Umesh Anand, Publisher, Civil Society
The overwhelming response that we get from NGOs, corporates and concerned individuals alike is proof that we are needed. We are on no one’s side and we want to prove that people want information that they can trust.
Now, close to a year since the launch of the monthly, Anand reiterates that Civil Society has played a catalytic role in highlighting issues that influence the course of both social and business sectors in the country. The magazine has also justified the business reasons that underscored its launch. Anand traces the growth path of Civil Society in conversation with Rajiv Raghunath.
Anand was Editor of the Delhi edition of The Times of India before he forayed into the publishing business. He has worked at senior positions with The Economic Times, The Financial Express, Business Standard, The Indian Express and The Telegraph. Following are excerpts of the interview: Q. But is there really a demand for reports on the social sector when there is already a deluge of information of all kinds?
Let me explain this. The Indian economy is growing at 6 per cent, and industrial growth is in the range of 8-10 per cent. This does not happen without impacting lives and lifestyles. It does not happen without impacting the environment and natural resources. The relevance of Civil Society and its focus areas increases all the more as the government pulls out. There has been a proliferation of non-government organisations in India. They impact society, businesses, government policy and the legal system in various ways. We tell the stories of these agents of change leaders and we do so in an engaging and entertaining manner as professional journalists.
Q. In focusing on the social sector, how do you steer clear of advocacy?
We maintain a clear divide between news and opinion. Opinions figure in the main edit, reviews and columns. The news section contains pure news. We have actually created a bouquet within a niche.
Q. Who are the people who typically look for information related to your focus areas?
We reach out to a wide cross-section that includes corporate organisations, professionals such as doctors and lawyers, NGOs, concerned individuals and schools and colleges.
Q. But why would corporate organisations evince interest in this domain?
Because it impacts their business. Take the pesticides in water issue and the way it hit Coke and Pepsi. We were the only publication to provide an insight into the campaign by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). We, in fact, tracked the parliamentary hearings and did a cover story on CSE. I think corporates today realise that they have to deal with NGOs and need to know much more about them on an incremental basis. This gives us a clear role as providers of information that can be relied upon.
Q. Has Civil Society generated advertising interest of any kind?
Really speaking, advertisers needn’t have come to us. But companies like Hughes Network Systems, Asahi Glass, Max New York Life, the Tata group and others have advertised with us.
Q. What are your key revenue generators?
Revenue would necessarily come from subscriptions and advertising. We are clear that we won’t offer freebies to work up the numbers for we are looking at quality readership and not sheer numbers. So, the focus is on content and packaging and less so on marketing.
Q. Do you have a pan-India presence?
Well, our numbers are not large enough but we have marked our presence across the country, from Belgaum in the south to Arunachal Pradesh in the north-east.
Q. Media is awash with youth-centric content. Would you join the bandwagon?
I seriously have my doubts on the success of such efforts. They look very forced. After all, middle-aged men who can’t walk upstairs are planning content for the young. I question this.
To decide what the young want, one would have to look at real examples. And the example needn’t be a person who has been to IIT and IIM.
Q. You have side-stepped the beaten track in starting a publication on the social sector. Having spent long years in the media, did you not consider fields like lifestyle, business and the like that generate substantial media, advertising and marketing interest?
At the very outset, let me tell you that the objective of setting up a media company was to meet the emerging information needs of society. And the decision to introduce Civil Society was powered by cold business reasons. We did look at niche areas such as travel, finance and so on, but arrived at the decision to focus on civil society because we had the right level of domain experience, and importantly we felt that there was a niche media segment waiting to be tapped.
We knew that that the product had to be content-rich and attractively packaged. So, there were no compromises when it came to investing on inputs such as 100 GSM paper, four-colour schemes, etc.
Q. Mainstream media looks at these issues from time to time. So, why must someone read Civil Society?
That we have managed to compete with mainstream media in this domain proves that the readers weren’t getting enough. Mainstream media tends to settle for superficial reporting on the issues without questioning the quality of data, whereas we get to the nub of the issues and check the validity of data in all cases. And we don’t pen down the NGO view verbatim. Civil Society provides all possible dimensions of given issues. This was evident when we did the cover story on the soft drinks pesticide issue. Nobody went into the details of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) report like we did. The overwhelming response that we got for that issue is testimony to the relevance of Civil Society. We want to prove that people want information they can trust.
Similarly, we took a completely unbiased view of forest policy in relation to escalating demand for paper and the paper industry’s demand for captive plantations on degraded forest land. We are on no one’s side.
Q. How do you manage the distribution?
We shunned the usual distribution channels and instead settled for direct mailing. We sell at key bookshops in Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Kolkata. Typically, reader interest is generated by the issues that we focus on.
Q. You are focused on a subject that attracts international interest. Are you pushing for global sales?
We saw first-hand international interest in our magazine when we participated in this year’s World Social Forum in Mumbai. Every copy of Civil Society at the stall was sold. However, we would look at a global marketing push only after we believe we have taken the product to the level we had envisaged.
Time to time, of course, various organisations overseas have expressed interest in partnering us. South Asian Concern collects subscriptions for us in Britain.
Q. Do you look at government efforts in the social sector?
The government gets enough space and besides I have not approached the government agencies because I want readers, not numbers alone.
Q. What are your future plans?
In the immediate future, we plan to enhance our network of correspondents, grow in terms of quality readership, grow in circulation, attract more advertisements, and then begin a publication on books.
