[Daewood]

Originally Posted by amitk26

Crux of the story in Context of 2010 I find likes of The Hindu and Asian Age more damaging to young impressionable minds then TOI which is banal at worst but at the same time carry information with air of neutrality.

that's not a neutral stand..it's a safe opportunistic stand.

i would prefer a media house that stands up for rights of the people, rather than toe the line of the ruling/rich class and flow along with the tide.
isn't that the reason they are called as the fourth pillar of a democracy?

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by Daewood

that's not a neutral stand..it's a safe opportunistic stand.

i would prefer a media house that stands up for rights of the people, rather than toe the line of the ruling/rich class and flow along with the tide.
isn't that the reason they are called as the fourth pillar of a democracy?

Well in that case an opportunist for the establishment is better off then opportunist for the cause of subversion and chaos.

I along with majority prefer to choose lesser of poison.

BTW Has anyone considered why Indian Language dalies have grown tremendiously in last 10 years compared to so called national dailies.
TOI which is number 1 English daily comes a distant 11th today.

Here are the readership numbers for top 11 newspapers in India till Q1 2010

1. Dainik Jagaran ( Hindi) : 5.254 Crore copies daily
2. Dainik Bhaskar ( Hindi) : 3.34 Crore copies daily
3. Hindustan ( Hindi) : 2.94 Crore
4 Amar Ujala ( Hindi) ; 2.87 Crore
5. Lokmat ( Marathi) : 2.32 Crore
6. Daily Thanti ( Tamil) :2 Crore
7. Dinakaran ( Tamil ): 1.67 Crore
8. Ananda Bazar Patrika ( Bangla) : 1.53 Cr
9. Enadu ( Telagu) : 1.47 Cr
10. Rajasthan Patrika : 1.42 Cr
11. Times of India : 1.34 Cr

[Daewood]

Originally Posted by amitk26

Well in that case an opportunist for the establishment is better off then opportunist for the cause of subversion and chaos.
I along with majority prefer to choose lesser of poison.

If the job of a newspaper is to do shameless PR for any Government or Business house, it should be called a PR agency rather than a newspaper.

When the all powerfull Indira Gandhi imposed an emergency on the country just 2 newspapers stood up against all odds. They didn't flow with the tide.

Originally Posted by amitk26

BTW Has anyone considered why Indian Language dalies have grown tremendiously in last 10 years compared to so called national dailies.
TOI which is number 1 English daily comes a distant 11th today.

The simple reason is there are more regional langauage speakers in India than people who understand english. This segment wasn't subscribing to newspapers all these years because of economic conditions. Today they can afford to buy one.

Wish regional dailies recruit more capable journalists and write informative stuff, rather than depend on gossip to sell their papers.

[WindRide]

Originally Posted by amitk26

....

1. Dainik Jagaran ( Hindi) : 5.254 Crore copies daily
2. Dainik Bhaskar ( Hindi) : 3.34 Crore copies daily
3. Hindustan ( Hindi) : 2.94 Crore
4 Amar Ujala ( Hindi) ; 2.87 Crore
5. Lokmat ( Marathi) : 2.32 Crore
6. Daily Thanti ( Tamil) :2 Crore
7. Dinakaran ( Tamil ): 1.67 Crore
8. Ananda Bazar Patrika ( Bangla) : 1.53 Cr
9. Enadu ( Telagu) : 1.47 Cr
10. Rajasthan Patrika : 1.42 Cr
11. Times of India : 1.34 Cr

Wonder how many of these regional dailies are even 25% of the quality of The Hindu, content-wise.

Sadly, subscriber base has nothing to do with newspaper content quality.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by Daewood

If the job of a newspaper is to do shameless PR for any Government or Business house, it should be called a PR agency rather than a newspaper.

When the all powerfull Indira Gandhi imposed an emergency on the country just 2 newspapers stood up against all odds. They didn't flow with the tide.

Completely agree to the point in bold , In Case of The Hindu it does the PR job is for the leftist.
I find Peoples Daily or Ganshakti more honest at-least they out-rightly make it clear that they are party mouth-peace. As I wrote before Hindu is not the same Hindu it was 2 decades back. Today it never follows any anti TN government line becuase it knows the main market is in TN itself.

In South India I find Deccan Chronicle lot more balanced then Hindu.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by WindRide

Wonder how many of these regional dailies are even 25% of the quality of The Hindu, content-wise.

Sadly, subscriber base has nothing to do with newspaper content quality.

Thats a unfair judgement on behalf of Hindu and against regional dailies. Regional dailies have more regional coverage of news and culture. Is The Hindu really considered a national newspaper, I am not sure about its familiarity in the north.

[Jayabusa]

Originally Posted by Daewood

If the job of a newspaper is to do shameless PR for any Government or Business house, it should be called a PR agency rather than a newspaper.

How true! As of today newspapers & news channels are nothing but mediums for PR or rather mouthpieces of PR Agencies.

I would like to take this opportunity to request people to not point out the grammatical flaws in newspapers, rather make use of this thread to point out the rubbish that is being published in the print media. What use is command over the language if the content itself is worthless. The focus should be on what is being expressed.

Generally, people's attitude towards newspapers is that they are tools to improve one's language, but of what use is the fluency you are imbibing, if it is leading to a degradation of values & stunting, or rather retarding your growth as a mature human being living in civil society & making you self-centred by diverting your attention away from your responsibility towards society.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by srishiva

Thats a unfair judgement on behalf of Hindu and against regional dailies. Regional dailies have more regional coverage of news and culture. Is The Hindu really considered a national newspaper, I am not sure about its familiarity in the north.

+1 to that I have seen the reallity is reported more accurately at times in Hindi dailies for the turbulent events because they are closer to ground. I belive it would apply to other language dailes as well.


It would be interesting to note that few years ago U.S.A selected Dainik Bhaskar ( No 1 at that time) and TOI ( No 1 English daily) to interview George Bush purely based on circulation figures.

[Jayabusa]

Originally Posted by srishiva

Thats a unfair judgement on behalf of Hindu and against regional dailies. Regional dailies have more regional coverage of news and culture. Is The Hindu really considered a national newspaper, I am not sure about its familiarity in the north.

Originally Posted by amitk26

+1 to that I have seen the reallity is reported more accurately at times in Hindi dailies for the turbulent events because they are closer to ground. I belive it would apply to other language dailes as well.

Exactly, one of the main reasons is that most regional dailies lack glamour & sensationalism. And when you remove these two illusionist vices you get a fair share of reality as a residue.

All that the English dailies can do is try to convert us Indians into Americans by slowly & steadily acclimatising us to the American culture.
Stuff about celebrities & moviestars hogs print-space & they are proclaimed role-models for the youth.
The paparazzi culture is already here!

Few years back, I did not know how to react when I saw a big Paparazzi pic of Yuvraj Singh & Deepika Padukone on the front page of the TOI with the caption speculating about them being a couple!
It is a matter of life & death for the nation, it so seems!

Even the sports-pages/columns are not immune to this. The most revealing pics of Sania Mirza and the like are put up next to match results.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Jayabusa

All that the English dailies can do is try to convert us Indians into Americans by slowly & steadily acclimatising us to the American culture.
Stuff about celebrities & moviestars hogs print-space & they are proclaimed role-models for the youth..

Coca Cola company is more to blame that the newspapers!

But hey, the filmstar pics I see (and skip; cinema, bolly, holly, kolly or whatever, doesn't interest me) are Indian stars, so I can't see the basis for what you say.

What I do notice is that, so far as foreign affairs are concerned, there seems to be disproportionate coverage of that little Northern European country that I come from.

Another thing I used to notice (they seem to have got the idea now that it was ridiculous) was the number of file photos illustrating stuff like "life-style" articles which would feature non-Indians.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Coca Cola company is more to blame that the newspapers!

But hey, the filmstar pics I see (and skip; cinema, bolly, holly, kolly or whatever, doesn't interest me) are Indian stars, so I can't see the basis for what you say.

If you notice carefully, the stars and models featured ape their American counterparts and are literally clones, with just the skin color being different.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I'll take your word for it, and it doesn't surprise me to hear that. India's present love affair with USA is a whole other story --- and much too political to get into on T-BHP!

[addyhemmige]

Anybody notice today's TOI? There was a picture of TOI dated Aug 15, 1947.

I couldn't help but notice, there was an ad on the front page of the newspaper (even on this special day)

[KRRaj]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Anybody notice today's TOI? There was a picture of TOI dated Aug 15, 1947.

I couldn't help but notice, there was an ad on the front page of the newspaper (even on this special day)

Well, even The HINDU has done the exact same thing. The 1st 2 sheets are of the 1947 new edition and an Ad as well

[rajesh1868]

In Hindu, first page was devoted only for ads during those times. Not sure about other papers of those times