The Times of India newspaper was launched years back, and was reigning supreme as the No.1 newspaper in India. But in the last couple of years, it’s status as a premiere newspaper. According to the latest results, there are more readers of Indian Express in Pune and although TOI has the highest readership in Mumbai, it has lost approx. 50, 000 readers over the last 2 years to Mid-Day, and other leading newspapers.
NEWS
The news coverage is good. They print the main news on the front page and not the lesser important ones. Many other papers fail to do this and print more of gossip on the front page.
The minus point of TOI is that it gets printed very very early in the morning. I don’t oppose this, but they miss out on a lot of news, atleast of events that take place upto afternoon of a particular day. They print the news of the day before. Their news, therefore, becomes stale, as it is already heard on the news channels. Other papers like Mid-Day and Afternoon are printed a little later between 9-10 a.m. and have the advantage of providing the readers with the news of the issues and events that take place before 9 o`clock.
Another thing, is that some news and gossip is copied from other newspapers. For eg, an article about Julia Roberts` childhood dentist distributing tubes and tubes of toothpaste to all children of his town, when she won an Oscar Award; was printed in the Mid-Day a day or two after the Academy Awards. And word-to-word of the same article was printed in the TOI a week later.
SPORTS NEWS
TOI concentrates a lot on cricket news. After a match, they give up a whole page for cricket news. I think they should print more of other sports, too. Bombay Times has good coverage of Formula 1 and Tennis on fridays and Saturdays. Also, TOI does not concentrate a lot on local matches and tournaments, like the Mid-Day, which is undoubtably the best in giving news about the field of sports.
CLASSIFIELDS
TOI has one of the best classifields. You can find the product or thing you’re searching for as easily, as snatching candy from a baby! And you’ll be satisfied, too. I don’t think I need to say anything more!
CARTOONS
The cartoons printed on the front page are just superb. They really set you off laughing in the morning. `Bottomline by Morparia` printed in Bombay Times, too, are good enough. And someone has definitely said, ’’Laughter is the best medicine.’’
ADVERTISEMENTS
TOI advertises too much, and mostly for the Times group. Their prices, too, are very high. They are wasting precious media space by advertising too much. This is mostly the reason for their downfall.
SUPPLEMENTS
TOI has supplements like Bombay Times and Westside Plus. I thought that `Bombay` was renamed `Mumbai`, but not if TOI have their way. Both of them serve as good daily mediums of gossip and entertainment. Education Times, Ascent make good reading. But again, all these supplements have problems of too much advertising.
COLUMNS BY AUTHORS
TOI does not have any particular renowned writers like Mid-Day has Shobha De. They can get someone as good as, or even better.
The Sunday Times Of India has 2 famous columns-`Foreign Screenings` by Rashid Irani and `Bombay Talkies` by Khalid.
The reviews on foreign films by Rashid Irani is simple-he explains the story in brief as well as comments on it. But, Khalid has lost his touch. He explains less of the story and comments more with his annoying rhymic jokes. Some make you laugh, but some are really sickening. I know that this statement of mine on Khalid’s reviews may raise many an eyebrow but thats the way it is, and you may have experienced it.
SCIENCE NEWS
The Science news printed on the centre page-11th page, is something to look out for. TOI gives you all the latest information about the advancements in the field of Science and Technology. Kudos to TOI!! And this is one page which doesn’t have advertising problems.
WEBSITES
Their official website https://timesofindia.com is good and updated very often. Their other website, https://indiatimes.com has almost the same contents except for some competitions, etc.
TOI is overall a good paper, but it now misses the touch that makes newspapers popular among the masses. They have to really go through their paper and do something about the advertisements. They can hold a poll and let the people decide how many advertisements would they want to see on the maximum in their newspaper. They should also reduce the rates. They should also add something for children, like Mid-Day has Funday.
I may have compared TOI with Mid-Day in many places in my reviews, but Mid-Day is one of the most popular and most read paper in Mumbai, right from the aam janta to the bigshots.
Another worry, is their long paper size. Office going people travelling in trains cannot hold and read it comfortably, because of the large size. And, don’t we know the jam-packed trains of Mumbai!!!
I have recommended this paper but only for its cartoons, classifields, science news, and cricket news.
P.S:-(Excellent Very Good Good Average *Poor)