How would you celebrate your one year anniversary? Mint, the Indian business daily launched last year, did so with a full page article detailing all the mistakes it had made in the past year, and who made them, writes Stephen Brook.
Mint launched last year in India in partnership with the Wall Street Journal. It has the slogan "Refreshing clarity in business". It is the fifth national business paper in India but with a circulation of 120,000 is the second most popular. Pre-launch reader surveys told Mint editor Raju Narisetti that business papers lacked credibility. A dearth of quality reporters, advertorial is passed off as news, journalists lack accountability were some of the common complaints.
"We thought we could turn this lack of clarity into a weapon if you will, with our writing," Narisetti said. So to mark the paper's one year anniversary it published a full page corrections article. The article acknowledged the number of errors in the paper that year and who made them, whether it was reporters, subeditors, section editors or even the man at the top. "I read a lot of copy and I made about seven of those errors myself," said Narisette. The article was even accompanied by graphics and pie charts.
"It has helped establish an aura of trust and credibility," was Narisetti's comment on the project.
