The rapid expansion in the media space has done many good things for the nation. It has provided choice in beats across entertainment, movies, news and education that earlier was simply not ever thought of or envisioned. The proliferation has brought about waves of soaps, contests and now with the first IPL season shaking India, it has brought a gaggle of new anchors anxious to make their mark.

In a landscape dotted by hungry journalists, anchors, show producer, sometimes this breed, crosses the line of prudence and fair practice in the quest for exclusives, scoops and the most dramatic of them all; stings! In times of deadline overload and a lack of any tangible research, editorial balance becomes the first casualty to TRPs, popularity polls and advertising revenue.

How many times have you had a trick e-mail or a innocuous phone call translate into a bombshell in the press the next day, or even the same day in these times of broadcast and online media explosion? If you are out there working the space, then I am sure you do this more than you’d like to and while we all employ our own ways and means to deal with the scourge, maybe the time is right for a discussion. Keeping quiet is not an option so here are a few PR plays I’ve seen practiced:

• No comment - This is the most basic defense of the scared communicator or resident PR punter in the establishment. It creates a doubt in the mind of the viewer or reader about the authenticity or veracity of the story but has the potential of making front page all the same or the lead story in the dozen or so television channels out there, business, news, and combinations thereof.
• We do not speculate on market speculation - This or another variation of the same featuring words like ‘policy’ are yet another wet blanket in terms of media credibility, will they stop your brand image from get a contentious tag or even a black eye is arguable.
• Denial - This is the last reprieve of either the aggrieved or the very stupid, especially if its a lie. It will give a pause to the editor or the journalist, who will question their gut, chances of going to print or being aired, fifty per cent.
• Half Agreement, half denial - This Molotov Cocktail is the most sophisticated of the ploys, and clearly agrees to all or some part of the allegation but uses the loop in technique to include crisis messaging. Sent as a quote and usually written, it forces the hack to use the statement in full. Only the most savvy can do this bespoke but chances of being quoted out of context or half quoted remain high.
• Retraction or Rejoinder - These are mostly ego plasters to paper over bruised management egos, striking how the size of the retraction and rejoinder is in contrast to the placement, font size and prominence of the offending piece.
• Confirming statement - This is the pushover statement, executed along with a sincere sorry note and a display of the belly in submission. These are very bad for the ego and best suited for real tragedies, fraud, accidents, calamities and other industrial or infrastructure and government type of communicators.

I am sure there are hilarious variations sitting out there in your very fertile and successful minds and would love to get any more classification here or a anonymous war story, do feel obliged to share your scary knowledge with the tribe.

These are some concerning times that need both awareness of the stakes and training, if it is your privilege to be charged as the guardian of your brand and company image. There are lots of ploys the feverish hack employs to in the get-rich-quick-or-get-fired-trying, exclusive hunt. You need to understand that it is their job to report, to analyze, to predict and to expose, the end is fine but the means are most questionable. This pool is further muddied by competition and the dirty tricks department using friendly media for planting, seeding or plain obfuscating an issue. I will not use examples but the watchful here will see and read patterns in politics, industry and most media reporting, even that front page headline or the lead story on that television channel that looks innocent at first pass. Go figure…

If they know that you know, then you will receive their respect and maybe the show can continue down the road for all. Right now these are dangerous times for Image and Brand and all seems fair in the media war for exclusives. Next week sticking to a statement and dodging trick questions on the phone. Happy skirmishing! 

Has it not been debated before? Yes, it has been. Have we not wasted enough cups of coffee arguing over it? Yes, we have. So, are we ready to bury and tombstone the topic? No, not in the near future.

The debate over what a client says he wants and what he really wants will live for as long as the marketing communications and, more specifically, the PR industry lives and thrives. The briefs will always be brief and the expectations will mean ‘under promise, over deliver’ (the mantra that all PR managers chant around their mentees). I would have never brought this up but for an incident that spewed out the rotting question – should I believe what the client wants or am I looking in the wrong direction?

Picture this – the Chairman of a large and well-respected real-estate major briefs a PR team about what is expected from the PR campaign. Brand image, reputations, lineage, forthcoming IPO: almost everything is discussed. The expectations are clear – the company is to be projected as the leading real estate player in India. Everything sounds positive. The agency has bagged the account and is eager, satisfied and very comfortable in the extra soft, leather sofa. The old man seems a decent bloke. “No sweat, Mr. Chairman; your will be done.”

The team steps out of the suite on the 10^th floor and is immediately ensconced by the till-now reticent Corp Comm manager. Two things are made clear. The cheque will be signed after the press coverage report is received. Whatever the Chairman said was gas. The success of the campaign would be directly proportional to the thickness of the media coverage report, which should start thickening as soon as the team leaves the client’s office.

Now, wait a minute! Where exactly do brand strategy, image management, PR policy figure in this dry and very hollow scheme of things?

We can’t deny that there are more opportunities for PR professionals in India than ever before. Companies have started valuing the importance of public relations for their business. But when it comes to measuring its success it is still how thick a press coverage report looks. Building relationships with the target audience, nurturing a public image, paying attention to the demands of that ever important ingredient to your success called Press – these concepts will still take some time to bloom. So when a new luxury store is opened, the thrust is not on the years the brand will spend in India and how it should be perceived by the niche consumers. Sadly it’s on how many video cameras are seen at the launch and how many press clips appear after the hackneyed P3 party.

But we should not be complaining too much. There was a time when PR meant going on media rounds with bad photocopies and even worse media lists. Press coverage was really about cutting every single newspaper snippet and admiring it with the zest of a mother looking at a new-born baby. Things have changed a bit and the same things are now done with much more style…

In hind sight, the days when more and more companies would expect agencies to walk the talk and do some real PR wizardry are round the corner. A few of us need to get out of the complacent mode and be willing to do things differently. If the ‘MNC culture’ (another cliché awaiting burial) has survived and thrived, we can be sure that more professional understanding between PR agencies and companies can’t be far behind. Till then the debate will continue and many more words will be wasted. But only briefly…

Last night the Kings XI Punjab made another killing! Shaun Marsh produced what some would colloquially describe as giving a right walloping and Yuvraj Singh followed through with more arson on the pitch; the two are the cynosure of all eyes in the cricket world in India, the Commonwealth continents and many points further.

This wasn’t always the case, suddenly a team that was for long an underdog is making huge waves. The IPL analogy is no different, it came from nowhere and took over the house, and those in the marketing and PR fraternity who were watching the wind speed and its direction are smiling, while the laggards are now wringing their hands in furious frustration at the massive opportunity loss.

A few months have passed since the marketing and PR landscape got hijacked by IPL, the usual heavy-lids marketing and PR veteran, already bored to death with the monotony of the hot summer, mistook it for a flash in the pan, many weeks later it was still there refusing to go away like a bad nightmare, rocketing TRPs and bringing in eyeballs by the truck load for competition; the ones who got on the band wagon are laughing to the brand bank, the ones that did not have conceded defeat. The ’serial shock’ gave all channels a huge scare and the war moved from the pitch to the air waves as the IPL tsunami sucked all eyes to a single channel away from the staple ’soap and serial’ diet!

Team sponsorships that went a begging are now worth their weight in gold and next season; by all means, do please expect to see the phenomenon of inflation translate to cricket sponsorship. In these incredulous times of USD 130 for a barrel of crude oil, why should inflation be confined to steel, onions and cement?

The fight for eye balls has been won by mobile companies, banks and FMCG companies being the usual suspect that also ran and got some successes. The losers were car and bike companies, ringed in first by the RBI triggered, inflation killer, CRR measures, that squeezed the already flat credit situation. Across packed stadium; the howls of delight and screams of incredulity submerged the Bloomberg story reporting how this had been the lowest growth in the last 10 quarters for India.

As crude oil price insanity triggered troubling visions of more tax and ‘cess-upon-more-cess’ crowded my radar, the oil companies were slowly sinking and losses were being reported first time in the current quarters of these public sector behemoths. As ministries quibbled over customs, excise, luxury tax and oil stabilisation funds, the screams of cricket hooliganism in stadiums kept growing louder, so much more dignified than the marauding Chelsea club fans in England that would shame Genghis Khan but the days are not far! Welcome to the Indian version of the superbowl!

As stories got pitched to the print, television and online spaces and the pickled brain of the now smiling senior PR types picked up the sweet stink of plugs a headline or byte away, agencies were being whipped to leverage the sponsorship investment and brand types were churning websites and campaigns by the dime across outdoor, print and online; search or ad word. Here in this very fertile climate unnoticed a bevy of writers, television anchors and producers were taking birth.

In the text message histrionics of Shah Rukh Khan and Vijay Mallya’s tantrums, the hugs of Preity Zinta and the exploits of Ness Wadia with the Punjab Police hijacked dinner and tea time conversations across the homes and offices of the unsuspecting consumer in a heady brew, without alcohol, nicotine and caffeine. Healthy I thought!

In this entire din, the lessons have been many and things have changed forever in sports marketing and PR. The heady mix of entertainment, blaring team songs and not to forget the introduction of cheer leaders in a morality stricken nation, helped tone down changes that would have otherwise not gone down well.

I am talking about the erosion of nationality as the basis for cricket teams. Questions about how ex-team mates will reconcile their fury and belligerence once IPL is over and things are back to normal for the Indian, Sri Lankan, Australian and many other teams. Of course and then unlearning all that when the next IPL starts. In the confines of Wankhede, Eden Gardens, Mohali and many other cricket stadiums, the energy was electric and someone watching the same show on TV would never understand the fury of the music, the hysteria whipped up by the cheer leaders and the crowd as it chanted favourites or booed down others.

The good change that has again gone largely unnoticed like the bad is the new faces that have got the opportunity to play with the reigning cricket gods. Good for India and good for cricket and definitely good for brand endorsement, marketing and Public Relations!

As I wait for the semi-finals, I doff my hat to LK Modi and despite the large headline in a prominent Indian newspaper harking back to a real or imagined misdemeanor 20 years ago in a foreign country, life in India after IPL will never be the same! They are obviously trying to get back at his temerity in bringing in IPL Media Guidelines in the usual petty and spiteful style characteristic of the large egos of the rather spoilt Indian press fraternity. Long live IPL!

It was after a long lunch session that she shared this with us: “They promised me an exclusive. The interview with the Chairman was to happen in the next couple of days. The meeting was cancelled at the last minute. Reason? The Chairman had to fly out of the country. Next day I saw the interview promised to me in three different newspapers.”

This is part of an amusing conversation my colleague and I had with a senior business journalist from a leading English daily. The ‘they’ she refers to is, of course, a PR agency. Have you come across an incident like this in your PR career? Something promised to a journalist is never delivered – an important piece of information, an exclusive one-to-one, a research report. I am sure you have because it happens all the time.

Among the many bad things that we – PR pros – are accused of, not keeping promises tops the list. It’s an age-old discussion: “why can’t they stick to their word?” This happens in other industries and the communications industry is no different. So why is it that PR agencies are seen as incorrigible truants, and why have we created such a mean reputation for ourselves? If you have seen Colin Farrell in the movie Phone Booth, you know what I mean.

I can think of two reasons immediately. First, the stakes in this business are high and sometimes we fail to understand how important content is for a newspaper. Second, the pressure to please the client and keep our bosses in good humour. Actually there are more reasons but I want to end with two.

I have spoken with a few friends in our industry but there is no satisfactory answer on how to curb the ‘menace’. We are also naively unsure if this menace exists. So very often these incidents are shoved under the carpet and the thrust is on moving on with our lives. We are also uncertain if our industry is in need of an image makeover.

A few weeks back, a journalist from a business magazine met our client and was ready to file the article. So far, so good. But there was a problem. The information shared with the journalist was incomplete. Our client would have been in big trouble if the article was published. We contacted the journalist and promised him more information for a much better article. He was adamant. He had a deadline to meet. Even after speaking with him a number of times there was no headway.

We knew nothing else would work now. So we decided to do just one thing, be 100% honest. We called him up and laid bare the facts – if the article was published, our client would have to do a lot of crisis management; a few, very innocent heads would roll; we might lose a very good account. It was not a pleasant call but the article was never published. Of course, the journalist didn’t talk to us again. That is, till last week when we bumped into him. After some initial hiccups, I am happy to say, things were normal again.

There is no moral of this story. At best I would say that being honest sometimes works, even if it means getting badly burnt in the process. I can see many of you shaking your heads in disagreement. If you have a better solution, it’s time we used it.

Image source: http://www.freeimages.co.uk/

Every once in a  while, there comes the case of a company that is unable to throughput communication in stark contrast to its otherwise brilliant performance indices. I have sought to understand this malady now and again but a chance conversation yesterday with a known genius in the Indian Financial Services space triggered this post. If you are the guardian angel of the Aspirational; the evangelist with passion, fire and a head full of mindgames, the PR kind, then read on…

Perception lags performance, due to many reasons. The causes manifest themselves in three primary reasons. For a Public Relations, Communications or Brand consultant, it is important to understand the terrain before they pick up on a project that seeks to break logjams in the media and perception circuits for a customer.

Breaking gridlocks and logjams for late entrants to the perception game requires special skills, the tricks  and tactics have been there forever, question is have you ever thought about it, enough to elevate it to strategy?

Changing share of voice in the media and lecture circuit from a inane buzz to the screaming roar of a Ferrari or shepherding your customer (internal or external depends which side of the table you are sat) from the mind-numbing terrors and traps in the media, triggering a turbo boost for your spokesperson in terms of messaging uptake and effectiveness, is what this post is about.

Firstly, an inability or fear of dealing with the media due to a past bad experience can make efforts hard or non-starters. Media Relations is an art that requires constant practice, the ride comes with bumps and smooth stretches, sporadic crises thrown in for spice.  You give, you get, but you always talk! There is media out there that is out to trick you out, will they hesitate to rubbish your carefully build reputation for an exclusive? Absolutely not for a second! Can PR change the game for your business? Absolutely yes! Good comes with the bad, package deal like with most things in life. If you are going to get anywhere, you need to get started! Tell them like it is, chances are that they take risks in business everyday and will grow into the act with a little hand holding from you, the specialist!

Secondly, there is a clique out there as in most other domains, these ‘usual suspects’ then pretty much control the share of voice in the media, and this maybe specific to a beat. The media is most times too lazy to do any hard digging when mapping a business space and again relies on the ‘usual suspects’, who maybe be convenient darling MDs, CEOs and other assorted rabble rousers. Awards: every publication and their mother has an award stacked with their favourites, breaking into this game needs perseverance, a nose for ‘distress sales’, finally being able to work the apex bodies like CII, FICCI, NASSCOM, etc, for advocacy and influencer relations.

Third and last here, is clearly a lack of process internally at the client organisation be it in terms of communication superstructure, even if one does exist, its ability to deliver strategic advice to management may be suspect in hierarchy driven situations or where communicators are too junior to be taken seriously. Some people use external consultants to tell them what is known already as it brings a credibility they lack.

Anyone can tell you that game changing maneuvers are few and far in between as stereotypes and ’safe’ options abound but if you as a PR professional were ever able to affect changes that made a company’s perception congruent with its performance as benchmarked against its peers, then you indeed deserve to be in the hall of fame. If commitment is your destiny and you can help tell a story that is true and ethical but inconvenient, then you are indeed one lucky person!

We need our heroes just like we need our war stories to feel good about the tribe and what it does, so come on give!

After doing battle with scaremongering for the last couple of posts, here’s me wimping out and spinning my own doomsday special for you. Unusually I have had more than enough sleep so this is not sleep deprivation either. The media is awash with the Union Budget news and I don’t seem to agree with anything that is being sold by various economists, interest groups, lobbyists and politicians. As is won’t, this promises to be an election budget with populist measures that will whittle away tax payers money (yes this usually represents a third of your income on the pay slip!) in rubbish schemes but nothing can make me unhappy today. I am surprisingly happy considering the fact that there is really no good news!

So to the topic of my post: Is Web 2.0 becoming Bubble 2.0 and Social Networking becoming Social Notworking (sic)? If you’ve been around as long as I have, you’ve probably seen the internet bubble of 2000 and its crazy outlandish pony tail visage. Funny part is, nothing was too freak or outlandish to pitch for a business plan if it included a website in it. The market was awash with venture capital dollars and run rate or burn rate were common place terms in those circles. Not much survived that era and the remnants of this internet bubble largesse did not last.

When Google bought a loss making YouTube for USD 1.65 Billion, followed by the crazy valuations at facebook.com and myspace.com, and a seemingly crazier bid of USD 47 Billion by Microsoft for Yahoo, I knew that Free is Back! Recently AOL decided to offer free e-mail, with many free goodies including XM Radio, Anti Virus, 5 Gig online storage, etc, etc. Incidentally the poor cousin Indian version of AOL does not offer these!

There is more bad news on the horizon as Google stock fell 38 per cent on a report by comscore that AD clicks on Google had been flat in the month of January as compared to last year. This was widely reported across the world and created tremors that were felt far away from its epicentre.

Facebook has recently retreated on its aggressive advertising venture known as the Beacon after howls of protest from its subscribers, numbers which incidentally for the first time started to plateau. Google similarly is showing signs of a slow down. All this coupled with the strong privacy issues that have plagued all large players in the social networking are really a cause for worry where the future of the web 2.0 is concerned.

The benefits that it has bought to the enterprise business in terms of collaboration tools like blogs, widgets, twitters and IM as a result of user generated content can not be ignored but at the same time the impact of social networking has been minimal besides online advertising. This is even more pronounced in India due our insulation from the west both in terms of cultural differences and internet infrastructure bottlenecks across 3G spectrum as well as simple broadband. What it can do is hopelessly mix up your personal and professional life and inadvertently give access to people about your personal information, which you’d much rather keep to yourself and your social ilk.

The other is the time spent wasting company resources while on the job doing what is popularly being referred to as social NOTworking! This is a real concern as, while many managements have draconian solutions but it is important for all CIOs and CTOs to consider how much of the technology and infrastructure that they provide is actual used by employees, and how much is in the nature of freeware which certainly brings a lot of productivity to the enterprise including web based e-mail, instant messaging services as well as social networking tools.

Back into the PR paddock in India, I would love to hear from PR Firms who actually have a social media list they actively use, and dedicated resources who are real practitioners, with real customers without getting my bullshit meter in the red.

If you are bleeding from the budget take hope and have a great weekend!

This time of the year is naturally devoted to some introspection of the past and reflection into the possibilities that the future would bring. We can look forward to glossy anniversary editions of magazines, the catalogs of ‘the best and the worst’ developments in the newspapers and panel discussions on TV on the’ celebratory and grievous moments’ for 2007.

Since there will be all this and more to assimilate, I promise to keep this post on my learnings and observations on media in 2007 as brief as possible.

The Fall of Simplistic Media Relations and the Rise of Space Crunch

This report in the Business Standard on the record number of product launches this year corroborated what I have been experiencing in my daily media outreach as a Public Relations professional. While in the past 2 years we have seen an increase in the number of newspapers, magazines and TV channels, this increase is hugely outpaced by the number of brands in the market today. Given their new presence in the space and therefore the obvious need for visibility, media relations IS BOUND TO occupy a significant place in their communication plans. The RESULT is the impending reality for the PR professionals –

- More press conferences, more on-ground events, and fewer journalists to attend the same

- Increasing competition from within. E.g. If I am handling 2-3 brands in the same space (colas, shampoos, etc.) from the same company, no longer am I faced with crunch in media space due to other cola or shampoo brands but also by my own brands.

In-Transit – traditional media in the internet space

In the past year, we have constantly debated about the rise of consumer generated media as an alternative to the traditional media and yet the undeniable significance of traditional media in our lives. What I think we haven’t spoken enough is the transition and consolidation of the offline media in the online space -

- Level one – the stories carried in the print publications are also displayed in their online editions

- Level two – online editions of traditional media are creating completely unique content. So IBN-Live has a separate editorial team that shoots stories independently of CNN-IBN as also the leading financial papers as the ET and BS that regularly update the content

- Level three – growth of geography-centric portals that either aggregate content from other sources or create their own content. Again they function either independently for that region or are part of a larger portal.E.g. while doing a standard check on Google for stories on an event that we had recently concluded for a client in Bangalore, I came across a completely unique footage of the event on AOL, City Guide, Bangalore. I was quite fascinated how this individual had attended the event, interviewed the relevant stakeholders including our spokesperson, and created compelling content from the same.

Digital media – and the Crown of Expertise goes to…

While we can look forward to a full-fledged battle in the year ahead, this year has been interesting in terms of the claim for the coveted title of MSM (Masters in Social Media). From advertising agencies, PR agencies, smaller digital agencies and independent bloggers, all have been trying to co-opt this emerging medium of communication and build salience for themselves in the space. The verdict is still to be out but I suspect the winners are going to be those who are not scared of making and learning from mistakes and respect the dynamism of medium enough to realize that it is impossible to ever fully “know” it.

I wonder if the above post fits the definition of “brief” :). Here’s wishing all the readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

PS: Do pitch in what you thought were the trends, developments that stood out for you in the year 2007.

Tech Tags: pr public+relations india

At a time when the India Media is racing ahead and projected to growing faster than the Indian GDP, as much as twice in some recent reports, our world suddenly seems on fire with the news that Indian media stings may soon require oversight to determine if such a sting is indeed in public interest as well as being able to stand true on the test of entrapment.

The venerable Delhi High Court was rancid when it asked whether the media was carrying out sting operations or ‘stinking operations’.

The state of affairs has come to such a pass that in disposing off a petition on the now infamous sting telecast by private TV news channel in August, the court suggested that the information and broadcasting ministry constitute a three-member committee and all TV channels should seek permission from it before airing any sting operation. The suggested panel is proposed to have a retired high court judge and two officials with the ranks of additional secretary and additional commissioner of police.

The dubious sting purportedly showing a New Delhi schoolteacher, Uma Khurana forcing a girl student into prostitution. Police investigations subsequently found that the footage was doctored and the teacher was innocent. The bench further gave its nod to Khurana to take action against the channel or claim compensation.

The Broadcasting Bill has been hanging fire for the longest time due to a lack of consensus between the position of the government and media houses. The Information and Broadcasting Minister has now set 2008 as the year for the finalisation of the Bill but not before taking a dig at the Media Industry at large for the state of affairs. “We have delayed the process of introducing the Bill as big corporate houses are opposing it. They (corporate houses) like to have court directives rather than listening to the government,” the Minister said recently on the sidelines of an Assocham event. The truth is a grey line somewhere between large corporate media house interests and draconian socialism era censorship!

The accusations of polarised coverage across Tehelka, Nandigram, Gujarat and Modi, fly thick and fast day-in, day-out. Defense scams, Bofors, Quattrochi, the list goes on and on. The usual suspects who orchestrate this anarchy include favorites like political parties as seen in Nandigram, West Bengal, Gujarat Elections.

Another large arena for inflicting this perfidy on the media is reserved for large business houses using the media in a no-holds barred skirmishing that goes on against business competition. The spectrum war in the Indian telecom industry and the reams of newsprint in its wake, the footage it has consumed on television, and cyberspace it has consumed online is mammoth by any standards.

With some perversity, I am sure that these translate to trophies that take the place of pride in many a spin doctors’ hall-of-fame. It would be a coup some will gloat on if they could pull off such an act of effective spin and propaganda. Maybe I live in a world of conspiracies and I see too many films and interest groups that go by such affable terms such as a corporate affairs, Advocacy & PR Firms are allways benign upstanding citizens.

While we can blame the corporates and politicians, where does the Media stand in all this blame game?While there will always be competing interests who will try their luck and they should, the questions that sits uneasy in my head is where is the sense of editorial balance? Who decides what story can run and what value system underlies this often intangible and grey art of practicing editorial discretion?

How many times have we all witnessed the blatant lies and falsehoods, how many times have we seen one-minute ‘microwave judgments’ by anchors and reporters of questionable or no intellect and cringed in despair at issues slammed without hope of recourse or apology. The broadcast media has seen such cut throat competition that all but a few firmly grounded channels have turned to sensationalism and made a mockery of the news domain, similar trends have been seen in mainline publications and the online world too.

This is our world; a world made of many conflicting microcosms and yet the show must go and we must find a way, not the Putin way or the Western way, and certainly not the Pakistani way but an Indian way forward for the show must go on without aberrations where the media retains its place as a guardian of our democracy and a conscience in times of weakness and chaos.

What can you and I do in our own small way to aware and then maybe spread an awareness of the issue at hand so we as communicator and marketeers help support and build a better Media; a tomorrow built on a foundation of balance, integrity, justice and merit. Brick bats and accolades bring them on, all welcome!

Tech Tags: pr public+relations india media

Is the Hindustan Times (HT) group set to launch a TV news channel? If so, this could be its next step towards competing with the Times Group since the latter has recently launch the Times Now TV channel.

Remember HT Group launched Mint this year to fill its gap of a financial daily. The Times group has The Economic Times, though the comparison might be bit unfair.

By the way, LiveMint.com recently reported that India will see 100 new TV channels launching by the end of this year.

Hindustan Times and The Wall Street Journal have finally come out with their much awaited financial daily - Mint. The paper is out with a promise to bring refreshingly clarity in business.

Mint doesn’t want to carry too many news, one editorial said. The paper will instead give more of news analysis. So instead of overloading the reader with too much information, it will present the best and the most-important news. Good point. However it also believes that readers need new choices and credible alternatives.

The two philosophies seem clashing with each other a bit. I might also want to choose for myself what I want to read, not the editors of the newspaper I subscribe to. So I might want to subscribe to a paper that wouldn’t miss out on any news and give me the choice to choose what news I feel is important for me.

That said, I agree that sometimes there might be just too many news in a paper. As a reader, I hardly read half of what is printed. Maybe I might need someone credible and professional to weed out the chaff from the grain and save me time.

Mint definitely is trying to get its readers involved, adhering to the web 2.0 mantra. Readers can write in what they want to read in the next day’s edition. There is a contents page that includes small snippets of all news appearing in that edition -first time I am seeing this in an Indian newspaper. It even have indexes of companies and people featured in that particular edition.

The online version will have picture galleries, videos, and animated graphics.

Pitch to Mint
Is Mint a daily version of the business magazines, if they are going to focus more on news analysis and plain news reporting? We have many clients who can talk out all the strategies except for the financial figures. So will Mint bite to this sort of pitch? Not entirely. Most of the story headlines in many pages in today’s edition of Mint talked about rupees, percentages, Q3 results, investments, and profits. That said, the scope of pitching feature stories seems more in Mint than in other financial papers who just seem plain mad after figures.

As a new newspaper, the paper might be out to report a blockbuster news story from somewhere, just as any other new publication or TV channel does. Watch out.

Mint has currently a decent number of people, not huge like ET for now, currently in its Delhi office. They are receptive to ideas, very professional in their approach (at least the people I have interacted with), and are willing to listen lot more. One good part about Mint is that every phone extension there has a message recorder where you can leave your voice messages. Mint has been picking up journalists from many publications in the recent months. No surprise that there are journalists on different beats already such as IT, automobiles, real estates, finances, etc. in its (swanky) Delhi office. They have been out interviewing corporates as early as last December if I remember correctly.

Mint comes out from Mumbai and Delhi currently, and coming to Chandigarh and Kolkata. And if its subscription figures are to be believed, it has reached 75,000. ET currently has a circulation of 590,246 copies, HBL 1,17,047 copies, and BS 96,150 (FE ?). Should you recommend Mint to your clients as part of their media relations plan? Definitely. Not in place of the other three as yet, but this one’s might just challenge their spots too soon.