Indian Express have been around for a long time, but not as long as The Times of India. The newspaper is number two almost from all the major cities from which it is published. In Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune and Delhi it trails TOI, in south its other avatar The New Indian Express trails The Hindu and it does not have any presence in East. So, much about the product being liked by the consumer. I firmly believe that if the readers do not endorse you then you may have 19 editions or 90 it really does not matter.
I have been reading this newspaper for good five years along with TOI, for professional reasons and the best one can get from this newspaper is a different point of view. This way you can make your own opinion about various issues after reading different views on any given topic.
Editorial: The style of reporting is very negative bordering on sensationalism. Each and every story is given a taste of Indian spices before printing (remember mirchi campaign), but the fact of the matter spicy fare is good for variety but, if consumed on a regular basis, throw’s the digestive system out of order. Same is the case of this newspaper it did generate a lot of heat and excitement during the Rajeev Gandhi era, but has been on a downward slide ever since. Call it coincidence, but more often than not the front page stories and even photographs are exactly similar to that of TOI. Ask me how? so the explanation goes like this that due to its lesser number of copies it can start printing late and can have a look at other widely circulated newspapers and copy the images with ease. If you have a chance to read the newspaper you will find a lot of stories on various product launches and articles eulogizing even retail shop(read advertisers)owners. This has made the editorial totally unreliable.
Layout: The masthead is really strange as even the fonts are not symmetrical and reflects a total lack of character and continuity. The layout is very boring and the use of colour shows total lack of creativity or lack of design inputs. They really need a team of designers to revamp the whole product.
Printing: A newspaper’s worth can be judged by the paper on which it is printed, as the newsprint costs contribute about 70% to the total production cost. As I mentioned earlier the newspaper is out of sync with the mood of public and hence making losses so cannot afford good quality newsprint. More often than not the quality of printing is lousy.
Flair: The Sunday supplement is the saving grace with a lot of reading material and there is everything for everyone in it, but I feel they can really do something about their printing and newsprint.
All in all the newspaper can be best avoided and the money thus saved can be used to buy a financial newspaper. If you still believe in charity then do buy this newspaper as it badly needs readers like you, as it is making huge losses. Maybe this is the reason they advocating the entry of foreign media into India as they badly need those funds to keep afloat.