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Tag: Gaon Connection

  • Nyoooz among 10 Indian digital media cos. to get Google funding

    Nyoooz among 10 Indian digital media cos. to get Google funding

    NEW DELHI: Noida-based digital news startup Nyoooz is among 10 media outlets from India that have been selected for receiving YouTube innovation funding as part of the Google News Initiative (GNI) to help digital newsrooms and publishers strengthen online video capabilities and experiment with new formats for video journalism.

    Apart from Nyoooz, founded and headed by former TV journalist-turned-entrepreneur Alok Verma, the other Indian news organisations are Asianet News Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd, Bharatiya Digital Party (BhaDiPa), FACTLY, Gaon Connection, India Today Group, Live Data Visualisation Pvt Ltd, NDTV, NYOOOZ, ShepHertz and Video Volunteers.

    These companies form a group of 87 media outlets selected from 23 countries, wire news agency IANS reported.

    According to a blog spot on Tuesday by Timothy Katz, director of news partnerships, YouTube, the announcement “reinforces our commitment to supporting a strong future for news video”.

    As part of the launch of Google News Initiative in March, YouTube committed $25 million funding to support globally the future of news.

    “Hailing from 23 countries around the world, they represent a diverse array of broadcasters, traditional and digital publishers, local media, agencies and creators, but all share a commitment to quality journalism and a spirit of innovation,” Katz added.

    Many of the projects selected for the innovation funding are focused on expanding newsroom video operations and trying out new ways of reporting news through video — from reaching younger audiences online to exploring live and fact-checking formats.

    Other projects look at the sustainability of news organisations, including work on new business models and programmes to support a healthy news ecosystem.

    “Over the coming months, we’ll be sharing insights gained from the projects and giving newsrooms the opportunity to benefit from the learnings,” Katz explained.

    Nyoooz is a digital news media outlet started by a former journalist in the same way as former NDTV anchor Pankaj Pachauri ventured into GoNews, India’s first mobile app-based news channel. Serial entrepreneur and investor Srikant Sastri too had invested in Nyoooz realizing the potential.

  • Neelesh Misra, The Quint to unveil webseries on everyday heroism

    Neelesh Misra, The Quint to unveil webseries on everyday heroism

    MUMBAI: While celebrating the success of fictional heroes, we often overlook the heroes of everyday life. ‘The Neelesh Misra show’, a new web series brought by The Quint, will narrate the extraordinarily heroic deeds of ordinary people.

    Neelesh Misra, the famous journalist who has been dealing with stories of rural india through Hindi news portal Gaon Connection, has teamed up with The Quint. The 26-episode series will connect the urban population with rural India through real-life stories. The show will premier on 27 February 2018 and will be available on Quint Hindi’s YouTube channel and Facebook account as well.

    The upcoming series has an underlying theme of ‘hamare hero hamare aas-pas hain’ that is ‘our heroes are among us.’ The audience will come to know about those brave hearts who are silently working for society in areas such as women empowerment, health, farming and rural aspirations.

    “At Gaon Connection, we have been telling stories related to the heartland for five years now. But it is really exciting for me personally that we are collaborating with The Quint to take these stories to a far bigger, English- and Hindi-speaking audience in urban India. I hope our show will help them better understand issues that are often on the margins of mainstream media,” Misra said of the show.

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  • ‘Humara Gaon Connection’ on DD National aims to bridge the rural-urban gap

    ‘Humara Gaon Connection’ on DD National aims to bridge the rural-urban gap

    NEW DELHI: Doordarshan has commenced a show to bridge the ever-increasing gap between rural and urban India to explore role models, innovations and innovators, and success stories from rural India.

               

    The show ‘Humara Gaon Connection’ has commenced telecast on Mondays and Tuesdays at 8.00 pm every week on DD National.

     

    The show is aimed to be the voice of the rural India to project the amazing transformation underway in the hinterland. There is rise in rural incomes which has had a cascading effect in the form of changing aspirations, educational standards, eating habits, entertainment, consumption habits, and in a larger sense, their worldview.

     

    Neelesh Mishra, better known for his popular radio talk show ‘Yaadon ka Idiotbox’ on Big FM, is anchoring the show. He is an award winning journalist, author and story teller.

    The show is inspired by the newspaper ’Gaon Connection’, touted as the India’s first rural newspaper. The show is conceptualised to break the stereotypes and myths propagated across the 600,000-plus villages and their residents.

  • DD revamps prime time viewing with five new shows

    DD revamps prime time viewing with five new shows

    NEW DELHI: After having revamped its afternoon programming leading to a spurt in viewership, Doordarshan National is now all set to give a new look to its prime time programming.

     

    The new programmes, Nadiyaan Gaati Hain, Bharat Ki Shaan: Let’s Dance, Earth Matters, Gaon Connection and Yatra will start from 6 June. Through this the channel aims to connect with its audience yet again, with fresh content which is full of entertainment and information.

     

     Nadiyaan Gaati Hain is to commence telecast every Friday starting today at 7.00 pm. It is a one-of-a-kind travelogue documentary series on rivers that explores the historical, cultural and social journey of these rivers. Produced by Anupama Productions, this 13-part series delves deep into the realms of history, mythology and culture to bring out gems of unique information about the six significant rivers of Madhya Pradesh- Narmada, Betwa, Shipra, Tapti, Chambal and Sone.

     

    After five fantastic seasons of unparalleled success of music and dance reality shows, Bharat Ki Shaan: Let’s Dance air every Saturday and Sunday at 8:30 pm. This season has a new look and the new format creates an edge over the monotonous dancing reality shows. Judged by ace choreographers Pony Verma and Sandip Soparrkar, the show is aimed at the young aspirants and the young-at-heart viewers.

     

     World renowned environment filmmaker Mike Pandey’s Earth Matters returns with season four from 8 June, every Sunday at 10:30 am. While the series has been running without a break, the last few weeks saw DD repeating older programmes. Directed and produced by Pandey, Earth Matters take a hard look at the state of the environment; the diminishing natural resources, the fast disappearing forest cover, the endangered wildlife, urban pollution and the pressures on rural India.

     

     Like the previous seasons, the 26-episode series commencing on Sunday is not just a doom and gloom series it provides solutions and remedial action that each individual can take at his own level.

     

     Shot this time in HD format, the series have already won accolades internationally. It has also led to the creation of Earth Matters Clubs all over the country with young people, particularly in rural or semi-urban areas working to put into action the xuggestions given in the programme to improve the ecology and fight climate change.

     

    Gaon Connection will go on air from 9 June, every Monday and Tuesday at 8:00 pm to meet the unmet hunger for information in rural India and to inform urban India about the transformation underway in the hinterland. The idea is to build a bridge with quality content through a connection with rural India where DD already has a strong hold on viewership.

     

     Yatra commencing from 11 June every Wednesday at 8:00 pm is a travel show. It is a religious travel guide which focuses on a spiritual journey around Indian temples. The show enlightens the viewer and takes him for a mesmerizing journey of these havens of peace.

  • Gaon Connection: Going beyond the village

    Gaon Connection: Going beyond the village

    It‘s seeking to further its connection with its core audience: those from rural India or those interested in it. Rural newspaper,Gaon Connection which hit the stands just as 2012 was ending, is now looking at going transmedia with an audio feed planned for handsets and short TV snippets on the anvil for TV news channels, and also spreading internationally.

    Founded by veteran journo and lyricist Neelesh Misra, along with his buddy Karan Dalal, with the aim of catering to the rural readers of India, Gaon Connection operates across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

    The Lucknow-based publication has a team of 15 full timers and scores of stringers all over India. Gaon Connection’s circulation has gone up from 7,000 copies at inception to 10,000 as of now, according to Misra. The 14 page Rs 5 priced weekly has a claimed readership of around 120,000.

    He says the Rs 5 tag is not too high as rural Indians spend about Rs 30 a month for their feature phone services. Therefore, Rs 20 a month for a newspaper which keeps them informed about developments important to them is quite reasonable.

    Misra has plans to increase readership of Gaon Connection and has drawn up ground activities to enable that to happen. Reading sessions are planned for schools and at panchayat gatherings, where reporters will read out the newspaper to locals.

    Additionally, it is roping in milk companies and SIM card distributors to further the availability of Gaon Connection.

    A small marketing and sales team in Delhi and Lucknow has been pitching the publication to advertisers and pulling in revenue from mainly local ones. Now Misra‘s gameplan is to attract large multinational brands and he is in conversation with agencies such as GroupM and Mindshare for the same.

    Misra got UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav‘s support who dropped in at the newspaper‘s launch in December

    He believes that Gaon Connection will create job opportunities for rural youth. “For instance, we are planning to call in young people in Kanaura village in UP and train them to be journalists and distributors. What this will do is if you have a reporter and distributor in every block, you are able to create a lot of white collar talent which will give a voice to those regions,” says Misra.

    Misra believes it is now time to take the voice of Indian villages across transmedia platforms such as television and the mobile. An in-house team is in the process of scripting snippets to be telecast on news channels. Talks are on with two national channels for the same, he says, without revealing the names.

    “The ideas for the television snippets will grow from the newspaper. The vision is to eventually have a rural TV channel,” he shares. Misra plans to launch the TV snippets by end of the year.

    Gaon Connection has got rural readers asking for more; Misra is targeting a huge jump in readership

    Additonally, on the anvil is what he calls India‘s first audio newspaper. Misra (who is an experienced radio “story teller” courtesy his show on Big FM 92.7) is gearing up to create a dial-in audio feed for mobile users. The service will work on a subscription basis and will be available in the next four to five months. Talks are on with several telecom service providers.

    Going forward, Misra plans to take Gaon Connection overseas catering to the non-resident Indians (NRIs). “We are looking at setting up Gaon Connection chapters worldwide. We have received interest from folks in Singapore, Washington, London,” he elaborates.

    Misra used his personal savings – and even sold his home in New Delhi – to launch Gaon Connection. He now hopes to rope in investors to help take his pet project to the next level. His wife Yamini who joined him sometime back to look after distribution and building the business, believes in his vision. Now all that he has to do is make those with bulging pockets also fall in line.