After reading newspapers for over thirty years I have come to the conclusion that one’s esteem for one’s favorite newspaper tends to fluctuate and doesn’t remain constant. When the paper publishes a nice and interesting article your esteem for the paper rises and when it publishes something you hate, then it plummets.
I do read a couple of newspapers every day but ‘The Hindu’ is a must. It has become a habit over the years. But of late my fondness for the paper is wearing thin because of several factors. In my view the editors seem to believe that its readers do not count to much, contrary to what they write about how they care for their readers and so on. Last week this attitude became clearer and I no longer feel the same towards the paper.
Last Thursday, the front page of ‘The Hindu’ had no news of any kind on except for a full page ad for a real estate venture under the mast head. I thought it was only a cover and that the real paper would be inside. Of course, there was another front page with the regular headlines under the masthead. It was a clever move to make the reader believe that ‘The Hindu’ had not sold out its front page for a silly real estate firm. But a closer look reveals that the back page of the page containing the real estate ad is full of news and even the page numbering reveals that the page with the ad is the front page. I felt a bit upset but not entirely shocked. It was only expected because the papers seem to be giving in to the advertisers more often.
A week earlier, the same ad appeared in ‘The Deccan Chronicle’ on the front page. The front page, journalists say, is sacrosanct because it contains the mast head and no one would dream of putting a full page ad there. But it has begun to happen more frequently, and now one of the last bastions of good newspaper values has also shortchanged its readers by putting advertisers over readers. It was a sad day. I do not know if the management thought about how the readers would feel about the front page ad.
In an article titled ‘The Pleasure Principle’ in the December ’07 issue of ‘The Atlantic’ that I found on Sunday, Michael Hirschorn writes that ‘newspapers should try giving readers what they want not just what editors think they need.’ I guess the editors also decide what ads the readers should see and where when it comes to Indian newspapers. I expect more ridiculous things to happen in the Indian papers in the coming future.
I do read a couple of newspapers every day but ‘The Hindu’ is a must. It has become a habit over the years. But of late my fondness for the paper is wearing thin because of several factors. In my view the editors seem to believe that its readers do not count to much, contrary to what they write about how they care for their readers and so on. Last week this attitude became clearer and I no longer feel the same towards the paper.
Last Thursday, the front page of ‘The Hindu’ had no news of any kind on except for a full page ad for a real estate venture under the mast head. I thought it was only a cover and that the real paper would be inside. Of course, there was another front page with the regular headlines under the masthead. It was a clever move to make the reader believe that ‘The Hindu’ had not sold out its front page for a silly real estate firm. But a closer look reveals that the back page of the page containing the real estate ad is full of news and even the page numbering reveals that the page with the ad is the front page. I felt a bit upset but not entirely shocked. It was only expected because the papers seem to be giving in to the advertisers more often.
A week earlier, the same ad appeared in ‘The Deccan Chronicle’ on the front page. The front page, journalists say, is sacrosanct because it contains the mast head and no one would dream of putting a full page ad there. But it has begun to happen more frequently, and now one of the last bastions of good newspaper values has also shortchanged its readers by putting advertisers over readers. It was a sad day. I do not know if the management thought about how the readers would feel about the front page ad.
In an article titled ‘The Pleasure Principle’ in the December ’07 issue of ‘The Atlantic’ that I found on Sunday, Michael Hirschorn writes that ‘newspapers should try giving readers what they want not just what editors think they need.’ I guess the editors also decide what ads the readers should see and where when it comes to Indian newspapers. I expect more ridiculous things to happen in the Indian papers in the coming future.
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