Reader’s Digest is a magazine of magazines. I never realised that it is categorised as a Health magazine by MouthShut. Perhaps such a categorisation is right. It must have been done after years of content analysis of Reader’s Digest. Before siting down to write this Review I had glanced through some issues of the magazine at random. And I fully agree with such categorisation. I call Reader’s Digest as the magazine of magazines, because it is different from other magazines, and it has some unique features, about which I will write later.
This month’s Reader’s Digest shows that it is Vol. 162, No. 974. This means that this is the 162nd year of its publication. No mean achievement! It is published in English (Asian, Australian, British, Canadian, Indian, New Zealand, South African, and US Editions); Spanish (Latin American and Spanish Editions); Portuguese (Brazilian and Portuguese EDitions); Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, French (Belgian, Canadian, French, and Swiss Editions); German (German and Swiss Editions); Dutch (Belgian and Dutch Editions);Hungarian; Italian; Chinese; Russian; Korean; Czech; Polish; Thai; Bahasi. Any language left out ? The Indian Edition of Reader’s Digest is published by RDI Print & Publishing Ltd., under a licence granted by the Reader’s Digest Association , Inc., proprietor of the Reader’s Digest trademark. Its Editorial Office is at Ballard Estate in Mumbai.
Reader’s Digest Association, Inc., (USA) has the following Executives. The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer is Thomas O. Ryder, Editor-in-Chief is Eric W. Schrier, Editorial Director, International is Conard Kiechel, President International is Thomas D. Gardner and the President for Latin America/Asia-Pacific is Michael Brennan.
Let me come to the Indian Edition of Reader’s Digest. The Editor is Ashok Mahadevan, Deputy Editor, Mohan Sivanand, Assistant Editor Shanoo Bijlani, Sub-Editor Alexandria Barton-D’Souza, Layout Artist, M. Balagopalan and Magazine Coordinator is Padmavathi Subramanian. It has an equally efficient Management Team. The General Manager (North) for Advertising is Suhas Bisne, and the New Delhi Executive is Md. Firoze. Sanjeev Choudhury is the Manager for Mumbai. It has a Senior Executive, and five Executives. Sanjay Johri is the Managing Director, and Mohan Panicker is the Circulation Manager, with Anupom Bose to assist him . The Manager for Coordination (Advertising & Production) is K. V. Prabhakaran.
I find this month’s cover to have a clumsy design. On the top band it is stated ’’Slim Down! 9 Simple, Tested Ways.’’ To the right of the masthead having the logo of Reader’s Digest is a photograph of Steve Waugh - The gentle side of cricket’s tough guy. In the middle of the cover design is printed ’’ A PSYCHOLOGIST DISCOVERS 3 Painless Rules for HAPPINESS), and in the bottom right hand corner is mentioned ’’PROTECT YOUR EYE SIGHT.’’ The bottom band says ’’PLUS What Kids Learn From Your Marriage , John Kennedy’s Secrets, Passport to Terror, RDLiving: How to Think & Act Like a Millionaire. The month and Year are mentioned in the bottom left hand corner, with the mention: Subscriber Copy - Not For Sale. 472, 000 copies printed last month.
The Contents Page says ’’STORIES ABOUT LIFE, ADVICE ABOUT LIVING JUNE 2003’’There are 13 Features and a bonus read titled JFK’s Big Secret. Then there are the 15 departments.
It is a magazine full of facts, features and anecdotes, but I hesitate to cal it an Indian magazine. Seldom I find anything on India by an Indian, unless it is a paid advertising feature.
THE RD Books are the best in the world, and over the years, I have bought many books and Atlases on instalment. Every purchase is associated with Gift or Gifts. But, Reader’s Digest does not give any Gift to its subscribers of long standing , if it is not linked with a purchase. I would like its Marketing Department to conduct a Readers’ Opinion Survey and proceed accordingly.
Last year during my three-month stay in USA, I used to buy Reader’s Digest, USA Edition. I find no difference between the USA Edition and the Indian Edition.
In short, it is the magazine of magazines, whatever shortcomings it may have.