TMR Dispatches to cover West India – Today 24 July at 5 pm

Mumbai’s Lutyens – Is entertainment journalism all about access?

By
Naresh Khanna
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232
Sowmya Rajendran Photo TMR
Sowmya Rajendran Photo TMR

New Delhi, 24 July 2020. The Media Rumble (TMR), an annual news media forum, hosted by Newslaundry and Teamwork Arts, will stream its third session of TMR Dispatches on West India under the theme – Mumbai’s Lutyens – Is entertainment journalism all about access? The session is scheduled to be streamed today at 5 pm. TMS Dispatches is an online series featuring ‘NEWS’ that crisscrosses the North, East, West, and South of India. It brings together leading news professionals from these regions to discuss broader news media trends and issues.

Anupama Chopra, film critic, television anchor and author and founder and editor of Film Companion, Sowmya Rajendran, deputy news editor with The News Minute, Ravina Rawal, founder and editor of DeadAnt will be there. As will be Ramnath Goenka Awardee journalist Mayank Shekhar, currently Entertainment head at Mid-Day and Abhinandan Sekhri, co-founder of Newslaundry.com and a production house called Small Screen.

Abhinandan Sekhri of Newslaundry Photo TMR
Abhinandan Sekhri of Newslaundry Photo TMR

The session will focus on reportage and storytelling in the entertainment beat. How dependent are journalists and film critics on access to power for their stories? Has the entertainment beat always been close to power structures – or have things improved or worsened? How has social media changed the landscape, with most entertainers now reaching out to their audience through their personal handles? How prevalent is paid news/PR in this beat?

The earlier two sessions of TMR Dispatches focused on North and East India. The first session was hosted by Newslaundry’s executive editor, Manisha Pande, who was joined by Arfa Khanum Sherwani, senior editor at The Wire, Dr Himanshu Dwivedi, chief editor of Hari Bhoomi, Shahid Siddiqui, managing director and chief editor of Nai Duniya and Sukirat, a writer and columnist from Punjab. The first session was titled Myth or Reality? Hindi and proximity to Delhi give North India advantage in the news space.

In the second session of TMR Dispatches hosted by associate editor of Newslaundry Meghnad S, Karma Paljor, co-founder and director of Atvi Infotainment and editor-in-chief of EastMojo; Pradip Phanjoubam, editor of FPSJ Review of Arts and Politics; Patricia Mukhim, editor of The Shillong Times and Afrida Hussain, founder and editor-in-chief of Inside Northeast. The session was titled – ‘We don’t need no mainstream: Our stories, our storytellers.’

The fourth edition of TMR, titled TMR@Online, will be a digital-only forum. Scheduled for September 2020, TMR@Online will feature conversations and discussions on some of the most pressing issues concerning news media. Among the themes that TMR will focus on this year will be the overwhelming impact of Covid-19, acknowledging the role of ‘media front-line warriors’ while also analyzing the pandemic’s economic impact on the news media layoffs, ad-revenue trajectories and the need to rethink business models. Sessions on the migrant crisis and how the press covered it will also be hosted. Also, topics such as gender and caste composition of Indian media houses, press freedom, hate news, and the future of news media in an age of digital transformation will feature at TMR@Online.

TMR Dispatches upcoming Schedule Friday 24 August 2020, 5:00 pm IST

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

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