Times of India, which has been a national newspaper for decades in the rest of India, has finally made its entry into Chennai. A great time to enter the city, in my opinion. 
Chennai has always had two major newspapers - The Hindu and Indian Express. For some reason, Indian Express started losing steam and readership over the last few years. Last year, a new entrant to the newspaper business in Chennai, Deccan Chronicle. DC suddenly became very popular - its a "fun" newspaper that the next generation enjoys reading. Their most popular section was the Page 3 Society section - people were talking about that page all over the city. This was, I think, only because Chennai lacks a public society magazine or newspaper round-up.
The Hindu, has been overheard to have become "boring". The coverage is still fantastic on the political front, and for International news. But the writing has become less "catchy".
Good time for Times of India to make an entrance. When I bought the first issue yesterday I was quite excited. It's not everyday that you get to hold the first edition of a major newspaper in your city! Good Luck TOI and Welcome to Chennai...finally!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Times of India
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Saw that in the Mumbai TOI, and loved their delightful description of Madras - funnily I didn't know that they did not have a CHennai edition...when i'm there next, will be happy to take a peek at the Chennai Times Page 3 :P
Amazing... TOI has been the no. 1 paper in most cities that I have lived in... and yet, I subscribe to The Hindu... in Hyd, Bangalore and Delhi, the TOI is a 100% trashy paper. In fact, my neighbour in Hyd (from Delhi originally) called it the Slimes of India!! Have always subscribed to the TOI for a month in every new city, but have been quick to revert to the express or hindu :-)
I hope sensible Chennaites make the TOI Chennai a decent paper worth reading.
Your blog is amazing... you have reconnected me to Chennai. It is going to take me some time to go thru the entire articles you have posted. Thank you so much.
-----------------------------------
Welcome to Times Of India. I think reading a newspaper is a habit and it does not change so easily. It is going to be tough for TOI to make Chennaites get hooked to them.
Sarada
@ Nandita - Do look it up and let me know if it holds up to the Mumbai TOI.
@ Raaga - Welcome Back. Yes, I've heard that TOI could be a little...um..."trashy" but I think Chennai is used to the Deccan Chronicle, which definitely is so. I think its the attraction of having another newspaper that will attract most people initially.
@ Cilantro - Thanks! :) It will take a while. Or actually initially it will do very well out of sheer curiosity. It might decline a little later. Chennaiites aren't really "hot gossip" kind of people, so I'm sure this will remain as a second newspaper in most households to The Hindu.
The Times of India is all about sensationalism, in my view. Many of their articles are blatantly one-sided, and sometimes like a hindi movie (full of holes in the plot imagined by the "journalist"!). I find Hindu scholarly and respectable and more importantly, BELIEVABLE!! The TOI online puts me off with the obligatory half-clad bimbo and bollywood news on page 1. --Deepa
Deepa - I agree that TOI is more "sensational", but sometimes people just want to read bits of entertainment as well as information - Deccan Chronicle's Page 3 specifically became popular for that reason - and so sometimes you just want to read both the stable and reliable Hindu as well as the exciting TOI. Thanks for stopping by.
Post a Comment