"Telangana Today", Hyderabad's Newest English newspaper is here!

A new English newspaper debuting in India is always good news for print journalists, it will create a buzz in the air for some days or weeks until the dust settles down. Hyderabad gets its latest English newspaper - Telangana Today.
Even as a student of journalism way back in 1992, I used to go to ridiculous lengths to read good copy and great journalism. Those days, most of the avuncular English newspapers like The Statesman, The Times of India, Free Press Journal and The Hindustan Times used to arrive in Hyderabad in the afternoon. Hyderabadi readers usually had few choices then - it had to be the venerable The Hindu or the irresistable Deccan Chronicle or the poorly- read but respected Indian Express (even now, I am told its circulation is lesser than the number of new Rs.500 notes!). After the split in Express, we now have The New Indian Express which is the more right-wing in views. Then came a paper - Newstime -which tried to set new standards in English journalism with columns by stalwarts like Kuldeep Nayyar etc. It had a different edit page and op-ed page with long middle that now bears resemblance to The Financial Times, London which still carries 900-word commentaries by redoubtable columnists around the world.
Newstime died out after many years and got mysteriously closed down which I never understood: why the press baron who never lost money in any business did not keep the faith with a newspaper like Newstime? With time, it would have endured as a viable voice for sane minds. Hyderabad also had an eveninger called Citizen's Evening which had seen better days during an era where "breaking news" was unthinkable. An assassination, a curfew, a military coup - these were the reasons to buy that newspaper besides the S.S.C or Intermediate Exam results. For many years, I supported the paper boys who thronged the Khairatabad Cross Roads with my precious small change because I did not like a paper-selling boy to look forlorn after a hard day. That paper shut too.
So were two other newspapers which came with much fanfare - AP Times and Postnoon. Of the two, AP Times ran for a longer tenure with a harvest of best talent handpicked by one Mr Nayar who had his beginnings in Deccan Chronicle and later built Newstime brand. Most of today's veteran journalists hailed from the groups of writers who worked in Hindu,DC, Newstime and APTimes. Postnoon tried to re-set the afternon newspaper reading habit a'la a Mumbai train traveller but despite promising content and glitzy range of coverage, the newspaper folded up - it was one of a Film Star's less-celebrated failures as a business venture. There were a handful of other newspapers which were talked about in the last decade with promise of a grand launch but we never saw them come out. Or some came like The Metro India but failed to fire. The Times of India finally entered Hyderabad as a morning newspaper but quickly lost the intellectual firepower that it once commanded; few pages scintillate but many pages titliate today and most news items still look like advertorials including the trophy pieces on celebrities .The Hans India was the last new newspaper before Telangana Today which came with proper homework. It still reads good with a mix of interesting news and feature articles and rigorous writing - but the readership as evidenced by the quantum of advertising splashed on its pages looks abegging. If there is a zero-sum game in real life, you can see it in action in the English newspapers HERE. Most households in Hyderabad still get either one English or one vernacular newspaper every day - so the battle for that singular choice continues and is usually won by the DC or the Hindu or the Times. Unless your house is a bastion of multiple newspapers ( we get two vernacular, three English newspapers and all but one business newspaper ), there is little room for a second English newspaper in today's world of news apps and in-shorts. Thats the scene in Hyderabad.
But hope never dies for Hyderabadi entrepreneurs and green shoots appear at the turn of every decade. This is good news for those who like to see and nurture alternative viewpoints on local and world affairs. On first impressions, Telangana Today has made right beginnings with a 16 page mainsheet and a tabloid pullout that resembles the DC - which should insinuate whom it is planning to target. The newspaper is off-white, and has an elegant sheriff font with visually-rich appeal. It resembles a mix of DNA, Mint and Hindustan Times . What I liked In TT is the positive spin to most of the news items and the succinct mention of disturbing bits of news. But we have to observe how the content shapes up in the first few months. The attention span of a new reader is shrinking and it will be a test of TT to reconfigure what will set them apart in a city where dislodging decades-old newspapers is not easy. In many ways, this is how most newspapers start off in early days until the news editor succumbs to the cynicism that surrounds us. Whenever I see a bright new newspaper, I remember the old age: The road to hell is paved with good intentions. I hope Telangana Today turns out to be better and make a difference to make our new State come out better than when we inherited it. Good luck to Telangana Today, today and for all tomorrows.
#TelanganaToday #NewspapersInHyderabad #HyderabadNewspapers

Why I love The Hindu

Thoroughly impressed by "The Hindu's aggressive ads in paper and TV taking on the likes of "The Times of India". The ad aims to take a direct potshot at Times of India - for feeding readers with mindless drivel on pageants and gossips and page-3 profiles and not giving them stuff thats relevant, useful or rooted in Indian heritage. During my journalism college days, we had an ebullient editor one Mr Jagadeesan who was holding out "The Hindu" newspaper and pointed out everything they do right editorially (though may not always have the content you like to see). The quality of reporting, the neutral stands on most mattters, the vibrant letters page, the many supplements that only keep getting added everyday of the week, the way the stories on page 1 are laid out - no story has a "runner" (like, say, turn to page 12 for more and so on), uncluttered reportage and layout, fonts that keep changing with the times (pun unintended), emphasis on developmental journalism and narrative panache, the group that brought out Businessline - my favorite business newspaper.


Mr Jagadeesan was right in 1992 - there will be no interference by Advterising Divion into editorial matters and there is almost always a "Kaizen" of sorts happening - continuous improvements in printing quality, supplements, new insights, features like "Reader's Editor", "Literary Review", "Cinema Plus", etc. Of course some legendary analysts like KK Katyal or GK Reddy are not there anymore but the paper never compromised on ethics. The staffers still get humble but inflation-adjusted paypackets, the ladies get a Kancheevaram saree every Diwali and the gents get a Pattu Pancha. Every employee of "The Hindu" group gets lifetime subscripiton of the newspaper besides Sportstar, Frontline etc.

Way back in 1978 itself, when it completed 100 years of existence, the newspaper was voted as one of the six great newspapers of the world on line with the likes of Manchester Guardian, La Monde, Times London, and New York Times. Amongst the initial bunch of pre-1900 newspapers which grew from strength to strength - "The Hindu" alone has created a respectable tag for its stories, reporting and associate publications. Not "The Statesman" (which shrank after CR Irani and SK Datta Ray), not the ToI as they have commercialised news, legalised page 3 as another celebrity league, and vandalised local news into coteries serving different interests. Of course, "Hindu's family feuds even though a strict Iyengar secret keeps getting out into the open and gives some salicious salvation to newbies like "the Mint" to comment on their goings-on. The newspaper is also disliked by many for it's haughty views on the Sri Lankan issue, BJP, communist shortcomings, secularism and love-hate relationship with the politicians in Tamil Nadu but the paper is very clear for what it wants its readers to notice it for - conservative but egalitarian. It is in that sense very Nehruvian in its views - Nehru always believed that the ruling majority must encourage and respect the minorities else the minorities can feel threatened to air their views or assert their cultures otherwise. "The Hindu" follows this in publications - they may not appease the "Hindus" but they never isolate the "minorities". Ethics wise also, they deserve a pat. Who else but "The Hindu" could have sacked the great cricket journalist - R.Mohan. It is interesting how the Times will respond to the changing times.