For those of you having withdrawal symptoms because there has not been much to report on from inside the media houses the last few days, apologies, but that's how the news cycle goes. Despite what Geo would have you believe, breaking news does not happen every hour.
For those who can't wake up without their daily fix of news about Sultan Lakhani's Express Tribune: this is what I'm hearing from within. The paper is getting ready to launch early next month, either on April 7 (a Wednesday) or April 11 (a Sunday). Generally, new papers choose a weekday to launch but there is of course no hard and fast rule. Some people are still of the opinion that everything is not in place internally for a launch this soon but apparently the imported Polish designer has done a kick-ass job with the layout, which everyone seems to be very happy with.
Of the elements still lacking, Express Tribune has found attracting quality reporters a tad difficult and, as mentioned by some people in different comments, there is still some tension between some of the senior editorial staff who do not see eye to eye on administrative matters. The entire senior editorial staff was recently spotted at dinner at a Chinese restaurant this past week along with Bilal Lakhani (Sultan's son who has hands-on control of the paper) in what was apparently a team-building exercise. There is little doubt that the paper will launch with a bang. The only question is can the Lakhani's pull off and sustain a paper that gives the more established ones a run for their money?
In other news, sources claim that Jang Group's Mir Shakilur Rehman visited Raiwind for a tete a tete with Mian Nawaz Spanner-in-the-Works two days before the latter dropped his bombshell on the 18th Amendment. Why this meeting took place and what transpired during it, is up for speculation.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
17 comments:
I think the Paper will launch well, I have a friend at Express whose raving about the layout, but it would be interesting to see if they can break into the virtual monopoly of Dawn and the the News.
As it is, I don't think Dawn group can afford for it's only profitable business to take a financial beating.
Thanks for the update, XYZ. Do you think they will also sell it for 15 Rs. on week days or price will be little higher?
@Anon, the post was made by CPM, you were so keen to get price details that you forget to read who actually posted the blog entry ?
Why are you so upset that he got 3 letters wrong? Its not like these ppl post with their names anyway. I hear the price is much higher, more than 22 Rs.
what IS the point of this blog? get a life CafePyala!
@nayyares: Thanks for the clarification.
@Anon1249: Yeah dude, we're not like you who posts with your name :-p On a more serious note, however, I hope you're not right. As it is Pakistani papers have priced themselves out of most people's reach. Rs. 22 or above would be pretty much a non-starter.
@Anon408: You wrote: "what IS the point of this blog?" Oh, don't you know? It's to make your life a little bit less bland. I mean, what would you do if you had a life outside reading blogs you don't find interesting?
People who work there said that the price is somewhere between Rs22 and Rs25 -- around 40 to 45 pages, including IHT waalah material.
ET is catering to a "specific market" which can afford Rs25 per day (their words, not mine). Of course, this is secondhand information. :-)
I heard the price is a full 10 rs more than a weekday edition of Dawn....and as mentioned above there are 45-50 pages per copy...i wonder if even the english-paper reading market would want to pay that much for a newspaper
Could some one shed light on roughly what percentage of total revenue Pakistani newspapers generate from selling the paper vs the advertisements?
@XYZ: Since we do not use our names. Why get upset about our anon identity? If you got my anon number wrong, would it really be a big deal?
**OFF-TOPIC** does anyone else smell out DAWN's sudden change in bashing PML-N policy? even today, almost 60% of the total articles at their paper are about PML-N with serious offences against his party! clearly mentioning PML-N a Punjab Centric party with weak leadership and non-logical decisions, even some exploring their history of political blunders while proving PPP the largest party and their leadership more mature!
does it means Zardari has increased DAWN's aid program?
There is very little market for English news paper .
Just recall in feb 1990 THE NEWS
of jung group was launched .The they used high quality news print with five mags in a week the price was also ok but with the passage of time
they lost the quality with market share .The post of Khabrain group also failed .
I do not think Express Tribune will get any batter share if the price will be more then Rs 15/-
Also note that Dawn stop all week day magazines and only young word brought back with less pages.
"Batter" sey yaad aaya, I want icecream cake. :-(
OMG i haven't had icecream cake since i was a kid! me tooo! :(
40 friggin pages??!!! who the heck has that much time to read?? especially on paper!
There goes an entire forest in a week.
iPads any one?
40 pages? Raddi ki a bhao hai aajkal? I know it is a Rupee more for an English paper? Why? most are on same newsprint?
There is no second thoughts about EXPRESS TRIBUNE as a flop show not because a fancy artwork by polish designer , not because of the management but because of the man behind it named BILAL LAKHANI and his personal favoritism policy,
there is a very known quote that says
"WITH GREAT POWER comes GREAT RESPONSIBILITY"
i think BL should start thinking about that as early as he can....
There is a quote written on the lakson groups website ( board of directors ) page which is actually required within the family rather used as an employment poicy.
Post a Comment