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.
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