It is sad to read about the sale of Mid-day, it was one of the most popular tabloids in Mumbai. According to some sources, the deal was valued at around 174 crore.
Archive
For the newspaper category
More proof on the correlation between awards and advertising , thats why I feel many of the stories in the mainstream media are just rewritten PR releases.
One of things which has surprised me over the last few years when there was a media boom was the number of employees each newspaper or magazine had. Since at least 30% of the stories were from either news agencies or other publications, the number was very high. I wonder what happened to the unpublished stories. There was a boom in salaries and now it appears that at least a few media houses are sacking people. Time to get real.
For once, this media report has got it right . Most of the people I see in their twenties are superficially “modern”, but actually can’t think independently. Call centres and outsourced work has led to easy money , but most of them have a herd mentality.
They do not question the status quo, that is why there is unlikely to be any internet company or website which will not be limited to the Indian market.
The Hindustan Times is headquartered in Delhi, and has editions in many towns in North India. It launched its Mumbai edition in July 2005. However, many of their better news stories originate from Delhi and the paper provides good coverage of Northern India.
A standard weekday issue of the Hindustan Times costs Rs 2.50 at the newspaper stand. However, they offer highly discounted subscription rates – renewal of your subscription for Rs 350 for 2 years, effectively you pay less than 50 paisa per paper per day. There are some promotional schemes, where the subscription rates are even lower. The paperwallah ( the person who delivers the newspaper) complains that he finds it difficult to get his money from Hindustan Times, after he submits the subscription coupons.
The newspaper usually consists of 60+ pages divided among its various supplements – HT2 (for business and international news), HT Yellow Pages (classified advertisements and advertorials), HT Cafe ( Tabloid style gossip and lifestyle). On Sunday , they have a supplement called Brunch which has some articles and on Saturdays they have a supplement on luxury items . Like other newspapers , they have weekly supplements on education, careers and real estate.
Like most of the Indian media, Hindustan Times gives a lot of coverage to film stars, cricketers, NRIs, MBAs and propagates the myth of India as an “IT Superpower”. Some of their correspondents have a good writing style, but the news is often biased. It seems to be sustained by advertising at present, let’s see how long it lasts.