A question of ethics

From where are today’s young journalists and those aspiring to get into the profession going to draw their inspiration? This is an oft-asked question nowadays, by well-meaning news publishers, editors and journalists. Part of the answer is that it is clearly going to be an uphill task for young and upcoming journalists to retrieve the goodwill of old and earn the respect of readers and those who are written about.

There is no doubt that with media gaining an unsavoury hue in recent weeks, the focus by the management in parts of the media, for the short-term at least, will be on cleaning the stables as it were. Another pertinent question is whether the clean-up operations will continue for long and whether after Radiagate has moved from the front pages of newspapers, some journalists will be tempted again by lure of proximity to power and perhaps money and other attractions to “string a source along”… to no actual good as we have all seen

One person who has come out clearly against all forms of lobbying or currying favour is N Ram, editor-in-chief, Kasturi and Sons (publishers of The Hindu). On a Karan Thapar show hosted by CNN-IBN immediately after the sordid details broke out, he stressed that were the tainted journalists employed by the BBC, The Guardian or The New York Times, they would have lost their jobs. Obviously, The Hindu, too, would not have tolerated such behaviour, he seemed to suggest. Why can’t we set the bar higher, he asked and went further to emphasise that all journalists must be governed by a code of ethics, or by codified rules.

Corruption is as old as the hills, as old as the oldest profession in the world. India happens to be one of the countries where corruption is most rampant. Corruption in the media in India is also nothing new. It is not as though the Radia tapes have opened out a whole new world that was hitherto unknown. What it has brought into the focus is the fact that even some of the superstars of media are dabbling in dangerous territory.

When I was heading the PR function in a large south Indian corporate group many years ago, I had come across fake journalists, those who brandished fake visiting cards to gain entry and helped themselves to dinner and cocktails. It was much later that I made it a point to debar entry to press conferences of all suspicious ‘journalists.’ The sad part is that very few, if any at all, PR and corporate communication practitioners make an effort to weed out the corrupt. For many, the more numbers at a conference the merrier. The management (of companies) in most cases is in the dark or has no clue. I made it a point not to dish out to reporters gift cheques or cash in envelopes. I insisted on gift hampers – products the company manufactured. There were some who asked for special gift hampers to be sent home.

Radiatapes or not, this is the sort of malaise that all well-meaning publishers, editors, PR practitioners and communicators must strive to eradicate. And this is what I emphasised to the participants at a media workshop organised by the Centre for Social Initiative and Management in Chennai recently. More than learning the nuances of good communication, it is imperative to work the right way – to be devoted to credibility, transparency and ethics. Nobody should be able to point a finger at you for a reason you cannot convincingly explain. At the end of the day, when there is credibility, you earn goodwill and respect.

Another worrying aspect is the power wielded by large corporate houses and its top executives and the link they have forged over the years with bureaucrats, politicians and journalists. It also brings into focus the aspect of whether a well-meaning editor in a top newspaper really wields enough clout to weed out the rotten apples or is he or she subservient to the management. How many editors are unwilling to accept a subservient role? And must the management of newspapers, for example, dictate what must go into its pages? These are issues that must be debated, not only in television studios where the same select few appear, but at other forums where the common man or reader can have a say. After all, newspapers and media owe their existence to the people of the country, don’t they?

Media was once considered the fourth pillar of democracy and twenty or thirty years ago journalists took pride in being independent or neutral, though there were occasional offenders. During the Emergency, the media played a significant role and asserted its authority. Two or three newspapers even blanked out editorials to send a silent message to the government, that curbing the freedom of the press was not appreciated. Press freedom was thus zealously guarded by the journalist and the media. It was, according to former chief election commissioner T. S Krishnamurthy, “the best period for media in India”. According to him, over the years journalists got tempted by certain developments. Not only were journalists making money on the sly, there was also management and corporate lobbying. They started contacting political candidates. Payment was very often clandestinely made to individual journalists, or made in kind.

“The media has tasted the fruits of paid news,” said Krishnamurthy, recently addressing members of the Public Relations Society if India in Chennai, and gave the example of a Bombay-based newspaper that did not disclose information sought by the Election Commission. “They have started systematically exploiting the loopholes. It’s a pity that this development is undermining democracy. In a country which was so much proud of its values, where so many leaders sacrificed their lives for freedom, it is unfortunate. This has become popular because there has been a media boom, high growth of literacy, influence of print and electronic media, and the price for paid news is becoming more and more attractive,” he pointed out.

For all well-meaning publishers, editors and journalists in India, Radiagate has not only come as a rude shock, it is also in some ways a defining moment, a turning point in a profession. Change must come, change for the better, by gradually discarding all the rotten apples and the muck that has come to stay. Will it be possible at all, is another question worth asking.

Sashi Nair

Seminar on copyright and piracy issues

Building the graphic arts community

On 6 January 2011 at 2pm at the IIC Annexe, IppStar along with the newly formed CGIP will conduct an interactive seminar on copyright and piracy issues for Indian printers and publishers. (CGIP stands for the Community for Governance of Intellectual Property). The afternoon event is supported by the Delhi Master Printers Welfare Association.

The seminar which is free of charge will be led by the managing partner of Survan Attorneys-at-Law, Siddharth Arya, and feature panelists from the Indian Society of Authors, as well as the software and printing industries. Naresh Khanna, one of the founders of IppStar, which celebrates ten years of its existence in 2011, will also take part. Call: +91-9811664040.

‘Women changing India’ exhibition and book

25 October New Delhi. BNP Paribas India is celebrating its 150th anniversary in India this year and to mark this milestone, the bank commissioned and put on a major photography exhibition by the Magnum Photo agency on the theme of ‘Women changing India.’ The exhibition held almost simultaneously in Mumbai and Delhi will subsequently travel serially to Kochi, Chennai and Kolkata from November to December. It is accompanied by a book of photographs and essays by Indian authors, focusing on the vital role that women play in India today. Next year BNP Paribas will take the exhibition to Paris, London, Brussels and Milan.

This project, initiated by BNP Paribas, combines the talents of Magnum Photo Agency and Zubaan, a Delhi-based publishing house specialising in books for and about women in South Asia. Six subjects covered by six well-known Magnum photographers — Martine Franck, Alex Webb, Patrick Zachmann, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Olivia Arthur, and Raghu Rai highlight the cultural and geographical diversity of women’s lives in India. Photographs and accompanying comment by well-known Indian authors speak to the changing roles, aspirations, opportunities and challenges that Indian women face, whether they live in villages or cities, whether they are students, taxi drivers, lawyers, movie directors or business leaders. The Women Changing India coffee table book published by Zubaan and printed by Pragati Offset is available for Rs 2000 – although there was a steep discount offer at the launch.

At the launch of the exhibition and book release at the Habitat Centre in New Delhi on 23 October 2010, Baudouin Prot, Chief Executive Officer of BNP Paribas said that the bank values its legacy in India and is active in Indian micro-finance and supports microfinance institutions, which allocate loans to entrepreneurs, most of them being women. Through SBI Life, a joint venture between BNP Paribas and the State Bank of India, it is also creating micro-insurance products such as Grameen Shakti and Grameen Super Suraksha, designed for self-help groups, 90 per cent of which are created by women. These products provide low-income populations with access to life insurance at extremely attractive rates. Geojit BNP Paribas has opened retail brokerage offices in several Indian cities that are dedicated exclusively to, and staffed entirely by, women.

Several of the women featured in the book were present at the Habitat exhibition opening including the painter Anjolie Ela Menon. Another subject Sivakami -- a government employee who resigned her job to become a full time activist — spoke of the paucity of women legislators in both the parliament and the state assemblies. With great dignity and eloquence she argued before the assembled glitterati the need for women activists to play an increasing role in the legislation of laws.

Although nobody in their right mind would praise almost any European or American bank’s performance in the past few years, the Women changing India exhibition and book wisely recognise Indian women. Together with Magnum and Zubaan, the bank has created a substantial visual and narrative document that upholds the better side of commemorative public activity and book making. — Naresh Khanna

Indian print barons: Conspirators in theft and in silence

Plagiarism, a pathetic apology, a conspiracy of silence in print — old journalism vs the new

Some of you may have come to know that Aroon Purie the owner and editor of the Living Media Group and Thomson Press India was caught this month for publishing a publisher’s letter in the Southern edition of India Today in his own name, which contained a blatant and sustained piece of plagiarism — theft of content — word for word from an article by Grady Hendrix about Rajnikanth, published by the online publication Slate. While this happens quite often in publishing (and it is one of the main tasks of editors to check if the stuff they are putting out is original or attributable), it is in itself reprehensible.

In this case, Aroon Purie’s apology to the author of the two long paragraphs copied verbatim was pathetic. To some extent we do not know how to say sorry in any meaningful way. And unfortunately, we are equally bad at accepting apologies. We suspect that the person saying sorry doesn’t really mean it. He does not take it too seriously and will definitely commit the same error again, planning and hoping not to be caught.

The second issue is that many of you have not heard about this incident which took up a good deal of our emailing space in October. The reason is that many, if not all, of our great print editors and publishers declined to print stories about the incident — including stories that contained reactions obtained from Hendrix and Purie. If the Indian publishing barons turn themselves into a conspiratorial mafia they will only increasingly damage their credibility and abdicate the discourse and narrative of everyday life to the internet. It’s bad enough that they steal, but by maintaining a conspiratorial silence for one of their own, they make it more clear that the ordinary journos out there who speak up may be left to hang out and dry. Only the ordinary people’s heads will roll. While Purie will go on as the chairman of the management board of the Federation of the Periodical Press till the 38th FIPP World Magazine Congress to be held in New Delhi from 10 to 12 October 2011.

Excerpted from Grady Hendrix’s comment on Purie’s apology:

“Plagiarism is the hobgoblin of journalism, and the Internet has been both a blessing and a curse: so many sources to steal from, but also so many people to catch you doing it. Back in 1999, VN Narayanan, the editor of the Hindustan Times resigned after being caught lifting entire columns from other journalists and publishing them under his own name, and India Today has been accused of plagiarism in the past. But one look at a photo of Aroon Purie and his sober suits and Serious Media Mogul haircut and you know that this is not a man who would want to write copy that reads: ‘If a tiger had sex with a tornado and then their tiger-nado baby got married to an earthquake, their offspring would be Rajinikanth.’

“Whether it’s intricate power politics — or intricate super-stupidity — that led to the plagiarism, how it’s played out has been a classic case of old journalism vs. new. The story was first broken by online blogs, including the media watchdog group, the Hoot, and when the cultural blog MumbaiBoss posted the story, India Today chose their comments section to issue their first public statement on what had happened. The apology was later printed in the Southern India edition of India Today.”

How can digital revenues for newspapers be increased?

Terry Maguire is more optimistic than Christof Reiss about the revenue that newspapers could get from the net. Especially if they can get their act together. In his presentation at the WAN-IFRA conference in Jaipur, he gave several examples of how disfunctional the Indian newspaper websites are when it comes to helping out a business visitor to Jaipur who might have an extra day to look around the city. He even had a hard time getting the weather forecast and gave another example of a news story about an American citizen who was accused of killing his mother in Rajasthan. He couldn't find a news follow up as to what happened in that case in court, and lamented the lack off attention to the continuing life of a story that newspapers and their web sites can provide. "Keep that story going," he said and suggested that more newspapers could follow the Wikepedia model of constant updatation.

Using the tagline,"First with the best, and the last with the most," Maguire essentially said that although newspapers could be quick and or comprehensive, they are, too often, missing the boat on the internet where they could be bringing together a host of information or be the entry point to stuff that people need to live their lives. Newspaper sites could easily include the connections that people need on a daily basis such as their food needs or even education in a far more dynamic way than they are presently doing.

WAN-IFRA Conference in Jaipur, India

The WAN-IFRA India conference began this morning in Jaipur in Rajasthan. The new CEO of WAN-IFRA Christoph Reiss made an interesting presentation on the The Future of Media Business. This was a refreshing presentation as far as this type of beginning of conference things go. Although there were the usual slides full of data, Reiss had used much of the data available about the Indian media industry particularly newspapers, to make his talk extremely relevant to the largely local news industry audience. Among the points that Reiss made two stand out: firstly that the Internet has been taking away ad revenue from print and not from television; and, secondly, that in India perhaps cellphones present a better window of opportunity than the Internet. He seemed to urge the audience that while Google continues to dominate the revenue from news on the net, the cellphone media is an opportunity that needs to be seized before the window closes for newspaper publishers.

Jagran group acquires Mid-Day's newspaper and web business

It was cooking for a while and it happened yesterday. Jagran Prakashan announced on 5 May 2010 that it will acquire all the print business of Mid-Day Multimedia. The deal is done without any cash outgo although the Jagran group is sitting on a pile of cash. Mid-Day shareholders will get two shares of Jagran for every seven shares of Mid-Day Multimedia. Four newspapers of the publication arm of the group — the wholly owned subsidiary Mid-Day Infomedia — will come to Jagran Prakashan: the afternoon English daily Mid-Day, Sunday Mid-Day, Gujarati Mid-Day and Inquilab which is an Urdu daily. The deal also includes the website mid-day.com. The afternoon tabloid Mid-Day is published from Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Bangalore the latter three being relatively new publications from a group that was during the freedom movement in 1938 with the Daily Inquilab. Inquilab published from Mumbai is currently the largest Urdu daily in the country. Sunday Mid-Day and Gujarati Mid-Day are also published from Mumbai only. MML would continue to own its seven radio stations around the country and its shares will continue to be listed on the Mumbai stock exchange.

The Hindi daily Dainik Jagran has the most readership of any newspaper in India with 54.2 million readers according to the IRS 2010 Q1 figures. Its 37 editions are printed from 30 locations across eleven states. The company also publishes i-Next a bilingual tabloid targeted at youth, a women’s monthly Sakhi, and an annual general knowledge digest Jagran Varshiki. The group also runs an outdoor signage business with an all-India footprint known as Jagran Engage.

In a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange, Mahendra Gupta chairman and managing director of Jagran Prakashan said, “We will be able to not only improve the existing profits of MML’s print buisness, but also add value to the businesses of both the companies for the benefit of all the stakeholders.” Tarique Ansari the managing director of Mid-Day Multimedia will remain on the board of Mid-Day Infomedia although it is not clear whether he will also get a seat on the Jagran Prakashan board. In the stock exchange filing Ansari said, “the newspaper business will see some significant changes in the years to come. Scale and access to resources will critical factors in the success of any newspaper company. By aligning with Jagran we will be able to pool resources with the largest newspaper group in the country to grow profitably and deliver better value to shareholders."

Mid-Day was to some extent the David to Times of India’s Goliath in Mumbai in the days before HT Media and the DB-Zee TV partnership began publishing their English dailies there. Tarique Ansari was a bit ahead of his times in his ideas about multimedia penetration and the behaviour of his readers — or newsers as he called them. Jagran has used its FDI from the Independent News and Media group in a steady and organised way which is why even after the Independent’s considerable divestment in February 2010, it was able to attract a Rs. 225 crore investment from Blackstone in April 2010.

This is a great combination of two media groups that have come out of the freedom movement. Today they cannot merely fight for a political cause but have to contend in the marketplace as businesses and create new paradigms and tools. Together they present a range of geographies, languages, cultures and styles – the megalopolis with the heartland.

Technology versus content

From Frederic Filloux: “Le Figaro’s new facilities are able to address several of its competitors’ printing needs. The most obvious is Le Monde whose printing plant is obsolete and costly to operate (too many people). The two papers now use the same page size (a ‘Berliner’ format), and are produced at a different time of the day. A perfect fit in theory. Mr. Morel [Francis Morel CEO of Le Figaro] denies vehemently having any intentions of harmingLe Monde. But there is no need to be a Wharton scholar to see the two torpedoes Le Figaro is firing at its competitor: one is the better looking and cheaper ads, the other a more commercially potent printing plant. At least, ‘Le Fig’ might print the business paper Les Echosand perhaps one of the three free papers.

“But the real potential for Le Figaro’s online revenue lies in the readership duplication rate between print and web. Today, only 20% of the print readers also visit the website, this is quite low when compared to the 30% to 45% its competitors experience. This points to the paper’s generation problem: 42% of Le Figaro’s readers are 60 years-old and above, compared to 27% for the rest of the French press; naturally, the web is expected to rejuvenate its audience. Today, LeFigaro.fr is the #1 newspaper site in France with more than 5 million unique visitors a month (OK, thanks to some questionable measurement tricks). Still, each time 10 web users are gained, this translates into 2 more print readers (along with 10-15 times more revenue per reader on paper side).” 1

Marie Benilde writing recently in Le Monde Diplomatique quotes the assessment of a banker at the French National Conference in Strasbourg in 2006: “Journalists are now in the same situation as steel workers in 1970’s : they are destined to disappear, but they don’t know it.” Benilde cites the loss of 2,300 jobs in the French press last year, and about the financial performance of the press last year she adds, “Every national daily in France, apart from the sports daily, L’Equipe, has lost money.” 2

The owners of the Indian news dailies are by and large not gamblers. Those who have made large investments in new technology are looking at a sure thing although it could take time. Nevertheless, to use their new and modern capabilities, they will need a huge growth in product and unfortunately they are thus far focussing mostly on their own product which will rarely if ever drive their presses 24/7. The new technology allows for better colour and more diverse offerings in the newspaper package and an integrated approach to new and cross media. The issue for the Indian news or media organisations is one of vision and content. Print is still growing as the most impactful part of the news package in this society but since the demographic is changing, for the news or media organisation of the future, the key issues are vision and imagination. Machinery and new plants can be bought – where will the content and engagement come from?

--Naresh Khanna


1. From A Case Study: Le Figaro’s Advertising Gamble
September 20, 2009 - 11:08 am Edited by Frédéric Filloux
2. The end of newspapers Le Monde Diplomatique Marie Benilde, English in Hard News, April 2010, New Delhi

Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one. – A J Leibling

As I recall from a media debate in New Delhi a few years ago, Vinod Mehta, the editor of Outlook said, “Newspaper owners often have three ambitions: fame, power and wealth. However it is almost impossible for them to achieve all three – they must choose, and in my estimation at most they may achieve two out of these three ambitions.”

There is righteousness and there is self-righteousness in every newspaper industry. While in much of the world the emperor is now naked, in the world’s largest democracy with the second-largest daily circulation in the world, we still seem to be clinging to our fig leaves. The question is how long can we owner-publisher-editors survive? If we are to grow, to communicate to a new generation, and to write and create new things, surely we need new people, the best people for the job – professionals who are passionate and engaged in the concerns of the day. Why should we expect the new generation of writers or editors to only be concerned about our own passions? And do we not need to grow fast enough to give an opportunity to those in the family who wish to grow the business? Why will they join the business if we do not grow fast enough to use their talent and their hard won qualifications? Is the Columbia School of Journalism merely a finishing school for the sons and daughters of the Indian newspaper owners or a place to train our best young journalists?

Adventures in Kindleland -- India

Even before I could buy a Kindle eBook reader one of my new young colleagues beat me to it. It was quite a blow to my ego, fancying that I am usually the first person to buy another new gadget which is overpriced and usually, of little utility. Anyway full marks to the new generation for adventure-ness in Kindleland. I had a chance to handle the Kindle and try and get over my envy (in spite of the fact that the kid had readable books -- in fact I think he had Salinger's Catcher in the Rye -- one of my favourites). (You always think that anyone can buy a gadget but you are the one who knows what to do what to do it or books to read).

Anyhow, the next thing I know he has sold his Kindle over eBay. It's already gone because although he wanted to buy books over the Internet from Amazon, they were expensive. He's a reader and in spite of having a Kindle he had visited real bookshops and bought real books for prices ranging from Rs. 200 to 400 (US$ 5 to 8) which is what bestselling paperbacks cost here while the Kindle versions were anywhere from US$ 12 to 25 (Rs 600 to 1200).

Now of course I am envious of his quick decision-making and eBay trading skills. He was able to get rid of Kindle at a good price while I still have junk-filled cupboard including the Apple Newton that I bought second-hand from a tourist many years ago.

In another recent discussion/seminar in Singapore and reported in a Delhi daily, I think it was a guy from a paper company who said that eBooks will never take off in India until they are available for about US$ 3 each. Although I think that commentator was undervaluing the rising Indian buying power, he may have been right about the likely slow traction of eBooks and the high traction of print on paper in this country.

Even as average Indian disposable incomes rise and double in the next five years, the real issue is the price of content, digital rights and compensation to authors, and also the flexibility of the tablets to be format independent. Of course publishers fear this greatly since books will be traded as email attachments and USBs but this is one of great values of printed books -- you buy not only the artifact but the right to lend it and pass it on.

Yes the Kindle was sleek, legible, and excellent for carrying a library along but I'll try and wait for my disposable income to double before I buy an eBook. By that time I expect that the price of content will come down to half and it will become even more portable.