Terry Friel, Chief Correspondent – India, Reuters

History began way back in 1851 with a small office in London. From a fledgling stock quotation agency to a global conglomerate of news and financial services – that’s Reuters. And, what formed the essential bedrock for the hundred year of commendable success? It’s the constant and meticulous vigil on the content, which is truly the king of the empire called Reuters.

To feel the pulse, we headed to Reuters India. And, met the brain behind the leviathan’s show in this geographical expanse, Terry Friel, Chief Correspondent – India. As a young journalist Friel began his career 22 years ago. After several brief stints in some of the Australian provincial newspapers, he joined The Melbourne Herald and then Australian Association Press in Canberra. Reuters hired Friel to cover its Jakarta operations. And, the Indian chapter began in 1995.

Over an informal and warm discussion with Rajiv Raghunath and Kumar Chatterjee of exchange4media.com, Friel shared his views on Indian Press, the content that’s evolving everyday, challenges in the Indian media world and, of course, how the news bellwether plans its own content. The excerpts…..

Q. Are the content needs changing?

I think yes. They are getting to be more sophisticated everyday. If you look at the world of media, there is an increasing demand for higher level of information, statistics and data. Indian Press is evolving everyday to project the true story on India Shining – that includes not just the urban, industrial or hi-tech India but the rural India as well. And, based on the changing needs, there has been constant evolution of the content. It’s not just India, entire sub-continent is experiencing the changing needs.

Q. What do think about Indian television? Is it still only an entertainment option?

Certainly not. Indian television industry is growing big way. With more and more news channels, there is an increasing competition in the industry. And everyone is busy to get an edge in this market by evolving the content. Like BBC or CNN, Indian telly channels are focusing on in-depth content presentation.

Q. Personally, how do you find India?

It’s indeed an interesting place. Always there is something happening – be it the economy, the elections or the Kashmir issue – there’s something new. There’s lot to cover and lot to present.

Q. What are the different challenges in the Indian market?

To my belief, the most important challenge is infrastructure. Internet penetration is also considerably low in India. Getting accurate information is really a difficult task here. There is a marked deficiency in reliability to source information. This is more so because of the changing governments.

Q. Tell us about the different alliances you have developed in relation to content.

We have a fairly good network across India and this helps us projecting a broader spectrum of coverage. We have strategic alliances with ANI for television. However, we are working out strategies to develop more content alliances in the future.

Q. Where is the evolution maximum – print to TV?

Media is a mosaic of different mediums and, print, television, Internet – all complement each other. Evolution is not confined within the territory of any particular medium. There is growing adaptation towards a sharper presentation and wider coverage across all the different media.

Q. What do you feel about the global scenario? Is the increasing a demand global phenomenon?

I believe it is a global phenomenon. There has been an ever-increasing interest of the world in today’s India. People across the world are keen to know about the Shining India.

And, the same stands true for India as well. There is a growing subscriber base in Indian domestic market where global information finds an increasing demand. To cater to this, print and television media have gone under constant evolution of content, widening the reach, coverage and the presentation.

Q. How do you analyse the nature of competition in the media world?

With ongoing economic revolution and information revolution, the media market has emerged as one of the hottest pastureland for entrepreneurs. More and more people are eager to get involved and competition is on a steep rise with everyone going busy for the same pie.

The emergence of Internet has been yet another driving factor for the increasing competition. This has definitely honed up the style of reporting. Today, business reporting is a specialised domain. And, this experiences constant adaptation to meet the fast changing needs of the target audience. Specialised reporting has given birth to certain new domains like equity reporting.

Q. Being in this kind of a market, how does Reuters plan its team building?

We have very strict policy rules all over the world. The policies are same everywhere. We maintain a strict strategy to refrain from biasness. At Reuters, we believe, news orientation and value creation is all about providing the best possible information in the most accurate manner. We manage our content with the help of a team of 45 people in the editorial wing, equity research and our online desk. We also have 30 stringers for developing the content.

Precision and accuracy are the most valuable aspects of our content and we maintain the best possible alertness to keep that up.

Q. You have spent quite a considerable span in Indonesia. How do you differentiate the country with India?

There’s a lot similar between the two countries. India is huge compared to Indonesia. The variation among the people, the culture, and practices across the country – all these are highly interesting. And, as far as media is concerned, I must mention that Indian media is growing in leaps and bounds. In fact, the speed of evolution is mind-boggling.

Q. What about today’s technology and business reporting?

Technology and business reporting has experienced a sea change over the last few years. Everything is far more sophisticated than before. At Reuters, we provide both print and audiovisual services. Alongside the content for print, changed the daily needs of TV clients. Today’s television reporting is broad spectrum.

Q. What about convergence in media?

Well, it is certainly there. As the media is evolving, there is regular convergence. For example, Iraq War. It’s interesting to see how Internet provided the complete coverage of the issue. The medium brought television coverage alive on the website.

Q. Is Indian media evolving? What do you think about this?

Of course, it is. I think it is evolving in an incredibly robust speed. Today’s competitive Indian media is pro-active. It diligently covers all the different facets of political, civic and business journalism.

Interestingly, there is a growing trend of portraying the voice of the people in Indian media vehicles. This adds depth to the content. I must mention, the debating standards in Indian press are really impressive. Political reporting, public debates, voicing reactions of the people to different issues – all these reflect maturity of the media.