Businessworld answers Weekly Vs Fortnightly question
by Anant RangaswamiThe latest issue of Businessworld, the weekly from Ananda Bazar Group, sees the editor writing a letter to readers stating that the magazine would, henceforth, be a fortnightly.
“The Businessworld issue you are holding is the last weekly issue of the magazine. In two weeks, you will read the new fortnightly issue…,” he says.
“…In 1999, when we had turned weekly, there was a very clear need to do so. Twitter did not exist, and the Internet contained largely static content when it came to news. There was just one business news channel and it focused mostly on stocks…,” he adds.
The last weekly edition
And finally, he says, “…Over time though, the world changed and so did BW’s core content. As the Internet matured, and more dedicated business channels were born, they took over the primary role of disseminating news…News became an increasingly small portion of what BW offered….”
So this is it, the last cover of the last weekly issue of Businessworld.
The frequency of the magazine was once seen as both a virtue and a differentiator. “Businessworld is the largest selling Indian business magazine, and the only business weekly in the country,” it says, even today, in the ‘About Us’ section on their website.
When Newsweek announced the closure of the print edition and said that they would go all-digital, Firstpost had wondered what the implications were for print magazines in India. Businessworld’s frequency change is the first visible manifestation.
It’s ironic that Businessworld, which launched as a fornightly, turned weekly because of the need to keep up with changing media and media consumption. The Internet was reporting the news faster than could have been imagined earlier, and the two week lag made print look like a dinosaur. But with changing times, and more efficient web products, even a week is too much of a lag.
The BW decision makes sense: moving away from news to analysis. “News became an increasingly small portion of what BW offered,” the editor says in his letter.
In print, news cannot compete with the instant nature of digital. Analysis and comment will present value to readers, and a longer cycle (a fortnight instead of 7 days), will give the magazine more time to make studied and considered comments on the news of the immediate past.
The writing was on the wall. Businessworld has chosen to see it. Others will, as well. What’s next? News magazines?
Source : www.firstpost.com, Anant Rangaswami
