In conversation with Abhishek Mazumdar, The Logical Indian

Abhishek Mazumdar is an Indian media entrepreneur and the Co-founder & CEO of The Logical Indian. He has been a key contributor to multiple leadership and startup summits, UN panel discussions, policy, and media consultation and has represented India in several international forums.

Agency Reporter- What is the fundamental ideology behind Logical Indian? Is there one or was there one when you started?

The fundamental thought has always been: Stories shape society.

We have always believed that meaningful content and information can shape a more informed generation. To have a progressive and rational society, we must feed the internet population with meaningful content and information which would shape a socially conscious mindset among the current and next generations.

The dismal state of media in India made us jump into the media business. We always wanted the media ecosystem to be more sensible, responsible, accountable, and accessible. So instead of cribbing and wanting any further, it was in late 2013 when we thought of doing something about it as the famous saying by Mahatma Gandhi goes – Be the change you want to see. 

It was in late 2013 when we decided to start The Logical Indian to deliver newsworthy stories in a visually compelling manner making it more consumable for the internet generation. The Logical Indian started as a Facebook Page and we were facebook only for almost a year which is also one of the reasons why we were able to quickly build our audience on Facebook, we had great traction and grew from 0 – 2million organic subscribers in less than a year. 

We started with putting out newsworthy content, most of which were handpicked/aggregated content back then. Year on year we kept on improving our coverage, moved to more original reports, prioritizing the underreported news and issues. Today The Logical Indian is the destination for the internet generation in India for all the verified, simplified, news stories.

AR- In a big country like India when the audience is heterogeneous and they either love you or hate you, how do you decide what to say every day?- 

We are largely known for reporting under-reported, attention-worthy, news stories. Given the reach and influence of our publication, being a responsible media, a lot of thought and analysis goes behind every story that we choose to do or drop. 

We have a common lens, as long as it is in the interest of the people, society, environment, we pursue the story. There’s a sense of purpose in why we do what we do. I think as a responsible media, you are not doing your job right if you are not making people around you uncomfortable. 

Now, what allows us this editorial freedom and independence is the fact that we are independent as of today. We have been bootstrapping and profitable. 

But I must say, as journalists, as publishers, it is absolutely essential to keep aside your own personal bias, prejudice, every time, when you pursue a story. We have always encouraged our newsroom on this aspect in particular. 

AR– India’s media startups are pushing the bounds of free expression. Can this digital revolution of news save Indian journalism for good? – 

What’s happening right now with the emergence of more media startups, is a good start but certainly not enough to save Indian journalism for good. Sustaining these media businesses is a real challenge, not just from external influences but more from a revenue standpoint. Besides, this digital revolution has also given rise to problems like misinformation and fake news. There are multiple aspects to it, but we certainly need more public-spirited and influential media around us. We have a long way to go before we can say things have changed for the better in Indian journalism. 

AR– How important is social media in your line of trade, given that the damage caused due to fake news on social media has increased way folds in the last few years since the penetration of fast speed internet in India?- 

We have 10million+ subscribers across our social assets. Primarily, we distribute our content on social media and we clock over 50m video views in a month. Now, this is the scary part. Since our inception, we have had great traction and 99% of it is organic. We have an active audience. Way back in 2017 we realized that we cannot afford to go wrong with our reports. It was in late 2017 when we ramped up our verification efforts, today we have a dedicated fact check team, we have a dedicated WhatsApp helpline number where anyone can reach us with a fact-check request for a story, we also work with Google News Initiative and Facebook Journalism Project on several initiatives to combat fake news. These efforts include conducting training and workshops for other newsrooms, journalism schools, etc. Besides, The Logical Indian has been running its own Media Literacy Workshops where we educate young school students in Tier 2, Tier 3 cities to the elderly people in large housing societies as they tend to forward a lot of fake WhatsApp forwards. 

Despite that, mistakes are bound to happen. We go wrong at times even after layers of verification, but we do ensure that the damage is minimum, corrections are made public, and inform our audience about all the corrections made in a story. 

As a media publisher, I believe as long as you are not here for breaking news and rather break the news, you should be able to keep things under control. 

AR– How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected audiences and consumer behavior across news platforms? What are the challenges you faced during the corona era– what’s worked for you? – 

We observed a 35% increase in our readership in the last quarter, for obvious reasons, content consumption is at peak. In our case, we also had a strategic approach to our content. At the start of the lockdown, we quickly came up with a great interview line-up, from Anurag Kashyap to Mithali Raj and a bunch of exciting people from various domains. Since everyone was at home so getting their dates and availability was not an issue. Plus we majorly focused on a lot of positive, optimistic stories since there was/is too much negativity, uncertainty amidst the pandemic, so these simple strategies got us some great results. 

Cashflow has been a major challenge in this pandemic, while sales were not impacted much. 

Partial pay cuts for the founders and senior leadership team kept things afloat. 

Coming to the resources, we have been working remotely all this while. We never had a remote working culture but we were quick to adapt to it. We are planning to reopen the office this month in September. The quality and productivity esp when it comes to videos takes a total toll on a remote work setup. 

AR– Journalists critical of the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis are being harassed and arrested. Can the Indian media report freely about the COVID-19 crisis?- 

As journalists, our job is never an easy one. We signed up for this. 

We believe Indian media is free and allows reporting on most things, a huge credit goes to new-age digital media publications. They are young, they are fearless, they have the audience and the influence. 

AR- Okay, last one but an important one. Why is a section of the Media called Anti-National?

An entrenched culture of dissent in India is hard to stamp down yet what makes Dissent ‘Anti-National’ in the world’s largest democracy, if at all? 

As a media outlet, you will always be labeled. Sections of the media will be categorized whether they like it or not.

When it comes to The Logical Indian, I think I can categorize it into ‘Pro-people and Anti-Establishment’. We’ll always ask strong and uncomfortable questions to the one in power, the decision-makers of the country. After all, that’s one of the fundamentals of journalism. 

However, the good, impactful things done and achieved by any state government or the center, as a publication, we do ensure that these achievements also find the due attention and acknowledgment. So we have a dedicated category on the website ‘Good Governance’. 

We are not into selective journalism. I don’t think as a responsible media, there’s anything more that can be done. 

Besides, much of these narratives going around such as ‘Anti-Nationals’ are a result of systematic and planned digital exercises.