Well, I have been a HT subscriber ever since it was launched in Mumbai. Except for the early hitches (read late deliveries), it has been doing fine. In an age when newspapers are increasingly resorting to ’advertorials’ (selling editorial space), we actually have to search for news within the newspaper.
However, I feel The Hindustan Times is much better off than the Times Of India when it comes to editorial quality. I have hardly come across any article in HT which would seem like an advertorial (while in the Times - I guess, it is the other way round!). I might seem to be a harsh critic of TOI - I might even seem to be overdoing it at times - but then, the way TOI has ushered in commercialisation in the print arena - it is sheer prostitution of journalism.
HT does lack the indepth coverage of Mumbai city as compared to TOI - in fact whoever decides to go for the switch - from TOI to HT - the initial days are hard to go by. But then believe me; after about a year or so of subscribing HT - the ’missing’ feeling is nowhere to be seen. In fact, now, whenever, I pick up a copy of TOI or check out the e-paper, I definitely am happy at having chosen the much more sober HT. This is in stark contrast to the semi-nude pictures which have become a daily affair in TOI.
Newspaper editors, the American politician Adlai Stevenson memorably said, are men who separate the wheat from the chaff, and then print the chaff. But then, I feel, HT and a few other newspapers can serve for undoing this concept.
To add to the repertoire of HT - here’s some news for those who came in late. HT Mumbai has a brand new Editor - Chaitanya Kalbag. I guess he was the Asia head for Reuters. As far as my sources go - he has drastically changed things at HT - the editorial standards & quality is in for an upward surge and considering the policies and standards of Reuters, this doesn’t come in as a surprise.
With The Hindu too planning a launch in Mumbai very soon, I guess, journalism might gain a new lease of life in a city where advertorials have ruled the roost for long!