2.6.2021
Chennai
Business and Financial
Journalism in India: Evolution, New Dimension, Challenges & Opportunities
V Balasubramanian( visbala@gmail.com) &
K T Jagannathan( ktjagannathan@gmail.com)
We have ventured to write this article on Business and
Financial Journalism utilising our leisure time during Covid and drawing on our
over three decades of experience in the field. We do realise that Covid has
made the job of a business journalist a lot more difficult. News generation has
become complicated in times like these when face-to-face meetings are avoided.
We are indeed hoping that this phase too shall pass sooner than later. The
emerging new economic order in the post-Corona phase, to be sure, will
make the role of business journalists more relevant. Nevertheless, the new
order will mean more challenges.
With the
proliferation of communication channels (especially social media) in the
Internet age, readers and viewers are looking for credible business news. The
mainstream business media, including leading business dailies and TV channels
apart from established general newspapers, are better placed to serve the need.
We do hope this article will serve as a useful guide and reference material for
business journalists, those aspiring to enter the field, teachers in Journalism
Schools, readers and viewers and all those stakeholders interested in knowing
about the profession.
KT Jagannathan & V. Balasubramanian
What is Journalism?
Journalism is information. It is communication. It is basically about reporting news. Business Journalism is an integral part of journalism that tracks, records, analyses the news relating to economy, different sectors and different spheres of business.
A peep into the
past
Business and
financial journalism has grown and sailed smoothly along Free India and
its planned economic growth through Five-Year Plans. Since 2014 when the NDA
Government led by the BJP returned to power, the Central Planning Commission has
been replaced by a Think Tank called Niti Aayog.
Over the past few decades, Business and
financial journalism has consistently gained momentum in the country. Indeed,
mainstream political publications sensed the potential for business news long
ago. That gave birth to full-fledged financial newspapers in the country.
Financial Express and The Economic Times were launched in 1961. Then came
Business Standard, which was launched from Calcutta in 1970. The Hindu Business
Line came into being in 1994 and the HT Mint came much later. Business and
Political Observer, originally launched by the undivided Ambani Group stopped publication and Financial Chronicle which was published by Deccan Chronicle is now merged with DC pages.
About the authors
V.
Balasubramanian scored first class in M A Economics from Kumbakonam Govt. Arts
College. He did a journalism course in Mumbai. He served Commerce Research Bureau, Mumbai, Financial Express in Mumbai and Chennai from
1979 to 1989. He worked in Economic Times, Chennai from December 1989 till March 2013. He was then Asst.Resident
Editor of ET Chennai.
K T Jagannathan did
his M A Economics from Vivekananda College, Chennai. Since early 80s, he worked in various publications - Financial
Express, The Economic Times, The Indian Post, Free Press Journal, Business
Standard, Business India, Indian Express and The Hindu. Jagannathan now
writes for The Wire, Telangana Today and the like. And, he held the position of
Associate Editor at The Hindu.
The big change
Business journalism has seen a big metamorphosis over the years. In a
controlled economy with plan models and a lot of centralisation, the focus was
on reporting and writing articles on Central Government, Five-Year plans, Union
Budget, and public sector undertakings, which, once upon a time, dominated the
national economy.
As it was a control
and licence raj till 1991, private sector
could enter only limited areas with licence and capacity
limits. Capital markets, both primary and secondary
ones, had limited roles, and not much funding was
raised through public issues and other instruments. Along
with Mumbai Stock Exchange, we had regional stock
exchanges in Calcutta, Delhi and Chennai which had some listings by some local
companies.
During former times
(much before the onset of liberalisation and globalisation), the job of a
business journalist was to inform the readers (mostly business and industry)
the policy actions of the governments and provide key inputs for stakeholders
of all kinds to arrive at an informed decision. Mostly, the job of a business
journalist was one of a facilitator (of information). He/she provided the
useful link or tool in the decision-making process.
After all,
information on critical numbers at that point of time was hard to access by all
and sundry. Given this backdrop, business/financial journalists did serve as
the bridge in those times between the establishment and the industry. Much
water has flown under the bridge since those pre-liberalisation days.
From our long
experience, we can say that the profession of business journalism
is challenging and demanding. While it is exciting, it now calls for a
more creative and analytical mind, passion, alertness, patience, perseverance
and nurturing solid contacts and reliable sources across the fields. We have
very discerning readers. Business journalists have to be watchdogs. There is
vast scope for specialisation. There are so many beats now available to cover.
Liberal era
Things really changed in India when in 1991 Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha
Rao combined eloquently with his Finance Minister Dr. Manmonhan Singh to push
India into a hitherto unknown path. The country has come a long way since then.
Thanks to this duo,
liberalisation started sweeping the
Indian shores. The country witnessed de-control, de-licensing, liberal
foreign direct investment/joint ventures ,easy rules for raising funds with
free pricing from the capital market and so many unthinkable changes. MRTP,
FERA, CCI were all scrapped.
There was a big shift from a mixed economy model of having public sector undertakings and private sector
units to opening up of several sectors to private corporate sector, MNCs
(multinational companies) and foreign players. Capital market developed
manifold with plethora of instruments such as public issues, mutual funds,
debentures, GDRs (global depository receipts), FRNs (floating rate notes), PNs
(participatory notes) et al.
Sweeping changes and amendments have been made in
the Companies Act, laws relating to starting a business,
operating a business, industrial relations, human resource
management, CSR (corporate social responsibility) and service providers.
The SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has come to play an
increasingly critical role as a watchdog to
monitor the stock markets, corporate governance and
disclosures and protect small investors.
Also, new generation
entrepreneurs have entered and grown fast in a number of fields with the scope
for raising funds from private equity and venture capital. Similarly, the role
of RBI (Reserve Bank of India) and other regulators, statutory bodies, courts,
company law-related institutions and others, too, has undergone an incredible
transformation.
Big change in content
We have seen a big change in the content of business
papers in the last 30 years. No doubt, they continue
to cover news relating to government policies,
corporate sector developments and stock and commodity
markets. However, business papers, business TV
channels, online media and content writers have realised
the need to insulate the circulation, readership and
viewership from the vagaries of ups and downs in stock
market, business and economic slow-down. They have
started diversifying the content with more stories and
analysis on lifestyle, healthcare, business life, leisure,
education and careers, HR, consumerism, brands, advertising and marketing apart
from covering political developments at
the national and state levels.
Career in business journalism
For long, career in business journalism, either in reporting
or editing line, was pursued by those who studied
economics and commerce or English and by those having
a flair for writing and good command over English. Over
the years, dedicated journalism schools have started offering
courses. Later, the profession started attracting specialists such as bankers,
CAs, MBAs, engineers and techies.
Growing Importance
of economics
After the global financial crisis and meltdown, economics
as a subject has gained importance. It governs the life of
individuals, society and modern States. The knowledge of
Economics helps in solving many problems, and the study
has practical advantages. More importance is also given
to studying business economics, which is defined as the
integration of economic theory with business practices for
the purpose of facilitating decision-making and forward
planning by management. It is also known as managerial
economics.
Joy in breaking news
More than the salary and positions, we would say there is
more joy for business journalists in breaking a big story
ahead of competitors. This is called the power of prior
knowledge. It is acquired based on the solid contacts they
have developed over the years, trust they have built with
their contacts and the passion and knowledge with which they followed up a news
development. The way in which a
way news breaks are presented to readers has changed a lot over the years.
There is a sea change in the style of reporting and the way in which a news
break is presented in TV channels, online media and print editions.
Today, news breaks
are about delivering a “distributed information’’ first! In our times, news
break was about delivering exclusive information (not available to
competing-journalists). In an era when there was no Internet, no Google , no
mobile, news breaks often gave us enormous satisfaction, and much pride. More
than the monetary compensation, we cherished a word of appreciation from our editors.
Such words were enough to make good for all the troubles we took in those days for breaking the news based on
our solid contacts.
In news reporting, we have seen a big shift from B to B to B to C. That is,
the news is reported not just to cater to a specific
industry or enterprise. Today, we have to keep in mind the interest of a wide
range of readers who are like customers for business media. Business
journalists have a lot of
responsibility in writing a report without bias. They have
to look beyond news releases and press meets and package their reports with
wealth of information about the news development.
Their perception
should reflect the perception of the market.
They should discern emerging trends and write
reports and articles (disseminate information) in a simple language and
easy-to-comprehend manner. The objective must be to educate them and enable
readers across canvas in their decision-making process. They should don the
role
of a catalyst, a change agent, for public good.
Business news &
regional media
In the last 10 years, business dailies and business TV
channels are facing competition from the increasing
coverage in general
newspapers and TV channels apart
from foreign media such as Wallstreet Journal, Financial
Times, Bloomberg and Reuters mainly as content
providers. Regional newspapers in different languages,
TV channels, online media and the like have also started tracking and reporting
business news. Global melt-down and financial crisis in 2008, big ticket
economic reforms and
demonetisation have all created a big awareness among
the readers and viewers about economic and business
news.
More than a decade ago, in a pioneering move, The Economic
Times and Daily Thanthi, the number one Tamil Daily,
forged a tie-up with one page of ET published in Daily
Thanthi. It proved a big hit, helping Thanthi readers understand the business
developments. Later, other
publications tried to experiment with the model and succeeded
to a limited extent. Exclusive business journals were also
launched in some regional languages. Along with business TV
channels, regional TV channels, too, started covering business
news.
Growing relevance in globalised environment
We see increasing
scope for business news and, in turn,
career prospects for the business journalists with India
coming to play an important role in global economy and
contributing to global growth.
After reforms and liberalisation, India has moved to the
centre-stage in the economic space. As it had weathered
several internal and external shocks in the past, it is sure to
weather this Covid storm as well. It is set to become a
vibrant economy seeing good growth in manufacturing,
infrastructure, housing, agri-related sectors, service
sectors like IT, financial services, health care, education
etc. It is also set to emerge as a major exporter of goods
and services. India has seen the emergence of a new class of
entrepreneurs.
Every business is
becoming organised. Public expenditure by the Centre and States will play a major role in stimulating growth in the economy. Alongside our growth story, the job market will be
exploding. Every year, the organised sector alone is
estimated to be generating one million new jobs by over
1,000 companies across 11 industry segments- banking
and financial services, education, energy, hospitality & travel, IT, ITES,
real estate & construction, trade, transport
and manufacturing.
Following are major developments that will increase the
scope for generating business news:
1. India has moved to the centre-stage in the global
economy- on the threshold of becoming an economic
super power- clear vision-strategy- India pride stories.
2. More global players\MNCs, NRIs, people of Indian
origin, have entered Indian market directly or through
joint ventures- marketing or for manufacturing-
exports\outsourcing. Increasing privatisation,
corporatisation, big ticket investments in infra projects.
3. States are vying with each other to be part of the India
growth story - good politics has come to drive good
economics- better governance, ease of doing business,
transparency and quick decision making.
4. Increasing size of India Inc, more billion dollar companies,
more number of Indian companies going global- M&As,
setting up shops abroad- celebrating success stories
5. Youth power- aspiring middle class, consumerism,
increasing disposable income, wealth distribution,
growing investor population, increasing investments in housing and
realty.
6. New class of first gen entrepreneurs entering the
manufacturing and service sectors - open to raising funds
from the market, private capital
7. India born and educated professionals are shining as
business leaders, CEOs in MNCs and global
organisations.
8. Every business becomes organised - be it retailing,
recreation, tourism, facility management, film making.
9. Agri and rural India joining the India growth story.
Better price for farm produce, investment in farm gate
infrastructure.
10. Structural change in the economy. Service sector is
contributing maximum to GDP and job creation. Indian
manufacturing sector has stood the test of time, riding on
make in India policy, indigenous manufacture of a number
of products, brand building.
11. Emerging new business models after Covid era,
increasing work from home, work from anywhere, re
location of workplaces, decongestion of metro cities,
development of tier-two and three cities,
Role of stakeholders
Everyone should understand the changing dynamics of
business journalism. They should treat journalists as
partners in their progress. In turn, journalists should have
a dream to excel in their career path.
Unlike their colleagues in general papers, they have
tremendous learning opportunity. They can utilise the
opportunity by participating in meetings conducted by industry bodies and
professional institutes and listening to CEOs, experts, resource persons and
business achievers. This will help them in networking and building their
contacts. Developing contacts and sources is an art - it can be built by way of
courtesy, trust, honesty, integrity, fostering long term
relationships and humility.
Attrition is
bugging the field, too. Seniors should share their experience, knowledge and
contacts and groom their colleagues without any hesitation in the interest of
the media.
PR managers and corporate communication heads
should be equally knowledgeable, understand the
changing dynamics of news content, shift from B to C, share what is of interest
to readers instead of only their clients and educate their staff on the
business of clients.
Finishing School
Business media journalists have to constantly upgrade
their knowledge and sharpen their writing style, copy editing and page-making.
Like in other profession, there
is need for finishing schools for running orientation and
training session for them with the help of seniors, business
leaders, professionals and resource persons. Business
media should encourage the journalists in following ethical
practices and reward them with a good pay package.
Challenges
Market is opening up to more players. A platform or brand pull will no
longer fetch them exclusive stories. Whoever is alert will get it first. People
are not staying long in a company. Trend of companies getting delisted and
becoming privately held means less disclosure by MNCs compared to
Indian companies. The SEBI has widened disclosure norms for listed companies.
It will be increasingly difficult to spot the news ahead and break it before
others. But, with contacts and domain knowledge, it is possible to give more
value addition in the reports.
Career opportunities
After a formal degree in journalism and communication,
the candidates can look for working in the mainstream
media world consisting of newspapers, magazines, TV
channels, Online, FM Radio, or take up a job as
communication executives for corporates, governments, public sector firms, NGO,
research bodies, credit rating agencies, institutions et al. Depending on
educational back
ground (science, arts, commerce), one can pursue career
in general fields or specialise in business or economic
journalism. It is essential to have knowledge of economics
and business terms even for general journalism.
Roles & responsibilities
Business media should not become another mass media
that is seen growing without masses. Instead of
reporting on trivial things, it should highlight legitimate
causes of national pride, good work being done in every
nook and corner of the country - be it by an individual,
department, agency, organisation, NGO or a corporate.
It should become a vehicle for spreading good messages
and soft stories.
Business media has
a big role to play in nation building.
When the media begins to identify and deal with
development issues on a sustained basis, they will
generate public discussion and help governments and
the people alike to arrive at well informed opinions.
We want to transform India into a developed nation. That
means achieving complete freedom from poverty,
illiteracy, unemployment and regional and social
disparities. Therefore, development journalism should
move to the centre stage. If the media has the power to
shape and mould public opinion, it has to be done within
a framework of fairness and impartiality.
We need to move “from freedom of
information to free flow of information, from the free flow of information to
the free and balanced flow of information” as a UNESCO report said.
--
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K.T.Jagannathan
V. Balasubramanian
Financial
journalist
Economic Analyst, Corp Com Professional
www.carnaticdarbar.com
visbala@gmail.com
http://ktjagannathan.blogspot.com/ viswabala.blogspot.com
ktjagannathan@gmail.com
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