Let Truth Prevail
The launch of a newspaper (irrespective of the language) is supposed to be considered as a fresh wave of gentle breeze. In the late 80s and the early 90s, it was only Indian Express, The Hindu and Deccan Herald that ruled the roost so to speak.
The fresh waves of gentle breeze started with Asian Age starting off it's Bangalore edition in the early 90's. As everything new, this paper was able to develop it's own patronage in very small a timespan. But then, a few controversial editorial columns by their chief editor M J Akbar and the fire in their office one evening, literally doomed the whole new venture. Sadly, the demise of the paper was much quicker than it's rise to glory. But then, people had taken notice of the unconventional way in which this paper had begun publishing news, printing it's front & back pages in colour and of course, who can forget the snaps of the lingerie-clad models (were they wearing anything?) from the popular fashion shows of the world.
Then came 'self-proclaimed representatives of the Indian fourth estate to the outside world', The Times of India. People were carried away by the attractive pricing that this paper had to offer. Daily paper at Re 1.50 was a major strategy to lure readers of other papers and succeed they did. Within a year, they had adorned the numero uno spot. They had basically learnt the lessons that Asian Age had learnt the hard way. TOI was able to cater to the changing needs of the cosmopolitan Bangalorean. They were able to realise that the daily reader of their paper was more a North-Indian born or a 'videshi-born' than a localite and hence, they began to adapt to the 'new-age Bangalorean' than to the stereotype guy. The changes they brought in were bold yet brash, appealing yet grose in it's own way. The supplement Bangalore Times became know as a 'gossip paper', 'Page 3 in the form of a pull-out', etc.
In a way, the growth of TOI symbolified the quick rise to fame that Bangalore experienced. The parallel spurt in growth that TOI and Bangalore was hard not to take notice of. Sadly but truly, Bangalore can no more bask in that glory now. I guess, Times Group will also agree that TOI is past it's best now. Atleast here in Bangalore.
TOI is now reduced to a paper filled with hypes, rumours, bold pics of scantily-clad "super-models" and what-not. Most of the contents of Bangalore Times bears no direct impact on the average Bangalorean.
Only a month ago, there was bottom-line article in the front page that 'stamp paper scam kingpin' Telgi was nearing death and that he wanted to write his confessional statement before it's too late. The bold fonts and colourful quotes were really appealing & the fact that Telgi wanted to reveal some high-profile names in his confessional statement made some interesting reading. But a just a fortnight later, somewhere hidden in Page 5 or so, did they publish an article that Telgi was not as sick as it was made out to be in the media. That article made me wonder, what TOI really stood for. Were they like the power hungry politicians out with the sole purpose of making some money real quick by dishing out something that made real crap reading?
What happened to their motto of 'Let Truth Prevail'? I wonder if they have realised the mess that they have got themselves into and I hope they start taking corrective actions at the earliest. I long for the TOI of those years when it was not so much of crap that it is today. I long for those days when TOI symbolised the growth of Bangalore. I wonder if I will get to see those days back at all. Only time will hold the answer.
But until then, it's time for me to catch up with today's TOI. (After all, I have got used to it.)
The fresh waves of gentle breeze started with Asian Age starting off it's Bangalore edition in the early 90's. As everything new, this paper was able to develop it's own patronage in very small a timespan. But then, a few controversial editorial columns by their chief editor M J Akbar and the fire in their office one evening, literally doomed the whole new venture. Sadly, the demise of the paper was much quicker than it's rise to glory. But then, people had taken notice of the unconventional way in which this paper had begun publishing news, printing it's front & back pages in colour and of course, who can forget the snaps of the lingerie-clad models (were they wearing anything?) from the popular fashion shows of the world.
Then came 'self-proclaimed representatives of the Indian fourth estate to the outside world', The Times of India. People were carried away by the attractive pricing that this paper had to offer. Daily paper at Re 1.50 was a major strategy to lure readers of other papers and succeed they did. Within a year, they had adorned the numero uno spot. They had basically learnt the lessons that Asian Age had learnt the hard way. TOI was able to cater to the changing needs of the cosmopolitan Bangalorean. They were able to realise that the daily reader of their paper was more a North-Indian born or a 'videshi-born' than a localite and hence, they began to adapt to the 'new-age Bangalorean' than to the stereotype guy. The changes they brought in were bold yet brash, appealing yet grose in it's own way. The supplement Bangalore Times became know as a 'gossip paper', 'Page 3 in the form of a pull-out', etc.
In a way, the growth of TOI symbolified the quick rise to fame that Bangalore experienced. The parallel spurt in growth that TOI and Bangalore was hard not to take notice of. Sadly but truly, Bangalore can no more bask in that glory now. I guess, Times Group will also agree that TOI is past it's best now. Atleast here in Bangalore.
TOI is now reduced to a paper filled with hypes, rumours, bold pics of scantily-clad "super-models" and what-not. Most of the contents of Bangalore Times bears no direct impact on the average Bangalorean.
Only a month ago, there was bottom-line article in the front page that 'stamp paper scam kingpin' Telgi was nearing death and that he wanted to write his confessional statement before it's too late. The bold fonts and colourful quotes were really appealing & the fact that Telgi wanted to reveal some high-profile names in his confessional statement made some interesting reading. But a just a fortnight later, somewhere hidden in Page 5 or so, did they publish an article that Telgi was not as sick as it was made out to be in the media. That article made me wonder, what TOI really stood for. Were they like the power hungry politicians out with the sole purpose of making some money real quick by dishing out something that made real crap reading?
What happened to their motto of 'Let Truth Prevail'? I wonder if they have realised the mess that they have got themselves into and I hope they start taking corrective actions at the earliest. I long for the TOI of those years when it was not so much of crap that it is today. I long for those days when TOI symbolised the growth of Bangalore. I wonder if I will get to see those days back at all. Only time will hold the answer.
But until then, it's time for me to catch up with today's TOI. (After all, I have got used to it.)
posted by Kishor Narayan @ 6/02/2005 10:58:00 PM
2 Comments:
I agree with you... TOI has become extremely famous since they know what to focus on... but in order to make this paper more interesting they have left the real purpose of the newspaper far behind... Truth does not Prevail here... its just a set of juicy items that attract attention...
Unfortunaly even after knowing this... I get more attracted in reading TOI than any other newspaper that kept next to it... After all... my interest is their aim... and they suceed in it :)
I wanted to quote a major goof up by TOI recently. It lifted an article from Spoof.com which quoted that Aishwarya Rai was on her way to starr in the "Jerry Springer Show" where she'll fight a 300 pound woman and also that she has plans of going on a blind date with a stripper in US. Spoof.com had obviously manufactured this news but our TOI took this rather seriously and made it a front page news. For more information on this, follow the link http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/001528.html
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