Zee folklore has it that when Zee Telefilms was riding the crest of success a few years ago, a journalist came to do a cover story on Zee for a Singapore-based newsmagazine. In the process, he also met a gentleman called Laxmi N Goel, one of the four brothers of Zee Tele-promoter Subhash Chandra.
The journalist asked Laxmiji, as he is popularly known, whose brainchild was Zee TV?
The reply came `Subhash's'.
Next question: who thought of starting the Essel group?
The answer from Laxmi Goel: Subhash.
Another question followed from the annoyed journalist: whose idea was it to have theme parks like Essel World ?
Pat came the same answer: Subhash.
The journalist - now highly irritated - followed up with another question which he thought was his coup de grace: "So, it seems that Subhash beat you to everything. Did you ever do anything to best him?"
Now came the irritated reply, "Haan bhai, kusti mein haraya tha (yes, I beat Subhash at Indian style wrestling).
But when Essel group chairman Chandra, the public face of Zee Telefilms, India's largest vertically integrated media and entertainment company with revenues of US$0.22 billion (according to Morgan Stanley) and a presence in film, music and education, decided to revive the sagging fortunes of Zee Tele earlier this year, he brought back two of his brothers into the direct activities of the company, Laxmi and Jawahar Goel.
Laxmi Goel today looks after Zee News as director of the news group of Zee Telefilms. And to hand it to him, he hasn't done too badly in this short time at Zee News which despite being a pioneer in the Hindi language news channel sector in India was eased off the top slot by Aaj Tak a year back because of the new idiom of language the latter adopted.
Still, Zee News is slowly inching its way up, critics point out. It is going in for more news breaks (though in certain circles this `news breaks' routine amongst various news channels has become a sort of joke), more stories are being filed per day, advertisers have once again started looking at the channel positively and it is sporting a new look and attitude.
In this interview with indiantelevision.com's Anjan Mitra, done at Zee's studios at Noida on the outskirts of Delhi, Laxmi Goel tries to be frank, yet is cautious so as not to reveal much which can be used by the competition.
What are the changes that you are trying to bring about in Zee News or have already brought in ? |
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What, according to you, would be the difference between Zee News now and of the recent past ? On an average, I personally get between 2,000-2,500 e-mails from people commenting on Zee News. These e-mails are collated and we try to see what people are saying and what they want to see. I also try to see that most mails are replied to. |
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But you still haven't answered what are the actual changes being brought about in Zee News ? If I can give another example, we did a story on poaching in Hardwar recently. It's an issue which was bothering people of Hardwar as it also affects the environment. The idea is to go beyond the metros, into the tehsils, into the districts and smaller places where issues are aplenty, but no platform to voice them. Zee News will bring such issues on to the national platform through the channel. I want Zee News to show everyday problems and issues that affect the daily lives of people. |
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How are the changes that you referred to are being effected ? The reporters are being encouraged to file more. One day, as per a log kept and monitored, some 103 stories were filed. On an average, these days about 80 stories are being filed. It is not necessary that all are used, but the point is that they are being filed. We also want to go out of the studio more. So there are lesser studio-based discussions, which anyway don't serve much purpose, it is deliberate and done with some purpose. The focus is to become more reporter-led. |
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Are the changes that have been brought about been made possible because you are part of the promoter's family and it is easier for you to make changes compared to other executives who had been at senior positions in Zee News ? In the same way, I have my own style of functioning. My goal is to give viewers what they want. That in turn will give the channel viewership which is likely to translate into advertising potential. But you cannot accuse us of being interfering. The fact is that the chairman actually has always given more than enough time to everybody to show results. And I am glad to say that the recent changes are showing some results. |
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Do you have revenue figures to back your claims ? For example, from April to May the revenue increase was about 6 per cent, from April to June the increase was 23 per cent, from April to July the increase 42 per cent and from April to August the revenue increase was almost 70 per cent. |
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What are likely changes that are expected more in the look of the channel ? |
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With more news channels in the offing over the next three to five months, what does Zee News think of competition and how is it going to take on the existing and new rivals? |