Ravina Raj Kohli, President, Star News Channel

“A good day for me is when both sides – the opposition and the ruling parties – call in to complain that we are not with them. It feels fantastic. I like to maintain a sense of balance. Star News Channel is about news, not views. It’s not about agenda; it’s about information.”

Joining the STAR group as President, STAR News Channel, Ravina is Indian television’s first woman CEO. With a career spanning 15 years, Kohli started as a trainee copywriter with HTA, graduated to Creative Head, Grey Advertising, Singapore and set up her own radio and television production houses. Taking a hiatus, she studied Feature Filmmaking & Broadcast News at New York University, and returning to India, joined Sony Entertainment Television, moving up to become Senior VP, Programming and Marketing. She has also worked AS CEO, HFCL – Nine Broadcasting India. She is the recipient of several awards for television and radio programming.

In this session, Kohli chats with Jasmeen Dugal at JP Greens Golf Club over a glass of wine about the change in viewership patterns, STAR’s expectations from content providers, and debates on whether channels can afford the profligacy of broadcasting what they feel is worth watching viz-a-viz giving in to viewers’ demands.

Q. What are your expectations from content providers?

Any channel primarily produces its own content. Content providers come in when specialized programming comes in, which is difficult for your own infrastructure to produce.

The first thing I do when we talk about producing content for the channel is to meet them with our editorial guidelines – if you don’t understand what we are trying to do with our channel, where we are positioned, what our guidelines are, you can’t work for us.

Q. On a broad spectrum, what changes do you see in the television viewership pattern today? What kind of news appeals most to the viewers today?

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The change has been mammoth. Audiences have suddenly got a number of news channels thrown at them. We’re going through a phase of surfing and sampling. I’m very pleased to note that this is an impetus to the growth of the news genre. People who did not watch news earlier are now watching it. Not so long back, news was classically targetted at the 40+ male who wanted dope on politics and business. Today, because of the things we are doing differently, news has become relevant to more people. And it’s only been six months since the big turn – the new launches.

I am sure over time, news will win back a lot of lost audience. I have a theory – when I was growing up, we used to watch news as a family. We had just one television set in the house. Entertainment in the evening became the reward for the housewife, dad and granddad had no hope in hell of getting the remote control! And the reward through television ceased to be news and current affairs; it became soaps, sagas and sitcoms. And because news was so unidimensional in nature, it failed to involve people other than that age group, and therefore, it became a stagnant market.

But now because there are so many different categories of news, so many things that are discussed – both in electronic and print media – the quest for knowledge, information and talking points is fast developing among women, and especially among the younger generation who probably didn’t watch news on a regular basis, giving preference to sports or soaps, are watching news on a regular feed.

Q. What are the values held by Star News?

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We are very sensitive to family values. Star News is conscious of the fact that in India we are catering to the Indians, we are in the Indian space. We cannot go into any areas, visually or editorially, that disturb the equilibrium of being an Indian.

Star News is not into looking for negative stories. I’m not into propagating the myth that this is an awful country. I’d rather celebrate India. We’re one of the only channels which has so much defense coverage. We believe in the values of the judiciary, of the young forces. And I believe that this country needs and wants to look at progress and hope, rather than just look at scams. We are very conscious of not inserting violent images. We like to be sensitive to our audience, and we don’t like to surprise them. A good day for me is when both sides – the opposition and the ruling parties – call in to complain that we are not with them. I like to maintain a sense of balance. Star News Channel is about news, not views. It’s not about agenda; it’s about information.

Q. Is the trend of mixing content with the message ruining the credibility of ‘hard news?’

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As long as you respect your audience and tell them, ‘Buddy, this is an advertorial,’ and give them the option of ‘view it or leave it,’ it’s fine. But if it’s insidious, it’s not correct because as a news subsidiary, you can’t have an agenda.

Q. Are there any plans of an English news channel?

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Star News is at present not looking to spread its wings in other languages – be it English or any other Indian languages, apart from Hindi. Of course, as and when a viable proposition for an English language news channel comes up, we'll look into it.

Q. Tell me honestly – with so much competition, can channels afford the profligacy of broadcasting what they feel is worth watching, or do they give in to viewers’ demands?

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Television channels cannot afford the luxury of showing viewers what they think is worth watching; today, viewers are demanding what they want. If you don't give them what they want, they skip you. It’s that simple.

We are continually in touch with our viewers through SMS and e-mails, and seek their feedback. With so many attractive options, a desire has to be created amongst them to watch a particular news channel.

Q. Do you agree that anchors become synonymous with channels?

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Over time, anchors do become synonymous with news channels. Right now, there are too many things happening, but over time – yes. We don’t have any core examples in India because the industry is too young; in other parts of the world, anchors have been known to drive viewership. And so have reporters!

I personally think that there is no harm in having a loyal viewership for certain anchors who create programming around themselves; it’s a good strategy.

Q. Is there anything in particular that you’d like to change in the programming?

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We are always very innovative and fresh, since we’ve been around only six months! And innovation is the key at Star News – we get bored sooner than our audiences are!

Q. But hasn’t ‘Star Newj,’ as it is sometimes referred to due to the Hindi content, marred the brand image?

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No!

Q. On a final note, are there any new programming initiatives on the cards?

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We’ve already got so many! Things are still being planned; perhaps we’ll do something early next year – the elections are taking up nearly all our resources. I’d prefer to consolidate and build what we have. We have so many good brands and a very limited airtime; how many shows can we keep throwing at the viewers?

Q. What is your personal definition of ‘news?’ What constitutes news?

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‘Do I need to know this?’ That, according to me, is news. ‘Will it empower me in some way?’ ‘Is it relevant to me?’ All this boils down to one question – ‘Do I need to know this?’ If the answer is ‘yes,’ that piece of information constitutes news.

Q. What is the ‘Unique Editorial Proposition’ of Star News?

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The editorial positioning of the channel is ‘Aapko Rakhe Aage,’ a fertile line with so many connotations. The connotation we most believe in is reflected in our stories, and everything we want to do editorially. It is that people come first; it’s about society being stronger than state.

That is our unique editorial proposition, which is why Star News is so much more broad based. We make the effort to do things ranging from a ‘Mera Gaon, Mera Desh,’ which is a fifteen-minute journey into how rural India is fast catching up with its urban counterpart; to ‘City 60,’ where focus is on famous people, glamour, nightlife, crime and passion; to all kinds of things.

Q. So what is the differentiating factor of Star News per se?

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We found that there was a huge gap. Originally, when broadcasting – which is very young in this country – came into being, it came off the back of a National image. And I don’t think the mindset ever changed that news is politics. I think politics is a strong element in news; it is not the only element in news.

Our channel caters to a lot more interests and today you can see other channels emulating it. I believe that our distinction lies in the fact that we consistently drive in the point – ‘Aapko Rakhe Aage.’ We’re working on all these elements – it takes some time to settle in.

Q. Are customized shows becoming a trend among news channels? Is this a part of the STAR news programming strategy?

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If you see the way media is being consumed, any kind of media – whether it is electronic or print – customization is becoming a trend. And that is so because people are finding relevance in more focused things. Today if I want to know about fashion, I have a fashion supplement or a fashion show; if we want to dispense more information about art, Page 3 events, famous personalities, politics or big national issues, we have to customize. And that is the strategy of Star News.

We have ‘Mera Gaon, Mera Desh,’ which looks at smaller towns; we have ‘National Reporter,’ which is a ‘reporter's news bulletin’ where our senior news journalists cover the day's domestic news of national importance; ‘Star Report’ is the big bulletin, and is a rollercoaster look at the day's news from India and around the world; ‘City 60,’ which is customized for the metros, to the more serious political stuff.

Q. NDTV is gearing up to launch the ‘Breakout’ concept; will Star News follow suit?

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Everybody is applying for it. Frankly, it’s nothing new or exciting. It’s something that is very viable to do. We’ve been talking about it for a long time; we just didn’t make a brou-ha-ha about it! We’ll only do it when we can do it well.