To understand how India’s largest English newspaper is curated and delivered to millions of Indians every morning, Brut spent 24 hours with Sivakumar Sundaram, the CEC of The Times of India. From a tour of the newspaper’s iconic office to a rare look at the massive printing press, Sivakumar took us along for the ride. Check it out.
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00:00Before we begin, I want to tell you that we have a very special guest with us today.
00:29I want to tell you that we have a 180-year-old start-up.
00:32This drone was made on the turn of the last century.
00:41Sir, are these R.K. Lakshman's illustrations?
00:43Absolutely. I still fondly remember that photograph he gave of common man, which he had drawn with my name on it.
00:50Absolutely, the legendary common man.
00:51The legendary common man, which he had gained with my name written on it.
00:54I still cherish the memory and it's my prized possession even till date.
00:57We all miss him. We all miss him.
00:59Sir, I also see a lot of colourful pictures all around here.
01:02I see pictures of some landmark moments that you have covered in the past.
01:06Would you like to talk a little bit about this lively space that you have out here?
01:09Absolutely. You can see on the top the headlines of Mahatma Gandhi's association in Delhi.
01:14And some of the headlines, the India proclaimed democratic republic.
01:18This is all where history is created.
01:28I would love to check out what your editorial meeting looks like.
01:31Yeah, I think there is an editorial meeting going on.
01:35Since you are here Armaan, let me make a request to Vikas, our editor.
01:40He will allow you to get into the editorial room.
01:45How do you go about prioritising your news?
01:47There are various factors that you consider.
01:49One of course is, you know, just the news in this.
01:53There are some obvious stories that will be the big news of the day.
01:57But equally, I think we always look out for stories that are inspiring or empowering.
02:02Or that are very relevant to readers.
02:05Finally, I think it's a bit like assembling a family.
02:08You want to have a little bit to cater to every taste.
02:10And you want it to be as rounded a product as possible.
02:13What is the process that you personally follow while designing?
02:18So headlines is, I think, something that you spend your life doing.
02:23And you never master it, you are always a student.
02:25But I think some of the greatest headlines have come out of TOI.
02:29Some memorable ones that went on to become movie titles as well.
02:31Like No One Killed Jessica Lall.
02:33Which was originally a TOI headline before it became a movie.
02:36We could have 30-40 headlines on the same subject.
02:38And all of them will be pretty good.
02:39So you finally sort of narrow down and say, okay, this is the one.
02:42I think that's one of the things, especially in today's context.
02:46Where much of the news is already known by the time you come out next morning.
02:50I need to give them something different.
02:52The flavour.
02:53The flavour.
02:54But also something, hopefully, that will bring a little smile to the face.
02:56Without being too gimmicky.
02:58I mean, you know, I could go on for hours.
03:00But I think it might be interesting for you to actually talk to one of our reporters.
03:03As a reporter, how do you ensure that every single information that you put out is accurate?
03:09So first of all, I think the first challenge is, is your story new?
03:14Is it different?
03:15Is it the first time that this has been reported?
03:18Has it been done before?
03:19So that's the first thing, the first check that I'll undertake.
03:22Most of the time, what I would do is speak to more than one source.
03:25So I'd cross-check.
03:27I would check a name and designation 10 times.
03:31Because once it's wrong, it's difficult to take it back.
03:35Unlike television, it's out there in cold print.
03:39And you can't change it.
03:40What's been one of the crazy or rather hilarious experiences that you've had with some of your sources?
03:46So I've had strange experiences of the source calling me up and saying,
03:51I can't meet you in the office.
03:54You don't know who I am.
03:55So meet me at such and such place under such and such statue.
03:59It's like a Hindi movie.
04:01Now that we have seen, and I hope you have,
04:04we have managed to give you a broad understanding of how the paper is created.
04:09So we can go to the press and take it from there.
04:13Looking forward to waking up at 2am in the morning?
04:15Yes, absolutely.
04:19This is my first time at a printing press actually.
04:21You will absolutely love this.
04:28Arnab, this is one of our largest printing centres.
04:31We print about 11 lakh copies per day.
04:34Wow.
04:35Which is about 200 lakh pages per day.
04:38The mail room and inserters are integral to the whole printing process.
04:43As you can see, the supplements are inserted in the main paper.
04:47The bundles are sorted, labelled, and now they're ready for dispatch.
04:52And individual bundles of the newspapers are made.
04:55So I'm on now for the last mile.
04:57Now it's time to deliver some copies.
05:00When people wake up in an hour from now,
05:02they'll wake up to their most favourite newspaper, The Times of India.
05:06The very fact that the newspaper is delivered to you every single day,
05:10and when you wake up to the newspaper,
05:12the fact that the newspaper has been delivered to your house
05:15is reassuring that everything is normal in the city.
05:18According to you, what would be the number one challenge
05:21that TOI is trying to solve for its readers?
05:24See, I'm in a cluttered digital world
05:28where there's a deluge of flow of news.
05:31What the readers want is a curated, credible, and authentic source of news.
05:36Whether you have all the time to shift to the digital deluge
05:40or just 30 minutes of your precious morning time
05:43to understand what is really important for you.
05:46And that's the pain point we are solving for our readers.
05:49We're in today's digital era
05:51where everyone is consuming stuff at the click of their button,
05:54including me, like I'm a Gen Z.
05:56So what are some of the things that you at TOI do
05:59to engage with the young Indians of the country?
06:02There are two kinds of content which is consumed.
06:05One I call the frivolous entertaining.
06:08The second is much more serious, but at the same time, enriching content.
06:12So we are all about the enriching content.
06:14We're also doing a lot of new things.
06:16For example, time stickies.
06:18Times of a better India.
06:20And the content has to be contextualized to the neat states of Gen Z.
06:25Where do you think TOI is headed in the next few years?
06:29Armaan, if you see each of the mediums,
06:32real tangible value of a product comes much more from print.
06:37Whether you trust the news or trust the product being advertised,
06:41how do you ascribe value comes from the power of the printed word.
06:46And obviously, as I said, contextualize our content,
06:50introducing new sections, new content,
06:54addressing the pain point,
06:56addressing the pain point of the digital deluge of information,
06:59the menace of fake news.
07:01And this is how we have to constantly continuously evolve.
07:04Because print, it is the last and final word
07:07on the most authentic and credible source of news.