Times of India can be a nightmare of a newspaper for people relying on real news for decision making.
TOI has very aggresively utilized its popularity for furthering its own business interests - from radio (Radio Mirchi) to e-commerce (Indiatimes, PlanetM, etc) to other interest.
It is not uncommon knowledge that powerful media companies, irrespective of any country, do align themselves with business entities for the love of power, prestige, influence, money (thru advertisements), etc. etc. So it’s no great suprise to anyone of TOI’s obsessesiveness with Reliance and other industrial groups of India.
Occasionally - you will notice their paper - full of artifical praises for Reliance - Mukesh, Anil, Nita, Tina, their sons, et all. Recently I came across Bombay Times (which I mostly try to avoid) where Mukesh Ambani’s son was photographed and an article written on how the nice, altruistic boy happens to help the street dogs / cats in Mumbai! That probably was the height of sucking up to someone!
TOI also happens to talk of its business interests as ones from seventh heaven - a God’s gift to mankind. The disgusting thing about this is that they write articles on their own business interests and hail them as the best place to do business. I guess, everyone’s pretty much acquainted to such tactics.
So, why am I rating TOI with 3 stars???
Well...it does have its positives...most overbearing of them all - that - it is - the LARGEST selling english daily in the world.
TOI is the cheapest in price but the best in quality (in India). It’s paper quality, color photographs, etc. make for nice reading. Plus, all major ads - education, tenders, fmcg goods, etc. - are almost always featured in TOI. So, it kinda becomes a vicious circle. You do not like TOI - but you buy it b’cause of the ads - you pay them - and they continue to disgust you - thus you do not like them.
TOI is generally your layman’s newspaper. A person interested in gossip, skin display, society bitching and generally - overall timepass news.
Though I cannot prejudice every TOI readers as a layman Almost every newspaper reader reads selectively. Some read editorials, business news and opinions while some other person may just like to see bare legs, cleavage and society happenings in Mumbai.
In its influence lies its strength. TOI is one of the largest circulating newspaper in the world. So they MUST be doing something right. Pleasing the politicians, celebrities, industrialists and common man - all at one time - is an art - mastered by TOI. However, in this process it has lost its credibility and honor.
The lesson is: To be faithful to one category of interest - be it business or consumer (like Mouthshut.com is for consumers). You cannot gratify everybody and still hold yourself as credible
On another note, I don’t think other newspapers (in Mumbai, atleast) are doing too good a job in covering news. Financial Times comes across as the only decent option in business dailies against ET.
In the end, you either love TOI or hate TOI.
For the rare samples like me - who see things in gray - TOI is a newspaper that has to be contained - skip the crap - and savor the rest!
Regards