Through early 2008, we notched up 258 errors, all of which we corrected in both print and online. You can see from the accompanying chart the kind of errors we have made and who made the errors. We are not particularly proud of this statistic, but we won’t promise that we will be an error-free paper, because journalists will make mistakes. What we can and will promise you is that we will learn from our mistakes, try not to repeat them and watch out for behaviour that causes mistakes to creep in. And, we will continue to promptly correct all our errors in print and online. Much like Mint’s Journalistic Code of Conduct on our website is there for you to hold us accountable, please do tell us when we make mistakes. Otherwise, in this digital era, uncorrected information will also live forever.
On our very first day, I had noted that we have a young news staff—smart, eager and keen to prove themselves and guided by veteran editors. The group has grown significantly, from 89 to 146, and I am proud of its diversity—they range from Kochi to Assam and California to Kenya—and of the fact that about 47% are women, as well as of how hard-working they all are. That they choose to work at Mint and thus live by a strong ethical compass even when journalism as practised by many of their peers continues to dumb down is the real reason why we believe Mint is a clear and credible alternative to what is out there. It isn’t always easy to focus on the larger picture in the very demanding newsroom culture of Mint and sometimes, as editors, we have to make sure we are not focused on the finger that is actually pointing to the moon. But it helps and reinforces our belief that we are on the right path when readers such as yourself tell us you appreciate what is put in front of you every day.
So where does Mint go from here?
We want to go from early success to significance.
For starters, our goal is to be available in more cities across India. We will also significantly enhance our online offerings as we have been doing all year—if you haven’t been to www.livemint.com recently, I would urge you to check it out, especially our MarketInfo section. You will also see more Mint stories in video form this year, initially on our website.
We will do this by retaining our seriousness of purpose and increase the amount of substantive coverage of important business, economic, financial and social issues—even if others continue to go down a different route. We will continue to better even those offerings, such as Lounge, which you tell us you already love. In doing all this, we will maintain a clear barrier between news and views, as well as between our journalism and our advertisers. You must be able to trust that our news, analysis, perspective and interpretation are honest and not guided by hidden agendas. And we will build on the trust you have reposed in us so far.
Behind Mint is the simple premise that newspapers need to be for and about what readers want and need. So tell us what you like in Mint and what could be different in the weeks and months to come. We mean to make it better—for you. Please feel free to write to me at feedback@livemint.com.
Raju Narisetti
Managing Editor