Usually, it is the opinion page editors of newspapers who are in the habit of telling the government and the people as to what ought to be done. In India, however, it is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s speciality as the man who can get things done and who is supposed to get things done has increasingly turned into an editorial writer (or editorial speech maker), often simply telling the country what ought to be done rather than actually doing it. The Romantic Realist’s last blog post on the Indian government’s Shameful Silence for some 17 hours after... (more...)
As I write this, it is now 14 hours since news of terrorist attacks in Mumbai started trickling in and the situation remains both volatile and confusing. Since then, George W Bush, US President-elect Barack Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd have found time to speak out, condemning the attacks and offering all the support India needs. And who have we heard from in India? Maharashtra Chief Minister... (more...)
((Postscript on 27 November morning: That pre-poll surveys can be fickle and advertising messages go by the wayside with the mood of voters likely to shift instantly was sharply reinforced with the Mumbai terrorist attacks targeting the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels by a new group that calls itself Deccan Mujahideen, which were clearly aimed at creating widespread havoc and mayhem. As stock markets stay shut and television coverage of the still evolving situation in Mumbai saturates airwaves, voters going to polls in Madhya Pradesh on 27th morning and Delhi voters set to... (more...)
With predictable regularity, one can spot a label headline in Indian newspapers that says “Woman on Top.” It could run on a story about Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi, a chess team, a CEO appointment, any award for any woman…you get the drift. Examples of such a headline are all over including in this story I spotted over the weekend about a Sikh woman winning a workplace suit in the US: I I don’t know about you, to this Romatic Realist at least, it seems a lazy way (even within the tight limitations of headline space) to resort to what has become... (more...)
Regular readers of this Romantic Realist know he is a bit of an equal opportunity offender when it comes to the hand that feeds him. Still, in the face of smart creativity, one has give credit where credit is clearly due. The latest November 16-20 2008 issue of The Brand Reporter, the fortnightly trade publication that is widely read by Indian media executives and is often full of testostorene-laden advertising claims that scream than speak, has this front-page wraparound ad from HT Media Ltd about how its flagship, Hindustan Times, fared in the latest round of the Indian... (more...)
It was good to see a fat one-year-old show up at my house on 16 November morning in the form of a 96-page Mail Today, the slimline (a slightly longer tabloid) daily newspaper in New Delhi from the India Today group that turned 1. The 96-pager had a lot of ads, testimony to the special anniversary occasion perhaps, as well as that predominantly magazine group’s ability to sell space. I have been a subscriber as well as a regular reader of the paper all year (in a household that gets nine newspapers every morning, getting a paper and reading aren’t always... (more...)
An occasional look at some great and not-so-great headlines, all trying to be clever and some pulling it off better than the others. Heads Above The Rest 1. Mail Today’s 14 November front page headline “Billionaire Slide Show“ is a clever way to talk about a new Forbes billionaires ranking of the richest Indians with many of them seeing their wealth–based on their stock holdings–sliding dramatically in the recent stock market plunge. Since it is a single-story front page, grabbing the readers is key but doing it with clever headlines is... (more...)
Every once in a while, a story comes along that reminds this Romantic Realist that journalism–and newspapers–can still be about comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. Here is one such story that ran on the front page of Mint on 12 November. High-profile hospital death raises questions By Shabana Hussain New Delhi A month after Jayant K. Bhuyan, a man widely credited with raising Brand India’s flag overseas, died suddenly following heart surgery, his wife is publicly pushing the hospital to take action against what she says are errant... (more...)
Coming out of one Indian holiday season and headed into Christmas and New Year, Indian magazines and newspapers are full (well, not too full in these tough economic times) of editorial features clearly aimed at getting readers to buy stuff. But what really gets my goat is how many of these features have everything about a product–including very attractive product shots–except, that is, the price. Ads like these from Hi! Blitz, the airline magazine of Kingfisher Airlines (I flew them four times in two days this weekend so there you go, but I could have picked... (more...)
If many bloggers are themselves refugees (either voluntary or involuntary) from the journalistic establishment, here is an idea worth blogging about. Bloggers Unite is a global, volunteer group of bloggers, podcasters and videobloggers who use their space and voice to try and unite–for one day every month–for a common cause or issue that, hopefully, helps contribute to making the world a better place. The goal is very simple. Once a month, on a fixed day, the hope is to get as many bloggers to blog and debate about a single issue. And many are doing it. For... (more...)
