Mittal's our man

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Marathi newspapers Loksatta and Maharashtra Times carried front-page news reports on the Mittal-Arcelor deal. Another prominent Marathi daily, Sakal, however, chose to carry the report on Page 2. Both Sakal and Loksatta had editorials on the takeover and called it a success of an Indian entrepreneur's skills. Unlike their English counterparts, Marathi newspapers didn't publish any story about what happened behind the scenes. Neither did they carry any news analysis or story featuring the Mittals' personal lives.

Down south, leading Tamil daily Dinamalar carried a report on the takeover, along with Lakshmi Mittal's photograph on Page 4, which is dedicated to business news, on June 27. In Andhra Pradesh, Eenadu was the only Telugu daily to carry news of the Arcelor deal with Mittal on its front pages, on Monday. The paper also gave a comprehensive report of the takeover on its business page. The other two leading Telugu newspapers "" Andhra Jyothi and Vaartha "" relegated the news to their business pages on both days.

Andhra Jyothi, however, also carried an editorial "" Today's Steel Man "" on Mittal on Tuesday, which talked about how Mittal rose from relative obscurity to becoming the steel king of the world.

The Mittal-Arcelor deal generated much interest in the Kannada press. The deal was splashed on the front page of Praja Vani as the second lead story. A related report was carried in the business section of the newspaper. Subsequent developments "" Sverstal planning to approach the courts against the deal "" were also reported.

Vijaya Karnataka, too, covered the development extensively. It even had a special report on the lifestyle of the steel tycoon. The next day, it carried a biography of Mittal. Kannada Prabha, however, did not attach much importance to the subject and gave it a routine treatment. The merger deal appeared only in the business section of the newspaper.