Hyderabad blues; drawing a blank at Eenadu

Billboard of the TRS party at a busy intersection in Hyderabad.

Hyderabad does not seem to have peak hours. Because the roads are choc-a-bloc through the day and late into the night.

From my base in Lakdi-ka-Pul I am hoping to get calls from the Desk of three news organizations. (Being on an assignment where I travel to cities and towns, make blind calls to newspapers and am open to conversations with whoever has the time that day, I celebrate any interviews that come my way).

I am keen to meet up with the head of the Internet Division of Eenadu here in Hyderabad.  Started in 1974 by businessman Ramoji Rao, Eenadu revolutionized the world of Indian journalism by designing and publishing editions for all the districts of the former Andhra region and took it deeper - to the mandal level - when the then chief minister N T Rama Rao rejigged the state's administrative model.

I recall a talk that Eenadu's senior executive gave at a national media conference, as he made a presentation on the founding ideas and early success of this Telugu newspaper. He flashed an image on the screen of a small advert with a visual of a cow.

"We have fixed, standard designs when we market in the cattle market zones of the state," he said. "A space for a photo of the client's cattle and dummy lines where the client's message is written. The client gets to see the advert up front, the photo of the cattle is shot on the spot and the deal is done."

Eenadu not only circulated deep, and continues to do so. It also tapped a huge, untapped advertising market and reaped huge rewards. 

Eenadu is now a huge media business - films, studios, TV, internet, multi-media . . .

Today in Hyderabad, I was keen to listen to Eenadu's experience of leveraging New Media in its newspapers. A senior journalist promised to talk informally but later, refused to answer my calls to confirm our meeting. He then put me on to the HR department. HR asked me to e-mail my questions, which I did. 24 hours later I received a reply. Eenadu was not keen to provide details.

I was not surprised.