M Anand promoted as editor of Outlook Business. Anand joined the magazine in July 2007 and has been its executive editor since then. Anand will replace Sonal Sachdev, who quit recently to move to television.
On his new role, Anand says, “In terms of the responsibilities coming with the newly acquired position, I do not see too many changes as of now. This is so because we at Outlook Business believe in inclusive leadership. But the idea and efforts will be directed to sharpen and further extend this identity in the external market, to better communicate with our readers and marketers.”
He believes that in a business magazine, there is always scope for improvement in content and reach. One has to continuously work towards lifting the standards of the content on offer, considering the hard reality that newspapers and the Internet are too caught up with the events of the day to provide indepth and comprehensive coverage of issues.
Anand points out that in comparison to a general interest magazine, a business magazine has to enhance its value as a product by offering engaging and stimulating content to readers. The idea is to penetrate the market in search of more readers by getting them to sample the product. There is always a section of key readership to be tapped, apart from attracting an average reader.
“The coverage in the magazine should be strong enough to make the reader enjoy the issues taken up. Ideas should grip a reader and convince her to stay on and get hooked to the product. This is the only way for business magazines to grow in terms of readership, by making more people read business titles,” he explains.
Anand has been in the industry for nearly 14 years. He started his career as a research analyst in 1994. After switching over to journalism, he did an enjoyable stint with The Financial Express. His next stop was Business Standard, where he spent nearly eight years, before joining Outlook Business in 2007.
One thing that Anand wishes to see changing in the field of magazine reporting is the acceptance of intellectual ownership of individual work by journalists. He believes magazine reporting is all about nurturing ideas; good journalism is nothing but great ideas.