There hasn’t been one day that passed without me lamenting the lack of a quality Indian newspaper with a decent online edition. Dailies like the Times Of India (which really should be called the ‘Tabloid of India’) are not only among the worst websites, they also happen to excel at publishing what can only be labelled as trash.
Take the Deccan Chronicle, for instance. Andhra Pradesh’s largest-circulated English daily, apparently. Open an issue of the print edition and all you’ll find is the most titillating of pictures – semi-nude women, their breasts, backsides and everything else imaginable. And that’s not all – in the supplements of the day, you can even read about who these women are doing and what the current gossip in the city is. The Times of India is no better, of course. On the front page you’ll find reports with graphic detail of Paris Hilton’s sex romp on video and the latest on Britney Spears’ sex life.
The Economic Times has become the latest to join the bandwagon of rotten, sensationalist newspapers. I remember thinking a few years ago that it really was a respectable newspaper with some quality reporting. Not anymore! If you’ve been reading the online edition with any of the regularity that I have (it’s sad, I know), you might have noticed the alarming rate at which a certain author, Lopamudra Ghatak, publishes her stories.
If Lopamudra Ghatak is to be believed, IT/BPO pros in India have troubled marriages, earn enough money to splurge on Mercedes-Benzs, have no sex lives, invariably get into relationships with co-workers (apparently encouraged by some employers to reduce attrition rates), are the most sought after people in the world, have US techies jealous of them, globe-trot all the time and overwork themselves so much that they seem to be developing serious health issues, all at the same time!
That everything she churns out is completely fiction is not what I find outrageous. That the Economic Times has her articles published on the front page every single day with the most ridiculous sounding titles just completely has my goat. And what’s more – they are among the most widely read articles on the website! With titles like ‘The girl@work or the girl@home?’ – all they ever make me do is close the page in disgust.
Apparently, I am not the first person to discover this. I found 2 other blog posts on the web [this and this (Google cache version)] that express disgust at precisely the same thing.
Don’t expect any dwindling readership or mass uprising against the quality of reporting in these newspapers, though. The masses will continue to feed on what makes them thrive.
Well spoken against the trash that’s being delivered to our doorsteps everyday. I think Madras as a city, however, has proved that it is indeed a cut above the rest – there is neither a local newspaper here that’s as low as Deccan Chronicle, nor has the bloody Times managed to set itself up here. The Hindu and The Indian Express are the only two ‘news’papers left in India. And they’re the only English newspapers with significant circulation in Madras. Even the local Adyar times and Egmore times and Washermanpet times for all I care, are very respectable newspapers, the low-quality paper they’re printed on notwithstanding. Maybe the rest of India has something to learn from this city.
As for Deccan Chronicle, it isn’t the pictures that get me disgusted. A person I’m ashamed to call my former classmate, and the owner of DC is proud to call his daughter, writes absolutely unacceptable articles everyday – from idolising some stupid teenage queens who manage to break school rules and look cool even in school uniform (and sharing pointers for other students in the city to follow suit), to keeping tabs on my other rich former classmates and who’s going around with whom and studying in which pretentious school abroad with the money daddy makes in one day.
I don’t know how much these newspapers think the common person really cares for the lives of all these socialites and their offspring. We should be making heroes of people who work hard and find their place in the world on their own merit. Not the person whose name answers the question “And who was that pretty young thing who was seen with the heir to some hotel empire in pretentious hangout #217 on Friday night?” with all key names in bold face.
And for as bad as that sounds, I have found that The Times of India is even worse. I am so glad our hostels had the good sense to never give in to the stupid demands of all the Bombay and Delhi zone guys and bring it in to pollute our common rooms.
It’s among the few things I will always respect Madras that extra bit for. I hope the city’s new found attempted cosmopolitan and the people who cause it never spoil it enough.
You make a very good point about Madras. I had forgotten to mention exactly what you did about The Hindu and The Indian Express
Calling TOI the Tabloid of India is a huge understatement!! It should be rightfully called the ‘Slimes of India’ or the ‘Dishrag of India’!!
Your basic problem is a grouse with the Bennett & Coleman group. The Economic Times is just a supplement to the Times of India nowadays – Mahesh Shantaram hollered about it a few years ago.
The problem with Indian newspapers is that they have to manage quality at an average of 1/50th to 1/80th the price of the average western English daily. To cut prices, they use AP/PTI/Reuters as their only sources. If you expect them to maintain any level of standards, they must raise prices. If they do, the market for them will crash. They have no hope, basically.
On the other hand, The Hindu, Business Line, Business Standard etc. are doing rather well given these constraints…