- 21 hours ago
At the India Today Conclave 2026, Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie joined a panel of veteran journalists for a simulated editorial meeting, bringing together decades of newsroom experience to discuss possible cover story ideas. The session featured prominent media voices including Raj Chengappa, Prabhu Chawla, TN Ninan, Swapan Dasgupta, Shekhar Gupta and Kaveree Bamzai.
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00:00:00Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen, namaskar, welcome to the India Today conclave.
00:00:05Good afternoon and we are going to do something that's perhaps never been done at an India Today
00:00:10conclave over these years. We're actually going to discuss the news. So good afternoon.
00:00:18Sitting on stage with me are editors who between them have over 360 years of cumulative experience
00:00:30that celebrates 50 years of India Today at a time when most films can't even celebrate 50 days.
00:00:39They've shaped how India consumes news for over half a century and therefore we thought
00:00:46instead of the traditional panel discussion, we're going to recreate something that's truly special
00:00:51and we hope to create a bit of magic for each and every one of you. We're going to go
00:00:57into the
00:00:58magazine editorial meeting and we are going to discuss what the India Today magazine is going
00:01:06to look like in this second week of March 2026. We're going to chair the meeting with all these
00:01:13editors here with only one ground rule. Please be unfiltered. Do not pontificate like journalists do
00:01:20but give us sharp short opinion as well as what you think should be the news menu for this week.
00:01:29Remember this has been quite a week. We've had a war that's still on in West Asia. We've had the
00:01:37economic
00:01:37fallout of the war where oil and energy security is right on top of people's minds and don't forget
00:01:46India has just won a second successive T20 World Cup by 96 runs.
00:01:54So you have plenty to choose from
00:01:57but before we start and we're going to run all these wonderful covers behind us
00:02:03which are truly magical because it's iconic 50 years of a magazine.
00:02:08We also have a bit of AI so the new world is behind us as well. But I'm going to
00:02:14start with you Mr. Puri or AP if I may call you that today.
00:02:18He's just told me I've got to change my glasses.
00:02:21So he's still all there in telling everyone what you want at what moment. But AP as someone who's taken
00:02:28the final call on these 2000 plus magazine covers,
00:02:32before we go into this wealth of editorial experience that we have in this room.
00:02:38What is your mantra for judging? What makes the cut for a cover story? So they all know that things
00:02:44haven't changed.
00:02:46Well, thank you Rajdeep.
00:02:49Well, the mantra hasn't changed and whether it applies for cover stories or any stories.
00:02:54There are three things which a story has to fulfill. One is why now?
00:03:01What is topical about it?
00:03:04Who cares?
00:03:06And what next?
00:03:08The one thing I want to say is I didn't come from a journalistic background.
00:03:13And what couple of things I learned was
00:03:16number one is journalists sometimes write for journalists themselves or the circles they move in.
00:03:23And they just want to hear from them. Oh, great story.
00:03:27Right? But the rest of the population doesn't care.
00:03:31So we had a formula in India today informal that it starts from the south block as a radius.
00:03:40How far is this story going to travel?
00:03:43Is it going to be only one kilometer or five kilometers or right across the country?
00:03:48So that's one of the things.
00:03:49The other things I learned was journalists fall in love with their stories.
00:03:54They don't want to be edited.
00:03:56They don't want to be cut.
00:03:57They even sometimes fall in love with the subjects they're covering.
00:04:00So one has to keep a distance from that.
00:04:03So these three things are what makes a story.
00:04:07And when you want to make a cover story, the level goes up
00:04:10because then it comes down to what is the cover visual?
00:04:14What is the headline?
00:04:17What is the hook?
00:04:18Why will people pick it up from the newsstand?
00:04:20Because we're a newsstand magazine and so people have to be attracted to it.
00:04:26Time magazine in its heyday was 80 percent subscription.
00:04:30So they didn't really care what the cover really looked like.
00:04:33They had great covers, but still.
00:04:35So we were a newsstand magazine.
00:04:37So you have to have that pickup quality which is required.
00:04:40So those are the three couple of things which bear in mind
00:04:43before we decided on a cover story or any story.
00:04:48Okay.
00:04:49The good thing is that you can see in front of the editors are samosas and jalebes.
00:04:56So the one thing that editors do at their editorial meetings is have
00:05:00lots of samosas and jalebes, right?
00:05:03Yeah.
00:05:03That was part of the editorial thing.
00:05:06What are we going to have for lunch?
00:05:07What are you going to have for lunch?
00:05:08Okay, so we're going to discuss that later.
00:05:10What are you going to have for lunch?
00:05:11But let's discuss the news menu first.
00:05:14Can I just say one thing?
00:05:15Yeah, go ahead.
00:05:15I am very happy to see all of you.
00:05:18It brings back old memories.
00:05:23And they were great times.
00:05:25We had no 24-hour news channels.
00:05:27We had no social media, no YouTube, no Facebook.
00:05:32And in a way, we're ruling the roost.
00:05:35So they were good times.
00:05:38You're the youngest person in the room.
00:05:41Let me tell you that in terms of your energy.
00:05:43But I just want to know the news menu.
00:05:46Are we very clear across the table that the news menu has to reflect the war in West Asia?
00:05:53Is that story number one?
00:05:54Or is there any opinion here which suggests that maybe you need to look at cricket?
00:05:59Maybe you need to look at oil economy?
00:06:01Who wants to go first?
00:06:02Who wants to decide what's the news menu?
00:06:05Kaveri, you want to go?
00:06:06Yeah, I want to add Dhu Rander because I'm a film critic.
00:06:09And that's going to be released next week.
00:06:12So I think just under Dhu Rander, if you haven't heard of it.
00:06:15You want to put Dhu Rander too?
00:06:16Yes.
00:06:17As the cover?
00:06:18Yes.
00:06:19I think sometimes when you have too much reality, you need to escape.
00:06:23Why not?
00:06:24It's coming out next week.
00:06:26It has been the biggest blockbuster of the year, of I don't know how many years.
00:06:31And it's supposed to reflect the Ajit Doval doctrine for whatever it's worth.
00:06:37So why not?
00:06:38And it's something that AP always tells us.
00:06:41What's new?
00:06:42This is new.
00:06:43And it is telling us about how you have this one film by this very enigmatic and mysterious
00:06:50director whom really no one knows much about.
00:06:52And what went into making something that is, what, three hours, thirty minutes in the first
00:06:58part, almost four hours next in the new part, and what makes it work?
00:07:03I would like to know.
00:07:04Okay.
00:07:05So you're putting Dhu Rander, the revenge, the Dhu Rander cult.
00:07:08It might end up as a box, as things do in India.
00:07:12And you're getting an exclusive interview with Aditya Dhar and the entire cast.
00:07:16I'll do my best to get it.
00:07:18Okay.
00:07:19I'm sure you get it for television as well.
00:07:21Okay.
00:07:21Wonderful.
00:07:22So we've got Dhu Rander to be the cover.
00:07:24We'll get AP at the end to take the final decision, like the judge in the newsroom.
00:07:29Somebody else wants to go.
00:07:31Isn't it the war?
00:07:33Prabhu, you're smiling at me.
00:07:36I won't go for the war because war is being fought on the TV channels anyway.
00:07:39Although you look at the TV channels, they are not showing anything else except the war,
00:07:43sometimes imaginary also.
00:07:45But I will go.
00:07:45So what's your top story?
00:07:46I will talk about energy crisis, which is going to come forward.
00:07:49Energy crisis?
00:07:49Energy crisis, because will the kitchen stop working, which the restaurant stop working?
00:07:54Aapke ghar mein LPG chal raha hai na?
00:07:56Abhi chal raha, but I've been warned.
00:07:57You take the pipe gas, you live in a…
00:07:59Rajdeep, I used to interrupt people, but you don't interrupt me before I finish.
00:08:03No, no, are you telling me…
00:08:04No, no, one minute, are you telling me…
00:08:05I'm very very clear, because my half sentence…
00:08:07Are you telling me there were no interruptions in a news meeting?
00:08:09I'm telling you, my dear friend, I have not completed what I want to say.
00:08:12Go ahead.
00:08:13Already school children have been told not bring your own lunch.
00:08:16Already many restaurants will be cold.
00:08:18Many middle-class families are affected.
00:08:20So energy crisis is impending there, because you ran…
00:08:22I'm telling you, I don't know, the state of Hormuz is going to be open.
00:08:28Where it is?
00:08:29Today we say it's not being open.
00:08:30So I would go for an energy crisis, which is going to be much more serious if we talk.
00:08:34Okay, Durandar energy crisis.
00:08:35Who wants to go next?
00:08:36And I hope there are interruptions allowed in news meetings.
00:08:39I mean, we have a democratic newsroom at the moment on TV, Shekhar.
00:08:43Was that different in your time from a TV newsroom?
00:08:46You are not a democratic newsroom, Arun Puri never interrupted.
00:08:49You are interrupting every time.
00:08:51Okay, okay, okay.
00:08:53Go ahead, Shekhar.
00:08:55What you publish as democratic newsroom, I think we could be much worse than that
00:09:02when it came to shooting down each other's story ideas.
00:09:05But there was a difference.
00:09:07One, arguments were not so much about views, they were about news value.
00:09:14And second, it ceased to be democratic once Arun took a call.
00:09:20Then it was not democratic.
00:09:22So it was democratic dictatorship.
00:09:24No, it was a genuine newsroom where the editor takes a call and takes responsibility
00:09:30for what's actually put out.
00:09:32That said, we used to have a joke then, around time I joined India today in mid-83.
00:09:39Pakistan had got its first F-16s at that time.
00:09:43And I think the joke was, and I'd not say who invented that joke,
00:09:49that why is Indian Air Force worrying about Pakistani F-16s?
00:09:52They can send it to our news meeting, we'll shoot it down.
00:09:57So we did shoot down stories and that's how the best cover stories did emerge.
00:10:02And even when a cover story was decided on, then the angles of the cover story,
00:10:07what would the story have, how many people will work on it, how to visualize it,
00:10:12all that was a complex exercise and all of us learned a great deal from that.
00:10:16So what's according to you the top story and how do you cover that top story this week?
00:10:22Well, first of all, I'd feel rotten if India today did not have a bunch of reporters in the
00:10:30zones where it may be on TV, etc. The same reporters can put it out on TV,
00:10:36but reporters will have to be there on the ground, on the ground.
00:10:40You cannot do it from a distance and India today can afford it.
00:10:43And I will give you a line from our own on that.
00:10:46The second thing is that the big story right now is that this war,
00:10:52and even what's preceded this, Donald Trump's rise, has exposed to us the reality of India's
00:10:59place in the world, because we've had 11 years of breathless self-congratulation.
00:11:06And you can see it on many magazine covers, you can see it on so many TV channels,
00:11:11India, the rising power, nothing is there in the world without consulting India.
00:11:16Suddenly, we've been brought down to realizing where we are,
00:11:20and how much work needs to be done. What we should have done, forget it.
00:11:25But how much work needs to be done. I think that is the story now,
00:11:28that there will be another crisis. This will go.
00:11:30No, but that's opinion. Let's be clear. You're saying,
00:11:34send the reporters in the field to every part of the conflict zone.
00:11:37No, not opinion. In the India today way, we'll go out and talk to 20 talking heads,
00:11:45what Arun used to call KOTOs, put a photo and put a little...
00:11:49So you get opinion from people, you get expertise from people, and you give your readers the answers,
00:11:56because that's what's something that a lot of people are thinking about, but the rest should think about.
00:12:04Okay. So the war is the cover story for you. I just want to put on screen
00:12:09the fact that that's why India today has gone over 50 years. You've had the Gulf War,
00:12:13which took place early 90s, and India today was around then, and India today is around now. I think
00:12:19you may well have gone on the ground to cover the Gulf War.
00:12:23I was on the ground for that one. That's my... Yeah.
00:12:26Okay. So you remember?
00:12:28Normally Raj would go in fact.
00:12:29Sorry? Raj would go at that time.
00:12:31Now, now you're creating a fight between...
00:12:33Tell me, was there a fight? I was at Harvard.
00:12:35No, no. Did reporters...
00:12:37You went to Iraq or somewhere also?
00:12:38No, no. I was on a Neiman fellowship, and I appreciated...
00:12:40Raj, there was a competition between them, who will cover...
00:12:42Raj, there was a competition between them, who will cover the war?
00:12:45One minute. Was there a fight between reporters, according to him, who will cover the war?
00:12:48Were these fights regular?
00:12:50It's highly competitive. I mean, if I had a chance to go, I'd bid for it, and each one.
00:12:56But I think, really, it was merit that mattered most in this. It was never a favorite thing that,
00:13:01you know, I like this guy, let him go. It is, if he proved his worth, the previous stories,
00:13:06there's a track record, he gets it.
00:13:09So is your cover this week, or is your main story this week, the war?
00:13:13I would say...
00:13:14Look, I always give options, right?
00:13:16His emphasis was more on the hardware, his was more on the warfare.
00:13:20Okay.
00:13:21But there are three or four options I would look at. One, of course, as Shekhar said,
00:13:25if you get someone in, I'd really like to know what's happening inside Iran. So if you had a cover
00:13:30story inside Iran, I think a lot of people would want to read that. The second, I think what Prabhu
00:13:35had
00:13:35mentioned, which is the energy crunch, because all of us are going to feel that pinch that's there.
00:13:40The third aspect of the war, we're just talking of war,
00:13:44is just the weaponry that's being used. You know, there's a phrase I think Akbar had written about
00:13:48these drones and the new AK-47s of the sky. I'd like to see how the new technology is changing
00:13:55the warfare. And that's being defined not just by the Russia-Ukraine war, but also in this.
00:14:01So you have these three. And let's also look, I mean, Shekhar talked of India's foreign policy and its
00:14:06approach. We also need to look at the imperialist Trump that is emerging. He's waging war with
00:14:11everybody across. So you're seeing four big trends on that. And then to throw a law which
00:14:16Kaveri had sort of thing, we've seen, look, let's not also forget domestic issues. A big thing happened,
00:14:21which I think all our kids and as parents are interested, which is log off at 16, which is that
00:14:28two states, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, have passed a law to say that social media posts should
00:14:35not be allowed for those 16 and below. So that's another very interesting development. And I think
00:14:40we also need to look at Andhra Pradesh coming out with a population policy that's highly controversial.
00:14:47So there's a whole range. But of course, this is the war atmosphere, so we'd rather go with one of
00:14:51those two options that's there. Just a reminder to all of you here,
00:14:54before India today started sending reporters to war conflicts, most newspapers reported on wars
00:15:00sitting in editorial meetings. In fact, you never really went on to the field. That gave a huge
00:15:06cutting edge to the magazine in those years to actually have feet on the ground, unlike today.
00:15:13Well, thanks to him. I mean, one of the things that Arun did, just as a…
00:15:18Arun Puri, very clear. Everybody tells you what happened. And we have to tell why happened and
00:15:23what next. That was the cutting edge of India today. And also never skimped on travel.
00:15:29Never skimped on… I do remember I was a… You stayed in Airbnb or you stayed in a hotel?
00:15:34Arun made sure that we always stayed in one of the five-star places, even as a young correspondent. I
00:15:39do
00:15:39remember, this is 1980s, and we would be staying at the Taj. The only thing was the allowance. We
00:15:45didn't get that. So we could have breakfast in Taj, but no lunch, no dinners over there.
00:15:50What was the allowance like? You remember your allowance in 1980?
00:15:53Oh, it must have been 60 bucks or something like that.
00:15:55Sixty bucks? Okay.
00:15:56So what we would do is that we would go down to the Kamath, right below Taj president, and have
00:16:01our dosa
00:16:01over there, because we couldn't afford it.
00:16:03I also covered IPKF when the Sri Lanka happened. I was the first person to do a Pirabarakhand interview.
00:16:08I'm going to come to each of you. Swapandas Gupta, what's the main story of this week,
00:16:13according to you, that we've got to focus on?
00:16:16See, unlike most of people, I've been camping for the past two months in the rather
00:16:21inhospitable climes of Kolkata. So the world, the circus from Kolkata looks a bit different from
00:16:28it does in this part of the world. Having said that, I think what is very clear is that the
00:16:36impact of the
00:16:37war in the Middle East is only hitting home just now. It didn't hit home last week. It didn't hit
00:16:45home
00:16:46a fortnight ago. It's hit home because gas prices have started rising. And that's the, you know,
00:16:51it's sort of something which affects things. So there is a sudden interest in that subject.
00:16:57Now, whether we can contribute, whether, you see, today the news environment is such that you have
00:17:07multiple degrees of competition. You have competition from television, obviously. You have competition from
00:17:15other newspapers, with print media. But you have competition from the podcasters who are the biggest
00:17:21threat today to established media. And they all have a certain way of projecting the reality
00:17:30which may not be the reality itself. So is that the biggest challenge? So the question you have to
00:17:38ask is, are we going to bring something very new to the table? Everyone knows gas prices have risen,
00:17:46everyone knows there's a crisis, etc. Or do we go for something surprising? Not the Dhuranda story.
00:17:53No, Raj is saying go inside Iran. Raj is saying send a correspondent inside Iran.
00:17:58Inside Iran is something which is a very good story. It's something which may not be cover,
00:18:04but it's certainly a very interesting inside story. So, but the cover is something because it's
00:18:10something which appeals from the newsstands. You have to get someone to buy it from the newsstands.
00:18:15And there the surprise element could work in the form of Dhuranda because people are really
00:18:22fascinated just like there's a new generation who normally don't read these days and they might
00:18:28actually want to read. So my take is a little different. Mr. Nainan, you're probably the
00:18:33MNO's agree in terms of you joined Journalism 1972. Journalism 1972. No internet, no computers, no mobiles,
00:18:46no social media, no social media, pen pad. You virtually had in a way a monopoly at the time
00:18:52over how you would shape the news. Now you've got TV. We are already covering the war. Do we still
00:18:57make
00:18:58the war the top story when every hour, hour after hour on 24 by 7 news or the internet, all
00:19:04you have
00:19:05is the war. So what for you is the news menu and will you be affected by the fact that
00:19:10we are in this new
00:19:11media age? Can I make some preliminary comments? Yes, please. First, Arun would start all editorial
00:19:21meetings by sitting down and saying, okay, so what have we got? What's up?
00:19:30By the way, did you go to editorial meetings dressed like this? Surely not.
00:19:34So the second thing, jeans and t-shirts. Mr. Puri, what was your dress code? You had a dress code
00:19:41ever for an editorial meeting? And always first name cases. We never call Mr. Puri, Mr. Puri.
00:19:45If someone came in a short pant to the editorial meeting, okay? It's all okay.
00:19:50All okay? People didn't. What's up here? So you could go to an editorial meeting in swimming trunks if
00:19:57you had a great idea. Just one second, Rajiv. There was, I think, one day that Shekhar came in
00:20:02shorts because he used to run all the way from Saakit, where he lived then, to India Today's CP office.
00:20:09It was very alarming to see him in those shorts. I would not come in like that. I would sometimes
00:20:13And that was to impress all of us that he worked like that. What are we doing? We went to
00:20:17Frida Watt.
00:20:18Okay, well, sorry. Mr. Nainan, I interrupted you. Sorry, my apologies.
00:20:22But the point about India Today in the 1980s, which is when I was there,
00:20:26was that although the magazine was fortnightly, we didn't have private television because you only
00:20:32had Durdarshan. You didn't have social media. So you had to compete against the newspapers.
00:20:38And the point was that even though you were a fortnightly and given the printing and distribution
00:20:44cycle, the magazine would hit the stands four or five days after you closed. Even then,
00:20:50when the magazine came out, people would wait for it and look for what it was saying.
00:20:56And very often we would say what the newspapers had failed to say. We would get scoops of the papers
00:21:01had not got. Our stories were more complete than what the newspapers said. It really was a magazine
00:21:07that the country waited for. And it was a huge achievement to do that with a fortnightly cycle.
00:21:14The second point I want to make is that, as far as Arun is concerned, no resources were denied to
00:21:22journalists.
00:21:23Whatever you wanted, you took. And the story I remember is that when the Air India plane got shot down,
00:21:30were blown up over the air, over Ireland.
00:21:36And we had a part-time woman reporter in London. And so I called her, but she wasn't, you know,
00:21:45there are no mobile phones and I couldn't reach her. So I talked to Arun and I said, you know,
00:21:49we'll send Shekhar. Shekhar was in Delhi. Somebody had to go. So Arun said, yeah, send Shekhar.
00:21:55So I told Shekhar to get ready and he was about to go to the airport, whatever arrangements had been
00:21:59made.
00:21:59And then this lady surfaced in London and said, I'm here. So I thought we'll save time and we'll
00:22:05save money if she goes across from London to Cork in Ireland where the crash had happened.
00:22:11So I took the decision without consulting Arun. And then I told him later. So he got really upset.
00:22:16He says, why did you do that? We agreed we'll send Shekhar. I said, I thought we'll save time
00:22:20and money. He said, have I asked you to save money?
00:22:26So I will add to that, one of the first lessons I learned, one of the first Arun Puri lessons
00:22:35I
00:22:36learned, an editor's lesson and which has, which stands, which stays with me even now,
00:22:41was probably on my first or second editorial meeting. I think that is, that was the time when
00:22:48Rakesh Sharma was going up in the Soyuz rocket and Raj Chengappa was to go for that.
00:22:55And Venkat Narayan, who was one of the editors, he made the calculations, took his notepad and
00:23:01walked up to Arun. We were all there and he said, this will cost 60,000 rupees. 60,000 rupees
00:23:08in 1983
00:23:08was serious money. I was paid 3,000 rupees, which was about three times as much as anybody of my
00:23:15seniority
00:23:15would be paid in a daily newspaper, 60,000. And Arun said, doesn't matter, spending decision
00:23:23has to be like you make in a family. When somebody is sick, you spend whatever needs to be spent.
00:23:31Once a story passes that test that it has to be spent, you just spend it, don't think about it.
00:23:38And that's a lesson that many of us have carried through our lives.
00:23:41One sentence only. You see, you spoke about the cost. I'm telling you, they were saying that if you
00:23:45want to serve the countries, join the army. There was gossip there, if you want to see the world join
00:23:51India today. And they were saying also, if you fly any Indian land flying, you'll find a reporter in
00:23:57every each ordinary Indian land flight at that time. That was the – use at any cost. That was his
00:24:02mandate.
00:24:02And we followed it.
00:24:03Okay. The 80s was a glorious age. If you want to look at India through the 80s, you just have
00:24:08to
00:24:08go through India today. But this is not a meeting of nostalgia only. We've got a news menu that has
00:24:14to be decided also.
00:24:15So I will come to the subject for today.
00:24:19Clearly, as Swapan said, you have all the podcasters and social media are already active.
00:24:25So you have to do something beyond the news, although you're now a weekly and not a fortnightly.
00:24:30So the issue to me is that – to take Arun's point, who cares? What do people care about?
00:24:37They care about their pockets. Oil prices have gone up. Gas is not available. Restaurants
00:24:43are shutting down. The stock market is down 10 percent. What is this all – where is this
00:24:48leading? You have to answer that question. How much further will the stock market fall?
00:24:53Government will say you're spreading panic. That is not a question. Government is going to say –
00:24:58If I have to give the headline – Swapan in his new avatar will say you're spreading panic.
00:25:04No, no. The thing about the 1980s was we didn't care what the politicians said.
00:25:08I am telling you – I will give the headline. I said – No, no. Let him finish. One minute,
00:25:11Prabhu.
00:25:12The thing about the 1980s was we didn't care what the politicians said. The prime minister would
00:25:16attack the magazine because we ran Nellie on the cover. The Nellie massacre was on the cover
00:25:21when she was hosting the Commonwealth summit. And she had somebody go across Delhi and pick up all
00:25:28the copies of India today from every newsstand so that the international visitors would not see
00:25:33the magazine cover with Nellie on the cover. Indira Gandhi picked up all the covers of India today
00:25:37so that the Nellie massacre could not be shown. And it was the Calcutta AIC session
00:25:41where she called us anti-national at that time. So this is not a new thing.
00:25:46I am telling you something else. Were you called an anti-national ever?
00:25:49I am national. You were called anti-national? You? I don't care who calls me anti-national.
00:25:53No, no. But see, Rajdeep. Rajdeep, one of the fact –
00:25:55Rajdeep, the point is – the point is that despite that the magazine had total access.
00:26:01Prabhu could walk into any minister's room at any point of time, walk out with some file.
00:26:07If I wanted to meet the finance minister, V.P. Singh, let's say, Prabhu would arrange it like this.
00:26:11And – see, the – and –
00:26:16Rajdeep, there is a difference in the news gathering environment of the 80s and today.
00:26:22What's the biggest difference?
00:26:23Rajdeep, in the 80s, all ministries, all prime minister's offices used to leak like a sieve.
00:26:30You could get almost everything you wanted. When was the last time you got a leak from this PMO? You
00:26:45have a big problem which is confronting us. So how do we make this story about –
00:26:49I am giving you the headline. Yeah, what's the headline?
00:26:51I am talking about the war – gainers and losers.
00:26:54Sorry?
00:26:55Gainers and losers of the war.
00:26:56Gainers and losers of the war?
00:26:58Yes.
00:26:59But that – I have already done it on TV.
00:27:00Who is the gainer of the war?
00:27:01Tell me.
00:27:02Who is the gainer of the war?
00:27:03My headline would be – what will this war cost India?
00:27:07What will the war cost India gainers? Okay.
00:27:09You know Kaveri, you're being isolated because none of them are agreeing to this Durandar idea.
00:27:15None of them are agreeing to my idea that India has the greatest fast bowler in the world ever in
00:27:20Jaspreet Bumrah.
00:27:21Why should I not put Bumrah on the cover?
00:27:23That is stale news.
00:27:24They've already carried it.
00:27:25That is stale.
00:27:25Sorry, stale.
00:27:26That is stale news?
00:27:27We have carried it on this cover.
00:27:29You've got Jaspreet Bumrah on the cover.
00:27:31Ballistic Bumrah.
00:27:32It'll be out later this evening.
00:27:34There you have it.
00:27:35So you've got Bumrah.
00:27:36This is the latest cover which is – okay, that's gone, okay.
00:27:40But Rajdeep, you'll also have to contend with the fact that everyone will want to put the
00:27:45conclave on the cover.
00:27:47So that will probably be the cover of the week.
00:27:50No, of course, there's the conclave.
00:27:51We can put it at the top.
00:27:52But the fact is, I think there's a general consensus that the war is important.
00:27:58Mr. Nainan has made an important point there as a potential cover, Mr. Puri,
00:28:03that what will the war cost India, correct?
00:28:05And I would just add to what Nainan said.
00:28:08I mean, is that – and it did appear partly in business standard.
00:28:12I don't know if you still follow it that closely as you do now.
00:28:15But the story is very interesting.
00:28:18One, of course, you pose a problem to a reader, right?
00:28:21What it'll cost us and things.
00:28:22But I think as a magazine, we also need to find solutions.
00:28:25And one of the things we need to look at is what are the alternatives India has
00:28:29to importing oil?
00:28:31And what can we do quickly and what we can do on the long term?
00:28:34So sometimes a crisis should trigger a nation into, look, we are importing 85 percent of oil.
00:28:40What do we do about renewable energy?
00:28:43Can we get a lot more quickly?
00:28:44So that's part of the solution part that we look at.
00:28:47Mr. Puri, you've heard the first 20, 25 minutes of the news meeting.
00:28:51Are you convinced that your editors have got it right or are you still not convinced?
00:28:57They're saying what will the war cost India broadly?
00:29:00Some angle in which the war has something exclusive or different.
00:29:03Can I add something to the war?
00:29:05A variant of that is how does India prepare for the next such crisis?
00:29:12Because we've seen three such crises in the last 35 years.
00:29:15Each time we've been found wanting and energy has been our sore point.
00:29:20Now it's also energy and our exaggerated self-image of our strategic power.
00:29:26So how do you prepare for the next one which will inevitably come?
00:29:31So I guess the exemption given to Indianship in the Gulf of Hormuz is a result of our exaggerated self
00:29:42-esteem.
00:29:43It could be argued, but I don't know what the real self-esteem is.
00:29:47Okay, I just want to know Mr. Puri, they said money not a problem.
00:29:51Let's assume we can get a reporter into Iran, a country which at the moment is being bombed.
00:29:57You can.
00:29:57You look at security and safety of your journal because I'm very happy to go to Tehran.
00:30:02Kalipuri has to tell me tomorrow I'll very happily go to Tehran.
00:30:05Would you take a risk sending your reporter into a place which is being bombed?
00:30:12I think that goes with the territory of being a journalist.
00:30:15So my actually listening to all of them, I mean all great arguments.
00:30:20My first priority would be if I could get a person into Tehran with a photographer, I would go for
00:30:27that.
00:30:28Even if it's risky, high risk.
00:30:30We've done this before.
00:30:31We went into Gulf War.
00:30:32We went to Afghanistan War.
00:30:33It's not unusual for us to get into trouble zones right through, including Indo-Pak War.
00:30:38There was a week when he sent someone to Beijing as well as Moscow.
00:30:44So you had two reporters out there covering two different events.
00:30:47And by the way, in 1988 when Khomeini died, I had a chance which was that Narasim Rao was the
00:30:53foreign minister and he was taking in a flight to Tehran.
00:30:57I called up Arun and said, look, can I go on that flight?
00:31:00He said, yes, just go.
00:31:01We didn't think about any of the other issues.
00:31:03Then I flew in and reported the entire Khomeini transition to Khomeini.
00:31:06Okay.
00:31:07This is, of course, very different because you're in the midst of a war.
00:31:09You're saying that is part of the risk that comes with being a journalist.
00:31:15Yes.
00:31:15The thing is, I mean, I would choose that because that's exclusive.
00:31:20And you're not hearing the voices and the smell and the sounds from Tehran.
00:31:25So if we can get one of our journalists into Tehran, into Iran, that would be my top story.
00:31:32Shekhar, you ready to go?
00:31:34He's giving you a carte blanche, you can go.
00:31:36He's a little older now.
00:31:38We'll be fighting Raj for that.
00:31:41I think any journalist would go and remember.
00:31:44Why can't Raj go?
00:31:45We did this stuff in the Gulf War of 91.
00:31:49Since then, and we were sitting in Al-Rashith Hotel, all night bombs were falling and
00:31:53nobody was going down to the shelters.
00:31:55Today, if anything, precision bombs have become that much more accurate.
00:32:00That's right.
00:32:01It's been 35 years later.
00:32:04So there's always romance to it.
00:32:07But the risk, there is inconvenience.
00:32:09But the physical risk in these situations today is much less than it used to be.
00:32:15Because everything is precision bombing.
00:32:17Traffic is moving.
00:32:18People are going through their lives.
00:32:21Weddings are taking place.
00:32:22Because nobody has the bombs to waste.
00:32:25This whole thing of carpet bombing and all that, that is from Vietnam War.
00:32:30And I find that a lot of it still gets into our TV discussions, carpet bombing.
00:32:34Carpet bombing is a bunch of B-52s coming and dropping bombs randomly everywhere.
00:32:40Okay, so who wants to go to Tehran?
00:32:42Why can't he go?
00:32:43You want to go?
00:32:44Yep.
00:32:44Shekhar, he wants to go ahead of you.
00:32:46How do you choose?
00:32:47How do you choose between the two of them?
00:32:49He and I...
00:32:50No, no, one minute.
00:32:51You want to go to Iran?
00:32:53You'll go to Iran?
00:32:54Okay, you've got three choices now.
00:32:55Listen, very simple.
00:32:57It's very simple.
00:32:58He's one of the best.
00:32:59Why can't you go there?
00:33:00I'm listening to Tehran where I can't go there.
00:33:02One minute, one minute.
00:33:03One of the philosophies we have.
00:33:04New is the only objective.
00:33:06Okay.
00:33:06New first.
00:33:07Okay, one minute.
00:33:07Let me complete one sentence.
00:33:09Yes.
00:33:09You see, bottom lines can't decide the headlines.
00:33:12Okay.
00:33:12Bottom lines cannot decide the headlines.
00:33:15Bottom line, but we've got three reporters, AP, who all want to go to Tehran.
00:33:19How do you choose?
00:33:20No, how do you choose?
00:33:21No, no, how do you choose?
00:33:22When it comes into the war zone, one of the things you do when you report is what
00:33:26someone told me when I had covered the Kargil war.
00:33:29If a bullet is meant to get you, it'll come and get you in any case.
00:33:32It's written there.
00:33:33Your fate is written in any case.
00:33:34So, it doesn't matter whether you're walking the streets of Delhi or you're going out there.
00:33:39If you're going to die, you're going to die in any case, wherever you are.
00:33:41You might as well go there and do the job because if you look, everyone is running away from Iran.
00:33:46Rajdeep, has anybody died twice?
00:33:50Only once?
00:33:51Prabhu, one minute.
00:33:52Prabhu, you've really got great one-liners.
00:33:55AP, you've got three reporters, Raj Chengappa, Prabhu Chawla, and Shekhar Gupta,
00:34:00who are all volunteering to go to Iran.
00:34:02How are you choosing?
00:34:03You want me to lose friends?
00:34:05No, no, I mean, you've got to choose, yeah.
00:34:07Unless you want to send all three of them.
00:34:09No, no, we can send one to the Kurdish area.
00:34:11We can send one to Tehran.
00:34:13I'm asking your question inside.
00:34:15Sorry?
00:34:16What is the talent of your inside people?
00:34:17No, no, I'm asking…
00:34:20One minute, one minute.
00:34:21I'm asking Mr. Puri, you've got the mic.
00:34:23Prabhu, one minute, one minute.
00:34:25You've got to choose between three.
00:34:26How would you normally choose?
00:34:28Well, firstly, I choose the best person to do the job.
00:34:31Number two is the person who has had experience in reporting in war zones.
00:34:36Three, familiarity with the territory.
00:34:38Four, what kind of sources do you have there?
00:34:41So, if they can convince me that one of them is better than the other, they go.
00:34:46But that's your first choice.
00:34:47Out of all the things, you're not into Dhurandar.
00:34:49Not at this stage, because that's exclusive.
00:34:52If I can say that inside story in Tehran and so-and-so reporting on the spot, that's a hook.
00:35:00Why are you giving him the choice of in-house and outside?
00:35:02He has to choose in-house talent.
00:35:03In-house, he's a talent.
00:35:05We are willing to go, but he has got talent.
00:35:08The thing with that, because nobody, even the TV channels haven't got into Tehran.
00:35:13So, that's one of the things which would attract me to send somebody.
00:35:17If that's not there, then secondly, I would go with,
00:35:21because what Nainan raised and Prabhu raised is what affects people's lives,
00:35:25which is energy crisis, right?
00:35:28This is a story which people will relate to, okay, what's going to happen to my
00:35:32cooking gas and my petrol prices and so forth.
00:35:37So, that's a pocketbook kind of story.
00:35:40The problem with that story is, what is the visual you put on the cover?
00:35:44It'll be like a, we don't know.
00:35:47And because one of the other things is, how do you visualize a story?
00:35:51I mean, you know, a petrol pump or a gas cylinder,
00:35:56somebody, something creative has to come up with that.
00:35:58You know, let me put that vision.
00:35:59No, I just want to give an anecdote.
00:36:00Yeah, go ahead.
00:36:01Raj, before, Raj, Raj, can I just interject before, I know I'm sorry,
00:36:05I'm coming into your meeting right now.
00:36:06But with all that…
00:36:07How dare you this now?
00:36:08Why have you entered the meeting?
00:36:09How dare you?
00:36:10Well, I'm in the new generation newsroom of India today.
00:36:13No, you see, it was terrible.
00:36:14There used to be a time when all you had in newsrooms were men.
00:36:18So, you're welcome into the newsroom, because we finally have more than one woman,
00:36:21But on that, we've turned the table.
00:36:23Which is the way it should be.
00:36:24On that, we've turned the table.
00:36:26Right from 1980, early 1980s, 1990s.
00:36:29No, how many news… no, no, come on.
00:36:30What was the average of men to women in a newsroom?
00:36:33It was eight to one?
00:36:34But, Raj, may I interject?
00:36:36I just wanted to…
00:36:37I just…
00:36:38There was always Shirley Joshua.
00:36:41Yes.
00:36:41She was the head of production, design, everything.
00:36:43She was always in the meetings.
00:36:45You know, Shekhar, in a room of men, you have one woman and you say there was…
00:36:48There were also women.
00:36:49We made up for all of them.
00:36:51We were…
00:36:52You made up for all of them.
00:36:53Okay.
00:36:53So, the reason why I'm coming, and I apologize, because it was riveting the conversation you
00:36:58were having, but all of you, all the ideas that you've come up with right now,
00:37:01because we don't really have to wait for you to decide what the cover is and then it
00:37:05goes into print.
00:37:07Just from the left of the screens, all the way to the right, all of those ideas you can
00:37:11actually see as the cover of the India Today magazine.
00:37:14Okay.
00:37:15So, I'm going to…
00:37:16There.
00:37:16The cost of war.
00:37:17Okay.
00:37:17One minute.
00:37:18One is the cost of war.
00:37:19One is the LPG crisis.
00:37:22One is Dhurandar.
00:37:23New epic created.
00:37:25Where is the inside…
00:37:27Iran.
00:37:28Inside Iran.
00:37:29On the spot report.
00:37:30So, you've got four covers now to choose from.
00:37:34You're looking at the one which is most arresting.
00:37:37It's like the Trump-Modi cover that's gone viral.
00:37:39Right.
00:37:40How do you decide that this is the most arresting?
00:37:43Is that the photo editor, the great Raghu Rai and others who would take that call?
00:37:47Or would you take that call?
00:37:49It's actually a joint call.
00:37:50We all…
00:37:51Was…
00:37:52The various options come up on the cover and we all kind of stand around.
00:37:56That's not true.
00:37:57Please.
00:37:58That's not true.
00:37:58And he has the final say.
00:37:59It was always you.
00:38:00I had the final say.
00:38:01But we…
00:38:03But he doesn't have our opinion.
00:38:04I listen to everybody.
00:38:05We just gave you options.
00:38:06Also, let me give you a little insight which before Piti came on was that Arun would never
00:38:11allow us to leave a newsroom till we had a cover, a cover headline and we knew what
00:38:18to do.
00:38:19So, even if it…
00:38:20Hold back in.
00:38:20And what he would do is probably hold the meeting around 12.30 or 1, start the meeting
00:38:25and by 2, we are so hungry, right?
00:38:29Anybody who comes out, we'll keep telling everybody and he'll wait and make us…
00:38:32I think we finally went to lunch at 3.
00:38:34So, I'm going to come to lunch in a moment.
00:38:37But starting with you Kaveri, let me play those four covers.
00:38:40Right?
00:38:41You still have a choice to change your mind.
00:38:43Let's play those four covers at the back.
00:38:45There's Inside Iran, On The Spot Report.
00:38:48There's the LPG crisis in India.
00:38:49There's the cost of war.
00:38:51There's Dhurandar New Epic Crate.
00:38:53Which one are you going with?
00:38:54Just before that…
00:38:55Are you still sticking to Dhurandar?
00:38:56No, just before that Rajdeep, I want to take a moment to acknowledge all…
00:38:59She's ducking.
00:39:00Don't allow to duck.
00:39:01Acknowledge all the people here.
00:39:03I was here in two stints in 1992 and 2002 to 2019.
00:39:11So, that makes it 19 years actually, not 17.
00:39:14So, I've seen all these greats of journalism and I just wanted to quickly say all the things
00:39:19that I learned as a trainee and as someone who sort of climbed up the ranks.
00:39:24From AP, I learned attention to detail.
00:39:27Never send anything out in your name until you have read it from cover to cover, caption
00:39:33to caption.
00:39:34From Raj, I learned persistence.
00:39:37He would always be very, very…
00:39:40He would work very hard for his cover stories.
00:39:43He would usually be the last to suggest the cover story right at the tail end of the meeting
00:39:48when everyone was starving and he would say, Arun, what about this?
00:39:53And I think AP used to be so agitated and fed up.
00:39:56He would say, yeah, okay, go with your moon cover or go with your back pain.
00:39:59And, you know, those were seminal cover stories.
00:40:03They were talking about poison in your food and climate change when these things hadn't come about.
00:40:08With Prabhu, I think I learned leadership, how to have a talented team and to make them work under you.
00:40:16He had generosity.
00:40:16And also to get those great political schools.
00:40:19India today brought down a government of Gujarat.
00:40:22That, of course, is a given.
00:40:23And, you know, also remember at a time when Vajpayee was supposed to be his very good friend or whatever,
00:40:29we did a cover saying, is he fit to govern?
00:40:32So, these were things that he did despite being very close to people in power.
00:40:36From Nainan, I never worked with him.
00:40:38I have a story about Prabhu.
00:40:40He had such good access that MPs and ministers even said,
00:40:46you don't have to talk to me, just run my court, whatever you want.
00:40:50I won't deny it.
00:40:51Tremendous access.
00:40:52Our principle, I will say in Hindi, one of the main principles.
00:40:58The big principle is, don't worry, don't worry.
00:41:02Don't worry, don't worry.
00:41:03Don't worry, don't worry.
00:41:04Don't worry, don't worry.
00:41:06Don't worry.
00:41:07Don't worry.
00:41:07Don't worry.
00:41:07I'm not worried about it.
00:41:09As long as I am factually correct, I don't imagine a story.
00:41:14That's what I'm saying.
00:41:16I follow, I never give up, never gave up.
00:41:19Okay.
00:41:20From Nainan, who I never worked with, but I have a lot of people.
00:41:22I read all his covers.
00:41:23I think it was to make business interesting, make business figures, the icons that they
00:41:28are now.
00:41:29From Chopin, I learned context, putting things in a historical context.
00:41:33Nobody could do it better.
00:41:34And from Shekhar, I think I learned how to tell a story.
00:41:37I still remember the first thing he told me, do you know the pyramid style of storytelling?
00:41:41And of course, I looked stupid and I said, no, her.
00:41:43But, you know, how to tell a story in print and otherwise.
00:41:47So I think we should applaud all of them.
00:41:50They're really the greats of journalism.
00:41:51And I think I was very lucky that I saw them in both stints.
00:41:55And as far as the cover is concerned, I'll still go with Dhurandar.
00:41:58But yeah, inside Iran, if we can get somebody there, it would be fascinating.
00:42:02And let me praise you, Kaveri.
00:42:03There's no better film writer or feature writer than you.
00:42:06There's no doubt about that.
00:42:07So he's inviting you to write this cover.
00:42:09Dhurandar, the new actor.
00:42:14Now that Kaveri has said nice things about all of us, I'll say something.
00:42:19I will say what Kaveri personifies.
00:42:22I will not say good things, bad things, whatever.
00:42:24I will tell you what she personifies.
00:42:27That anybody could begin at any level in India today.
00:42:31She began as a trainee in 1992, right?
00:42:351990.
00:42:36And rose to be editor.
00:42:39So anybody could begin anywhere and could write.
00:42:42And that was the real strength of an institution.
00:42:45And as people grew, the institution grew.
00:42:48By the way, Shekhar, all – I mean, we have correspondents.
00:42:51Prabhu was a correspondent.
00:42:53We were – there are a lot of people who have –
00:42:55India today has contributed more editors to newspapers and magazines outside India today
00:43:01over the years as well, which is quite an achievement.
00:43:04But Swamandaz Gupta, let's cut the chase.
00:43:07Are you going – are you changing your mind and ready for inside Iran as the cover story
00:43:12if you've got a reporter in?
00:43:13See, it's not inside Iran.
00:43:14And do you agree with Prabhu when he says daro mat, can it be done today?
00:43:20Is that also a big difference between then and now?
00:43:22Inside Iran is not going to sell.
00:43:25What is going to sell is the larger question of whether Mr. Khomeini or Khomeini Jr. is going to survive
00:43:35and whether Trump will prevail.
00:43:36That's the question which people want to know.
00:43:38And they want to know it from an Indian perspective
00:43:42because our perspective is going to be very, very different.
00:43:44So would you have a –
00:43:45Sir, I don't mind this cover but it's got to be tweaked in a different sort of way.
00:43:49So would you have a dark cover with say Khomeini on one side and Trump looking at each other
00:43:53in some kind of a ferocious context?
00:43:56Yes, I think I would go –
00:43:57Something on those lines.
00:43:59Along those lines.
00:44:00But Swapan, do we have –
00:44:02AP wants to get in a word, yes.
00:44:04Swapan, do we have an answer to those questions?
00:44:07Or it will be all speculation?
00:44:10The questions you raise, do we have an answer?
00:44:13Or we'll have just talking heads saying different things?
00:44:16As in most things, we don't have a definitive answer.
00:44:20Like in most things.
00:44:21But people would like to know what are the imponderables at stake.
00:44:25And more important, they want to know how does Iran smell like?
00:44:29How does it feel like?
00:44:31What does it –
00:44:31So that's inside.
00:44:31So that is something which the American and the British publications don't necessarily offer.
00:44:39But what AP is saying, he doesn't want talking heads.
00:44:42He wants someone down there.
00:44:43No, no.
00:44:44It's got to be someone who's going to –
00:44:45The point is, who's hearing from the Iranian people?
00:44:48Trump is saying, rise up.
00:44:50How are they going to rise up with sticks and stones?
00:44:52I mean, we have to talk to them.
00:44:55Yeah, you've got to talk to them.
00:44:56And you know, like for instance, people didn't make the connection with Reza Pellevi for a long time.
00:45:04Now I was fortunate enough to meet him last year at some point.
00:45:08You know, because we belong to some dissident factions of all things.
00:45:12And then there are other cross currents which are operating in Iran.
00:45:16Now the point is, if people can map those.
00:45:19And that would be your real value addition to that story.
00:45:23So it's getting into Iran, but what you're covering, which is really more important.
00:45:27Mr. Nainan, you've seen the four covers.
00:45:30Cost of War, Inside Iran, Durandar, and LPG Crisis.
00:45:35LPG Crisis is an interesting story.
00:45:37Because it's probably affecting a large number of people.
00:45:40Not necessarily all India today readers.
00:45:43But I'm just asking, would you, this cover seems just too static, no?
00:45:48It doesn't work for you.
00:45:50That's a very dull cover.
00:45:52But would you still look at, you're going with the cost of war.
00:45:56Yeah, the cost of war is a much broader story.
00:45:58It includes everything.
00:46:00It's from the stock market to, you know, basic supplies to fertilizer.
00:46:06I mean, can you get fertilizer to farmers?
00:46:08Because now fertilizer production is affected.
00:46:08How the war is affecting you?
00:46:10Yeah, but are you putting yourself in the…
00:46:14You know, let's be honest.
00:46:15Those who today perhaps may not be India Today readers are even more affected.
00:46:20The queues of people outside LPG lines may not necessarily be India Today readers.
00:46:25Is that something that's affecting you when you're making a decision?
00:46:27No, but it's going to affect petrol prices.
00:46:29It's going to affect, of course, at some stage your gas supplies.
00:46:33I mean, even some India Today readers must be running on gas somewhere to their kitchens.
00:46:41So it's going to affect them in some way.
00:46:43Okay.
00:46:44So it's, I mean…
00:46:46So if you can't get someone into Iran, then you're looking at the costs of war, correct?
00:46:51Yeah, how it affect you.
00:46:53Well, how will…
00:46:53Maybe I won't call it the cost of war.
00:46:55Cost of war can mean many things.
00:46:57Is how does the war affect you?
00:46:59Okay, how does the war affect you?
00:47:01Maybe we'll try and change that cover quickly.
00:47:02How does this war affect you?
00:47:04But…
00:47:05Prabhu, you want to speak something in Hindi?
00:47:07When we're talking about what will cover cover,
00:47:10because in Hindi it's only cover.
00:47:13Cost of war is a very general quirk.
00:47:15It's boring.
00:47:16I've also said before,
00:47:19who's the reward and who's the benefit of this war?
00:47:22Everything is covered.
00:47:25Because I don't know who always believes in packaging.
00:47:27So I'll go for a headline which says,
00:47:28Who are the winners?
00:47:29Who are the losers?
00:47:30Who are the gainers?
00:47:31Who are the losers?
00:47:34Who has done it?
00:47:35I'll show you 25 cover like this.
00:47:37Prabhu, who is the winner?
00:47:38Who is the winner?
00:47:39Who is the winner in this year?
00:47:39Defense industry.
00:47:41Who?
00:47:41Defense industry.
00:47:42They share their governance by 100%.
00:47:44What industry?
00:47:45He's saying defense industry.
00:47:46Prabhu, he's saying defense industry is the winner.
00:47:49The only industry which has gained from the wars all the time are the 10 top industries manufacturing.
00:47:54That's faceless.
00:47:54Because we are importing.
00:47:56We are the second largest importers of equipment.
00:47:59AP is not convinced, Prabhu.
00:48:00Sorry.
00:48:01You are saying now you are trying to pontification.
00:48:05Where am I pontifying?
00:48:06I'm saying you have to tell the people because of the war our import costs have gone up by 2
00:48:11,000
00:48:12crore.
00:48:13That makes a story.
00:48:14Okay.
00:48:14Because you don't know.
00:48:15That doesn't mean that it doesn't mean…
00:48:16Prabhu, you try…
00:48:17We are going to spend 2 lakh crore with extra.
00:48:19You have also pitched in Hindi and in English.
00:48:22We have accepted it.
00:48:23Raj, what's your final pitch?
00:48:25I would still go for inside Iran, not because I suggested it.
00:48:28And just to take on…
00:48:30Are you okay if he sent Shekhar…
00:48:31No, no.
00:48:31Take on Chopin's point.
00:48:32No, no.
00:48:33Take on Chopin's point.
00:48:34Are you okay with the cover on inside Iran but Shekhar is being sent, not you?
00:48:38No problem.
00:48:39He's a brilliant reporter.
00:48:40Are you okay with that?
00:48:41No, no.
00:48:41Look, I'm a great…
00:48:42No, no.
00:48:44I'm a…
00:48:44Look, let's give credit where he's due.
00:48:47Shekhar is a brilliant foreign policy…
00:48:48No, both of you went.
00:48:49Both of you have covered wars and…
00:48:51I mean, I admire his work.
00:48:53And if he goes, great, we'll get a great story.
00:48:55Okay.
00:48:55For me, that's important.
00:48:56Second, I would like to say, just to take on Chopin on this matter, that, you know,
00:49:00who cares about what's happening inside Iran?
00:49:02I disagree.
00:49:03In a world that's highly connected now, that is what everyone wants to know.
00:49:08If a magazine gets to go there and bring the color and whatever's happening…
00:49:12Because today, all you're seeing in all the televisions, unfortunately, television,
00:49:16all you're seeing is Azhazira, BBC, CNN, they don't give you a perspective of Iran.
00:49:21Iran is just locked out.
00:49:22No, I'm saying…
00:49:24We've had Israeli voices, Iranian voices, American voices…
00:49:27I am not saying…
00:49:27That's why I said…
00:49:28Lebanese voices…
00:49:29Foreign television.
00:49:30Foreign television.
00:49:31Right?
00:49:31Even Indian television, there's nobody out there talking about…
00:49:34Because you don't have any really good news about what's happening…
00:49:37When I say good news, meaning good information about it.
00:49:39So, I would go with that.
00:49:41And let's also not…
00:49:42Contextually, we actually did a cover before that, where we answered the three big questions,
00:49:47which Arun likes, which is…
00:49:49Will there be regime change?
00:49:51Second was this business of…
00:49:53How long will it last?
00:49:55And what does it mean for India?
00:49:57What is the cost to India?
00:49:58Okay, so these are the three big questions.
00:49:59Raj…
00:49:59We did that cover, by the way.
00:50:00We're here in the last five minutes, guys.
00:50:02Raj, I have something to say.
00:50:03The samosas are getting cold.
00:50:05We're in the last five minutes.
00:50:06Rajdeep…
00:50:07It wasn't samosas.
00:50:08It was…
00:50:09Bandheep wants to get into the meeting.
00:50:11Okay.
00:50:11Everybody gets an equal voice.
00:50:13Okay, one minute.
00:50:14Bandheep and Kali want to get into the meeting.
00:50:16Or Bandheep.
00:50:17Inside…
00:50:17Inside Iran is a photo feature, Raj.
00:50:20Done.
00:50:20Sorry about…
00:50:21Go together.
00:50:2220 pages, Raj.
00:50:25Rajdeep…
00:50:2520 pages, Mr. Puri.
00:50:27Rajdeep…
00:50:27Inside Iran, only photojournalist goes.
00:50:29No, it's a photo…
00:50:30No, it's a photo feature.
00:50:31Photo feature?
00:50:32Yeah.
00:50:32You go to Iran?
00:50:33Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:50:36Huh?
00:50:36Yes.
00:50:39Rajdeep, a cover story like this shall have several elements.
00:50:43It will go into some 24, 30 pages.
00:50:46So many of the things that we are discussing will be part of the cover story, whatever be
00:50:50the cover.
00:50:51If there's a reporter inside Iran, then inside Iran will be the cover because nobody has it.
00:50:56But there will be many elements to it.
00:50:58You know, our energy situation, is there a long-term solution to the energy crisis?
00:51:04The diplomatic alliances will be a story or diplomatic combinations will be a story.
00:51:11The larger economy will be a story.
00:51:15Defense…
00:51:15So it's a full issue on the war?
00:51:17What happens to the speakers?
00:51:18No confidence motion, elections in Bengal, all of that doesn't matter?
00:51:22It will be there in the magazine.
00:51:24The magazine is a thick one.
00:51:26If I take you back to how it used to be in the meetings, the consolation prize, which
00:51:33Raj used to mention, okay, it's not the cover, it's the corner.
00:51:36Right?
00:51:37So in the old design of India today, the second most important story was corner on the side.
00:51:42Right?
00:51:43So if you don't get the cover, you get the corner.
00:51:45So maybe the corner will be something.
00:51:48It's a comprehensive magazine.
00:51:50It has to cover everything.
00:51:51We've got the editor to take the final choice.
00:51:54Are you, by the way, the way they are making it out to be, that under the veneer of democracy,
00:51:58there's a bit of an authoritarian in you.
00:52:00Listen.
00:52:01That your word is final.
00:52:02Rajdeep, before you speak AP, I mean, he used to tell me things like, this is a dog's
00:52:08breakfast of a story.
00:52:09How can you even publish this, you know?
00:52:11And then I didn't have a dog in those days.
00:52:13But let's clarify about Arun's, your claim of him being authoritarian.
00:52:17I mean, because it's terrifying.
00:52:19Hang on.
00:52:19One second.
00:52:19One second.
00:52:22They're demonizing him all the time.
00:52:25Exactly.
00:52:26You can't demonize Arun Puri.
00:52:27Actually, he has never been dictator.
00:52:29I must tell you.
00:52:30I was just going to make that point.
00:52:31He has been overruled by us many times.
00:52:33So there he is.
00:52:34He had the final view.
00:52:35One of the big things that worked.
00:52:36But rarely did ever he overruled.
00:52:39No, no.
00:52:39I think Prabhu took the words of my mouth.
00:52:40Exactly what I was going to say.
00:52:41So you don't push him again and again.
00:52:42What is the point of view?
00:52:43He has a great quality, which is one, even if he said today that this should be the cover,
00:52:49but you came back the next day and said, this is the logic of it.
00:52:52He would say, let's go with it.
00:52:53That, I think, is the greatness.
00:52:55Okay.
00:52:57I'm unpredictable.
00:53:00I just want to say.
00:53:01Yeah, go ahead.
00:53:02Just the last word on insight.
00:53:03It is a classic magazine story.
00:53:06Meaning to get a good writer in there to give the sound, smells, and the feeling.
00:53:12Because newspapers carry this bomb today, that bomb tomorrow is going to happen.
00:53:20TV showing all the visuals in terms of things and in the end all the talking heads.
00:53:25But nobody has got there to get the real sense of their heart.
00:53:28But we need a better picture than that.
00:53:30Pandip.
00:53:30Oh, yeah, of course.
00:53:31You need a better picture.
00:53:32You can't have that as the picture on the cover.
00:53:35You are going to need a better picture.
00:53:39Rajdeep.
00:53:40I'll tell you the picture.
00:53:41Yeah, yeah.
00:53:42Tell us the picture.
00:53:43There will be a destruction of a building there and a woman crying in front with her family.
00:53:49Okay.
00:53:50So, when you do a cover story of these dimensions, there will be many stories that run alongside
00:53:55it.
00:53:55For example, India's resources crisis.
00:54:01Yeah.
00:54:02The GDP has gone up.
00:54:02The only thing that has not caught up with the GDP.
00:54:05Agriculture is about where it should be three and a half percent.
00:54:08The only thing that has not caught up and has actually declined is mining.
00:54:13Right?
00:54:13So, why does India, what is this chronic resource crisis for India which has gone on now forever?
00:54:20So, there will be many side stories like that.
00:54:23Taken, points taken.
00:54:25I think we've decided on the cover.
00:54:26We are putting the cover with a new picture that Bandip is going to create.
00:54:30He's hopefully going to be sent into Iran along with the journalists.
00:54:34Along with me.
00:54:34Along with Raj Chengappa.
00:54:37Hopefully, if boss agrees.
00:54:38I never presume.
00:54:39Right?
00:54:39You're going to try and get an exclusive interview with Mujtaba Khmernai as part of the deal.
00:54:44If he's ally you.
00:54:45If he's – sorry.
00:54:47No, at the moment, he's just given a statement only last night.
00:54:50But I want to now come to the real crucial part.
00:54:53Right?
00:54:53We've been discussing this for 50 minutes.
00:54:55And of course, what Ń‚Đ°ĐĽ is Khanumay kya hai?
00:55:00I believe that's one of the reasons why the office was at Grunot Place so you could go
00:55:05to any place and –
00:55:07Go right down and have –
00:55:08And this was the first pre, this was pre Suggy Zomato day.
00:55:12So you could actually go there.
00:55:13Yes.
00:55:13The editorial meeting wasn't over until the editorial eating was done.
00:55:18So the editorial meeting wasn't over until the editorial eating was done.
00:55:24So what is in the food, Mr. Puri?
00:55:26A.P., what's for food?
00:55:27There should be a consensus.
00:55:28There's a better consensus than cover stories about food.
00:55:32There was the host, there was barcos, or you sent…
00:55:38And wengers if you were in a hurry.
00:55:40The host, mostly the host.
00:55:41A.P.: We write Dunkin' for food.
00:55:44Khaanee Fluorid, everything with food.
00:55:46Think about it, write it in thecause.
00:55:48A.P.'s point of view.
00:55:49A.P.: What's your favorite food?
00:55:52I don't have the Nikita, what's that.
00:55:57J.P.: What do you want Raj?
00:56:04R.P.: What should I want for lunch?
00:56:06J.P.: Not too interested.
00:56:10Mr. Panicler, what would you like?
00:56:11He's not too interested.
00:56:11For lunch? What do you want for lunch? You're okay. Swapan?
00:56:14No priorities.
00:56:15Shekhar, what do you want for lunch? The editor is willing to give, the editor chief
00:56:19is willing to give you what you want.
00:56:20By this time, I was so hungry. Anything that did not have cheese in it.
00:56:25When newsroom it, food gets discussed.
00:56:26Kaveri, what do you want?
00:56:27We always went for wengers. By the time I came into the edit meetings, I think we were
00:56:33down on resources. We never went to host or burkos. We always had wengers.
00:56:38I know you write on food when you go on election coverage.
00:56:41You write on food. Food is not a priority for a journalist.
00:56:46Journalists say news is priority.
00:56:48Which food is good or bad, that is a choice.
00:56:51Good show.
00:56:51Yes, okay. Preethi is coming again. Preethi, please come.
00:56:54The reason I'm interjecting again this conversation, which is of course coming to an end, is the
00:56:58new generation India Today newsroom has added to what you guys came together.
00:57:03So if you turn around, do you think, do you agree with this cover?
00:57:09Does that make sense?
00:57:11You have a bit of everything where all of you, all your ideas have been taken together
00:57:16and we have a cover there. And Kaveri, you've got your cover.
00:57:20AP, you want to go with that? He might put it on Truth Social.
00:57:28No. No. We're a serious magazine.
00:57:30Okay. On that serious note, thank you all very much for being part of this conversation.
00:57:37It's been wonderful to get all this experience of 360-odd years. You can add my 37 and we cross
00:57:44400, which is not bad.
00:57:46But just to have 400 years of experience around this round table, to get a sense of just what made
00:57:53India today, India today, and hopefully India tomorrow as well.
00:57:58Just ladies and gentlemen, give them all a very big hand for what they've contributed.
00:58:02It is quite remarkable to have had 50 years of journalism in this one room.
00:58:07Please stand up and raise the warmest applause you can because these are men and women like that that have
00:58:14actually etched the last 50 years of journalism, not just India today.
00:58:20Keep it going. Keep it going. As I call upon stage, Ms. Kali Puri, Vice Chairperson, Executive Editor-in-Chief,
00:58:27India Today Group, to come up.
00:58:32On stage and present a small token of our appreciation to our esteemed panelists.
00:58:58Rajdeep, it won't be complete without you taking a selfie with our giant editors. You don't know how to take
00:59:06a selfie.
00:59:11I want to add a few things to what all of you said, which Rajdeep being part of both as
00:59:19a bridge should have, but I'm adding it now.
00:59:22Which is that all of you talked about getting in reporters into Iran. I want to say that we were
00:59:28in Iran as the last Indian channel there before the war started.
00:59:32And in fact, our team landed in Delhi on Saturday morning, and a few hours later, Tehran was bombed.
00:59:42So we were very much there. And I have the greatest privilege to be working with a team now, which
00:59:49is very similar to all of you.
00:59:51We have something in TV called the Rumal Strategy, where you put your Rumal on the opportunity.
00:59:57I said, I will go to Iran first. And you actually have a bunch of reporters who are fighting to
01:00:03go into a war zone.
01:00:05And that really is the greatest privilege I think me and AP have, to have a team that wants to
01:00:11be in a war zone, even to tell a story.
01:00:15And it is the greatest privilege of my life to have heard from all of you. And I've grown up
01:00:21with all of your stories because that used to be dinner table for us.
01:00:24And to have a team now which is equally passionate about their subject and to be sitting in a newsroom
01:00:32listening to them on a daily basis is just fantastic.
01:00:35And last point, we have four reporters in the war zones right now. We have a reporter in Dubai, a
01:00:41reporter in Israel, and a reporter in – where am I missing? – Israel.
01:00:46Israel, Dubai, Lebanon, and Washington. So four places, all involved. Tehran, we're waiting for a visa.
01:00:53But as soon as we get one, you will have eyes on Iran as well. So thank you so much.
01:00:58Thank you.
01:01:02Rajdeep, will you take that picture that we can mark this event? Selfie.
01:01:14I'll hold you up.
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