PM NaMo’s debut on the small screen was the talk of the town yesterday. #PMSpeaksToArnab was trending and twitterati took jabs at Kejriwal and other journalists who lost the opportunity of being the first private news channel to interview Modi as PM. Modi in his interview with Arnab Goswami on Times Now, spoke about his plans to restart media outreach to generate goodwill for his government, and also explained why he needed to travel and engage with world leaders. » As New Delhi looks to strengthen diplomatic ties with Dhaka, AIR gears up to launch ‘Akashvani Maitree’ next month. The Bengali radio service, aimed primarily at Bangladeshis, comes after five months of prep by the AIR Kolkata station. Bangladesh Betar (public radio) is also expected to contribute content to the 16-hours-a-day service. Initially Akashvani Maitree will have entertainment programmes and three news bulletins, including one from Dhaka. » ETV news network recently launched News 18 Assam/NorthEast channel in Assam. To be aired in 8 states of the north-east, the channel will feature entertainment and sports news, and bulletins in both Assamese and English. Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Assam Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal were present at the launch program in Guwahati. » VICE teams up with TOI to bring VICE to India. With a bureau and production hub in Mumbai, the partnership will also launch VICELAND as a paid TV channel in the market. » #Brexit, Britain’s big decision to leave the European Union might not be understood by all. BBC World News and BBC.com bring in special programming to help its viewers around the world make sense of the result. Check details of the coverage plan here.
TOI
#MediaMoves
Former Senior Assistant Editor at The Hindu, Balachandar Gangadharan makes a move to The Hindu Business Line. He will continue to write on automobiles, auto components, mining and construction equipment, renewable energy, BFSI, IT, and SMEs. He had his previous spells at Financial Chronicle as Assistant Editor, Business Standard as Principal Correspondent, Press Trust of India as Business Correspondent, and Industrial Economist as Business Correspondent-cum-Senior Sub Editor. Chennai based avid traveler can be reached @gbctwit. » Congratulations to Charu Narula for joining The Times of India as Senior Correspondent-cum-Senior Copy Editor. She was earlier associated with The Asian Age as Correspondent and Mail Today as Intern. New Delhi based Charu tweets @charu_narula. » Meenakshi Thakur joins Business Standard as Senior Sub Editor. She previously worked with Financial Chronicle as Sub Editor and Millennium Post as Sub Editor. Connect with this Delhiite @THAK2012.
#MediaMoves
Darpan Singh joins The Times of India as Assistant Editor. He earlier worked with Mail Today as Associate Editor and has been associated with Hindustan Times since 2001 as Sub Editor-cum-Reporter, Senior Reporter, Bureau Chief, and later as Assistant Editor. Darpan has been awarded ‘Journalist of the Month’ five times in the year 2014. Connect with this Delhiite @darpans.
» Sakshi Joshi starts her new innings with News24 as Anchor cum Special Correspondent. She had her previous stints with BBC India, IBN7, and India TV. New Delhi based Sakshi tweets at @sakshijoshi85. » Parag Jain makes a move to ESPNcricinfo as Consultant. He previously worked with Asian News International as Sub Editor and interned at NewsX and CNN-IBN. Connect with this Delhi based journalist @parag63.
TOI’s Media Mandate
TOI journalists face a new hurdle – another strict social media policy. The employees now have been ordered to create an official Twitter handle linked to their official email ID. To make sure things don’t fizzle out like last time, the policy also states that “performance will be measured based on the activity on this official Twitter handle”. »The President of Egypt pardoned the two imprisoned Al- Jazeera journalists and 100 other prisoners on the festival of Eid al-Adha. The imprisonment of the journalists had invited international condemnation. » ISIS in a prisoner exchange has released one of the two captured Kurdish journalists. Massoud Aqeel who was freed yesterday returned home, however the fate of Farhad Hamo remains unknown. » Narendra Modi has overtaken the Pope to become the 2nd most followed world leader on Twitter with 15m followers. US President Barack Obama ranks number 1 with 64.3 million followers.
IBN7’s Prime Time Boost
Aiming to enhance the prime time experience, IBN7 is set to give its evenings a makeover starting tonight. Providing a refreshed look, the prime time band 8 – 10 PM will see a new show – “Hum Toh Poochenge” to be hosted by Deputy Managing Editor, Sumit Awasthi; and three other shows – India 9 Baje, Danaadan and Criminal. » Chief Minister Harish Rawat led-Uttarakhand government reportedly ordered to demolish the house of a journalist, who aired sting on his personal secretary Mohammad Shahid. According to a report published in TOI, the government claimed that journalist Ashok Pandey’s home was being demolished as it was built without valid permissions. Pandey was quoted saying as to the TOI, “I fear for my life. If anything happens to me or my family, it’ll be the sole responsibility of CM Harish Rawat. I only did my job as journalist to expose the corruption.” » Hindustan Media Ventures Limited (HMVL) is going to take some important decisions in the upcoming general meeting to be held on 28th August, 2015 as it plans to acquire certain Hindi publication trademarks from the holding company HT Media.
The Brits Approve
Nestle India gets the nod from the UK’s Food Standards Agency to export Maggi, whilst the ban in India continues. The FSA reported that MSG levels were not excessive and permissible under EU guidelines. The University Grant Commission (UGC) cites the name of 21 bogus Indian universities, including eight from Uttar Pradesh and Six from Delhi. Get ready for the ‘The Times Lit Fest’ which kicks off tomorrow in Delhi with features including the global launch of Amish Tripathi’s new novel ‘The Scion of Ikshvaku.’ The event will also highlight The Times of India’s “Write India” initiative, a unique venture by which TOI readers partner with 11 selected authors, to each author their own novels. Master of Ceremonies at the launch event is Akash Banerjee of Radio Mirchi.
A Social Monsoon
TOI kicks off campaign which urges Delhiites to WhatsApp pictures of flooded roads, clogged drains, and traffic chaos – reporting them to a dedicated mobile: 9412555060. The paper has undertaken this initiative to alert the concerned authorities. Get ready to ‘shell out’ more on petroleum products, liquor, tobacco, and aerated drinks as the Delhi VAT Bill takes hold! VAT rise could be up to 30%. The BJP’s MLA Vijender Gupta was not amused, and theatrically tore copies of the bill and stormed out with party members. So, apparently today is National Doctors Day! Do take a moment to thank your Doctor today and your friends and family who make up the medical profession at large ☺.
Star Wars
Amidst the Brand realignment, Aroon Purie reshuffles the team at The India Today Group to appoint Kalli Purie as Group Editorial Director, Broadcast & New Media. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has advised ET Now to withdraw or modify its advertising slogan claiming to be the number one business channel. The complaint was filed by CNBC-TV18. Bennett and Coleman take on the ABP, as the TOI takes on The Telegraph claiming to be the East’s number one paper.
Chop! Chop!
For the fast moving metro cities of India, mobile OS giant Android has launched ’60 Seconds Now’ – a mobile app that will deliver 60 top news briefs within a minute in multiple Indian languages . Now snack on this news wrap and get ready to face the world in just 1 minute. Hindustan Times & Times of India are going at it yet again, this time it is HT’s CMO Rajan Bhalla, who referred to TOI’s recent accusation for misleading advertisers a cheap trick and irrational reaction to the threat posed by HT. Like they say…as long as the competition is healthy…but market leaders you are taking it a bit too far.
New Media Calling
No longer happy to be a photo sharing tool, Snapchat ropes in CNN’s star journalist Peter Hamby as News Business Head for Discover, its newly launched news aggregator that syndicates content from outlets like CNN, ESPN & Vice. Just another example of how journalists are increasingly attracted towards hot shot start-ups, ditching conventional media setups to be part of new media. Calling out HT on missing a trick, TOI sent out a mailer to advertisers that read “Issued in Advertisers’ Interests- Your ads go missing again in HT”. It also enlists the ads that were to be published in HT but weren’t – recommending advertisers to send out a search party of their missing ads! If that wasn’t all, it has also come up with a list of advertisers who haven’t been advertising with HT. Way too much hard selling??
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