ANF August 2019, India Special Edition
A WAN-IFRA PUBLICATION INDIA SPECIAL EDITION FREE TO QUALIFIED READERS
AUGUST 2019
24 YEARS REPORTING THE NEWSPAPER BUSINESS FOR ASIA
Interview with Shailesh Gupta, Director of Jagran Prakashan Ltd., pages 2 and 3
WAN-IFRA INDIA 2019, 18-19 SEPTEMBER, DELHI Page 11 DRIVING REVENUE AND EXCELLENCE IN CHALLENGING TIMES
01_ANF_0819.indd 1 23.08.19 22:03 2 INTERVIEW INDIA SPECIAL EDITION AUGUST 2019
HOW JAGRAN PRAKASHAN ACED INDIA’S REMARKABLE PRINT GAME
By Neha Gupta
Jagran Prakashan Ltd., India’s leading publishing house, has enjoyed a rich his- tory in print since 1975. The brand pub- lishes 12 print titles in five languages, across 15 states. The company’s print and digital properties boast ownership of Dainik Jagran, Mid Day, Jagran Josh, Jagran New Media and HerZindagi.
According to the 2019 Indian Readership Survey (IRS), Dainik Jagran emerged as India’s most read newspaper with more than 73 million readers. In this interview, the group’s director, Shailesh Gupta, tells us how the brand has managed to hold the top spot in Indian print media through the years, its plans for ex- perimenting with subscription models and unconven- tional revenue sources.
WAN-IFRA: Please describe the specificity of adver- tising in India. Recent quarters have seen stagnant advertising revenue in the declared results of media companies. Is it a cause for worry? How is Jagran Prakashan combating the challenges that In- dian advertising has been facing? SHAILESH GUPTA: Advertising downturns and upswings are cyclical patterns that are dependent on several varia- bles. Difficult times push you to think innovatively, focus on improving efficiencies and strive harder. Shailesh Gupta, At Jagran, we have always believed in the power of Director of Jagran great journalism and our core connect with our readers Prakashan Ltd. remains strong. As a result, we continue to be a compelling choice for our readers. Business cycles notwithstanding, we continue to go stronger and work harder, and set new benchmarks of excellence.
Could you tell us Jagran Prakashan’s digital and print ad revenues for 2018 and Q1 of 2019? How is this growth compared to contemporary rivals? Digital revenues have grown by about 14.5% in Q1 2019 vs Q1 2018. Print has had a marginal degrowth of about 2-3%.
How do you manage to hit the sweet spot be- tween newspaper circulation and ad revenue to avoid losses? On the circulation front, we’ve increased cover prices whenever prudent and have been able to reduce unsold copies efficiently. Therefore, the circulation numbers have been maintained at competitive levels. Once circulation numbers are at optimum competi- tive levels, advertising tends to follow through. Going forward, as an industry, we need to be more prudent on cover prices.
Please share with us Dainik Jagran’s circulation figures of the past three years.
02-03_ANF_0819.indd 2 23.08.19 22:17 INTERVIEW INDIA SPECIAL EDITION AUGUST 2019 3
We have maintained our numbers around the 3.5-4 mil- lion copies mark over the last couple of years.
The IRS 2019 results show the consistent growth and dominance of print over digital in India. Dainik Jagran continues to be India’s leading Hindi news- paper with an increase in readership from 70 mil- lion (7,03,77,000, in 2018) to 73 million (7,36,73,000). How have you managed to retain the top spot? A relentless focus on great journalism has made Dainik Jagran a compelling choice for its readers. We consistently engage deeply with our readers and create a superlative experience for them and make a dif- ference to their lives. The reader is at the core of what we do, and it’s this reader-first approach that works.
How do you see the share of revenue change from traditional channels such as advertising and print subscription to new revenue possibilities? While traditional revenue streams of advertising and sub- scriptions will continue, there are several new innovative ideas that are opening newer revenue opportunities. with 8.6 million unique users, while jagranjosh.com is For example, brand solutions, activations, integrated one of the fastest growing Indian education sites with Please elaborate on Jagran’s social media strategy advertising solutions are opening and will continue to over 8 million unique visitors. in generating revenue and driving page views? strongly support the other traditional channels of reve- HerZindagi.com kept growing its user base to reach Our brand’s content credibility drives our digital presence. nue. 1.5 million users within 14 months of its launch (2017). We have launched another portal, vishwas.news, to pro- Keeping in line with the overall trends of internet con- mote credible journalism. The fact-checking news portal What is your take on the different forms of adver- sumption in India, mobile devices are the leading point has been created with an intent to reduce the dissemina- tising – native advertising, event marketing, email of access. tion of misinformation and is certified by International marketing, social media ads, programmatic adver- Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). tising? Which one(s) works best for Jagran, print How is an online reader different from a print one? We have a strong social outreach through Facebook and digitally? There are different kinds of readers for both print and and Twitter, and our strong technology ecosystem pro- We are exploring several new initiatives. We are creating online – each defined by its core information needs. vides seamless experience to users. With a relentless integrated solutions through unique partnership pro- Some readers are driven by the need to access infor- focus on good journalism, we have 26 million Facebook grammes with advertisers. We are also working on brand mation, some need opinion, some are different interest fans, and we’re the first newspaper brand to reach this solutions. groups and so on. Both the online site and the print milestone on social media. We have also been working at creating some unique newspaper serve different needs for different readers. IPs that will help generate alternate revenues. We con- Having said that, we believe that digital complements Please share with us your thoughts on the future tinue to explore newer ways to generate revenues both print. Additionally, digital news dissemination has just of the media business in India. for print and digital. added another dimension to news consumption. More The future holds exciting prospects from a news and in- people are consuming more news and spending more formation consumption standpoint. The good news is Tell us about your digital journey so far. How many time on news. that more people will consume more media. monthly visitors do you register across your digital Digital news consumption is filling in the gaps during At the same time, there will be more content produc- channels and do they come increasingly from mo- the daytime with updates and news as it happens. The ers than ever. This will be aided by more platforms for bile devices? mornings are heavily dominated by print. dispersion of news. The digital journey has been exciting. It’s a given that lan- Regarding print media, the fundamental strength of guages will be powering the growth of digital in India – Digital reader revenue is catching up with South language press lies in its deep grassroot connect. Print’s and amongst languages, Hindi is the largest. Asian media. Do you see Jagran Prakashan charg- unique ability to localise and customise along with a We have a great connect with Hindi language readers ing for content in the foreseeable future? mass reach is what makes it an important part of the and our flagship brand Jagran.com remains amongst the As of now we are focused on creating deeper engage- media mix. leaders in the category with about 25 million unique ment with our reader base and in growing the overall This strength is unique and difficult to replicate by users. reader base. In the immediate short term, we don’t see any media. It is on the back of this strength that lan- Other group sites like Onlymyhealth.com is the top any of the large players charging for content in India guage press has grown and will continue to do so in the Indian website in the healthcare information industry though. near foreseeable future.
Asian NewsMedia Focus – India Edition is © All rights reserved. No part of this publication published and distributed by WAN-IFRA South Asia may be reproduced in whole or in part without the Publisher: WAN-IFRA South Asia Pvt. Ltd. Pvt. Ltd., S.I.E.T. Admin. Bldg., 3rd Floor, written permission of the editor. Every care is taken 54 K B Dasan Road, Chennai 600018, India. in compiling the contents of this magazine but the Editorial Coordinator: Neha Gupta, [email protected] Tel.: +91.44.4211 2893, Fax: +91.44.2435 9744 publisher assumes no responsibility in the effect Managing Director South Asia: Magdoom Mohamed, arising therefrom. [email protected] For subscription/advertising enquiries, please Chief Operating Officer: Thomas Jacob, contact: Vijayalakshmi Murali Views expressed by authors are not necessarily those [email protected] Tel.: +91.44.42110640 of the publisher or the editor. All prices and data Design/Layout: Gordon Steiger, [email protected] Email: [email protected] are accepted in good faith as being correct at press Sub editing: Brian Veseling, [email protected] Website: www.wan-ifra.org time.
02-03_ANF_0819.indd 3 23.08.19 22:17 4 TRADE NEWS INDIA SPECIAL EDITION AUGUST 2019
Vikram Chandra’s Editorji wants to create citizen news editors with help from AI
Have internet and technology killed journalism? editorial team and the company’s many news partners Not if you ask broadcast news veteran, Vikram from around India and the world. Chandra. These days the former NDTV Group CEO Editorji’s team of 70 content creators and journalists is busy learning the ins and outs of artificial intelli- publish original videos, besides curating from news gence, machine learning and decision trees. With wires such as ANI, AP, and AFP and 15 other news part- his new venture Editorji, Chandra says he decided ners such as Newsminute, BoomLive, Hindustan Times, to go into the direction of digital video because of East Mojo from the North-East states, Kashmir Monitor the problems with how people consume video from Jammu and Kashmir, Minnambalam in Tamil news currently. Nadu. Each partner is tasked with providing original content, edited and shared with the Editorji team, Indian dailies gained “Where you get video news (these days) therefore is which then adds it to the app. you stumble upon it, and you stumble upon it on What- By inc42 growth in the past sApp, and you stumble upon it on Facebook or social media. Or somebody has sent you something and you one year find it. A lot of it proves to be fake. And even if it’s not fake, it’s only coming to you from an ideological echo According to the figures released by ABC, chamber,” Chandra told Inc42. Dainik Bhaskar topped the list as the high- According to Chandra, this also affects news or con- est circulated daily among the bureau’s tent creators, because they don’t get the right distribu- member publications. The average sales tion, they need to get that stamp of trust or authority. growth for the Hindi daily in the period Editorji is looking to solve this with its AI-driven video January-June 2018 was 4,251,236—a con- news feed, that is curated based on user interests as siderable jump compared to 3,758,949 well as the significance of the story. during the same period in the previous Once a user sets their interests and the duration of year. the daily video feed, the Editorji app automatically cre- ates what it calls a ‘playlist’ of videos from the Editorji Dainik Jagran which was at the first position in 2017 has dropped to the second rank with an average sales growth of 4,144,706 compared to 3,964,064. In the ranking, the English daily The Times of India clinched the third spot at India: Another year, 2,826,164, while Hindustan Times, yet an- other English newspaper, has come 16th with another state-of-the-art print centre opens 1,004,110. The Hindu has climbed one spot, claiming the 9th position with 1,397,944 as Even allowing for the delays heatset web are the proceeds of a broadsheets at 75,000cph, and de- compared to 1,216,118 during the same pe- caused by last August’s devas- relationship with the Japanese man- sign features to suit local condi- riod in 2017. tating floods, this month’s ufacturer which dates to 2011, tions, while the double-wide, one- Hindi daily Hindustan came fourth with commissioning of a new plant when TKS was looking for a foot- around format and 546mm cutoff 2,625,343. Amar Ujala has been ranked 5th in Kozhikode is just one more hold in India and Mathrubhumi had deliver flexibility and economy for with 2,610,784. milestone for Kerala giant committed to a re-equipment pro- the big print orders. Telugu daily Eenadu came 7th with Mathrubhumi. gramme. Mathrubhumi also stunned the 1,807,998 and Tamil newspaper Daily Thanthi It started with three presses - vendor industry by the size of its or- clinched the 8th spot with 1,525,526. With an Work on a three-hectare site in the one each for Trivandrum, Kochi and ders with Swiss mailroom specialist average sales growth of 2,368,672 in this pe- Kozhikode district of Ramanttukura, Kannur - and then another for Pal- Ferag and CTP systems vendor riod, Malayalam daily Malayala Manorama has started a couple of years back, a akkad installed mid last year, and Krause. The 2011 order for 12 lines ranked 6th, while the other Malayalam daily new 12,000 m2 building now ac- then another. based on Ferag’s Multisert drum Mathrubhumi has stood 10th at 1,363,931. commodating heatset and offset The shaftless Color Top 5000UDI technology, and that for 20 Krause Tamil daily Dinamalar came 17th with presses plus the latest prepress and presses, each of four full colour platesetters and associated equip- 848,287 and Telugu daily Sakshi which was at postpress kit. towers with a web width of 1400 ment were among the largest the the 15th spot in 2017 has now claimed the The 4x1 TKS Color Top 5000UDI mm and twin 2:3:3 jaw folders are European makers had accepted. 13th rank with 1,091,079. Kannada daily Vi- newspaper press and HB-5000ED capable of producing 3 2page By gxpress jayavani claimed the 20th spot with an aver- age sales growth of 760,738. Bengali daily Anand Bazar Patrika, which was at the 16th spot last year, has risen to the 14 spot with an India: Fourth Cromoman underscores success of tailored design average sales growth of 1,080,478. Marathi daily Sakal with 1,204,640 claimed the 11th The second 4x1 Cromoman press in Kolkata is now tures to print 75,000 copies per hour with no air condi- spot and Gujarati daily Divya Bhaskar which fully operational, delivering top quality in less- tioning, tolerating power fluctuations and running on was at the 20th spot climbed one rank to than-ideal local conditions. Indian newsprint without the need for special equip- claim the 19th position with an average sales Announcing the commissioning manroland India ment or severers,” he says. growth of 822,513 against 714,036 l in the managing director Sudeep Bhattacharjee says the press The press has the added advantage of fitting into previous year. at Bartaman Patrika is the fourth of its unique double- existing buildings with variable stand placement, and Hindi daily Punjab Kesari came 12th with width, one-around design in India and the second in offers web width variability with ease of use and opera- 1,165,506, while another Hindi daily Patrika, the country’s east. Others are at Times of India sites in tion. The three-tower Bartaman press has automation which was at the 17th spot last year, now Mumbai and Kolkata and at the Namasthe Telangana systems including manroland’s PECOM-X control sys- stands at the 15th with 1,005,485 against Press in Hyderabad. tem, and is capable of various product options including 988,470 in 2017. Hindi daily Prabhat Khabar “Once again Cromoman has proven that it can give 24-pages or a combined 16-pages plus eight pages. has come 18th with 829,982. excellent results in tough Indian conditions with fea- By gxpress By allaboutnewspapers
04-06_ANF_0819.indd 4 23.08.19 22:21 TRADE NEWS INDIA SPECIAL EDITION AUGUST 2019 5
Asia’s oldest newspaper turns 198; Mid-day Publishers plead relief from Indian celebrates 40th anniversary newsprint duty
While the print media across the Mumbai Samachar is one of the leading A new duty on imported news- world has been showing signs of vernacular newspapers in India read by a print has brought an immediate fatigue, two Mumbai-based news- large section of Gujarati-speaking com- response from publishers. papers are celebrating their decades munity. of success in the field of printing; a “It is a matter of immense pride for all President of the Association of In- testimonial to the power of print. of us at Mumbai Samachar to reach this dian Magazines R Rajmohan - who milestone,” said Nilesh Dave, editor of is also CMO North of Malayala Asia’s oldest newspaper Mumbai Sa- the paper. “There are very few publica- Manorama - has asked for a meet- machar (previously known as The Bombay tions across the world that have managed ing with finance minister Samachar) celebrated its 198th anniver- to survive for 200 years and continued to Nirmala Sitharaman, who in- sary on 1 July 2019 by hosting a series of stay relevant.” cluded the ten per cent duty in her events and programmes in Mumbai to Meanwhile, Mid-day, an English tab- maiden budget last Friday, AFAQS mark their astonishing achievement. Es- loid based in Mumbai and a part of Jag- has reported. tablished in 1822 by Fardunjee Marzban ran Prakash, celebrated its 40th anniver- Rajmohan described the cus- and currently owned by the Cama family, sary with a 152-page ‘Milestones toms duty on paper used by news- the Gujarati newspaper is one of the old- Mumbai’ special edition delivered in an papers and magazines as “highly est newspapers in India in circulation exclusive paper bag. unfortunate”. today. With a circulation of 1,50,000, By printweek Mumbai Samachar April 03, 1937 edition “This is a double whammy for print media which is going through unprecedented crises due to declin- ing revenues, caused by the prevail- ing macro economic conditions,” Spot the differences – he said. “At this point of time it is a massive cost impact. Deccan Herald announces rebranding efforts “Paper being a major element in the cost, any rise in cost will have After 71 years in the news- on Mondays. On Sundays, there will be a tainment offering called ‘Showtime’ huge negative implications. There paper business, Deccan new opinion page that is named ‘The which will be delivered on Saturdays. The was no duty and now there is a ten Herald has announced Prism.’ On the supplement front, the paper is also merging Travel and Living per cent duty.” newspaper has announced a new enter- into a new supplement – ‘Travel & Living’ He said there were reasons why rebranding efforts in order – on Tuesdays that will present a combi- the industry enjoyed some benefits, to appeal to a younger nation of both. The newspaper now also “being in the space of knowledge audience. has a formal tagline – ‘The Power of and information dissemination. Good’ which can be seen below the “Increase in cover prices is al- The newspaper extensively used social masthead. ready an issue and the prices have media to announce the results of the re- “This ‘refresh’ reflects our intent to gone up for newspapers and mag- branding exercise. “It’s an exciting time enhance the value we offer our readers. azines.” at DH. We may be giving a bright new We are confident that the new design He said Malaya Manorama had face to our newspaper and introducing and revamped content (which includes a a price of Rs 7.50 for weekdays new elements, but we are conscious of new supplement and several hard-hitting and Rs 8 for Sunday. “We have al- the legacy of seven decades of solid features) will offer readers a more immer- most reached a point where pass- journalism upon which we build,” says sive and satisfying reading experience,” ing the burden on to the readers Sitaraman Shankar, Editor, Deccan says Karthik Balakrishnan, CEO, The has become unviable and not ad- Herald. Printers Mysore. visable.”. The newspaper is also adding a new Deccan Herald masthead through the By afaqs By gxpress.net business section that the paper will carry years. Credit: Deccan Herald
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04-06_ANF_0819.indd 5 23.08.19 22:22 6 TRADE NEWS INDIA SPECIAL EDITION AUGUST 2019
During the Indian election, news audiences consumed a wide and diverse range of sources
How do Indian news without showing signs of speciali- tioned earlier, regional media audiences navigate the zation and selectivity, ideological outlets — most notably vernacular or otherwise. It also proved that newspapers — were by far the online news domain? Indian-language vernacular media most prolific on Facebook in post- an one fi nd patterns of dominate news provision on Face- ing political news, with national audience fragmentation book and that digital-born outlets television outlets at a distant sec- in the Indian media eco- are more effective at engaging au- ond. diences on social media platforms On Twitter, however, digital-born system? than legacy outlets, despite their outlets and nationally circulated Screenshot from nationmultimedia.com smaller overall reach. English dailies were the most ac- The Reuters Institute for the Study The research used the Indian gen- tive. This was perhaps owing to of Journalism recently analyzed eral election as a case study and Twitter’s more urban, elite, and Thai English daily The Nation the behavior of online news audi- collected and analyzed cross-plat- English-speaking user base com- ences in India during the 2019 form audience data from social pared to Facebook’s. ceases print edition, focuses general elections to understand media — Facebook and Twitter — It serves as a reminder that online on digital market news consumption in a unique as well as the open web. political debates are often coordi- market in the Global South that is We used three unique datasets nated and mobilized by politically The Nation newspaper stopped its print characterized by rapid growth in that tracked Indian audience be- invested, agenda-driven minori- editions and went fully online from July 1, internet penetration, and that has havior across multiple online plat- ties, and amplified by attention- when the independent English-language daily witnessed a surge in the number forms. We started with a strategic seeking media outlets. We find turned 48, to focus more on its core online of digital-born outlets that com- sample of 101 news media out- that such an impression of an ide- readers, including those based abroad, said pete with legacy media for atten- lets. We found significant differ- ologically fragmented political en- the top executive of the company that owns tion and engagement. ences between the kinds of news vironment may not accurately re- the paper. The evidence suggests that the outlets that dominated the provi- flect the ground reality in the online Indian audience widely nav- sion of political content on Face- country. Somchai Meesen, chief executive officer of Nation igates the news environment book and on Twitter. As men- By reuters Multimedia Group (NMG), said the decision by the management was aimed at halting The Nation’s fi- nancial losses, in addition to expanding its market. “Over the past five years, The Nation has lost 30 million baht (S$1.3 million) a year on average,” he ABP Group opts for comprehensive said. The CEO, citing a survey, pointed out that only 36 per cent of The Nation’s readers are based in publishing solutions from ppi Media Thailand while the remaining 64 per cent live over- seas, including 25 per cent in the United States. He said that this meant most of the newspaper’s Kolkata-based ABP Group has opted many of ppi Media’s international customers, includ- readers did not buy its paper editions, and they read to use the editorial system Content-X ing the SÜDKURIER in Konstanz, Axel Springer in Ber- its reports and articles from the website and lin, and The Hindu and The Printers Mysore in India. through different digital platforms. by ppi Media and Digital Collections, The editorial solution Content-X, self-service clas- Typical readers of The Nation are aged between the self-service classifi eds portal Ad- sifieds portal AdSelf and the integrated alfa Stylo Edi- 25 and 40, and mostly prefer to read news from Self, and planning and production so- tor, all support the Bengali script and language. smartphones rather than a printed newspaper, he lutions by ppi Media. “We chose ppi Media, because we were looking said. for future-oriented solutions”, said DD Purkayastha, Somchai said that as the market for new media Managing Director and CEO of the ABP Group. was growing, old media businesses like newspapers This move makes ABP Group the latest major Indian “Over the past 20 years, we’ve become the mar- were fast declining. This could be seen in the con- media company to use ppi Media’s publishing solu- ket-leading technology partner for Indian media tinuing decrease in the advertising budgets for pub- tions. The ppi Media software is now being used by companies. We’re delighted to work with ABP as a lications - down 20 per cent a year on average, ten of India’s largest newspaper publishers. strategic partner in this growing market,” said Hauke compared to an annual 20 per cent growth for new ABP publishes the English-language daily newspa- Berndt, Managing Director and CEO of ppi Media. media. per “The Telegraph”, and “Anandabazar Patrika”, “The new management has considered this the most popular Bengali daily newspaper with a cir- Shaping the future with ppi Media matter carefully and decided that The Nation news- culation of 1.2 million. Anandabazar Patrika currently The multi-channel editorial system Content-X will paper has to change its platform from print media has 25 local editions. The ABP Group learned about allow the ABP Group to use its print and media chan- to online, in order to better cater to the target the practical applications of these solutions by visiting nels equally effectively. The media-neutral content re- group,” he said. corded in the digital asset management system He said that The Nation’s online edition would DC-X, which is already in use at ABP, can now be ex- also provide an audible version. He also unveiled ploited through various channels with a range of al- plans for a Chinese-language version from October ternative stories. The self-service portal AdSelf lets “because at present, more than 10 million Chinese agencies and users book classified ads and manage visit and invest in Thailand”. them online. Billing and other transactions are han- He assured that there would be no retrench- dled by the BackOffice in the company’s SAP system, ments due to the change in platform. which works perfectly with AdSelf thanks to its inte- By straitstimes grated interface.
04-06_ANF_0819.indd 6 23.08.19 22:22 ROBOT JOURNALISM INDIA SPECIAL EDITION AUGUST 2019 7
Bot-journalism’s baby steps in India
By Elizabeth Shilpa
It s a normal day and on the way to your office you open your news app and start reading a story.
Rarely do you give much thought as to who wrote it. All it requires is some initial training where data and busi- “Here people don’t come at a very high price. Typically, But it might not be long before you start wondering ness scenarios are fed in to the bot. people in India don’t value automation so much. Right if the story was written by a human or a robot, because Magdoom Mohamed, Managing Director - WAN- now, readership is growing even in print compared to robot-journalism is right at your doorstep. IFRA South Asia, is confident that in India too the time the West where print media is substantially losing reader- Across the globe, leading media organisations have when a story is written by a bot and edited by a human ship every year. The moment when it flattens or starts been adopting bot-assisted journalism. is not far away. going down is when the rush will begin for automa- While Bloomberg has been using its bot ‘Cyborg’ to “Using bots also throws open new discussion in the tion,” Parekh says. generate stories on financial results of companies, the context of menace of fake news. Should news media Nevertheless, experiments are underway. Washington Post’s ‘Heliograf’ has been assisting its jour- companies declare that the story is written by a bot is a “We are beginning to test robots on a few data cen- nalists to produce stories during elections. moot question,” he adds. tric stories and would be in a position to deploy them to At Forbes, the main mandate of the bot ‘Bertie’ is to Across the world news automation has been picking post a few cycles of test and feedback,” says Satyan Ga- help reporters with templates for new stories. up. In Sweden United Robots which is partly owned by jwani, Vice Chairman, Times Internet. The ripples of this seem to have reached India, too. media company Mitt Media developed its own NLG sys- Now the question is whether robots would replace Neerav Parekh, founder and CEO of artificial intelli- tem for news generation, Rosalinda. human journalists and lead to large scale layoffs. gence start-up Vphrase, points out that his company is in In UK, RADAR (Reporters and Data and Robots), a Gajwani doesn’t think so. discussion with two top business media channels to de- local news agency formed by a partnership between “We don’t anticipate such bots to cause layoffs in ploy the technology. Urbs Media and the British news agency Press Associa- the industry. Rather, we believe that it will allow journal- “While in India it is not picking up as fast abroad, tion and funded by Google through its Digital News Initi- ists to focus more on producing less commoditised con- there is great interest from business news media. We are ative, uses human-authored journalism and automation tent, which is a critical need for most publications talking with the top two business media channels, and to produce data driven local news stories for publishers today,” he says. they are planning to do the live market commentary and across UK. Fake news and misinformation that pose strong chal- financial statement analysis through robot,” Parekh says. In Finland, the news bot Valtteri, developed by Im- lenges to trust have been pushing publishers to create To put it in perspective, there are about 4,000 listed mersive Automation, produced election news stories in stories that offer deeper analysis, with the human touch companies in India that publish their financial results April 2017 in Finnish, Swedish and English. that only journalists can deliver, he says. every quarter, he says. In China news automation is picking up bigging time Gajwani is hopeful that we are moving out of an era It is humanly impossible to analyse the results of all - Tencent has a news writer called Dreamwriter, Alibaba where content was built for discovery on platforms that the companies and write stories on them. has a news automation system called Writing Master, used to reward speed of publishing or headline manage- This is where the bot chips in. and Toutia and Xinhua news agency produce automated ment. With the results in hand, the robot can generate sto- news. If he is right, there would be more of focus on high ries on all the companies in about 30 minutes. Nevertheless, in neighbouring India it could be a quality, in-depth journalism that provides a 360-degree The application of automated journalism also extends while before robot-journalism becomes mainstream. view of the subject. to stories on elections, sports matches, weather, periodi- The price points being very low, the international Bots might be able to provide significant support to cal government data on inflation rates, crime data and players still haven’t shown much interest in selling their journalists in such a future. so on. technology here. Vernacular languages also pose a chal- “Bots will coexist in the newsroom as an aid to the “Wherever you have numbers underlying the story, lenge for them. editorial team – the way tools for heatmapping, analyt- you can use a robot to write the story. Those data sets Other factors that could prevent robot-journalism ics, A/B headline testing, personalisation and prioritisa- can be automatically summarised and explained using from taking off in India are cheap labour and growing tion exist today – helping optimise their bandwidth so robot-journalism,” Parekh explains. readership base. journalists can focus on what’s important,” Gajwani says.
07_ANF_0819.indd 7 23.08.19 22:24 8 REPORT INDIA SPECIAL EDITION AUGUST 2019 Report: tate of Newsrooms State of Newsrooms Findings in outh Asia in South Asia WORLD EDITORS FORUM (SOUTH ASIA CHAPTER) REPORT
y li abeth hilpa and agdoom ohamed
WAN-IFRA outh Asia too up its fi rst ever study on the tate of Newsrooms across outh Asia early this year to bring out a comprehensive picture about the issues grappling the industry.
Findings of theThe study wasstudy done across South Asia and the respondents come from both print and digital newsrooms. With print industry undergoing an overhaul, digital surging ahead and newsrooms struggling to cope with the change, it didn’t come as a surprise that lack of editors, in- AUGUST 2019 cluding multimedia editors, topped the list of pressing issues in newsrooms. of theThe digital study found era. the While following experienced as the most journalists pressing issues, need in this to order: a. Pressing issues W Shortage of editors (including multimedia editors) skillW Need up tofor realignupgrading themselves editing skills to the needs of the younger in newsrooms WEF_Report_StateNewsrooms.indd 1 09.08.19 14:20 audience,W Shortage the of reporters industry and should reporting also resources be able to churn out editorsW Lack ofequipped technology with in the such newsroom techniques so as to address W Breaking news 24x7 corrigendum or an apology the next day, which is a rarity in the digital world. Some The media industry is going through a transi- this newsroom challenge. It needs to be realized that the newsrooms have ‘Readers Editors’ to address such issues. tional period like never before. Digital dis- ‘waitThough and most watch’ preferred period breaking is over the newsand ondisruption web or digital is at portals your as seen in the Reporting ruption has been happening, making content doorstep.study, there Organisationswas also strong preference must start for some thinking stories seriously– rare interviews, features, in- e tigati e t rie ana e t r re er e f r the print e ia Most newsrooms which participated in the study lay great emphasis on ground report- creation more democratic, but at the same aboutPlatforms training such editors as Facebook, and Instagram creating and a structure Google Accelerated to groom Mobile Pages ing. More than 70% of the stories published are reported from the ground and very lit- time creating ripples in the media industry. If them(AMP) fromhave become time to an time. important part of the news ecosystem and more than 80% of tle is taken from wire sources. earlier, the industry saw excellent journalists the publishers who participated in the study use them as tools to disseminate news to a Closewider audience.to 40% ofWhile the most respondents participants alsoagreed expressed such platforms con were- required to im- ender parity in newsrooms who produced impactful stories with meaning- cernprove regarding the reach of ‘Shortagecontent, newsrooms of reporters/reporting pushed their content through them with a cer- While about 40% of newsroom staff are women, the number of women in senior ex- ful content, today it is the need of the hour that tain amount of discomfort arising from the conflict between ownership pf content and ecutive roles is very low, according to the study. However, newsrooms claim that they resources.’ Alongside technology enabling everybody they be armed with technology – from multi- reach of content. have plans to add more women over the coming years. to be a reporter and fake news posing a real threat to media techniques to data journalism skills. Not Fa e news Productivity in newsrooms authentic reporting of information, newsrooms are just to survive but also to sustain and improve The study showed that almost all publishers took some effort to control fake news. Some interesting ideas were put forward during the study on what newsrooms can do grappling with a shortage of genuine reporters. Tum- great journalism for years to come. Most media Many newsrooms have formed separate Desks for verifying news, some have tied up to improve productivity. They included: blingwith external revenues fact checkersmake it like difficult Altnews to and afford some usedexperienced the tools offered by Google to W eg enting the ne r acc r ing t f ncti n houses, therefore, are trying to give a facelift chec fa e ne f the ne p i he a f n t e fa e t p i her i e a W raining rna i t to their newsrooms. Needless to say, the job is W ecr iting high i e pe p e challenging. W Using technology in the newsroom W a ing a f e i e hift te While there are myriad challenges, ‘Shortage Chart 1: W Organi ing fee ac re ie an rec gniti n W rranging f r ai pr cti it eeting of editors (including multimedia edi- Pressing issues in newsrooms tors)’ emerged as the most pressing and prev- Almost all the respondents mentioned that they provide training to their journalists in alent issue in newsrooms in the survey, with some way or the other, every year. Many send their journalists to external training pro- Shortage of editors and multimedia editors 76.3 % grammes and some newsrooms have their own internal training programmes. But only over 50% of the respondents naming it a con- one-third mentioned that they train their journalist in multimedia skills indicating that cern. This is followed by ‘Need to upgrade ne f the pre ing i e a n t eing a re e a e ate Upgrading editing skills 52.6 % editing skills.’ Together they are indicative More than 75% of the respondents mentioned that they use a content manage- ment system, while almost half of the respondents said they planned to have a new of a clear trend – presentation and packaging Shortage of reporters content management system in the coming year. of the content is extremely important to attract and reporting resources 39.5 % To conclude, newsrooms are changing, but very cautiously. Technology has made and retain an audience, and good editors are great inr a int ne r an rea er ha it are changing The report calls for readers and reader requirements, not technology, to be the crucial to making the content presentable. Lack of technology 36.8 % drivers of change and for skilling the newsroom to address these changes. Journalists However talent is in short supply. The fast pace should show the right attitude to adapt to the changing needs and to technology. of news demands editing – comparatively and hat he p a it rna i thri e in the ear t c e Breaking news 24x7 26.3 % arguably a slower job – to be quicker, and pres- sures conventional editors to match the pace ownload this report here: 0 20 40 60 80 100 ww.wan-ifra.org reports 2019 08 09 state-of-newsrooms-in-south-asia
08_ANF_0819.indd 8 23.08.19 22:25 10 WAN-IFRA REPORT STATE OF NEWSROOMS IN SOUTH ASIA
WEF_Report_StateNewsrooms.indd 10 09.08.19 14:20 INCQC 2020-2022 INDIA SPECIAL EDITION AUGUST 2019 9 A fresh flavor in the International Color Quality 2020-2022 contest
By Prabhu Natrajan The upcoming edition of the International Color Quality reduce participant effort, WAN-IFRA turned the three- Contest will open registration from August 12, 2019 month evaluation period to one-month for the upcom- The International Color Quality Club until February 15, 2020. This edition will launch with sig- ing edition. As a result, the ICQC 2020-2022 will also nificant changes and be a huge improvement from the sport a one-month print schedule. (ICQC) is the only worldwide printing previous ones. Here is a look at a few changes that quality competition for newspapers would be seen in the ICQC 2020-2022 edition. Less effort, more competitive and magazine. Its goal is to improve the The survey also found that handling a package and quality of reproduction and printing, tracking it for a period of three consecutive months was What’s fresh in this edition of cumbersome. Therefore, the upcoming edition contest increase competitiveness and, train and the ICQC 2020-2022? will be aligned to a one-month period with single ship- motivate employees in an organisation. ments to reduce participant effort. This move will also A brand-new feel in the software: The competition has been held every help increase the competitiveness in the contest, by in- two years since 1994. WAN-IFRA redesigned the software interface of the creasing the evaluation samples to five days from the ICQC contest in the latter half of 2018. Over months, earlier three days. the organisation developed a new software and user in- Newspapers that make the cut in the list of the world’s terface for the participants that simplified user access. Flexibility meets comfort best printers can draw on this distinction to impress de- To name a few changes, an interactive 3D color Another major migration added from the earlier edition manding advertising customers. gamut model was added to the web report, which could of the contest is a flexible print schedule that can be cho- Participation in the contest will ensure standardiza- be rotated 360 degree to view the outlier portions of the sen by the participant within the stipulated print sched- tion in many phases of production, such as optimizing printed color gamut against the ISO color gamut. This ule slot. This would put the participants at ease and work process and standardizing material and procedures. eased the visualisation overlap of the two color spaces bring into considering various factors such as print It also improves their standing among readers. Participat- and proved helpful in a visual comparison. schedule, workload and holidays for their countries. ing publications are awarded membership in the exclu- sive top-quality title club. Winning the membership puts Calendar re-defined: one on the international map. Winners will be awarded The World Printers Forum conducted a survey among its For online registration, dates and more details about the during the “World Printers Forum conference 2019” at members and concluded that the three-month long con- contest, visit www.colorqualityclub.com or write to Germany. test was tedious for them to keep track of. Intending to [email protected].
09_ANF_0819.indd 9 23.08.19 22:26 10 PUBLISH ASIA INDIA SPECIAL EDITION AUGUST 2019
Publish Asia: Using data to drive editorial decisions
By Vrinda Sood
The multifaceted ability of data to not only make stories engaging and per- sonalised but also credible, drove dis- cussion at a session ring recent i h ia
2019 conference. On stage in Singapore: Stig Jakobsen, the Editor-in-Chief and CEO The discussion featured three speakers in of Norway’s iTromsø, the charge of vastly different audiences, each first newspaper in Europe facing unique problems that are becom- to try personalisation of the mobile front. ing far re c np ace in t a Photo by WAN-IFRA changing media landscape. Stig Jakobsen, Editor-in-Chief and CEO of iTromso, the first media website in Europe to implement large-scale per- sonalisation of content on both its web- site and mobile application, spoke about the challenges of striking the perfect bal- into this problem of repetitive data and The words of positivity came with a warn- ment to the difficulties some journalists ance between giving readers news to- lack of a “breaking news” segment quite ing for those who were just starting off face in doing their jobs. wards which they have historically shown often, if it is not for the essential task of on this venture of using data and technol- Yan felt that now, more than ever, it is an inclination, while still making sure that the editors choosing which stories are ogy in journalism. important to operate on data-driven jour- their ability to develop new areas of inter- vital for consumers to read, and where ecepti n fr a ience a a t nalism, the kind of reporting “whose mo- est is not lost. they should be placed. differ depending on the audiences the tives cannot be questioned,” he said. The “The work was only half done when material is intended for, and it always uptake of data techniques is very differ- the story was published,” said Jakobsen, takes a few months before the numbers ent in the newsrooms of Myanmar than adding that it is up to the editors to use begin to calibrate. in ingap re r r a “The technology, the tools they now have to increase en- The dire lack of publicly available data gagement and readership. How data can be used in all of the data, was makes it harder for Myanmar newsrooms hen a e h re p n i e the writing articles to produce such labour and skills-inten- pretty much there. newsroom has been to these changes in he thir an fina pea er an a ng sive stories but through this process, Yan We just had to use it technology, both Jakobsen and Tamilavel Oa eni r i r at the han ee ar hare a p iti e e age: t ea t n the e i n ec n pea er h hai nn ati n a in an ar r ght a e n hat e n t r he ai to give the people fr the ingap re re ing a i fresh perspective to the lively discussion – e p n ing t a e ti n a t h what they want,” Murasu news website – mentioned how taking a few steps back from making to get around the red tape and improve it was really up to the management to in- the data work for the consumers and in- the quality of stories, he is confident that Stig Jakobsen, iTromso troduce the changes in a way that in- stead looking at using it to write credible data will be more sustainably open once volves everyone in a newsroom. stories. the newsrooms have built ecosystems The nervous shift that accompanies The population of Myanmar has faced that support their missions. any new idea can be softened by explain- political unrest and widespread clamp- He believes mid-level civil servants can ing how the editors and the journalists downs on free press, but through it all, provide favourable support. Given their Jakobsen also took the time to put to rest would not only have new roles but also there are organisations that have chosen proximity to the top and their own need the rising sentiment that often accompa- will have tools to increase the impact to persist and continue providing people for independent, informed analysis of is- nies technological change: the feared re- their stories can have. with the accurate information they de- e pr i ing fficia ata t O an placement of editors and journalists in Tamilavel, who goes by one name, serve. grassroots media would be in their interest. the room. walked through the transformation that an pre entati n a e ti e n He mentioned the problem of “filter the newsroom had undergone in just the second day of the conference, one bubbles” that many data-driven news over two years, expanding beyond a a after t e ter rna i t ere About the author: Vrinda Sood is a freelance websites face, and showed how algorith- physical newspaper and radio segments freed from Myanmar prisons after being journalist and a Politics, Philosophy and Eco- mic personalisation of news would run to designing a website and a mobile app. held captive for 500 days; further testa- n ic a r at a e C ege ingap re
10_ANF_0819_new.indd 10 23.08.19 22:32 WAN-IFRA INDIA 2019 INDIA SPECIAL EDITION AUGUST 2019 11 WAN-IFRA India 2019 Programme at a glance
Integrated platform and 360° approach to Session: Pressing issues of business Day Two, 19 September 2019 Advertising Summit advertisers needs. Junction K from Malayala Looking back to leap forward: Ground Manorama. Day One, 18 September 2019 breaking print technology and lessons we Maintenance of gears: Lessons in profes- Varghese Chandy, Vice President – Advertising, could learn from them to change the course sional approach to maintaining them in Malayala Manorama of newspapers business? printing machines. Inauguration and welcome K Balaji, Former Director, THG Publications Ltd., & M Mahendran, Head-NPD & Business Develop- Event based advertising business, and an ex- Gerhard Raab, Consultant, Germany ment, Shanthi Gears Keynote address 1: Is the future of news clusive TV channel to support it. A case study media business sustainable for legacy media from Prothom Alo, Bangladesh. Newsprint demand-supply: What is the pre- Mounting and adjust different kind of bear- companies. sent scenario, future trends and possible ings in printing machine – how to do it pro- Lisa MacLeod, Head of Digital, Tiso Blackstar Strategies of growing revenue in print and price indexes in the pulp & paper industry? fessionally and avoid costly damages to the Group, South Africa and Vice President, WAN- in digital. Transformation case study from Emmy D’Silva, Engineering & Newsprint machine. IFRA ARA, Catalonia, Spain. Consultant Vijay Apte, General Manager – Georgina Ferri, Chief Innovation Officer, ARA Engineering & Services, SKF Bearings Keynote address 2: Extending the life of the Business model: Optimising existing capac- printed product, while gearing up for a digi- Using big data for driving advertising ity, outsourcing print jobs, what is the ideal Press and folder maintenance. Precautionary tal-first newsroom and the transformation. growth. How to do it. win-win model? measures to maintain life of the folders. Warren Fernandez, Editor-in-Chief, The Strait Oshin Anand, Data Scientist, Ninestars Shashi Ranjan, VP & SBU Head, Strategy adopted by Jagran to reduce the Times, Singapore and President, World Editors Manipal Technologies Ltd. failures and breakdowns. Forum Session: Advertisers dilemma Sathish Chandra Mishra, Director-Production, Jagran Prakashan Ltd. World Press Trends: What metrics are driving How do advertising agencies plan the cam- Session: Efficiency and cost optimiza- the strategies of the news publishers? What paign for their clients? What are the ideas Parallel session: underlying trends are shaping the local news tion and strategies behind advertisement plan- Newsprint: Best practices to reduce waste, challenge? Efficiency and excellence: What does effi- ning. achieve better yield and efficiency. Thomas Jacob, COO, WAN-IFRA ciency and excellence mean for a newspaper Manish Bhat, Director, Scarecrow Advertising, Saptangshu Chaudhury, Corporate Manager – organisation. What are the available options. India Production, ABP Pvt Ltd. R D Bhatnagar, Chief Technology Officer, Session: Strategic shift in advertising DB Corp. Ltd. Supporting brand growth – what do adver- Achieving better ink mileage and blanket Advertising shift, how will the future of ad- tisers look for in news media brands. How is run length. Best practices. vertising go – challenges and opportunities. Global trends and case studies of printing ef- the expectation changing in the new econ- Anup Pal, AGM-Quality Assurance and ficiencies. How different environment/ cul- omy. Sreejith PM, BCCL Content, Communities, and Commerce, the tures prepare themselves for making the 3Cs shape the new age advertising world. processes future proof. Challenges and opportunities for newspaper What to watch out for and how do we set Session: Business transformation Mathijs Baron, Sales Director International, QIPC – printing inks. sail. EAE Mapping invisible networks in organisation Michael Hirthammer, MD& VP, Sun Chemicals, Madan Mohan Mohapatra, Head – Customer and driving innovation and change. How to Germany Strategy, Future Group create competitive context and effectively ‘Extend the life of your press’ - Learn from the findings of WAN-IFRA Special Report. use it to drive the change. Elements of design thinking and user-centric Panel discussion: How do we manage the Jaiganesh M, Research Engineer, WAN-IFRA Santhosh Babu, CEO & Founder, ODAlternatives approach. How the design-thinking ideas challenge of advertising in print and en- South Asia could be aligned with putting customers first hance the pie. Panel discussion: Challenges in print, extend- in newspaper business. Panelists: Rajeev Beotra, CEO – HT English, HT Reducing carbon foot Print by adopting ing its life and preparing for transformation. Karthikayini Subbaraman, Chief Product Officer, Media Ltd., Sudha Natarajan, Director – Re- green products, processes and services. Panelists: Jayant Mammen Mathew, Executive Ed- Xperian sponse, BCCL, Vipon Khatwani, Sr. Vice President, itor, Malayala Manorama, Raj Jain, CEO, BCCL, Amit Khurana, COO – Newspaper Group, Jagran Prakashan Ltd., Varghese Chandy, Vice TechNova Imaging Systems. Pawan Agarwal, Dy. Managing Director, DB Round up of best examples from WAN-IFRA President – Advertising, Malayala Manorama. Corp., Sanjay Gupta, CEO, Jagran Prakashan Ltd., Print innovation awards 2018. Chaired by Suresh Balakrishnan, Chief Revenue Parallel session: Improving the quality D D Purkayastha, MD & CEO, ABP. Chaired by Prabhu Natrajan, Research Engineer, WAN-IFRA, Officer, The Hindu through process innovation. How does an in- Thomas Jacob Germany house developed application help to man- age and improve their print quality. Visit to The Times of India printing plant, Innovative approach in supply chain Session: Print power innovation Mohanraj, Dy. General Manager, The Hindu, India Manesar. management. Power of print, the campaign in Europe en- Krishna Karthik, Manager IT prepress, The Hindu, couraging innovation in print advertising. A India look at the successful examples of European Session: Newspaper distribution newspapers. Printing Summit ICQC project update and WAN-IFRA General Ulbe Jelluma, Print Power Europe Print Quality concept. Day One, 18 September 2019 On-time distribution of newspaper is still a Prabhu Natrajan, Research Engineer, WAN-IFRA challenge and complicated one for every Product based innovation at its best, what South Asia, India newspaper company. European case study. Inauguration and welcome drives them and how to do monetisable in- Frode Finnes Larsen, Chief Technology Officer, novation. A case study. Intelligent Density System (IDS) and soft Distribution Innovation, Norway Keynote address 1: Is the future of news Anup Gupta, Head of Design, Hindustan Times proofing to optimise cost and improve effi- media business sustainable for legacy media ciency in printing. High circulation numbers and door delivery companies. What it takes to innovate and the process Anup Pal, AGM-Quality Assurance & every day. How do Japanese newspapers Lisa MacLeod, Head of Digital, Tiso Blackstar behind it. What are some of the outstanding Amit Gupta, Chief Manager – Electrical, BCCL. manage distribution? A case study. Group, South Africa and Vice President, WAN- innovations from The Telegraph? Takashi Kanari, Deputy Manager, Asahi Shimbun IFRA Pramod Dabke, Vice President – Ad Dailies, The Operational excellence in newspaper pro- Telegraph, India duction by closing gaps and addressing the Efficiency of newspaper delivery: Optimising Keynote address 2: Extending the life of the performance hiccups in the production unit. resources, routes, logistics to minimise over- printed product, while gearing up for a digi- Revenue 360: What are the opportunities Giridhar Rao, Dy. General Manager – Printing, all distribution time. An Indian case study. tal-first newsroom and the transformation. that exist beyond pure print advertising for TGH Publishing Pvt Ltd, India Oliver Lesly Velitinger, General Manager – SPH experience. newspapers publishers to capitalize on. Circulation, The Printers Mysore Pvt Ltd., India Warren Fernandez, Editor-in-Chief, The Strait CEOs of India’s leading advertising agencies IT in printing: How to harness IT to improve Times, Singapore and President, World Editors discuss the topic. the efficiency of our printing operations. Panel discussion: Challenges in print, extend- Forum Sagar Sharma, CIO, Rajasthan Patrika ing its life and preparing for transformation. Gala dinner Panelists: Jayant Mammen Mathew, Executive Ed- World Press Trends: What metrics are driving itor, Malayala Manorama, Raj Jain, CEO, BCCL, the strategies of the news publishers? What Pawan Agarwal, Dy. Managing Director, DB underlying trends are shaping the local news Day Two, 19 September 2019 Corp., Sanjay Gupta, CEO, Jagran Prakashan Ltd., challenge. D D Purkayastha, MD & CEO, ABP. Chaired by Thomas Jacob, COO, WAN-IFRA Session: New revenue streams Thomas Jacob
Opening keynote: Accelerating new revenue Visit to The Times of India printing plant, streams – new revenue verticals, setting up Manesar. cross-media sales teams, and the like. How Cost savings through energy management system, 17 September to plan for big buck business. Combatting misinformation and fake news, 17-18 September Geoff Tan, Managing Director, Workshops For updated programme, please see Women in News panel, 18 September SPH Luxury Magazines, Singapore www.wan-ifra.org/india2019
11_ANF_0819.indd 11 23.08.19 22:35 01 September to 15 October 2019 CALL FOR ENTRIES
Award categories
Best News Website or Mobile Service Best Native Advertising / Branded Content Campaign Best in Lifestyle, Sports, Entertainment Best Digital News Start-up Website or Mobile Services Best in Social Media Engagement Best Use of Online Video (including VR) Best Marketing Campaign for News Brand Best Data Visualisation Best Digital Project to Engage Younger and/or Best Paid Content Strategy Millennial Audiences (incl. paywall, membership or crowd funding models)
www.wan-ifra.org/sdma Contact: Suresh Babu K. R., email: [email protected]
12_ANF_0819_ad.indd 10 23.08.19 22:36