India Uncut
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Tuesday, February 15, 2005
A passing phase for the Times of India
Pradyuman Maheshwari, the author of that excellent blog, Mediaah!, was kind enough to respond to my post a few days ago on the Times of India ("Lakshmi minus Saraswati"). He wrote that he agreed with Gaurav Sabnis's contention that TOI is doing nothing illegal, and that the only "unfair" practice that they indulged in was their "editorial-for-money policy". "It would've been nicer," he wrote, "if Times were to clearly identify content that was paid for, as India Today and Outlook do with their Impact and Spotlight pages respectively." Pradyuman continued:
As for the rest of the paper, my own sense is that it's a passing phase in the Indian media. Since there is no compulsion to buy the paper, if the Times were very bad in quality, the masses would've rejected it. What we have though is the reverse. The Times of India Bombay edition readership went up 16% year before last, and its readership hasn't declined after it went in for an offensive on going young.
My greater worry though is that the Times is getting away with its policy of treating editorial content and journalists as dirt. Well, almost. It's here that the entry of international media brands could change the scene. Globally, while branding does play a key role, editorial content is never second fiddle. In fact it goes hand-in-hand with branding and marketing efforts.
With the government all set to allow biggie brands to enter India, it's just a matter of time that The Times of India will have to change its policy.
