The TV Today Network of the India Today Group, which operates India Today TV and Aaj Tak among other news channels, has introduced a ranking system for its reporters and anchors under what it calls the 'Most Valuable Journalist' (MVJ) program.
Reporters will be ranked based on their monthly inputs of mega exclusives, special/exclusive stories, breaking news stories and normal stories.
According to sources, a circular was sent to reporters and anchors announcing the new system, and it has been in the pipeline for a few weeks now.
The circular notes that the MVJ system is an extended “qualitative dimension” to the of the daily Management Information System (MIS) reports which are already being generated.
The system, which has started with the month of August, is explained to be like IPL's Most Valuable Players (MVPs), in which players gets an orange cap or a purple cap for taking the maximum number of wickets or scoring the most runs.
This qualitative dimension of the MIS, called the Editorial Management System (EMS) will have News Editors segregate all the stories filed by reporters into four different categories, each with monthly targets:
1. “Mega Exclusives” which are illustrated as rarest of rare stories for which there will be no monthly targets.
2. “Special/Exclusive”, which could be big agenda-setting stories or special interviews. Every reporter is expected to get 3 such stories monthly.
3. “Breaking news”, which will be big breaking story that breaks on TV today channel much before it breaks on other channels. Every reporter is expected file at 6 breaking news stories every month.
4. “Normal stories” which are stories not fitting any other criteria. Every reporter has to file 20 such stories every month.
There is also an algorithm in place for specific weightage to different categories. The MIS target for anchors has been kept at 12 instead of 20 and the target for the SIT team is 3 stories a month per reporter.
All disputes will be sorted out by news editors, says the circular.
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