I read about eight newspapers in a day. When I'm in a town with only one newspaper, I read it eight times. - Will Rogers
I always turn to the sports section first. The sports section records people's accomplishments; the front page nothing but man's failures. ~Earl Warren
INTRODUCTION
The Hindu brings nostalgic memories in me about my childhood and coming of age. I always cherished this newspaper and I feel that this paper contributed to my personal development in an indirect manner. I am what I am with worldly knowledge due to the thirst this newspaper created in me to learn more and more. Having said that, I was one of those people mentioned by Earl Warren in the quote to have jumped right onto the sports section first!! How fitting it is to write a review about one of my most favorite things on my birthday.
The Hindu is a class of its own. The paper has tremendous history and a rich heritage associated with it. In my opinion, The Hindu always gives rich news in an effective manner. While taking a conservative stand in most of the reporting aspects, it certainly tells you eloquently enough an interesting story. It feeds your brain, it improvises your vocabulary, in satiates your scientific thirst, it gives you wonderful quizzes, it gives you honest reviews about your movie, a honest picture about socio-economic issues in the best possible manner.
Though I miss the early morning coffee with the freshly printed-paper edition these days, I still read the “The Hindu” via the Net. I sincerely feel that there is nothing like the printed-paper edition.
Let us delve into some history and the stuff you get with this. Shall we?
HISTORY AND STYLE OF THE HINDU
The Hindu was started as a weekly by Kasturi & Sons in 1878.It later became a daily in 1889 and slowly became a force to reckon with in the freedom struggle and a source of choice for most of the south-indians. It has a circulation of about 900000+ and a readership of about 3+ million. It has a structured presentation of the news and is widely appreciated by the readers in the nation as well as abroad alike.
The Hindu is rightfully called as the “National Newspaper of India” for its clarity and non-biased reporting to the most extent. The Hindu was also the first to break the “Bofors Scandal” with its investigative reporting and won acclaims for the same. The chief investigator Chitra is a well-known name in the world of Journalism. The present editor, Ravi is also a journalist par excellence as was his predecessor, N.Ram.
How many of us know that “The Hindu” was the only newspaper that didn’t publish the assassination of the Mahatma in the front-page but page-2? (Well, it was due to the fact that the first page was dedicated to ads those days!!, Things have changed ever since).
The Hindu, has supplements on a daily basis, one of the very few papers to do this and the first one to do so in India (AFAIK). Being published in 8 centres, it comes with
====> Mondays
==> Business Review – A weekly dose of business happenings and opinions and advices on the same. Believe me, it has some of the best articles.
==> Metro Plus – The Metro life about the metropolitan city associated with the edition. This is something nice to look forward to
====> Tuesdays
==> Open Page & Reviews– One of my favorites as it comes with an excellent book review for many of the good Indian books and to an extent foreign books. It also comes with educational guidance and a beautiful open page opinion
==> Metro Plus
====> Wednesdays
==> Job Opportunities – One of the widely read columns all over India. Many of the top-notch companies wait for this day to publish
==> Metro Plus
====> Thursdays
==> Science & Technology – This is a “must-read” section for me as I look forward to learning new things regularly. It never let me down with the depth and knowledge shared via the articles. An excellent one.
==> Metro Plus
====> Fridays
==> Entertainment – Weekly dose of excellent entertainment.
====> Saturdays
==> Sports Section – A classic review of sports. I liked the Chess steps, from where I learned few tricks, Cricket reviews(I no longer follow!) and some write-ups on other sports too. The sports quiz was good
==> Young World – My favorite section in the entire newspapers. Personally I got attached a lot after my winning a prize in the Young World Quiz in schooldays!
====> Sundays
==> Sunday Magazine – This is a very well balanced magazine covering all aspects of interests.
==> Miscellaneous - Another thing about Sunday edition is its ever popular matrimonial. The newspaper got attached to the families of the south through this wonderful and a great service.
Every sixth week, the newspaper publishes a magazine called “Folio” which is an excellent magazine. Plus, the crossword feature is an excellent one to look forward to, for its cryptic clues.
MY ANALYSIS
Personally, I feel that this newspaper has everything to offer to an Indian audience. It has changed its look over the changing times, yet it maintains its traditional integrity, honesty and effectiveness of a great newspaper. It has never yielded to yellow journalism that is rampant in so many newspapers. It has kept its traditional outlook and never thought of increasing the viewer ship with pictures of scantily clad women or reduced the reading space with advertisement everywhere. Like they say you don’t really feel the worth of a thing until its gone, I realized the worth of this excellent newspaper the day I landed in US and took the local newspaper as a habit. It was something of a shock to see some 300-400 words of world news versus an entire page or 2 other wise in The Hindu. Well, I have overcome those shocks now and know what to look for and where to look for. This is someplace difficult to replace “The Hindu” with.
BOTTOM LINE
This newspaper is a class of its own. It has some standard and effective news put out in the traditional, southern conservativeness. You see no silly third-page posters or junk information to fill out space left behind in that day’s edition. This newspaper feeds your brain. You get to load yourself with tons of information on a daily basis, in variety of subjects. You get to read world news in an effective manner. Though this paper puts out controversial news items in a neutral (which is good!) manner, they always try to see both sides of the coin, most of the times. You also have entertaining and engrossing supplements to feed your brain. Like the saying in Thirukural, “ Sevikunavillatha pozhuthu, sirithu vaiyitrukkum iyyappadum”, meaning “You feed your stomach a little, when you have no food for your ears. Well, this is a soul food for your brain and soul alike. I would recommend everyone to read this master-piece of a newspaper.
I hope you liked my review, Please chip in your comments
Kalil
If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: ''President Can't Swim.'' ~Lyndon B. Johnson
A newspaper consists of just the same number of words, whether there be any news in it or not. ~Henry Fielding
