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Krishna Prasad appointed editor of Outlook magazine

The position has been lying vacant for the last two years

The Outlook Group has announced the appointment of Krishna Prasad as editor of Outlook magazine. Prasad took charge on September 15.The position has been lying vacant since the departure of Sandipan Deb two years ago.

Prasad will be second in command to Vinod Mehta, editor in chief, and will be based in Delhi. He will handle a team of about 80 people with bureaux in four cities and more than 12 contributors.

Established in 1995, Outlook is a weekly news magazine by the Outlook Group. The magazine has carved a niche for itself due to its indepth, investigative reporting and visual format. The Outlook Weekly news magazine is the largest in the GIEM category and has a weekly purchase order of around 3,00,000 copies.

Krishna Prasad appointed editor of Outlook magazine
Krishna Prasad
Prasad's association with Outlook is not new. He was senior editor and in a consulting position since its launch in 1995. In 2006, he left Outlook to take up a position with The Times of India (TOI) as editor of the broadsheet, Vijay Times, which was then being launched in Bengaluru.

He left TOI after seven months when it decided to turn Vijay Times into a tabloid. Speaking to afaqs! about coming back to Outlook, Prasad says, “I have an umbilical link with Outlook, having been part of the team that proudly launched it. It's a pleasure and privilege working with a truly great editor of impeccable editorial and personal integrity like Vinod Mehta once again.”

Prasad has 21 years of experience in the industry and has worked in various newspapers, magazines and in radio and online media across four cities. He has also taught journalism for 14 years. The self confessed blogger says, “I have been one of India's top bloggers and run a general interest website called Churumuri.com and a media blog called Sansserif.”

According to him, Outlook has been the only publication that has received both critical and popular acclaim. “It has been vibrant, provocative, edgy and entertaining. The challenge before all of us at Outlook is to consolidate our substantial editorial lead over the competition while setting new benchmarks,” he asserts.

Prasad believes that magazines are the only truly national media vehicles left in India today. “The Outlook you get in Srinagar is the same as the Outlook you get in Sriperumbudur. On the other hand, newspapers are severely fragmented by dozens of local editions. Television is going the same way with segmented programming,” he says.

Talking about the new appointment, editor in chief Vinod Mehta says, “Krishna has filled in the vacancy that was there for the last two years. During his earlier tenure, he edited many of our special issues, which proved to be extremely successful. He is a spectacular editor and I'm sure he will prove to be a very effective deputy for me. His joining as editor will further strengthen the magazine.”

The Outlook Group, a leading Indian media house, has launched various leading publications such as Outlook Money, Outlook Business, Outlook Traveller, Outlook Profit and Outlook Lounge. It has also entered into international alliances and now publishes licensed editions of Marie Claire, Geo and People in India, besides handling the marketing, distribution and advertising of Newsweek magazine as well as the distribution of Businessweek.

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