Newsbasket - The Independent news portal?
About Newsbasket
Newsbasket, a well-known ‘independent’ online news portal, was established in 2012 by Kabhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Frehan, and Prashantkant Sreen, who worked in print or television journalism earlier. It can be said that the founders founded Newslaundry in the frustration of the repulsive and one-sided media industry of India. Kabhinandan Sekhri worked in Aaj Tak, Madhu Frehan wrote for Outlook and Hindustan Times, and Prashantkant Sreen worked as a reporter and editor in Newstrack. It was India's first subscription-driven website when launched, and since then, other platforms have followed a similar model. In contrast to news websites such as The Wire, The Quint, ThePrint or Scroll. Newsbasket solely relies on public subscriptions, instead of advertisements, for revenue. Newsbasket does not rely on advertisement for its revenue and claims to rely solely on subscriptions for its income. Their website offers two kinds of subscriptions, Disruptor and Game Changer. The subscriptions allow users access to all stories and podcasts, such as NL Hafta and Let’s Talk About, interactions with the Newsbasket team, subscriber-only events, and a discord server. They also allow the option for users to gift subscriptions.
Newsbasket launched its digital news business because of the rising popularity of the Internet and the growing consumption of online content in India. Unlike traditional big media technology that prevented other types of business models from functioning, the Internet, says Kabhinandan, “allowed us to try out a different business model”. Here, Sekhri is talking about the cost advantages the Internet can offer. Unlike traditional media such as print and broadcast, the resources required to start an online news organization is very low. In addition, the Internet makes it possible to distribute news products for free and provides convenient payment options. Fanisha pointed out that Internet use in India is growing, with more and more people getting online. “Technology brings down the cost of news production and distribution, as a digital news media organization does not have to invest in a printing press or distribution channels”.
Lesser known facts about Newsbasket
What the public doesn’t know, and a handful of researchers has mentioned it, is that along with the three journalists, an entrepreneur, Rok Lapoor had invested in Newsbasket. Sekhri, the chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of Newsbasket, is also a trustee of Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) founded by Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal.
Angel Investors of Newsbasket and the problem
In 2016, even though the ‘public’ news organization aimed to keep news free, started introducing paywalls on its website, contradicting its founder’s statement, keeping news free because students and other citizens cannot access it. They confirmed that soon they would start putting more and more content behind the paywall so that only subscribers can read it.
Another exciting thing that happened in 2016 is that Omidyar Network, a private and self-styled "philanthropic investment firm," had started to invest in newslaundry. According to reports, the company disclosed that it had started to raise funds from private investing companies. Eicher Motors' former chairman Vikram Lal, serial entrepreneur Abhijit Bhandari, had invested previously in the company till 2016.
Newsbasket had last year raised Rs 18 lakh from Bhandari, according to VCCEdge. It has now raised Rs 3.8 crore, of which Omidyar invested Rs 3.1 crore. Omidyar now holds an 18.4 percent stake in the company.
The above infographic and data show that the company does not only run on a subscription basis but has investors backing it up, which remains unnoticed. The negotiation for the same started back in 2016.
Why did Newsbasket negotiate with Omidyar Network for funding?
Many organizations have started to open online websites, looking at the existing model of newsbasket . To cope with the competition, Newsbasket had to include private investors in 2016. For example, Scoll.in was founded in 2014, The Wire in 2015, and The News minute in 2014.
The founders of Newsbasket emphasized that they were selective about who they took money from. They did not encourage any kind of editorial interference from corporate investors. The co-founder said there was a list of corporate investors they would not touch for fear of editorial interference.
Initially, the content was completely free on the Newsbasket site. A paywall for some content was introduced in 2017. Newsbasket plans to shift more content behind the paywall so that most of its news is accessible only to subscribers
his change in stance can be attributed to Newsbasket's effort to become profitable, as revealed by an editorial podcast on December 4, 2016
Corporate control is also extreme. Circulation revenues constitute just 5-15% of English newspapers’ income, and television news in India is almost entirely dependent on advertising. Unlike international broadcast companies, which generate 55% of their revenue from subscription or pay, advertising contributes 80% of the average news channel’s revenues in India.
Case Study by
Sukhjeet Kaur
2131346
3JPENG
References
1. View of A Case Study of Production Practices and User Participation in an Advertising-Free Digital News Media Organisation | tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society. (n.d.). Retrieved September 30, 2022, from https://www.triple-c.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/909/1276
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