Tag: Supriya Kanase

By A Correspondent

At the Worli office of Broadcast Initiatives Limited, the office is buzzing with activity. For, come Friday, February 27, the state gets yet another Marathi daily newspaper. To be called Mi Marathi Live, Broadcast Initiatives will launch the paper in Mumbai with satellite editions from Thane, Kalyan Dombivali, Navi Mumbai and Vasai-Virar. There are aggressive plans for expansion and the publishers are sparing no efforts to ensure it’s a big bang launch. A 250-odd member team of which half are in editorial across the state.

So what’s the paper going to be like, we asked Supriya Kanase, CEO of Broadcast Initiatives, which also runs Live India and Mi Marathi news channels as well as Hindi daily Prajatantra Live and Live India newsmagazine.“We already have a presence in the electronic media and we believe that there is scope for creating a synergy between the electronic and print teams.”

Ms Kanase asserts that the news media group has no political agenda and the only allegiance is to the common man. “Then man and woman on the street will be be able to identify their aspirations with our paper. It will cater to every strata of society and all members of the family.”

Mi Marathi was a GEC when Ms Kanase’s team took charge.”We first started with six bulletins a day and we have now convered it to a 24×7 news channel. We are doing very well and from the ratings point of view, we have marched ahead of some of the existing leaders. In the meantime, Live India is also growing well.”

People are keen to know more about the promoters of the venture, we submitted. Since you have been independent in your news coverage, what is it that drives your company to get into the media, we asked Ms Kanase.  “Everybody comes to do business. But along with our business goals, we have a strong value system and ethics. Our objective is to bring people together. When you bring people together, you always have your goals. Our only agenda is to publish a paper which pleases the common man.”

The group has retained well-known editors Kumar Ketkar, Bharat Kumar Raut and Nikhil Wagle as consultants to the news channel. Some of these stalwarts have a reputation of having strong views on certain political groups and are known to contest editorial interference, we said. How will you ensure that your business interests do not clash with the editorial freedom that you want to give your newsrooms, we quizzed the CEO. Ms Kanase was matter-of-fact: “The media business and our core activities are separate.  If there is some negative news which is of interest to the people, I cannot sideline it. I will not let news get impacted by my business interests, otherwise I will never be able to erect a strong media business. If we operate in the way some other media companies do, then how will we be different.  Our agenda is to stand out from the rest and reflect the needs and wishes of people.”

Your statements are quite idealistic, we told her. Not many media-owners express these sentiments these days, we said. “We have grown in business, but we have always kept the welfare and values of society in the forefront and in balance. If we have to grow, we have to grow with this vision in mind. If we had only business in mind, we would not have converted the GEC channel to news. Today, Mi Marathi is doing well, enjoys a good reputation. We have been very balanced, with no bias whatsoever!”