The best reason to buy The Hindustan Times is the weekly column by the irrepressible Khushwant Singh. The name of the column is With Malice Towards One and All. Khushwant Singh in his inimitable style passes his controversy-seeking sweeping judgements on the ’warped’ government policies, the dwindling world affairs, informs his readers which book to buy and the ones that are not worth it, whether Subhash Chandra Bose was really a national icon or a misnomer. And to spice up the serious jargon he tickles the funny bone with naughty jokes and an iconic tussle between life and death at the age of 90.
The Hindustan Times thrives on the devoted loyalty of its Punjabi readers for the last fifty years and more. The dirty war with The Times of India benefits the readers or the consumers immensely as the price war makes the newspapers in the capital, dirt cheap. There are many reasons to go for HT. The national editor is one of the best columnists and analysts in the country, the dapper Vir Sanghvi. Vir Sanghvi is young and charismatic. And under his able stewardship, HT has grown manifolds.
The Edit Page layout is very attractive with lots of good articles and editorials to look forward to. The editorial in particular is traditional and thanks to the good sense of seniors, HT hasn’t resorted to View, Counterview that is present on TOI Edit page. I am unable to understand the idea in presenting two diagonally opposite views. It only confuses the readers. It is admirable that the think tank at HT is old fashioned, yet very much with ’The Times’.....
The list of eminent journalists is endless. HT City is the able answer to Delhi Times. The layout, the page design is different and salubriously attractive. The content is more or less Page 3, the culinary skills, the razzmatazz of the show-business, the celebrity interviews etc. The Sunday Magazine offers the life and times of the rich-n-famous and the bold-n-not-so-beautiful. There are days when the social activists and their ilk find favours on these pages as well.
There is no doubt that HT does play a lot of importance to full page advertisements like TOI. But on the positive side, like TOI they do not lay a lot of importance on PR journalism. At least that’s what they claim shouting from the roof-top. In the present day and age when people are willing to pay hefty amounts of money to be on the Page 3, nobody is alien to this culture. Not even HT, but its big players insist now and then that they take strict action against anyone found indulging in foul practices.
HT shall spread its market to Mumbai very soon. They are the leaders in Delhi, let’s see how they make attempts to capture the market in the financial capital of the country. Another battle shall unfold in print. Very soon.
The Hindustan Times, Ahead of The Times.......