[humans]

Originally Posted by sbraj

Hindu's online page got refurbished some time back. The new online presentation and layout are pretty good.

Yes, I had seen that earlier and like the presentation but it won't get updated for news as fast as online TOI (Indiatimes: India News, Business, Movies, Cricket, Shopping, more...) site.

Originally Posted by Daewood

Actually Hindu has a superior layout design.
It's designed using scientific processes developed by Dr. Mario R. Garcia,
the world's most respected newspaper designer.
The Wall Street Journal layout too is his work.

Thanks for enlightening me on this but you can make out it is still not what is preferred by mass number of readers in India.

Originally Posted by WindRide

I would attribute this to your habit of reading only TOI for many years.
Its proven Hindu has better typeface and paper quality. Its bright and easy on the eyes.

The reporting style can be drab, however, and one can easily dozzzzzzzzzze off.

I would agree with your first statement, that because I am reading TOI for so long I like it. But at the same time I do go through Hindu, Hindustan Times, and Express (I am a news junkie, so go through many) at work place and as you said your self in last statement I find the writing style quite boring and didn't feel like reading it longer than 10-15 min.

[LonelyPlanet]

When I was a kid, my dad used to push me to read newspaper so that I inculcate good habits of reading. With the current print media sleaziness, I hesitate to ask my son to take up reading up newspaper.

My feelings for some of the news channels on TV are similar. There is either death or scandal anytime you switch to news. Looks like the world is a really bad place for youngsters growing up today...

[WindRide]

Originally Posted by LonelyPlanet

... With the current print media sleaziness, I hesitate to ask my son to take up reading up newspaper....

You can, and you should encourage your son to read The Hindu regularly. It is a habit neither of you will regret. I plan to do the same to my kid once she is of the appropriate age.

[Gilead]

Originally Posted by humans

Thanks for enlightening me on this but you can make out it is still not what is preferred by mass number of readers in India.

^^ Just because the Alto is the highest selling car in India, does that also make it the best car in India?

The Hindu's layout is the best there is in India. It can even be compared to the NYT and the WSJ. It's another thing that the actual content is quite boring.

[supremeBaleno]

^^ I agree - The Hindu is the best when it comes to quality news.
And for those that want to inculcate the reading habit in kids, this is the best option.

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by WindRide

You can, and you should encourage your son to read The Hindu regularly.

Since it is very boring, getting a kid to read Hindu is some task.

My school had a news reading session where each student had to come with news items of interest for the day. Such tasks are needed to get younger ones to read Hindu.

Will today's kids keep reading Hindu out of interest?

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by Gilead

^^ Just because the Alto is the highest selling car in India, does that also make it the best car in India?

People buy Alto because they can't afford the best car in India. But they buy TOI not because they can't afford other newspapers.

PS: I am not saying TOI is the best, just that your logic doesn't hold true in this context.

[WindRide]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

People buy Alto because they can't afford the best car in India. ....

Wrong!
There was a tbhpian's post that said he is re-considering Polo and may go for Alto K10

So, Alto's are not always bought by the poorest guys.
Just by people with different set of requirements. To each his own, as they say.

[humans]

Originally Posted by Gilead

^^ Just because the Alto is the highest selling car in India, does that also make it the best car in India?

The Hindu's layout is the best there is in India. It can even be compared to the NYT and the WSJ. It's another thing that the actual content is quite boring.

Originally Posted by Jaguar

People buy Alto because they can't afford the best car in India. But they buy TOI not because they can't afford other newspapers.

PS: I am not saying TOI is the best, just that your logic doesn't hold true in this context.

Thanks Jaguar. Even I won't say TOI is the best, what I intend to say was that it's presentation (Font, layout, colour, paper quality) makes it more readable compared to others.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Gilead

The Hindu's layout is the best there is in India. It can even be compared to the NYT and the WSJ. It's another thing that the actual content is quite boring.

In fact, it wants to be The Guardian.

The New Indian Express has improved a lot on layout, but its language is dreadful. I suspect that a lot of it is translated from Tamil-language sister publication, and never given more than a cursory glance by an English-proficient editor. I do appreciate the NIE for taking on social issues.

My father, in his working days, was a newspaper editor in UK. Even fifty years ago he warned me against using the English of the newspapers. He used to say, it is Journalese, not English!

[aqualeo2040]

8 pages of discussion and no one mentioned The Statesman!
I have lived in quite a few cities and have read quite a few of the local dailies, but nothing comes close to the Statesman.

I was brought up on that newspaper.Nice articles, excellent english and very responsible journos. Pretty radical for its age too. I remember them publishing pics of cops taking bribe, ministers breaking rules etc on Page3. Now thats what I call Page3 reporting!
Unfortunately, the ownership changed hands and the reporting quality went southwards.
I guess it was one of the oldest indian newspapers in english.

Anyways, back to TOI. Blr, Mum and Pune. I started off with TOI. Found that it takes exactly 1 cup of tea + 1 smoke + 1 visit to the loo to finish the entire newspaper. So, I stuck to it. Convenient and easy.
Reporting quality : pathetic, specially when compared to Statesman
TOI doesnt know what responsible journalism is. Its basically a print version of Sansani. I guess its just that it has become a habit now and that I find it difficult without having something to read in the morning

I will not go with the vulgar idea though. I guess people should read Mumbai Mirror or *** Mirror or Asian Age to find what vulgar really means. Moreover, its also the way you view it.
In the mid-90s, Statesman came out with an interactive section called 'ASK: aids sex knowledge'. The aim was to provide sex education to the teenagers and I think it did a good job at it. We did have some odd queries,but overall it was a good initiative which was much better than the personal column in Asian Age. But nonetheless, some people found it vulgar.

Why I read TOI?
1. I like the Sudoku
2. I like cartoon strips
3. Good info on the latest deals.
4. Find out why we had a crowd gathered near Silk Board last evening!
5. Latest gossip.

I generally have all the info from the late night news.So, its always good to have a light start for the day.

Currently the only supplement I like is the Brand Equity which comes out with ET every wednesday?/thursday? (forgot .. )

However, I think calling TOI embarrasing is a bit over the top! Irritating is as far as I would go..

[KRf1]

It seems most of the people here dislike TOI .

I though quite like the paper . There may be some bias here as TOI has been the family newspaper since I remember .

They seem to have a more pan national sort of coverage . Atleast I feel so . While Hindu contains more region specific news like (TN , Karnataka) .

While the quality of Hindu editorial may be better , TOI is also pretty good . They had a series with Shashi Tharoor , Swaminomics is brilliant , then there is the speaking tree . They get some good geopolitical analysts to write on some issues . They also have people like Jug Surya who writes in a lighter vien . Overal a good editorial combo .

I love the sports section . Their coverage of Formula 1 is by far the best that I have seen among the Indian newspapers . They also give decent coverage to other non-cricket events like EPL , FIFA world cup , La Liga , INRC .

The business section is okay and is not supposed to be too technical as there are business dailies for that . It does well enough to give all the highlights of the markets and the industry .

I also love the various graphics they come up with . For example a small graphic on the evolution of nuclear power .

Page 3 normaly contains complaints and reviews of civic projects and general news of the city . The Bollywood stuff is in Delhi Times .

While Delhi/Bangalore times does contain some graphic content , I find it useful to go through Ads on the various sales across the city . You can always tell your newspaper guy not to give this supplement if it offends you .

I did try DNA , Hindu , Deccan Herald but did not quite like them . Maybe it is a case of getting used to the style of the newspaper . If you have always read Hindu you will not like TOI and vice versa .

Though I have to agree that lately TOI has given in to a little bit of sensationalisim and gossip . I also dislike the huge number of Ads splashed across its pages . On bad days 1/3 or even 1/2 the newspaper is full / half page Ads .

But I find the Internet the best source of news . A combination of news portals , blogs , twitter , Digg and forums is IMHO the best source for news .

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by sbraj

My school had a news reading session where each student had to come with news items of interest for the day. Such tasks are needed to get younger ones to read Hindu.

Dude I was going to type the exact same thing. My school continued the practice at assemblies held once a week and stopped it after an 8th grader read the news about Shilpa Shetty getting kissed by Richard Gere. (I am still attached to school).
The content youngsters are exposed to is alarming. Don't know how my kids going to to handle this.

[H_Zoom]

There is no difference b/w the news dailies like TOI or any of those so called TV news channels which are more of a Page3 channels.

[P180V1]

I read TOI daily, but yes their priorities for the Front page Headlines seem to be going wrong somewhere, 3/4th of their front page is covered by ads only. I remember my dad telling me that the TOI was discussing with all the schools to allow TOI to be kept in the library for children to read, this is a very old incident when they were selling their paper for a Rupee, to capture the market. I like Indian Express, they're good.

CHEERS,
G D