude for it to get attention. You cannot be coy about things and expect the world to change.

    What about the charge that in the latter half of your stint in your previous channel, the orientation was more towards the right. Nationalism got translated often to you being pro-BJP, pro the philosophy of BJP and the philosophy of RSS.You were soft towards Narendra Modi…

    It’s a ridiculous charge. We did LalitGate, was it pro-BJP? For a month-and-a-half we did LalitGate…  We got boycotted by the BJP, was it because we were pro-BJP? We got boycotted by the Aam Aadmi Party, was it because we were pro-AAP? We got boycotted by the Congress, was it because we were pro-Congress? Name one organisation which was boycotted by all three major political parties for stories it did. It was us, and I’m so proud about it! See, some people are touchy for long, some people are touchy for shorter period of time. It doesn’t really matter. As far as my views on the country are concerned, they’ve been consistent even during the Congress government. Tou would remember that after 26/11, I hammered the foreign policy of the Congress government. I questioned it. Anand Sharma and Pranab Mukherjee were incharge at that point of time in South Block, I took on both of them. I questioned them, so my stance on issues of corruption and nationalism has been consistent through the Congress period and the BJP.

    Just because the BJP is in power right now and my position on issues of the nation and nationalism seems to be closer to their perspective, doesn’t make me pro-BJP at all. I disagreed with the Aman ki Asha… why should I agree with the Aman ki Asha approach? This candyfloss daffodil diplomacy that is being encouraged by some media groups is their business. They should introspect. If you see me, while I was in The Times of India, I didn’t ever follow the Aman ki Asha approach. I refused to because I don’t agree with it. Editorially, conceptually, as an Indian, I don’t agree with it and I will not do.

    So suppose…

    So, so the Congress was in power at that time, was I tuning what I did on air to suit a Salman Khurshid’s line on foreign policy? I didn’t. My line is my line and it comes from the heart and my team believes in it and even if they don’t.

    Supposing someone from your team does an Arnab Goswami to you… that he or she may have his own line of thinking which may not agree with yours. What happens then?

    It’s good, it’s okay. We won’t send them a legal notice.

    But you or your associates sent a legal notice to the Wire?

    Who?

    The Wire was sent a legal notice.

    I don’t want to comment on insignificant groups like the Wire. They should really introspect on what journalism they do. If they need me to sell their digital site, I’m sorry for them. It seems to me that they are obsessed with me because there’s no other way they are going to get a few hits. I hope they got a few hits as a result of whatever they put. I spoke to that reporter only because I know him for a long time in NDTV. And I told him when I was speaking to him that I know you are going to do a hit job on me but I’m still speaking to you out of our old association. And he he was laughing away and he knew that I had seen through his game. Sometimes I respect old friendships, so I spoke to him. As far as the Wire is concerned I really hope that they get a few hits because from what I’m seeing from the statistics, nobody seems to be following them.

    You would have Siddharth Varadarajan on your panel, in fact after the Rahul Gandhi interview, you had review the interview.

    Siddharth should introspect on what he’s doing. He is another older generation person. I don’t quarrel with people who are older to me, he should generally introspect now. Think about whether it is time for him to do some journalism rather than commentary.

    Let’s move on…

    No, no, no, let me tell you that.

    Yes?

    It’s very important for people who are doing these digital sites to stop pontificating about others in the media all the time and start doing some stories of their own. It would be really nice. Let them actually roll up their sleeves, go out there, do a few interviews, meet a few people, get out of their Lutyens’ zones, transport themselves outside the ephemeral reality of their air-conditioned chambers in Lutyens’ Delhi, see the real country, watch what’s happening out there, and stop becoming preachy. People in this country are tired of preachers in journalism.

    Hmmm.

    So, therefore, not just to Siddharth, but to a lot of people I would say: start doing some news rather than commenting on the people who are doing news. But I really hope that the Wire gets a few hits because I think they need a few. (Laughs)

    You’ve spoken about Lutyens’ Delhi etc in the past and you’ve been in Mumbai for a while. Didn’t you think of having your headquarters elsewhere…  say, in Bengaluru?

    No, headquarters can be anywhere. It can be in Bengaluru, it can be in Kerala, it can be in Guwahati, it can be in Kolkata, it can be in Srinagar also, but it should not be in Delhi.

    You’re not worried about the film stars who lobby stuff in Mumbai?

    Doesn’t matter so much.

    Or the business guys.

    Film stars and business guys never influence me, I’ve taken on a lot of them whenever I did 2G, CWG, Aircel, Maxus, I’ve seen them through and through at that point of time. As far as film stars are concerned I’m not running award shows where I need film stars to jump around.  So I don’t need to oblige them.

    You will never ever do award shows as part of Republic?

    I’m running a news channel, I don’t have time to organise award shows.

    Person of the Year etc?

    I don’t know, right now I’m only focused on the news.

    So tell me once again

    No, you asked me about film stars, award shows, my answer to you was I don’t need film stars to jump around in award shows that I’m doing. So I’m not necessarily in a position where any film director or film stars need to be on good terms with me and even if they don’t choose to be, it’s fine with me. Some people may need that. Some people might need film stars to oblige them to be photographed with them.

    I’m going to get a legal notice now (laughs).

    No, no, I’m making a general observation that there may be some people who constantly need to be photographed with film stars, directors, to dance around, be photographed with, to feel good about. I don’t need that kind of gratification because I’m a journalist.

    Tell me something: we are 10 days away from launch. In fact, we at MxM wrote that some people feel that you are overdoing your promotion. Your ‘love letters’ and the way you reacted to the legal notice which was a standard statutory notice… Do you think you’re overdoing it?

    I didn’t respond to the legal notice, in fact I’ll tell you one thing, I’ve under-responded to the legal notice. Let them take me on. Let them take me on. I would request the group that has sent me a legal notice to publish in the front page of their newspaper whether they have a right to claim that they crafted the words ‘nation wants to know’ and the sole right to use it. I want the results of that poll to be published, across eight column on the front page of the same newspaper…

    So why did you want to trademark it?

    I’m doing a show. If I’m doing a show called ‘Nation wants to know’ I’ll put out a trademark application but have I said that I will arrest everybody who uses the name? I don’t. I walked down Palladium and I see T-shirts being sold with ‘Nation wants to know’. Now, am I going to arrest the person who sells the T-shirts with ‘Nation wants to know’.  And I think every Indian has a right to use that name, every Indian should use that name. And it is more an assertion, of the questioning spirit of the average Indian citizen. Nobody can appropriate it for themselves and, by the way, I also said in my letter that way. I said quite clearly. And this I’m making a general observation: if any media group makes it its central mission to harass journalists who quit, then it should reassess its own style of operations. If any media group says that if you quit, I will deny you our provident fund, your gratuity… I will hound you, I will send letters to you saying you’ll face untoward action, which are like open threats, right? It is certainly not the kind of practice which should be allowed in the media fraternity. I genuinely believe today if somebody quits my organisation, I’m not going to hound them. I’m not going to make life terrible for them. But I have also seen some young people in my organisation who have been hounded, who have been followed, who have been harassed, who have been denied their dues, denied their monthly payments, right? All of us have stood together for each other. This group of people you see working here (pointing to the newsroom) are people who’ve stood for each other and said we will not be cowed down.

    Are you….

    And therefore, as a general observation, I’m repeating once again my advice is to all media groups to stop using these tactics of legal intimidation versus each other because it doesn’t fetch any returns in the long term.

    But you were part of large organisations too…

    I’m making a general observation. My general, unsolicited gratuitous advice to people who are doing that is they shouldn’t…

    Moving on, tell me, will you do paid content to earn revenues?

    I never sell news.

    AFPs etc.?

    I never sell news. Advertorials are different, but I never sell news and I would not allow it on Republic. It’s my clear and straightforward statement to you.

    Last question: To the person who’s not too much into the news business and not bothered about the battles in the media, what is Republic going to offer?

    Republic is independent, straightforward, hits at everybody equally. It covers the news life from all places, is far more funneled between digital and television, far more technologically savvy. And truly an organisation in which all reporters have the free spirit to go out and report on what they want. In that sense, it’s a revolution. It’s also classically a generational shift in the Indian media. It’s an assertion by content professionals that they can run large mainstream news organisations on their own. It is also a breakaway from unfortunate systems of dynasty which have pervaded in Indian media, where people have only inherited organisations and not built them. This organisation is built brick by brick. It is an assertion to all legacy media groups as a warning to those individuals that do not believe today, that you can, in today’s day of digital and television which continue to have monopolies. Monopolies are about to fall. All these actions that you are seeing, the nervous capers, the dirty tricks of all these people who are trying to  thwart the launch of Republic, are actually an acknowledgement that when Republic launches, their countdown will start from that moment. It is therefore a conflict between new media and legacy media. Republic is new media. I know I’m up against legacy media, I know I’m up against Lutyens’ media, I want legacy media and Lutyens’ media to come together and try and outthink me. Because I said it very clearly, this is a David versus Goliath fight. You’re a journalist, at the end of the day you do know, you will watch a channel, if you believe in the story.

    They have the marketing muscle… they will take away all the hoardings and all the space in the newspapers

    Let them take… let anybody take away all the hoardings, all the space in the newspapers, everything. Let them strip all their physical assets away and say we will deny Arnab all of it, it doesn’t matter.

    So, May 10?

    Somewhere around. It seems you also can’t wait (Laughs). Pradyuman, I have a question for you.

    Yes, ask.

    At the end of the day, will you watch Republic on air?

    Of course I will.

    That’s my straight question.

    Of course I will watch.

    I’m very happy for you.

     

  • 25 outstanding journalists to be honoured with RedInk Awards on 30 April

    NDTV’s Dr Prannoy Roy to be honoured at RedInk Awards in Mumbai

    By A Correspondent

     

    Dr Prannoy Roy, Executive Co-Chairman of NDTV Group, has been awarded the Mumbai Press Club RedInk Award 2015 for Lifetime Achievement for Excellence in Journalism for his consistent and pioneering contribution to news television in India. Dr Roy will be honoured for his service to journalism at a glittering ceremony on Thursday, 30th April in Mumbai at the Jamshed Bhaba Auditorium, NCPA, by Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis.

     

    Dr Roy along with his wife and journalist Radhika Roy in 1988, were the first to set up a television news production company called New Delhi Television, now called NDTV. In later years, Dr Roy made a mark for his incisive and pioneering coverage of election news and changed the way people consumed TV news with his ground-breaking programmes such as ‘The News Tonight’ and ‘The World This Week’. After years of producing the news for Star News, Dr Roy launched his own broadcasting network with NDTV 24X7, NDTV India and other channels in 2003.

     

    Dr Prannoy Roy was chosen for the RedInk Lifetime Achievement Award from a shortlist of senior editors by a survey among 200 journalists all over India, and a final consideration by the Managing Committee of the Mumbai Press Club. RedInk Lifetime Achievement award winners in previous years include the late Vinod Mehta, Kuldip Nayar, N Ram, and Mrinal Pande.

     

    Judging for the RedInk Awards, which includes as many as 10 categories have just been completed, and as many as 24 journalists who have produced outstanding and impactful stories in calendar 2014 will also receive awards along with Dr Prannoy Roy on 30 April at the NCPA. The judging process proved to be a herculean task with over 800 entries in the print/online category and nearly 250 stories from television journalists. Each of the categories 10 categories had a dedicated jury of senior persons with domain knowledge assigned to judge the entries. A special curator was also assigned to sift the large number of entries in each section and guide the judges.

     

    The judging process brought in well-known names such as Harsh Mariwala, chairman of Marico, for the Business category, Dr Kiran Shaw Mazumdar, chairperson of Biocon, for the Health & Wellness category, Justice Kode and former Mumbai Police commissioner M.N. Singh for the crime category and Sudanshu Vats, CEO of Viacom18 for the ‘Entertainment & Lifestyle’ stories.

     

    Star India is the Presenting Partner for the Mumbai Press Club RedInk Awards for Excellence in Journalism 2015. Some of the awards partners includes Aditya Birla Group, Yes Bank, Indiabulls Housing, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Zee Entertainment, Eros International, SevenHills Hospitals and JSW Steel.

     

  • The news network acknowledges the contribution of 25 Indian legends at an event

    NDTV turns 25 at Rashtrapati Bhavan, recognises 25 legends

    By A Correspondent

     

    We weren’t physically present or invited to give you a first-hand view, but given the significance of the occasion, we bring you a report nevertheless. On Saturday (Dec 14), NDTV marked 25 years of news broadcasting by acknowledging 25 Indian living legends for their outstanding contribution. They were acknowledged and felicitated by the  President Pranab Mukherjee at an awards ceremony held by NDTV at the Rashtriyapati Bhawan.

     

    Amitabh Bachchan, Anish Kapur, Amartya Sen, A R Rahman, CNR Rao, Ela Bhatt, Fali Nariman, Indira Nooyi, Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Kapil Dev, Leander Paes, M S Swaminathan, Mukesh Ambani, N R Narayanmurthy, Rajinikanth, Ratan Tata, Sachin Tendulkar, Dr SS Badrinath, S H Raza, Shahrukh Khan, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Vikram Seth, Waheeda Rehman, Y K Hamied and Zubin Mehta were the ‘living legends’ recognized.

     

    Presenting the awards, Mr Mukherjee, said, “What is needed today and what we can draw lessons from the  outstanding performance of these 25 great Indians is that we cannot have a shortcut or a bypass to achieve the success, to reach the top, to be the models of others.”

     

    Addressing the ceremony, Dr, Prannoy Roy, Executive Co-chairperson, said, When we started the first private news on Indian television we were a bundle of nerves, you gave us strength at that time. When we produced India’s first 24 hour news channel 15 years ago, you trusted us then too and we value that trust till today. Tabloidization is a worry but I feel there is a back lash now. We hope and pray that sponsors and advertisers will give greater weightage to content and avoid promoting tabloidization. The time has come to launch India’s version of CNN or BBC or Al Jazeera. NDTV as a truly global channel in our sights, we need your faith, your support and trust in this venture too.”

     

    Partnering NDTV and Tata Consultancy Services in the 25 years celebrations were UFO Media and Hotel Taj Palace.

     

  • All the excitement in India over Romney versus Obama reminded of that lovely proverb: Begaani Shaadi Mein Abdullah Deewana

    Anil Thakraney: The Obama Drama

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    Some observations on the media coverage of the US Prez elections, and a couple of notes on the politics of it.

     

    Obamaji’s biggest strength is his public speaking skill, his charisma on stage. This not only keeps the Americans enthralled, it must have prompted many to press the button on his name inside the polling booth. Wish Maun Maun Singh had a millionth of the guy’s charisma, we might have tolerated the assorted political scams with a slightly cooler head.

     

    I watched only NDTV and Times Now for the election coverage. No, I didn’t skip the other channels because I don’t approve of them, it’s just that there’s only that much I can handle on an election that doesn’t affect my life even remotely. In fact, all the excitement in India over Romney versus Obama reminded of that lovely proverb: Begaani Shaadi Mein Abdullah Deewana.

     

    Abdullah reminds me of J&K CM Omar Abdullah analyzing the elections for us on NDTV. Bichare se Kashmir sambhalta nahin, and he’s got the gall to discuss American politics.

     

    Watching Dr Prannoy Roy on air is always a delight. Not just for the sense of proportion he brings to the table, but because of his innate calmness and neutrality. Really wish his protégées (including those who’ve left him), learn something in television journalism from the man. As for NDTV’s coverage itself, it got a trifle boring as they went too deep into the US micro politics. Dr Roy can’t help it, I guess, since he’s a passionate psephologist. But I’m quite certain his audiences felt a tad restless.

     

    Arnab Goswami, on the other hand, had the right idea. He chose to focus only on the relevance of the election to the sub-continent (and he kept reminding us of this super cool angle). But then he went ahead and invited the same thakela faces on his show, the same gents who indulge in the usual Indo-Pak tug of war. Therefore this show became dull as well.

     

    I did try out CNN International for a bit, but the reporters appeared too excited and too busy exchanging friendly banter with one other. Never a good idea this, because this mutual bonhomie can, and often does, alienate the viewer.

     

    As for the big picture, sadly, the American politicians are making the same deadly mistake their counterparts make in India. They have totally polarized the nation, and have divided it into different vote bank communities. This lethal strategy will come back to haunt them one day. We Indians know the sort of suffering political fracturing brings to the nation.

     

    ***

     

    PS: PETA has decided it’s time for real ‘shock and awe’ to make you go vegan. They have used veggies in their latest ad as a phallic symbol, with absolutely absurd results. If this doesn’t prompt all the size-obsessed hunks to opt for sabzi tarkari, nothing will.

     

    Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/05/stay-firm-and-fresh-peta-_n_2076499.html

     

     

     

  • NDTV Ltd and Star India took a strategic decision to transition the sales and marketing function to NDTV. However, cross-platform sales and marketing will happen

    NDTV to handle own sales and marketing, ends alliance with Star India

    By A Correspondent

     

    There were many who thought the existing sales, marketing and distribution alliance of Star India and NDTV Ltd will transition into a stake buy by the Rupert Murdoch-owned Star in the leading news company.

     

    Although that eventuality can still not be ruled out, but Friday’s announcement of NDTV and Star India agreeing to part ways has put question marks on that possibility.

     

    Uday Shankar

    NDTV Ltd and Star India took a strategic decision to transition the sales and marketing function back to NDTV. Star has been an excellent  wonderful partner to work with, noted an NDTV communique. Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India  and Kevin Vaz , Star India EVP Ad Sales  have worked very closely with NDTV to build an excellent relationship, it continued, adding that the relationship will continue at a strategic level. However, as always planned, NDTV will take its sales and marketing destiny into its own hands and the transition process has already begun. This will ensure close integration with a number of fresh initiatives that NDTV is launching.

     

    While Star India will no longer represent NDTV for its sales, cross-platform sales and marketing will happen. Meanwhile, the current  Star sales team that was working on the NDTV channels will be transferred to NDTV.

     

    Commenting on the new arrangement Prannoy Roy,  Executive Co-Chairperson, NDTV said, “Working together with Star has been a great experience. We have developed a close professional relationship and plan to retain close ties at a strategic level”.

     

    ” It was always meant to be a short-term arrangement to enable NDTV to effect a transition. Now that the team is ready and NDTV wishes to take charge of its own destiny we are happy to pass on the baton and wish this great brand a success.” said Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India.

     

    NDTV inked an arrangement with Star soon after not renewing its contract with Aidem in 2011. Less than a year after Star India took up the sales and marketing functions of the NDTV news channels, Star India withdrew its brand from the Star News bouquet of channels. While industry sources suggest that it will exit the alliance with Ananda Bazar Patrika in MCCS soon, there have also been murmurs that Star may invest in another news network to complete its bouquet even as the government’s current regulations prevent majority stake of an international player in news.

     

  • In Freaking News, which will now appear every Tuesday and Friday, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare in the morning papers and the nightly news. And sometimes the afternooners, the newsmags and all that's on the Web

    [MJR] Grrrrr! Why do people speak so much on News TV?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The best news programme in India has to be The Week That Wasn’t on CNN-IBN. Since it steadfastly refuses to save India and the world and shamelessly makes fun of everyone, it fails miserably on the high-pitched hysteria count. But it wins on all the others. And it makes you wish that the programme had more than a weekly format because if you spend three evenings running watching our other worthies, it is enough to make you scale to the top of a tall building without a safety harness.

     

    After his marathon election extravaganza, I have found Arnab Goswami and his channel a dead bore. Also, they spend too much time discussing the minutiae of the Indian cricket board’s digestive processes. Plus, when they do, Boria Mazumdar comes on air and this disrupts my digestive processes. So I tried to give a fair hearing to NDTV, Headlines Today and CNN-IBN (am currently in Tata Sky land which does not carry Newsx).

     

    Rajdeep Sardesai on Monday night went on and on about the UPA government collapsing, a third front forming and mid-term elections approaching. None of his guests – Devesh Thakur of the JD (U), Pinaki Mishra of the BJD and Abhishek Manu Singhvi of the Congress agreed with him. Sardesai laboured the point and the rest pooh-poohed him. I fail to see the point of such a programme. Then Sardesai announced that Chandan Mitra was arriving on the show so I quickly switched to NDTV. And to my horror, there was Chandan Mitra on NDTV. This was too much to handle and I tried to look for a tall building (with no safety harness) but there aren’t too many in Dehra Dun where I am now.

     

    On NDTV just before the horror of the spectacle of Chandan Mitra, Sonia Varma had Arvind Kejriwal on the show. He said that the results of the Uttar Pradesh government, where the Samajwadi Party effectively trounced the BSP, reflected the anger of the people against the Congress Party. Varma, if she had false teeth, would have swallowed them. Serves her right for inviting a member of Team Anna to start broadcasting their bizarre logic all over again.

     

    Headlines Today was on a trip which I couldn’t understand, a mixture of cricket and the government falling, but none of them cohesively.

     

    On NDTV Profit, Srinivasan Jain attempted to interview Aditya Ghosh, president of Indigo airlines, about why they were more profitable than the others and what about Kingfisher. However Jain spoke so much that Ghosh’s views got lost in a series of “having said thats”.

     

    Still on NDTV, Prannoy Roy had a panel discussion with several industrial worthies at a Mumbai college. Rahul Bajaj spoke so much that no one else had a chance, so that was that.

     

    The good news was that someone actually found the world-famous Bollywood Super Star Nupur Mehta who is now going to sue The Sunday Times (phoren) for calling her a “honey trap” used by bookies to lure cricketers into cheating. But no one told me whether it was just because her picture was used or because she really was the honey trap. Anyway, I had never heard of her before and any minute now my ignorance will be exposed because she is the star of Ra One, The Robot, Dirty Picture and more. No?

     

    Finally, I took refuge in Rajya Sabha TV which was so serious and sober that I felt that I had entered a parallel universe which completely disoriented me, so I went back to watching tennis.

     

  • In Freaking News, which will now appear every Tuesday and Friday, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare in the morning papers and the nightly news. And sometimes the afternooners, the newsmags and all that's on the Web

    Freaking News: SP goes UP, Times Now went down

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    What a mouth-watering cornucopia of choice, you think, as you settle down to watch the election results unfolding at 8 am on Tuesday morning, what with so many TV channels to choose from. In a couple of hours of course, you’re weeping at the cacophony, the grand, sweeping statements and the sheer confusion caused by so many channels.

     

    For once, the loser is perhaps Times Now. The channel, which so often knows what India wants to know, appears to have overplayed its hand. Its bizarre desire to clock 100 hours of election coverage meant that it started long before the results day and created unnecessary boredom for the viewer. Plus an enormous range of “guests” some of whom were colour-coordinated (Vinod Mehta and Meghnad Desai on Monday night and Meghnad Desai and Neerja Chowdhury on Tuesday morning) and too much on-screen graphic hysteria made Times Now distracting and the remote more appealing.

     

    CNNIBN made large generalisations even as early trends were being reported and then hopped back and forth to little avail. If Times Now had too much, CNNIBN did not have enough.

     

    In the English news segment, the battle seemed to be between NDTV and Headlines Today. NDTV had Prannoy Roy and Dorab Sopariwalla, the old and trusted team, bolstered by words of wisdom from Indian Express editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta. Headlines Today had Mani Shankar Aiyar to add his considerable wit to the mix apart from a very eager energetic Rahul Kanwal.

     

    I have to be honest here – I preferred NDTV until Barkha Dutt arrived, which is when I switched to Headlines Today – which by the way also claimed that only its exit polls were correct (more on that in a bit).

     

    Of the Hindi channels, Aaj Tak was professional and easy to watch – although they all have a better ground presence in terms of reporters than the English channels. The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha channels both had serious debates and less fluff than all the others combined.

     

    Mid-morning, the confusion between the channels reached its climax as each of them showed different trends, some almost at odds with each other. At which point, I switched everything off and went for a walk!

     

    **

     

    It’s now 12.55 pm and we have no results yet but some very strong trends. Most exit polls had decided that the Samajwadi Party would win UP, but the feeling was for a hung assembly where the permutations and alliances would be paramount. Right now, it seems like a clear win for the SP. The BJP has not done as well as it must have expected and nor has the Congress – but it has done better than before. Most channels have been debating this “failure” of Rahul Gandhi in UP although the numbers show a Congress gain.

     

    Punjab was tagged as a clear Congress win but instead the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance has retained power – although the BJP’s losses have been the Congress’s gains.Uttarakhand is still too close to call – but again, it was seen as a Congress win.

     

    Manipur has gone to the Congress – as expected and Goa seems to be heading to the BJP, again as expected.

     

    **

     

    Which means once more, the Indian voter has done her own thing and flummoxed everyone.