Budget 2012 coverage prompts a re-look at editorial strategy

From the late 1950s until 1994, one looked forward to Nani A. Palkhiwala’s post budget analysis through lectures to de-mystify financial jargon for the common man. Then came the era of cable TV networks where expert analysis of the budget was made available almost instantly. We are currently in the era of social media where information is not just available at the click of a key but it is also focused towards individual concerns. Despite the changes spanning these 50-odd years, the financial dailies’ approach to covering the Union budget has changed little.


Does the budget still need to be covered the way it is? Definitely not, if newspapers intend to make an impact. There are three ways in which the coverage can be improved to suit the needs of new age readers.

1. Focus – Most newspapers are unable to identify the key outcomes of the budget and consequently identify a list of stories. Instead, they are in rush to give space to every piece of information connected with the budget, no matter how small or big. A case in point is the fact that reams of newsprint is dedicated to covering the impact of the budget on investors. This year, all financial dailies dedicated at least 4 pages to covering this aspect, when less than half of India’s tax payers are investors. (The Income Tax Department puts the number of tax payers in India as of 2011 at around 3.5 crore. The National Securities Deposits Limited, which maintains demat accounts of all investors in India, says there are around 1.2 crore active accounts as of March 2012). Unless the newspaper’s subscriber base comprises largely of those actively trading in the stock market, such news can possibly be wrapped up in a page at the most, focusing on the key impact such as I-T deduction of 50% to first time investors in shares and the removal of exemption on infrastructure bonds. Instead the impact of the “no-show” budget was detailed across sector specific stocks, with traders saying how they were neither positive nor negative outcomes in the budget.

Amidst the clutter of advisories made available by brokerage houses or other private advisors, the editorial team needs to indentify a set of meaningful questions to probe potential interviewees with. These questions should go beyond the routine “how do you think this move will impact the investor”. This story is a good example of how such news should be researched and covered. Not only does this story give the reader options, it also explains the modus operandi of why they may consider these options. One such piece can substitute a dozen other views from experts.

2. Structure stories better – In the enthusiasm to cover as many views on the budget as possible, newspaper often carry similar opinions voiced by multiple industry bodies and business leaders. A little bit of time spent by the editorial team looking at the stories filed by reporters, will help identify similar stories and club them into one article. Further, if the stories offer differing views on the same topic, those too can be combined into a larger sector focused story.

For example, these two stories on recapitalization support to banks could have been combined into one comprehensive story by seeking views from other banks and exploring how many banks would really need this support and if adequate CAR would indeed make banks competitive. This story could have been made more compelling to read if the reporter had probed the interviewee further on his views.

An expert usually has responses to most questions backed by data and is often happy to connect the reporter to other sources who can provide more information on the subject to make a story interesting. If not, the reporter can be assured that he/ she is talking to the media primarily to gain publicity and not to offer meaningful insights. In such a case, it is best to avoid quoting such people.

3. Link online content to offline content –The online editions of newspapers can be used for more than just relaying news faster. For budget day coverage and analysis, online polls can be hosted on the newspaper’s website. Questions such as “how would you rate the budget on a scale of 1 to 5?”, “what is the most significant outcome of this budget?” and “If you can change one thing in the budget, what would it be?.” Questions can be developed to include industry as well as individual perspectives and these poll results can be published in the newspaper. The Economic Times, had a module on their website for users to share their opinion post budget. However, none of these opinions were carried in the print editions and nor was there any mention of such a module. None of the other financial dailies had any polls/ interactive modules on their websites.

Along with news reports, the online news team can also have charts/ infographics to make it easier to understand the implications of the budget. Such charts can be imported into the print edition replacing verbose articles. Newspapers currently use graphs and charts only to supplement a story and not as replacements to a story. But news organizations such as CNN IBN have shown how infographics can be the story itself. The New York Times has used a comprehensive infographic to showcase the US budget 2012.

Blogs are an underutilized area for newspapers. A contest could have been organized inviting all experts to write a blog on the impact of the budget. The editorial could then pick the three best blog posts for publishing in the newspaper.

Besides these measures, newspapers can reach out to different cross section of people/ entities for their views on the budget. These include B-School students, foreign business councils and Ministries which are impacted by the budget such as Ministries of Coal, Shipping, Chemicals etc.

To stay relevant in the era of social media, newspapers need to offer more than just information, especially while covering critical events such as the Union budget. They need to shape perspectives. This can be achieved with a re-think of the current modus operandi and by actively leveraging social media elements in their coverage.

The Insider Reports: Media outside its comfort zone

Should media houses lend their brand name to activities which they cannot positively influence? I was prompted to ask myself this question upon seeing the results of the recently concluded ET Young Leader’s program. Leadership has become a stereotype that is often associated with a business suit, degrees from ivy-league institutions and sporting an elitist attitude. The ET merely promoted this stereotype instead of taking a more holistic perspective like the media often takes on other issues. My piece, co-authored with husband, appeared in the Hoot. The link is as follows

 

 http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=5509&mod=1&pg=1§ionId=19&valid=true

 

For those who unable to read the link, here is the full piece –

 

Last weekend results of the much hyped ET Young Leaders program were telecast announcing 22 leaders, all of who would be eligible to enroll for short term executive programs from the Indian School of Business (ISB). On closer observation, the results turned out to be disappointing. The program had picked candidates who fit the stereotypical version of leadership.

 

Why did Economic Times, a market leader itself and one that has time and again identified unconventional leaders and given them their fair share of exposure, allow such skewed results? Was ET merely associating with this program to drive visibility, mileage and potential revenues?

 

While there have been many commendable corporate backed programs aimed at finding leaders (such as The Aditya Birla Scholarship and the Tata Smart Manager program), The Economic Times is the first Indian media to undertake such a corporate focused initiative. Predictably the program generated much interest, primarily because one expected the media’s perception of a corporate leader to be different (and broader) from the corporate perception of a leader.

 

 The results, however, re-iterated what the CAT exam- B-School- Corporate nexus has always told us – that to be a leader it is important to have studied at a Tier I B-School and to be working in a Tier 1 company in a leading industry. (For more details please see the end of the piece).

 

For a brand like ET to promote such myopic thinking, does not augur well. The media in India has shaped people’s opinions, given voice to those not heard by the establishment, and identified heroes from unconventional backgrounds. In this case, ET seems to have merely promoted the corporate belief of leadership and not taken a greater role in monitoring the selection process and including candidates from diverse backgrounds to ensure all forms of leadership are promoted.

 

This brings us to the much debated question – Should media houses lend their brand name to initiatives that they cannot positively influence?

 

 A quick analysis of the leading English news organisations from the around the world indicates that many organizations lend their brand name to only those initiatives that are in some way aligned to their core business or where they have subject matter expertise. Common initiatives include:

 

1. Events/ Conferences - Many news organizations lend their brand to events which they sponsor as a way to create greater awareness of the issues impacting their readers. Leading journalists from the organization are invited as speakers to facilitate and drive meaningful discussion and ensure that the lesser heard voices are heard. The topics discussed are often familiar to the journalist and could be widely reported by him/her.

 

A case in point is the Economist, which organizes conferences to bring policy makers, businesses and citizens together for a common cause. Another example is the American City Business Journals Group, which has around 40 newspapers focused on small and medium businesses, and holds breakfast events to help connect small businessmen with speakers they would like to hear from. The organization uses its relationships and/or influence to get those speakers who are otherwise inaccessible to its readers.

 

2. Blogs – This is a common section today in most news organization websites where journalists, eminent personalities as well as readers can post their views. At times, issues emerging from such blogs have found their way into news. Seattle based Post- Intelligencer, in fact stopped brining out its newspaper and changed it business model to blog-based aggregation of news where reporters in combination with bloggers provide extensive news coverage.

 

3. Job sites – The Economist recently started a job site that specially focuses on recruitment in sectors such as Development sector, international public sector, NGO, Academia, Humanitarian and charity jobs. This reflects the jobs advertised in the print version of the magazine and gives an opportunity for many job providers to take their advertisements online to reach a larger audience. Most general news dailies either have an online section that lists the jobs which have appeared in the print editions or have a separate division that runs a job site.

 

In India, quiz contests are a popular activity for news organizations to promote. Quiz contests are aligned to a newspaper’s core competence – sharing knowledge. Many a time, most of the questions can come from reports / features in the newspaper. The Hindu Group sponsors two Quizzes – The Young World Quiz and the Business Line Ad Club quiz. Business Today till recently used to run a Quiz (and a Debate) competition for B-school students and corporates called ‘The Acumen’. The entire quiz planning and execution is outsourced to specialist third parties to ensure independence. Only the event funding and part of the prize money is provided by these organizations. Incidentally, ET has been organizing the Brand Equity Quiz competition, hosted by Derek O’Brien for 20 years now.

 

What comes closest to the ET Young Leader’s program is The Hindu MetroPlus Theatre Festival. The festival has looked beyond the National School of Drama and its alumni and picked lesser known talent from amateur theatre and given them an opportunity to enter professional theatre. By doing this, it has indicated that talent and leadership in theatre can be found outside of professional institutions.

 

Does the ET Young Leaders programme have similar potential to identify less known leaders? It does, provided it takes greater interest in broadening the scope of the program to give confidence to a wider range of youngsters to compete and win. Merely outsourcing all elements of the process will not help.

 

For now, ET has in some way benefited from the Young Leaders Programme. It now has a database of young achievers and future business decision makers (those who registered for the programme) who it can target for selling other initiatives/ products. It also has strengthened contacts with potential big ticket advertisers, namely the companies that the winners and panel of leaders represent. Given the business savvy minds at work in the ET’s corporate office, one cannot rule out a televised version of the ET Young Leader’s Programme in the coming years.

 

   ET Young Leader’s Program – Highlights

• 22 leaders were identified, all of who would be eligible to enroll for short term executive programmes from the Indian School of Business
• Two thirds of the winners come from just three industries – Financial services (5 winners), management consulting (5 winners) and FMCG (4 winners). 
• 17 out of the 22 winners are employed at leading firms in their respective industries (ITC, IBM, McKinsey, Dr. Reddy’s Labs etc), where there are many such talent recognition and grooming programs.
• Over two-thirds of the winners have an MBA degree from a tier I B-school (including 7 from IIMs, 2 from ISB and 1 from XLRI). – Source: http://www.linkedin.com/
• Over one-third of winners have a sale and marketing background while there are few winners from finance and IT functions and none from human resources.
• There was only one winner in each of these sectors – public relations, retail, telecom, construction and engineering, pharmaceuticals and health care.
• The programme was monitored by a panel of 8 industry stalwarts – Anand Mahindra (Mahindra and Mahindra), D Shivakumar (Nokia), Harsh Mariwala (Marico), Kalpana Morparia (ICICI), Nitin Paranjpe (HUL), Pramod Bhasin (formely Genpact), Vineet Nayar (HCL) and Adil Zanulbhai (McKinsey). Incidentally, more than a majority of the 22 winners are either from the companies that these stalwarts represent, or from their alma mater.
• The assessment for the ET Young Leaders program does not take into consideration results (as achieved by one in the course of their employment) in the preliminary levels of the selection process. The program assesses job competency, personality, verbal and numeric reasoning and only looks at results through group tasks and role play at the penultimate stage of the program.