nanoneo said:
Damn! How did I miss this thread earlier? The shittiness of TOI used to be a pet rant of mine. I see we are almost in unanimous agreement that TOI sucks. I feel the same way. I even quit journalism because of it, which I will get into detail later. Ok, wall of text coming up:
I like the sunday paper, theres 3 pages in it that are good. Have heard good things about the crest edition but not read it yet, anybody familair with it, supposed to come out on a saturday.
nanoneo said:
Everyone is now playing catch-up with TOI while at the same losing readers to sensationalist TV news. Of course the old adage always works - 'if you can't beat em, join em', and that's what everyone is doing.
A race to the bottom so to speak.
nanoneo said:
Even conventional hard hitting fact-driven papers like Indian Express and the Statesman have now begun carrying sensationalist articles in a constant war of attrition. Me and a lot of my journalist buddies quit news for this very reason. As it stands if you work in one of these papers, you have to file an 'exclusive' everyday and if you can't, then your'e chewed up by the boss and often given bad performance ratings. Some reporters sink down to plagiarism or even invent stories out of nothing using out-of-context quotes or misrepresenting facts. Non-sensationalist stories are ignored or sensationalised. These reporters are just trying to keep their jobs. They have to toe the line. Often a reporter files a factual story only to be surprised the next day as the desk changes the story to make is more sensationalist. You as a reporter lose all control of your story once you file it.
This is why i'm interested in more FDI in the current affairs & news segment. Its limited to 26% currently, it must be raised to 51% so that it shakes up the market here which has become stale and uncompetitive. bennet coleman has a monopoly and they want to protect their turf by arguing that the 'news & current affairs' section is strategic. As they go so must everyone follow.
I want ppl like murdoch to come here and give the industry a good kick in the pants.
Krow said:
Really? For one year in college we only had badly written Hindu reports to edit. It is a popular misconception that Hindu has good English.
I find the writing in the Hindu to be drab and academic. Certainly not a way to improve English. Not sure about TOI comparisons but times does have good English if not the best content. I like their headlines.
I noticed this when i first read it, much harder read in comparison to say the NYT and English is not a problem for me. Have gotten used to it now, my focus is more on what it tells me rather than the way. But you're right in terms of effective communication its a bit lacking.
My focus when i read a paper is whether i come away from it informed or more confused. Usualy a good article will do the former. But its more the exception to find an article like that in an indian newspaper than any reputed foreign publication. Periodicals like magazines are the way to go for that, weeklies & monthlies rather than dailes. This is why i like the STOI because the authors i follow there write only once a week so there is a more research put into it, the special report section is usually quite good & informative.
The thing is news companies here do not invest as much as their overseas counterparts do. I think its because the price of newspapers sold here is so very low. I believe you only pay 10% of what it costs to make the paper. Its no wonder that you can then collect extra on recycling costs after. The balance is paid for by advertising. The govt is the biggest advertiser so very few newspapers will piss off their biggest client. So the stories tend not to be very hard hitting.
agantuk said:
^ Read this article, poor proof reading. Nothing new with TOI really.
In a nutshell that would be it, its like they do not have any. Often times typos and even fact checking in other places. Its a general comment of course.
asingh said:
^^
Read classics if you want to improve English and vocabulary. Most publications in India are quite lame. Stuff like
this goes a long way.
Of course books are the real thing. The problem is you have to get to the point where the language interests you and has a mesmerising effect. Where you actualy enjoy the way the language is constructed. Too much to ask for in people that cannot even understand words in a newspaper i suppose.
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nanoneo said:
neither the Hindu nor the TOI have good English. Hindu uses outdated post-colonial verbose language while TOI dumbs it down too much.
Bingo!
hyeah:
nanoneo said:
Are you referring to the New Indian Express or The Indian Express? The former is a breakaway group based in the south while the latter is the same paper that once stood for true ethical journalism. Unfortunately they fell victim to their inability to adapt to a changing market. The Congress also made them pay dearly in the 90's exacting their revenge upon them. They hobbled through the 90's and early 2000's and started sensationalising news to compete for readership. Unfortunately it hasn't worked as they are now a poor excuse for a newspaper.
There you go, govt has a stiffling effect on newspapers because its the biggest client. Thing is will people pay more for better news. Given the way the papers are going one would think not. The other thing is they say the internet is a big threat, how to survive in the future. People certainly want to read but will they pay.