MM is one of the largest selling newspaper in Kerala, in fact it may be even one of the largest selling newspaper in India. Its closest competitor in Kerala would be Mathrubhumi. You can find either one of these in any mallu’s living room.
As a news paper MM delivers, but there is nothing great about it. The contents are average and it tries to cover all the happening in and around Kerala and some of the major national headlines. But, the coverage is not always comprehensive and it sells only on the basis of loud big headlines on the front page.
Like all the major news papers, it has a featured cartoon, and its ’Kunjukuruppu’
It tends to waste pages on few things that can be collated and printed once a week. Eg MM devotes almost a full page for ’Niryatharaayi’ (Obituary). I don’t know how effective this is and whether its useful. No one would like to rely on a news paper to find whether their near and dear ones are dead or alive!!! If its for ’well-known’ people who are featured in Mallu-land Who’s Who, it would be covered in the front page as a news item, so what is the use of this section????
As far as the print quality is concerned, its not comparable to the national news papers like Hindu but its better then Indian Express.
MM is technologically savvy and I had the privilege to visit their premises at Calicut. The pages are created using desktop software and are sent digitally across to all regional offices that bring out an edition. (This was some 4-5 years back!!!) and by now they may be linked even better. The result of this is a very uniform reporting across regions. You pick up any edition of MM, Kottyam or Calicut, they look almost the same. The only difference would be the list of Cinema halls and the movies playing in them
MM should pick up some tips from the national newspapers like Hindu to rope in serious readers. Some suggestions would be:
A more comprehensive editorial
Weekly digests to be published, covering specific subjects on a specific weekday, (Hindu does that).
(Come-on, Kerala is one of the more literate state in India, give the masses something better to read!!!)
Do ’’something’’ about the obituary, it’s depressing.
Improve the paper quality, so that the letters are more legible. No need for flashy colors, ’serious’ newspapers are not meant to be colorful. Is Hindu colorful???
One good thing about MM is its distribution network, I can get the Calicut edition of MM in Chennai the same day!!! and I feel wonderful and in somehow it reduces the ’home-sick feeling’ that I sometimes get in Chennai.
Nostalgia
My family used subscribe to MM, and as a kid, it was my job to wait for the paper-wallah near the gate, at 6:30 in the morning and collect the paper and give it to my grand-pa, as he had the first preference!!! and of course, I had the second :-)
No matter what I feel about the quality and content of MM, its still a integral part of my life in many ways.