PIB's time management

The competition among newswires to be first with the news has forced the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to reconsider its usual practice of sending the monthly WPI inflation data and the weekly food inflation data by email. In an email to reporters, a commerce ministry spokesperson said it would now upload the data on the PIB website first and then email it to journalists. The action was taken to avoid any differences in the time of delivery to different email addresses after some reporters complained. “This difference (though in seconds) is a cause of concern for us and you (specially wire agencies),” explained the information officer in his email.