"Creating media brands is expensive and complex": Rajiv Verma, CEO, HT Media

At the recently held Ad Club Media Review, Verma spoke about redefining the role of print media in a borderless world.

Rajiv Verma, chief executive officer, HT Media spoke on 'Redefining the role of print media in a borderless world' at the Advertising Club's Media Review held in Delhi recently.

Verma began his address exemplifying the epic battle of Mahabharata where battles were lost and won solely depending on how a particular piece of information was conveyed to the other party. He traced how the evolution of mass media, which is barely 150 years old, started with newspapers, radio and eventually television. The infinite or digital media, he said, is not even the blink of the eye in the overall chronology of the entire media evolution. Therefore, it is just the beginning of the action.

"We are BGs (Before Google)," he said.

The era of mass media, as it came, was when the TV commentator would sit in front of a tube and deliver news in half an hour in the evening. Verma opined that during that time, it was easy to control information and disseminate it. A reporter's job was to find accurate information. It changed with the Iraq War in '90s where the concept of 'live reporting' and 'embedded journalist' emerged as the reporters used to be embedded in the forces so that real time information can be delivered. From that time onwards, although the role of the media (reporting accurate information) has not changed, mass media was subjected to censorship.

Verma said that in India, censorship was applied during the Emergency. Globally, Nazi Germany could be dubbed as an example of media censorship. Even now, he added, a large part of the world is red or black in colour where information is not freely available. But with time, censorship is decreasing. This had made media world borderless and there is a huge change happening in the culture and beliefs.

"Media is becoming ubiquitous. The model is becoming from one to many to many to many," he noted. Verma said that while these disruptions provide huge opportunities they are also creating massive tension within the media models.

"Creating media brands in this era is expensive and complex which has profound implications on business. Today, 50 per cent of breaking news happens on digital media. More than 50 per cent of the users access news digital media at least three times in a week. The revenue taken up by digital media has exceeded print," he explained adding that despite everything both digital and print will co-exist.

Verma further quoted developments that highlighted the power of digital media. For instance, in the 2014 General Elections, PM Narendra Modi emerged as the second-most popular leader on Facebook. Arab Spring had its roots in digital media, which caused the revolution. "However, in the digital world before the truth gets known, virality takes over. The line between a tweet, a photo and a blog is blurring. It is becoming a mish-mash of data and information," he warned.

Bringing out the much-debated issue of the media industry he mentioned that the war for 'ad dollars' is leading more to noise than news. Arnab Goswami's programme on Congress MP and president Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit's sexist remark 'Dented and Painted women', 'Raavan ki Mummy' programme executed by Aaj Tak and the recent Deepika Padukone outrage over Times of India's post on her photograph with a titillating title, "OMG: Deepika Padukone's cleavage shows", were some of the examples he dubbed as 'noise' instead of news.

Elsewhere, media mogul Rupert Murdoch is facing deposition in British Parliament in 2011 for hacking into telephone lines to gather information for its tabloid News of the World. This is also an example of noise.

Verma asserted that the pressure of ad dollars creates a situation for media companies to trivialise and compromise on news. However, he quickly added that media in a democracy also advocates or supports a cause like in the Jessica Lal Case where it spearheaded the Justice for Jessica campaign.

Further strengthening his stand on longevity and relevance of print journalism, he reiterated that the 'written word' is still the most credible word. A print report is more researched and facts are better established. It gives a variety of opinions - not just raising questions but also providing solutions.

His suggestion to the print industry is to go back to basics in asking its purpose, its comparative advantages, defining its audience and trying to go hyper local in serving them.

Verma concluded his address with a Thomas Jefferson quote: "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."