Jun 03, 2004 02:56 AM
1885 Views
(Updated Jun 03, 2004 02:58 AM)
It is indeed with a heavy heart that I am writing this review. As a very old reader and admirer of this paper it is painfull to write this almost an obituary of The Times of India or as it is simply called the Times. My family is a subscriber to this paper for many years and now it seems too many years. I read the last few reviews and I am joining them too.
To put it bluntly, the paper has gone to the dogs. Some time ago the Times anounced that it is progressing and it is becoming leaner and thinner but adding more to the paper it claimed. I believed it too. Yet amazingly while the newspaper has beeen steadily decreasing pages it has seen fit to decrease news in even more volume.
News item caterin to the hip and trendy crowd has been highlighted and the reallly significant bit of news like the recent spy fiasco of RAW inadequately covered. News articles like the sexual acvtivity of Indians and the abodes of super rich have graced the front pages while policy statements of ministers languishing in the back pages.
Maybe they want to give people reading every single line in the paper a few hidden advantages. Sensational news have been followed up ruthlessly and items of real importance buried under their own significance. People have to get the details from news channel if they really want an in depth analysis of a matter of importance.
The attraction of the news paper lies in the detailed coverage and the exclusive reports that the paper provides. Also columns covering editorials on the weighty matters and the human interest stories make reading the newspaper a part of our daily lives. However, the Times in its wisdom gives more space to stories that should at best be in a pull out or in some page reserved for this sort of trash and not the front page.
Also, advertisements seem to be taking centerstage in the newspaper as incresing amounts of space are being lent to it. While the effort to make newspaper readin enjoyable for all sections of the readership is laudable, there should be a limit to revelry. The less said about the pull outs the better. In some cases it is even a edition late compared to other english dailies in reporting some news item and this is a very serious lapse. The sports section though has largely maintained its reporting and is quite exhaustive in its coverage. The real problem here is that othere dailies are getting better, whatever the NRS say.
They carry more exclusive news stories and more follow ups. The Indian Express , Hindustan Times and the Statesman are really good int his area. I really hope that we get the Times of yore back quickly and that they manage to retain their readerships by giving some really exhaustive news coverage and not the gossip colums. Best of Luck to the Times.
