 | |
| Type | Newspaper(2005–2019) |
|---|---|
| Format | TV show(2012—) |
| Owner | Zee Media Corporation |
| Publisher | Zee News |
| Launched | 30 July 2005; 20 years ago (2005-07-30) |
| Language | English, Hindi |
| Headquarters | Noida,Uttar Pradesh |
| City | Noida,Uttar Pradesh |
| Website | www |
TheDaily News and Analysis, abbreviated asDNA, is aHindi-language news program onZee news[1] that was earlier an English-language newspaper with multiple local city editions across India.DNA was first launched as a broadsheet newspaper out ofMumbai,Maharashtra,India on 30 July 2005[2] through a 50:50 joint venture between theZee Media Corporation and theDainik Bhaskar group under the company name Diligent Media Corporation Ltd.[2]
The newspaper had first launched its outdoor advertising campaign through billboards and placards in Mumbai during early 2005, with the tagline, "Speak Up, It's in Your DNA",[3][4] which became its catch-phrase over the months. With the announcement of the launch ofDNA came several other rival newspapers by large media conglomerates in the city, including the first-time-ever Mumbai edition of the predominantly north-IndianHindustan Times[5] and theTimes of India's rival theMumbai Mirror[6] newspaper that was later digitised into a web portal during the pandemic.[7]
The competition battleground between the three media conglomerates led to a massive spike in journalists' salaries in Bombay by almost 40–50 per cent of the earlier market rate, or even more, in the 3–4 months prior to the launches, as journalists began receiving hefty counter-offers from the opponent publication they were set to be joining.[8]
It also saw a hike in salary of internal staff in TOI'sDelhi office in order to ensure the editorial staff could be retained. Finally, theTimes Group signed anti-poaching agreements or pacts withThe Hindustan Times andThe Telegraph of Calcutta in May 2005, in order to restrict themselves from hiring and poaching each other's staff.[8]
DNA catalysed several shifts in the Indian news media over the years. Its focus began with developinghyperlocal teams of reporters around Mumbai covering news from around the neighbouring municipal localities such asThane andVashi[9] and the eastern and western suburbs of Mumbai as well as the iconicsouth Mumbai town area — through regional reporting bureaus managing the news coverage forDNA's localZone and city pages.[10]
Over the years, the paper further expanded into local editions at Surat and Ahmedabad,[11] then Pune,[12] then Jaipur,[13] then Bangalore,[14] then Indore,[15] and finally Delhi.[16]
Diligent Media Corporation Limited used to also bring out the business broadsheet newspaperDNA Money fromIndore, to cover business and finance, as a standalone sister newspaper toDNA during 2006,[17] and it used to publish several women-centric and youth-centric lifestyle magazines[18] too such asDNA Ya!, which was a supplement targeted at kids and young adults.[19]
The paper had begun to suffer tremendous losses over the years; it started shuttering its operations in Surat shortly after its launch,[9] and, by 2012, Zee had taken over the rest of the ownership ofDNA from the Bhaskar group.[20][21] It had also shut down its lifestyle magazineMe in 2010, citing that the paper's business was geared more towards news and that "the magazine business was dropping" as a whole.[22]
By August 2014, the newspaper had also shut down its Bangalore and Pune editions[23] and, in February 2019, it also closed the Jaipur and Delhi editions.[24] In October 2019, Zee Media Corporation announced that the entire newspaper (including the remaining editions in Ahmedabad and Mumbai) would be closed[25][26] with the aim of optimizing costs and reducing the company's losses.[27]
Zee News continues to hostDNA as a weekly news bulletin show, which is a prime-timeHindi-language programme hosted on the channel between 9.00 pm to 10.30 pm every weekday from Monday to Friday. The show had begun in 2012 with news anchorSudhir Chaudhary as its host, who had rejoined the channel in a second career stint. Chaudhary, who had launched the Sahara Samay channel for Sahara TV prior to this, had earlier also been with Zee till 2003.[28] Rohit Ranjan took over the DNA show in July 2022 after Chaudhary left to joinAaj Tak.[29]
Chaudhary told ZMCL chairpersonSubhash Chandra in his resignation letter that he was intending to use his fan following to start his own venture at some point,[30] while Chandra stated that he had attempted to persuade Chaudhary to stay back.[31]