R Krishnamurthy, Chief Editor, Dina Malar

R Krishnamurthy is the Chief Editor of Dina Malar, one of the leading dailies of Tamil Nadu. A post-graduate in Geology from Presidency College, Chennai, Krishnamurthy joined Dina Malar in 1956, and became its Editor in 1977.

He is credited with simplifying the method of composing the Tamil types, and introduced the ‘Periyar’ script. After successful use of the reformed script by Dina Malar, other publications followed suit.

Gokul Krishnamurthy of exchange4media spoke to Krishnamurthy on the emerging vernacular newspaper industry, and his experiences as the editorial head of Dina Malar. Excerpts:

Q. How important is training for journalists in the vernacular media?

Training is a very important aspect especially for language papers – besides ‘journalistic training’. Most news items arrive in English. Firstly, they need to be translated properly. There are some daily issues involved in creating a newspaper that necessitate proper training. To bring out a new edition of a Tamil dictionary, new words used by Dina Malar and Dina Mani are being coined. Because the language is evolving, in the process we are also rediscovering some old words.

Q. Do you think it is easier for a print publication to enter the broadcast medium rather than a new entrant?

At present the market is overcrowded. Yes, it is easier for good newspapers to start a news channel. TV is a big project. In TN, the two prominent channels are supporting the two prominent parties. So, there is scope. But you need to invest several crores.

Q. Is there any room for more Tamil publications? Do you have any such plan?

This isn’t possible as of today. There is no gap in the market. Standard dailies are losing circulation. Of around three crore literate Tamil readers here, a weekly needs to have a readership of at least 7~8 lakhs. A readership of four lakhs is not enough. For dailies, it needs to be 15-16 lakhs. The current levels are not enough. In spite of the reach of publications, they are not able to sell. Circulation libraries too are a big challenge for weeklies.

Q. Is reading itself on the downslide, with the advent of TV and other such new media?

No, I don’t agree. It is definitely not the case in TN. Even reducing the size of the paper from 76 to 70 cm is not accepted here. People want a full sized newspaper. In villages, people have a lot of time to read. Even in cities, they read. Chennai has not become as fast-paced as, say, Mumbai. Print will retain its place in spite of TV. That’s because of the detailing and specialty in coverage of news.

Q. Between ad and circulation revenues, what is the ratio for Tamil publications in general?

The ratio is 50:50 now. Otherwise, we can’t run the paper. If we reduce the cost of the paper, we will need to look at increased ad revenue. This is not possible. A price reduction also means invariably a reduction in the quality of content. This is injustice to the reader.

Q. Where do you see the regional daily market ten years from now?

Regional newspapers will grow because of increase in literacy, purchasing power, industrialisation, better transport leading to better access to rural India, and increase in advertising revenues, among other reasons.

Q. But the paper started outside TN -- in Trivandrum. Do you have any plan of more editions within TN?

The paper was formed to cater to the needs of Travancore Tamils in 1951. Currently, we have 11 editions. The market is already saturated. It is uneconomical to start another edition.

Q. How do you think reporting in Tamil newspapers has evolved over the years?

There has been a slow evolution in the reporting style. The natural eloquence in literary Tamil language is also coming through. Tamil has become more pure over the years, taking into its fold those words, which were abandoned 300 to 400 years ago. One of the reasons for this is the Dravidian movement. We have come past the old, traditional, ‘puritan’ Hindi-mixed Tamil to the present. We do use English words, but only to ensure that readers can understand what is being written.

Q. What are the major changes that have happened through the years at Dina Malar?

We have some extremely well written pages by highly qualified people. This is relatively new. We have one full page on book reviews. The contributors include retired professors, retired government officers and the like who know the subjects better than anyone else. We were the first to introduce web-offset printing. That was with the Chennai edition in 1979. Dina Mani was the first to introduce photo composing. We took steps to develop the software for photo composing with Modular Systems of Pune. Only with that came accurate ‘Igaram Agaram’ and other things. Before that, the fonts in the paper used to be like the output from a Tamil typewriter! With photo-setting, the paper became more attractive, the layouts changed, and the paper became more readable.

Q. What are the recent changes in the paper?

We introduced VaaraMalar, which is a weekly paper, and it is now doing 7.5 lakh copies. Contemporary items like ‘Tea Kadai Bench’ have proved to be popular.

The entire news set-up has evolved, with more reporters and a very large number of photographers. During the tsunami tragedy, for example, we took 10,000 digital pictures, and published 3,000 in a span of 15 days. We even provided a lot of pictures to news agencies. Digicam set-ups in even remote areas enabled us to do that.

Q. Has area-specific free papers affected mainline newspapers?

Free newspapers contain 80 per cent ads and 20 per cent news. The localised flavour cannot be adopted for mainline newspapers. Their job is different, and so is mine. They do take away ads from mainline publications, but Dina Malar’s ad revenue has been increasing year on year.

Besides regional news, we do carry our share of local interest content. On Sundays, for instance, we have free classifieds. We sell 1.5 lakh copies more on Sundays. In addition, we have one full page of matrimonials called ‘ManaMalai’. We are told the response on an ad in this section is about 30-40 calls. All ads here too are free. It is a service. A publication cannot be run on profit motive alone.

Q. Do you have any expansion plan beyond Chennai and TN?

We do circulate 2000 copies in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. We have a presence in Bangalore through our Vellore edition and in Pondy. There is no plan to take it outside TN. The models have, however, proven unsuccessful in the past. For example, in Mumbai, people don’t have time to read the newspaper. The distribution cost is also very high in Mumbai.

Q. What do you think is the optimum price for a Tamil paper? Isn’t it higher when compared to other venacular papers?

We are currently priced at Rs 3 on weekdays, and slightly higher on Sundays because a 32-page magazine is offered free on Sundays with the paper. This is a reasonable price, where we can make some profit. Otherwise, with the escalating cost of newsprint, how can you run the show? How can you modernise?

Q. What has been Dina Malar’s experience with the Internet version of the paper?

We get readers from across the world, even from South America, Kazakhstan, Iran and Iraq. We have almost 80,000 hits per day. It is a free site, and we’re doing it as a service. We have no idea whether it will succeed if it is made a pay site.

Q. Do you see any dip in Tamil papers’ share in the coming years?

Not at all. The Tamil population is around 6 crore. Twenty years back, literacy was at 40 per cent. Today it is at 75 per cent. Tamil newspaper readership, too, has multiplied several times over. There is a literacy explosion in TN. In the next 5-10 years, the literacy rate may equal Kerala’s. English is not going to affect us.

Q. Why are the ad rates of English publications higher than that of vernacular publications?

There is no logic. The ad policy has been followed for the last several decades. Industrialists are deciding it. They think Tamil paper readers don’t have purchasing power!

For example, why should television sets be advertised in English papers? There are TV sets in every small village in TN where there are no English papers. Two-wheelers too are mainly used in villages and small towns. Because of the rate difference, they are able to give more pages and monopolise the market.