It seems people are game for something similar to cola-war on this mouthshut platform. though there are popular demand for one of our most widely read contributers for her comments she has not responded so far. since my opinion was almost similar to her on toi i’m ready to express my opinions on indian express (though probably it won’t be even half as good as her writings).
indian express is as different from toi as is chicken soup from first ffod. both are for reading. that’s where the similarities end. without going into the glorious past when during the dark emergency days, ie was one of the most prominent voice of protest from the silent majority, i’d like to concentrate on the situation today.
ie is definitely the more serious one. it has an excellent news coverage which is almost always better than that of toi. I think this point will be agreed by all. the articles, particularly on the political affairs are very good.it also covers all other aspects like sports, entertainment, business etc. quite well.
it is said that they had strated the investigative jouranalism in india. however on this front, I feel they have come a long way off their glorious past.
it has of late started various segments to organise content and target audience in a better way. however it seems it has lots to catch up on this front too.
now lets come to a comparison vis-a-vis toi. toi is definitely the more jazzier, more organised, more market savy and obviously has much more ad and money power. it is also far far better on the presentation front as well.
ie on the other hand, represents plain old jouralism in its true form. they concentrate on content which are far far supiriror. however they should concentrate more on the type of investigative jouralism they were once famous for.
also let’s be honest and admit that in today’s world, appearence counts a lot. and hence they need to improve a lot on that front. in this business more the circulation no., more revenues you can generate which in turn can help you in improving yourself. so if they continue with the present production standard, probably they will face problems in future. also of late they have started offering various sections like headstart, targeting specific audience whose quality is not as good as that of the similar sections of toi.
to sum it up, in my opinion, as far as the news content goes, it is any day better than its more popular rival. but and that is a big but, they needs to improve a lot in its production quality and bring a contemporary look (not necessarily fill the front page with page 3 pin ups). they give the impression that they lacks dynamism which needs to be changed at the earliest.