Dainik Bhaskar group 'silently' launches English newspaper DB Post

Dainik Bhaskar group that runs the second biggest Hindi newspaper in the country has launched an English daily.

After many years, this is the third attempt of the Hindi media group at launching an English paper. 

It had a paper, The Bhaskar daily, in English. Later it was re-launched and named National Mail. The paper was closed in 2000.

But now the group has launched its third English paper DB Post. The paper is said to be brainchild of Bhaskar group MD Sudhir Agarwal's wife Jyoti Agarwal.

The launch was subdued. It hasn't created a stir in journalist circles so far. We tried to find but there has been no website or online presence of the newly launched paper. This is surprising as print is accompanied by web these days, even in small publications.

UPDATE: A year later, why DB Post failed to make a mark in Bhopal?

There is no internet presence in the form of Facebook page or Twitter handle. We have found that many journalists have also quit the paper within days of its launch. The reason is that editors with Hindi background were posted and this caused bickering and resentment in editorial.

Some reporters from Dainik Bhaskar have been inducted who write the copy in Hindi and later it is translated. But Dainik Bhaskar is known for its strong marketing tactics. It has to be seen how the paper works and if the group manages to push it aggressively and sell the paper. 

Good luck, Bhaskar group.

Dainik Bhaskar group launching its English daily newspaper soon

This is an old post. The paper has now been launched. Read the latest at this link: Dainik Bhaskar silently launches English daily DB Post

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The Dainik Bhaskar group that has always harboured plans to own a major English newspaper, is now ready to start a daily.

The DB group didn't get the benefit out of DNA, the joint venture of Zee and Bhaskar. The top level hirings have begun and it is learnt that the Bhaskar media group aims at beginning this newspaper within the next few months.

Bhaskar was steadily moving ahead with its plans. The first indication came when they launched their English news website Dailybhaskar.com sometime ago.

Bhaskar has presence in half-a-dozen states and is a mass circulated Hindi daily. It owns Gujarat and Marathi newspapers under th title Divya Bhaskar.

In the eighties, Bhaskar had started a newspaper as English Bhaskar which was later renamed as National Mail. After running for more than a decade, National Mail was abruptly closed. But the Bhaskar toyed with the idea of acquiring an existing national newspaper.

The aim is now to get into the English market in order to acquire more clout, influence and seek joint advertisements for both languages. Its Hindi news website is considered miles ahead of other papers because of its saucy coverage and instant news alerts.

It has news from small towns also which other websites lack. Times of India, Hindustan Times, NDTV, IBN-Live, are some of the websites that have been running for long but there is adequate space for English news site that gets news from hundreds of cities in India.

If Bhaskar gets into English media, it can change the scene. With Lok Sabha elections next year, the Agarwals may be hoping that they would take off their newspaper soon. Already, the DNA editions which are under Bhaskar's control--like in Jaipur and Indore--could be used as regional editions.

UPDATE: Why DB POST failed to make a mark in Bhopal?

Who is the Editor of Times of India?

Do you know who is the editor of Times of India, the largest circulated English daily in the country (or world)?

Chances are that you won't know. Most journalists are unaware and the paper hardly wishes that the readers would know the editor.

You associate Chandan Mitra, MJ Akbar, Vir Sanghvi with Pioneer, Asian Age and Hindustan Times, but what about TOI?

The Jains have devalued the status of editor so much that it doesn't matter if this paper has an editor or not. It is such a difficult question that some guy had to post it on Yahoo Answers, seeking an anwer to the query.

Managers replaced Editors at Times of India long ago.

After the famous Dileep Padgaonkar statement, when he had boasted that Times editor is second only to Prime Minister in terms of importance in the affairs of nation, the wings of editors were clipped. And now no body really knows or cares about the editor of ToI.