SUSTAINED FOCUS, STEELY DETERMINATION USUALLY PAY We Have Chosen This Picture for the Cover Because It Reflects Single-Minded Focus
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December 2017 | Volume 38 | Issue 12 | Rs 50 Surveywww.pressinstitute.in RINDA Journal of the Press Institute of India - Research Institute for Newspaper Development SUSTAINED FOCUS, STEELY DETERMINATION USUALLY PAY We have chosen this picture for the cover because it reflects single-minded focus. It is such single-minded determination that helps organisations grow and prosper even when the situation may appear bleak. And surely, it must have been such focus that has helped the Koenig & Bauer Group take a large step towards achieving its growth targets for revenue and earnings this year, with a 4 per cent rise in orders and a 2 per cent increase in revenue recorded. The importance of the service element in business has also grown. In the current year till end-September, the proportion of service in Koenig & Bauer Group revenue rose to 27 per cent, up from 24 per cent the previous year. The growth was underpinned by integrated service offerings with analyses and consulting on workflow matters and staff training.Picture above is about the presentation of the AR DataGlass during an open day in Würzburg in September to mark the 200th anniversary of Koenig & Bauer AG. 1 FROM THE EDITOR Even when the going gets tough, just keep pegging away et another journalist has been killed in Tripura, Suyash Jadhav who represented India in the men’s Ythe second in two months. Sudip Datta Bhaumik 50m butterfly, men’s 50m freestyle and men’s 200m was allegedly shot by a jawan of the 2nd Tripura State individual medley at the Rio Paralympic Games. A Rifles about 20 km from Agartala. He was a senior three-part series on the India Spend website by journalist with Syandan Patrika, a leading Bengali Swagata Yadavar and Prachi Salve, examining what newspaper of the city. On September 20, Shantanu living with disability in India means, particularly with Bhaumik, a reporter of Din-Raat, a local TV cable regard to access to education and employment, was news channel, was killed while he had gone to cover cited for a special award. an incident at Mandai, about 40 km from Agartala. It’s stories such as these that will help keep the And on September 5, Gauri Lankesh was shot dead Journalism flag flying high in India and motivate in Bengaluru. others to raise the bar. Like Gauri Lankesh, Shantanu In the midst of all the gloom, it’s heartening to Bhaumik and Sudip Datta Bhaumik did always – see journalists plodding along, reporting on subjects without fear or favour. and issues that concern all of us. The Press Institute of India and the International Committee of the ccording to Dominic Ponsford, writing for Press Red Cross (ICRC) present awards to journalists AGazette, the Financial Times claims to have and photojournalists every year for best articles and exceeded 900000 ‘paying readers’ for the first time. pictures on a humanitarian subject. This year, the He says, this means digital subscribers must now be theme was Disability – Triumphs and Challenges. well in excess of 700000. The vast majority of digital Malayala Manorama’s chief reporter in subscribers (around 500000) are corporate – staff Thiruvananthapuram, Mahesh Guptan, sent in a at organisations which have bought company-wide short series of articles. Titled They Are Also Our subscriptions. “Never before in our 130-year history Pet Children, the articles threw light on the sad have so many people paid to read the FT,” Ponsford plight of children with neuro disabilities, the issues quotes FT chief executive John Ridding as saying. faced by the children and their families, ineffective Ian Gibbs writing for MediaShift, says “trust implementation of government programmes, lack arguably transcends simple attention metrics”. The of treatment facilities, and scope for social support. strength of trust in mainstream and traditional forms Second prize-winner T. Ajeesh, Manorama’s chief sub- of news is notable, he points out. In fact, printed editor in Malappuram, Kerala sent in an entry, Life news magazines are the most trusted news source on Wheels, a short, moving series of disabled people (72 per cent rate them positively), closely followed fighting the odds and winning. Mini Thomas, special by 24-hour TV news, radio bulletins and national correspondent, The Week, Bengaluru, received the newspapers. Conversely, just 33 per cent agreed that third prize for her article, Able to Inspire — a story social media “provides news I can trust”. about how a young woman, after losing her hands Subscriptions have become The Economist’s in an accident, emerged as a powerful motivational biggest income stream in the past seven years. speaker. Michael Brunt, chief marketing officer and The top three winners in the photography managing director, Circulation, at the 174-year category were all from Hindustan Times. HT’s chief old title has the mantra: ‘Build the audience our photographer in Jaipur had sent in an eye-catching advertisers want to reach.’ The Economist now photo-essay on the National Triangular Wheelchair charges the same for a digital subscription as for a T-20 Cricket Series. The two others, both special print subscription on the grounds that the reader is photojournalists with the newspaper, had taken paying for the content and not the format. some stunning pictures – of 52-year-old Monu, a dwarf, who transforms himself into ‘Charlie Mama’ Sashi Nair at Delhi’s India Gate every day at 4 pm, and of [email protected] December 2017 RIND Survey 3 RIND Survey December 2017 | Volume 38 | Issue 12 Of news credibility in the age of Facebook and Twitter 6 Report on a WAN-IFRA 2017 Conference session When trust is lacking only good journalism pays 8 Report on a WAN-IFRA 2017 Conference session ‘Greenolution’ – a sustainable solution for eco-friendly printing 12 Report on a WAN-IFRA 2017 Conference session A controversy continues: the print-online performance gap 14 A World News Publishing Focus article Industry Updates 19 General News 33 Events Calendar 37 Cover page image: Courtesy, Koenig & Bauer C o n t e s 4 RIND Survey December 2017 Of news credibility in the age of Facebook and Twitter The source of news has moved from newsrooms to the Internet and social media, says Unni Balakrishnan, chief of News, Mathrubhumi TV. WhatsApp and smartphones have changed the world order. Consumers can subscribe for whatever they like. Both correct and incorrect information are purveyed and there is no good mechanism for fact checking, he says. Susan Philip reports nni Balakrishnan, chief of News, consistently see that and even though we have this Mathrubhumi TV, speaking at the conference trend of seeking multiple sources [for any piece of Usession titled Trust and Quality of News at news] before publishing, there’s a spike in our visitors the recent WAN-IFRA World Editors’ Forum held when something breaks elsewhere. Credibility is a in Chennai, elaborated on the power of the digital legacy which helps us leverage new, chaotic news media. He noted that the entire campaigns around scenarios.” Anna Hazare and Nirbhaya were digital driven. Calling chaos itself an opportunity, Balakrishnan “The audience is in command, creating reports, said that while speed was of essence, it could not distributing and interacting. In today’s scenario, each compromise credibility. In an effort to come as close individual is a media house. As a responsible media as possible to the truth, “we try to show things live,” organisation, Mathrubhumi TV has its work cut out,” he explained. Talking of credibility, he said that if Balakrishnan said, “holding up truth, authenticity the organisation was convinced of the essential truth and credibility as the hallmarks of good journalistic of an issue, it would be published, irrespective of practices.” consequences to the organisation and palatability to Reports can be factual or subjective. Factual reports the majority of the audience. are where the facts are checked before publication. Balakrishnan cited the ground water exploitation Subjective reports have more to do with social issues issue in Plachimada (Palakkad, Kerala) involving and social change. As Balakrishnan put it, “We corporate giant Coca Cola – as a result of the coverage of the matter, Mathrubhumi lost crores of rupees in advertising revenue, but probably for the first time in Coca Cola’s history, the plant had to close down. Ending on a positive note, Balakrishnan expressed confidence that though there was upheaval and chaos in today’s times of change, eventually society would heal itself. “We have faith that self-regulating etiquette will emerge, and society will triumph.” Michael Schmidt, addressing the session, spoke of the importance of field reporting and archival research. “Being on the spot builds trust and readership. There’s no substitute for it,” he told delegates. “Field reporting sometimes is dramatic, heartbreaking, scary. But most often, it’s show leather work. Field initiatives provide balance, nuance, details Photo: WAN-IFRA and illuminating pictures. It uncovers angles that Unni Balakrishnan stressing a point. won’t be stumbled on in the newsroom. Technology 6 RIND Survey December 2017 “being on the ground also provides the advantage of TIPS FOR THE PUBLISHER/ EDITOR enabling one to build vital networks of sources which Your public should drive your news agenda. last a lifetime.” Listen to their concerns, build your brand. Talking of the importance of research, Schmidt Time is short, travel budgets are shrinking. said the ability to see stories in paperwork was a Newspapers should move away from what special ability. The devil was in the details. He felt happened yesterday. That will be available journalists needed to brush up on their research skills, on social media. Pick the stories you want to including numbers and data verification.