By afaqs! news bureau
Media

Hindustan Times enters into content sharing deal with The Washington Post

Hindustan Times and The Washington Post enter into an exclusive content partnership deal

Hindustan Times (HT) has entered into an exclusive tie up with The Washington Post for content sharing in India. According to the agreement, Hindustan Times will have access to the entire content of The Washington Post and Newsweek from January 1, 2010.

The development was announced by Sanjoy Narayan, editor-in-chief, Hindustan Times and Raju Narisetti, managing editor, The Washington Post.

Hindustan Times enters into content sharing deal with The Washington Post
According to the tie up, Hindustan Times can pick as many news reports, columns and analyses it wants from The Washington Post. The content sharing will also be applicable to Hindustan, the Hindi daily of the same group. On an average, HT plans to carry reportage worth a quarter to half page per day during weekdays. The coverage will be more on weekends.
Hindustan Times enters into content sharing deal with The Washington Post
The editorial heads at HT will be responsible for the selection of content picked from The Washington Post. As per the deal, HT can pick content from any bureau of The Washington Post, including Beijing, Islamabad, Kabul, Baghdad, Johannesburg, London, Moscow, Nairobi, Teheran, Tokyo, Mexico City, Paris, Jerusalem as well as New Delhi. The coverage lifted from The Washington Post will carry a specially designed logo of the newspaper, specifying that the coverage is a part of the tie up.
Hindustan Times enters into content sharing deal with The Washington Post
Hindustan Times enters into content sharing deal with The Washington Post
Apart from the regular news coverage, a large chunk of the stories taken will be for the world and editorial sections of HT. Book reviews and columns compiled by the international daily will also feature in the HT. Along with this, HT will also have an access to the columns written by people such as Fareed Zakaria, editor, Newsweek International; Robert Samuelson, business and financial columnist and contributor news editor, Newsweek; and David Ignatius, former editor, International Herald Tribune and columnist.

Calling this tie up a meeting of two like-minded entities, Diptakirti Chaudhuri, associate vice-president, marketing, HT Media, says, "This is an exclusive deal between The Washington Post and Hindustan Times for India as these types of deal work best when done with one publication. We chose to partner with The Washington Post as it's considered as the 'icon of journalism'. It was a natural choice for us as its reportage is relevant to the readers of HT."

This is HT Media's second major collaboration with an international media brand. Its business paper, Mint, has a collaboration with The Wall Street Journal since its inception in 2007.

In an official communiqué, Narisetti says, "We are pleased that Hindustan Times has chosen to provide its readers in India content from the Post and Newsweek on an exclusive basis for English language newspapers. India's growing role on a global stage makes readers in India a natural audience for the Post."

Narayan adds, "This partnership is actually a joining of forces that arm Hindustan Times readers to take on the world around them every day."

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