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Are editorial campaigns
marketing gimmicks?
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Thomas
Jacob
(Editorial Director, Malayala Manorama)
Manorama�s first editorial campaign that appeared on March
22, 1890 was titled, �The education of the Pulayas of Travancore�.
It was a powerful plea for providing access to education to
the Pulayas, one of the downtrodden and underprivileged sections
of society. None of the Pulayas in those days would have been
a
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newspaper reader or an advertiser to warrant calling it a marketing
gimmick. It was not just that. Readers were against educating
them because they were exploiting the uneducated Pulayas. Manorama�s
campaigns like �Palathulli � (for rainwater harvesting) and
�Sukrutha Keralam� (Clean Kerala) were conceived and implemented
primarily by the editorial division of the newspaper, reacting
promptly to the dire need of the times. The campaign began in
2004 when the state was affected by a serious drought. We educated
people through the newspaper - and other communication - to
protect water sources and collect rainwater.
�Sukrutha Keralam� was a project launched in 2006 when the state
was affected by �Chikungunya�, a type of fever spread by mosquitoes.
Moreover, a situation like that in plague-hit Surat (1994) was
developing. We sensitised people about the dangers from accumulated
waste and how to make wealth out of waste by using it to make
manure and cooking gas. We also announced awards worth Rs 34
lakh for local bodies showing good performance in waste management.In
fact, the marketing division of the newspaper came to know of
these campaigns only after they were launched. We see these
campaigns as playing our rightful role in society. |
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Arnab
Goswami
(Editor-in-chief, Times Now)
To run a brushstroke over editorial campaigns and call them
marketing gimmicks is absurd. Was the campaign for Jessica
Lal a marketing gimmick? Or is the campaign questioning
how the son of a director general of police jumps parole
after being convicted for rape, a marketing gimmick? Surely
not.
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Editorial campaigns are guided by an intuitive understanding
of what the viewer wants, and what subjects will interest him.
Often, campaigns are guided by a strong sense of right and wrong,
and the importance of highlighting an obvious wrong - if it
has gone unnoticed in the past or if justice has not been done.�
A campaign simply reflects the mood at the moment. So when Bangalore
thinks about tomorrow and India feels poised, campaigns like
�Bangalore Tomorrow� and �India Poised� simply reflect the overall
spirit. Had they been mere marketing gimmicks, they would not
have got such an overwhelming response from readers, viewers
and listeners. |
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Ammu
Joseph
(Author, media analyst and journalist)
Many editorial campaigns do seem to be marketing gimmicks
these days. It is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish
between the two when everything, especially on television,
seems to be breaking news.
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When
I see news about film-stars visiting a temple, for example,
being branded as breaking news, I�m often reminded of the boy
who cried wolf.
But what I find more troubling about the recent spate of media
campaigns - taking off from the �India Shining� debacle - is
the blatant and insensitive attempt to manufacture middle class
consent regarding India, while ignoring the realities of Bharat
experienced by the vast majority in the country.
I would have no objection to the campaigns celebrating certain
aspects of India today, if there were equally visible, audible,
consistent and widespread campaigns urging us all to help to
improve the country�s record on persistent and critical issues
such as poverty and unemployment, hunger and malnutrition, inadequate
public healthcare, absence of social security and so on.
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Nikhil
Wagle
(Editor-in-chief, Mahanagar)
One cannot put all editorial campaigns in one basket. One
needs to differentiate. There are hard editorial campaigns
and soft editorial campaigns. For instance, the Jessica Lal
campaign was a genuine editorial campaign.
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In the 1980s Arun Shourie carried an editorial campaign on the
Bofors scam. This cannot be considered a mere marketing gimmick.
Similarly, regional newspapers which have carried out editorial
campaigns against social evils in society.
Editorial campaigns certainly make a newspaper or a news channel
popular and also serve marketing purposes. But that should not
be the main motive. If you go back in history, we have a tradition
of long-running editorial campaigns. For instance, the Bengal
Gazette newspaper - run by Gangadhar Bhattacharya, a follower
of Raja Ram Mohan Roy - carried out editorial campaigns to abolish
social evils in society.
Therefore, it�s the editors who need to make sure that their
editorial campaigns are not driven by marketing motives. Ultimately,
readers or viewers are the judges. Those news channels and newspapers
that run editorial campaigns for making revenue are bound to
lose their credibility and will not be able to sustain themselves.
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Reported
by Babita Balan
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