Sanjay Gupta, CEO and Editor, Dainik Jagran
“The Hindi word for Indianness is Hindutva and we stand for it and will always write for it. We are against parties who appease the voters in terms of religion and divide society based on caste and creed. In Jagran, we are very clear that we would not write in support of these things. Unlike a lot of other dailies, we believe in being objective and stand for Indianness. There is nothing wrong with Hindutva. Media is often seen criticising it without understanding the true sense of Hindutva. A lot of society’s emotions are attached to this sentiment. We respect that sentiment. That is the selling point and will continue to be our selling point.”
For Sanjay Gupta, CEO and Editor, Dainik Jagran, there is no looking back. It is to his credit largely that Dainik Jagran has topped the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) three times. Gupta has been associated with the Dainik Jagran group for the last two decades and became Director of Jagran Prakashan Pvt Ltd twelve years ago. He has toured extensively as a media delegate with Indian Presidents and Prime Ministers to Europe, America, Japan, Far East, Australia and Dubai. He visited the US and EU countries to acquire first-hand knowledge of the newspaper and related media industries.
Gupta is associated with several cultural, social and commercial organisations and a number of trade and industry bodies. He is on the Board of Governors of the Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad; is an executive member of the World Association of Newspapers; member of the Editors Guild of India; and is a member of the Haryana Accreditation Committee.
In conversation with Malini Menon of exchange4media, Gupta shares his vision for the publication. He is enthusiastic about his nascent project, Jagran TV, and talks about the various hurdles he had to cross to arrive at the decision of foraying into the electronic media. Excerpts:
Q. You have always positioned the newspaper as a hardcore Hindi daily. Then why did you go bilingual with Junior Jagran?
No, you can’t call us bilingual just on the basis that e have introduced two pages in English. In fact, in modern schools nowadays English is the governing subject of education. Though in society you see that people who are educated in English schools tend to later pick up the language that is widely spoken and thereby feel more comfortable reading it in the later part of their lives. And here you see that more and more people are inclined to speak Hindi as they are comfortable with it. However, in a public school environment most of the subjects are taught in English medium and Hindi is only one subject. So the children tend to study some subjects like Science in English while they speak to their parents and with each other in Hindi. In such a case there is no point in converting English to Hindi. By introducing two pages in English, we are certainly not trying to foray into English or communicate that English is superior. I believe that language should not be a barrier in a category like Junior Jagran. It could have been completely in English but what we wanted was a mix of Hindi and English.
Q. What is the unique selling point for Dainik Jagran? What does the daily stand for?
It is not easy to answer this in one line. We stand for a lot of things. Primarily, we stand for Indianness or Hindutva. Now Hindutva is something that is often misunderstood by political parties and the whole idea of Hindutva has been turned into a mess. Hindutva has been represented as just a religion or worshipping gods whereas it is far beyond that. It is actually a way of life--Indianness. The Hindi word for Indianness is Hindutva and we stand for it and will always write for it. We are against parties who appease voters on the basis of religion and divide society based on caste and creed. In Jagran, we are very clear that we would not write in support of these things and would look at them objectively. Unlike a lot of other dailies who fall into this trap, we believe in being objective and stand for Indianness. There is nothing wrong with Hindutva and in fact media is often seen criticising it without understanding the true sense of Hindutva. It is something which is far deeper, and a lot of society’s emotions are attached to this sentiment. We respect that sentiment. That is the selling point and will continue to be a selling point.
Q. When did the Jagran think-tank come up with the idea of entering the television domain?
We thought about it in January this year. Family discussions and board meetings happened in January and we got a clearance from the board in March. The concrete plan was in place by April. We formulated the team in April itself and the core people joined as late as May-June.
Q. Who will be your most significant competitor in TV?
Everybody who started before us will be our competitors.
Q. What about the US operations? Is Jagran planning to go international?
A lot of plans have been drawn and we did get some concrete feelers in the past from the US. At this point, I can’t share a definite date. A lot of proposals come and we consider them. We really haven’t thought about how the paper would look or anything like that. Moreover, most readers of Jagran abroad, whether in the US or elsewhere, are getting all the information from the Jagran website. So when and how we will start an international print edition is still under wraps.
Q. Will Jagran TV have the same editorial policy as in print?
It will be more or less the same.
Q. Do you believe that a Hindi publication starting a TV channel will add credibility?
Yes, certainly. That will be the USP of the channel. The fact that the largest Hindi publication is starting a TV channel will certainly add more credibility and give leverage. In fact, it gives us the strength to deliver far more authentic and deeper content than our competitors.
Q. Have you got your bureau for TV in place?
At the moment we haven’t. However, we have identified the people.
Q. But aren’t you late in this venture?
Yes, there is no doubt that we have entered TV late but that was because of a few family circumstances that the decision got delayed. But what we are coming up with is absolutely innovative and we are certainly not into the ‘me-too’ race. In fact, we are coming up with absolutely new content, which is the reason why it is taking time. We are trying to be very different with an altogether different thought process. The launch will happen in mid-February 2005. Our studios are practically ready and we have ordered the equipment; so everything should be up and moving by January first week. We will also have the test launch around that time if all the government permissions come by then.
Q. With English dailies coming up with Hindi versions, do you believe that there is a certain amount of dilution that is happening on the content side?
I don’t think so. In fact, any responsible media organisation will change keeping in mind the readers’ mindset and needs. This is a process of evolution, which is incorporated by any daily—whether it is English, Hindi or vernacular. In fact, English dailies incorporate some Hindi terms and Hindi dailies incorporate English words. You will notice this trend in the Oxford Dictionary too. Some Hindi words are already there in the Oxford Dictionary, so they are already accepted. It is very logical for the media to accept and use phrases that are colloquial and thus understandable to the masses.
What we at Jagran do is incorporate the language of the state to the newspaper. It isn’t like we have one language for the Northern Hindi-speaking belt. We have regionalised it by using their dialect so that we strike a rapport with them.
Q. Let’s move on to TV. Can you share with us the vision you have for Jagran TV?
Q. Where all will Jagran TV have centres?
We will have our centres all over India. In South India, we will take about six months to set up our centre but, yes, we will be present all over India in a year’s time.
Q. How have the readers perceived this?
They have liked it. The response from public schools has been quite encouraging. In government schools, they are happy as the students are learning English language whereas public schools are appreciating the fact that this way the standard of Hindi language is being maintained—something that was not happening in public schools earlier. So children are getting information and at the same time are happy with the way we are delivering this information. Moreover, this is a very small launch, so it would be incorrect to say that we would be doing this across the region in all our supplements. It just has been launched in Punjab and only two issues have happened as of now.
Q. You have done very well in Punjab. What was it that clicked there?
Punjab is a very growing and challenging market and we have done some aggressive marketing and incorporated some brilliant editorial changes to make it click there. Excellent team and hard work by some key people who were brought in from outside but understood the market perfectly and could adapt accordingly. Yes, marketing did make a difference in the initial stages but I would say a well-established product is what really clicked. Now we are selling it with practically zero marketing. For Punjab, we have gone an extra mile to understand the language of the masses. This made the readers in Punjab feel at home with Jagran. In Hindi, there is a saying that ‘challis kos me bhasha badalti hai’.
Q. This year you have been very aggressive on marketing and promotions. Any particular reason for that? There is also news of a Jagran Marketing School coming up.
No, that is a completely different activity. It is a trust activity that has been on in the name of my grandfather. We are into education and we have been in it for quite sometime now, in fact for fourteen years. And so this is just a corollary of that. Yes, we are certainly into education but that is primarily because we believe that there are shortcomings in the quality of journalism and marketing in India. Being No. 1 in the industry, we believe that we have something to offer to the younger generation. This is a completely non-profit venture and we are just doing this as a good corporate citizen.
Q. How does it feel to top the IRS for the third time?
I feel proud and at the same time it is a challenge because we as a team have to keep performing to maintain this record. Being No. 1 can make you feel a little tense because you are alone at the top, there are no benchmarks available. There are no directives for you to follow and at the same time you need to have your own game plan. You have to set examples so that people can learn from us and we can’t learn from anybody. So it is lonely at the top but at the same time a big challenge.
Q. Is there a certain amount of complacence that creeps in with such success?
It does but that is the challenge for the team, and that is also the challenge that the team puts to me. They look towards the management and the CEO to keep on motivating them so that they perform well and remain at the top. Like I said, being at the top is both testing and a challenge
Q. Do you think that this venture will sideline your print product?
No, not all because it will be different teams and moreover print has always been there and it is completely established. For TV to catch up will take at least three to four years. Perhaps, if we push it really hard, we will be able to achieve our vision in two to three years.
