Ashutosh, Managing Editor, IBN 7

Ashutosh, 40, is Managing Editor of IBN-7. Prior to joining IBN-7 he was with Aaj Tak, a leading Hindi news channel, for over 10 years, where he was a prime time anchor. But his major strength lies in news management, both on the desk and in the field. He has covered India from corner to corner, including elections in Kashmir at the height of terrorism. At IBN-7, he is responsible for the overall editorial content, heading a team of over 250 journalists. He is also the only Hindi language TV journalist in India to be selected for the Dag Hammarskjoeld UN Scholarship, given every year to four young journalists from over a hundred Third World countries.

He has an M.Phil (Soviet Studies) and an MA (Philosophy & International Studies). In an interview with Abhijeet Mukherjee of exchange4media, Ashutosh speaks about Hindi television channels, sting operations and more. Excerpts:

Q. Which organization has done the new look/rebranding for you?

The new look was created in-house.

Q. What major changes in the Hindi TV news genre do you see in the last few years?

Hindi channels have changed beyond recognition in the last few years. English channels are almost static. Only CNN-IBN has been bold enough to experiment, trying to bring in the energies of different channels and reflecting the robustness of Indian culture. Hindi channels have become very energetic. The pace is phenomenal but they have also dumbed down the content and moved away from news. At times viewers question whether Hindi news channels are news channels or something else! I call them low-cost reality channels. A few have been converted exactly into that. Today politics is no longer predominant in the news channels. They have gone and experimented with wider sections of society; they provide a platform to viewers. On the positive side, Hindi channels have done great work for cultural unification. ‘Chhat Puja’ has become an important festival in Mumbai, and ‘Dandiya’ has spread to the North. This is because people have migrated from some places and settled elsewhere. Some of the campaigns launched are laudable, such as those against female foeticide, dowry, suppression of women, crime and corruption. These campaigns are so powerful that they have created fear in the minds of the corrupt and the anti-social. A lot of positive things have been done by the channels but, unfortunately, in the race to attract more eyeballs, a few have gone bonkers and attracted a bad name. Another change is that channels have revolutionized story telling techniques.

Q. How has the journey been so far for IBN-7?

Very exciting! We are proud of one fact: we have not compromised on news despite stiff competition. We are still holding on to that position, and I can proudly say that among the news channels we are the number one. I do not call other Hindi channels as news channels because they are not purely news channels. We believe that we have great credibility and reputation in the market.

Q. What is the rationale behind the new look of IBN-7?

We are targeting viewers who are young, energetic and techno-savvy. The on-air look would attract this target group. Society has changed; it has bigger aspirations and wants to have international quality and a global outlook. With these changes, the channel will keep up to the pace of society. Another aspect is that we will go for virtual sets completely, only breaking the monotony with ‘physical’ sets. We will try to make the channel more vibrant, more direct, and more immediate.

Q. How have you enhanced the look of the channel?

Shows aired between 6 am and 10 am and between 5 pm and midnight will be completely on virtual sets. The channel has also introduced a monitor that enables the anchor to change the visuals seamlessly and move on to the next story by merely touching the screen of the monitor. The channel is also changing the placement of its logo from bottom left to bottom right, below which will be the navigator box where teasers appear, supported with visuals to provide information about the next programme.

Q. In view of what you have just said, do you think that it is the audience that makes demands for a particular kind of content that influences the ratings and therefore degrades the content?

It is a catch-22 situation. Unfortunately, the basic nature of the medium is such that anything dramatic attracts attention. It doesn’t matter whether you are a news junky. Some visuals are more attractive than visuals of the Prime Minister. That’s the basic nature of the medium. It is not that viewers demand content that are visually appealing but are non-news. In general, people concerned with news are more interested in what is happening around them, like what policy announcements are being made, and not watching the visuals. This is the problem with TAM ratings: they do not take into account only customers reached, but also customers multiplied by the amount of time spent on a channel.

Q. Do you feel that brand CNN-IBN overshadows IBN-7's individuality?

I do not think so, because that is not the philosophy of Network 18. It is not a question of CNN-IBN, IBN-7, CNBC TV18 or CNBC Awaaz. We believe that as a network we have to be completely independent of each other. We have separate reporting teams, separate assignment teams. In some parts, we have even gone to the extent of duplicating reporters. Where we have a CNN-IBN reporter, we may also have an IBN-7 reporter. In some places CNN-IBN has more reporters than we do, but that is not because CNN-IBN is superior to IBN 7 but because their need is more than ours. We also believe that the news agenda for Hindi channels is very different from that of English channels.

Q. How have you enhanced the programme line-up at IBN-7?

IBN-7 will also tweak some of its prime time shows. ‘Sports Zone’ will be renamed ‘Clean Bowled’. In India, people are crazy about cricket and there is no point showing a programme on anything other than cricket on prime time. However, sports news will not be ignored; they will now be part of the general news. The 5-7 pm ‘News Reel’ has been renamed ‘Do Ghante’, so that viewers, especially those in small towns, will be able to view a complete package of news and analysis. The 7-8 pm time slot will air ‘Seven Reporters’, a reporter-oriented programme.

The programme at 8 pm will be targeted at the metro and big city audiences. 8 pm is the time many people return home from office. We will air a 30-minute show called ‘News Express’ for this audience. There is no change in the time slots of ‘Dhanke ki Chot’ at 9 pm and ‘Big News’ at 10 pm. ‘Khabron ke Khiladi’, a personality-based show, will be aired at 11 pm. People are more attracted towards personalities, so we thought why not weave stories around them.

Q. A lot has been said and debated on sting operations. Do you think sting operations are losing their edge?

I think the word has been misused. It is one of the most potent instruments in journalism ever created. I am all for sting operations as a great investigative tool, but they should be used as a last resort. When all attempts fail, we use the sting. It is because of these stings that corrupt bureaucrats and politicians are scared; it helps to some extent to civilize society, and has a positive impact.

Q. How different is your editorial policy from that of other Hindi channels?

We have decided -- and we believe in it -- that news is sacrosanct. Let other channels do whatever they feel like: if they want to convert themselves into low-cost reality channels, let them do so. We will not only stick to news but be very assertive in our news presentation. We will not shy away from calling a spade a spade. Sometimes people criticize us for being over-aggressive, but society has evolved, everybody has a point of view. Earlier, society was submissive, but now the country is going through an economic boom, everyone has an attitude, so why should the channel not reflect an attitude. Ours is a channel with a solid attitude: it has a stand on each and every subject.

Q. How have you kept up to your punch line, ‘Khabar har keemat par’?

It only suggests that there is a lot of pressure in the news business, and our aim is to provide news at any cost. We go out of the way to provide the news. If we need technical support, financial resources, network and other supports, we go for it. Many politicians have been annoyed with the channel and many states have banned our channel, but we have not compromised on that and have not toned down our coverage. Other channels would have compromised on the content but we haven’t.