2008 Woodie Awards
The Times of 'Infotainment:' Giving the people what they want
Blog dispatch from students in India
Laurel Saito
Issue: 7/14/08 Section: summer in india
Posted Aug. 7, 2008
At both Sophia Polytechnic (Social Communication Media courses) and Xavier Institute of Communication, not one discussion, one lecture failed to mention the infamous Times of India. This paper, delivered each morning to our hotel rooms, seemed to be the butt of each joke, the perfect example to highlight the effects of the commercialization and the transformation of information to "infotainment."
Each professor of journalism chuckled at it, each student criticized it. And yet when asked whose household isn't subscribed, one hand, out of a class of more than 30 educated Indian students, was raised. The truth is, The Times of India is the largest selling newspaper in the country.
For days we had been hearing from a disgruntled crowd of students and professors, the agitated academia. Ironically, minutes before traveling to The Times of India itself, another lecturer claimed, "The Times of India is like a mafia, like a one man mafia." And then we were off to meet this beast, to see for ourselves.
Bhaskar Das, executive president of The Times of India, the business face of the company, met a tough crowd. We drilled him on media responsibility, how to explain the celebrity gossip pages, infotainment, compromised news, on and on.
Despite my certainty he would deny the allegations, he admitted to most of them. The paper is driven by the reader. Now they want less politics and more entertainment. So be it, he reasoned. "Comfort by tactile."
Passionate, blunt, and overall pretty ruthless, fellow students in our group liked him, hated him, agreed and disagreed. "Have lunch or be lunch," Das explained. "Please understand, you will be left out."
Are we too idealistic for this environment? Journalism and print media, after all, are a business. Or is The Times of India actually on to something? Their youth readership is extremely high, 50 percent of 15-20 year olds. Where papers are dying out back home in the States, the medium is flourishing in India. Although The Times of India resembles a cross between the USA Today and Esquire, there is no denying its popularity. At least the young are informed on some trivial (often questionable) news, which is better than can be said of most American teens.
At both Sophia Polytechnic (Social Communication Media courses) and Xavier Institute of Communication, not one discussion, one lecture failed to mention the infamous Times of India. This paper, delivered each morning to our hotel rooms, seemed to be the butt of each joke, the perfect example to highlight the effects of the commercialization and the transformation of information to "infotainment."
Each professor of journalism chuckled at it, each student criticized it. And yet when asked whose household isn't subscribed, one hand, out of a class of more than 30 educated Indian students, was raised. The truth is, The Times of India is the largest selling newspaper in the country.
For days we had been hearing from a disgruntled crowd of students and professors, the agitated academia. Ironically, minutes before traveling to The Times of India itself, another lecturer claimed, "The Times of India is like a mafia, like a one man mafia." And then we were off to meet this beast, to see for ourselves.
Bhaskar Das, executive president of The Times of India, the business face of the company, met a tough crowd. We drilled him on media responsibility, how to explain the celebrity gossip pages, infotainment, compromised news, on and on.
Despite my certainty he would deny the allegations, he admitted to most of them. The paper is driven by the reader. Now they want less politics and more entertainment. So be it, he reasoned. "Comfort by tactile."
Passionate, blunt, and overall pretty ruthless, fellow students in our group liked him, hated him, agreed and disagreed. "Have lunch or be lunch," Das explained. "Please understand, you will be left out."
Are we too idealistic for this environment? Journalism and print media, after all, are a business. Or is The Times of India actually on to something? Their youth readership is extremely high, 50 percent of 15-20 year olds. Where papers are dying out back home in the States, the medium is flourishing in India. Although The Times of India resembles a cross between the USA Today and Esquire, there is no denying its popularity. At least the young are informed on some trivial (often questionable) news, which is better than can be said of most American teens.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 17
Sean Milton
Sean Milton
posted 8/08/08 @ 10:09 AM PST
I was kind of surprised at Das' blunt reactions to our questions as well. I feel he kind of circumvented some of them and reacted like any CEO would. It was interesting, however, to compare Indian papers with those of the U. (Continued…)
Veronica Martin
posted 8/08/08 @ 8:20 PM PST
I didn't know what to expect at the Times of India, but it was definitly interesting to finally meet the "beast" that we have been hearing so much about -- not to mention reading each morning. (Continued…)
Jessica Miller
Jessica Miller
posted 8/09/08 @ 7:16 AM PST
I agree that it was refreshing for Das to blatantly admit that The Times fell short in some hard-hitting news areas. Escapist media is super common in third world and developing countries - and being here, it is easy to see why. (Continued…)
lostintranslation
Kassi Rodgers
posted 8/09/08 @ 8:10 PM PST
The day at the Times of India will for me be one of the highlights of this trip. If the purpose of our trip was to really sink our teeth into the chaos that is Mass Media in Modern India, then I would call that meeting the part when you find out instead of steak it will be tofu. (Continued…)
Joshua Treybig
posted 8/10/08 @ 3:34 AM PST
I was thinking a lot about the way the Times offers an alternate to the real world. The real world can be pretty depressing given what the readers are surrounded by. (Continued…)
Mat Lohr
posted 8/10/08 @ 3:51 AM PST
I think the TImes of India is genius. They know exactly how to keep readers reading their newspaper and continue to dominant the world as the biggest selling and most read daily in the world. (Continued…)
Melissa Heintz
posted 8/13/08 @ 7:20 AM PST
Like you said, print media in the US is dying out while it is flourishing here in India. After all, he is still running a business and needs to cater to the audience's preferences. (Continued…)
erica webster
Erica Webster
posted 8/13/08 @ 7:35 AM PST
I too was surprised by Das's straight forward admission to what we thought were hard hitting accusations. Although i remain resolved to disagree with his way of thinking so as not to become prematurely jaded, i found that his lecture was the most interesting and informational so far. (Continued…)
Jordan Belmonte
posted 8/13/08 @ 9:22 AM PST
Yes, that guy was very interesting and suprising -- I personally loved him -- he was very smooth at answering questions thats for sure. I just feel like the Times of India is smart to keep its market and perhaps eventually they will find a good formula to deliver hard hitting in depth stories in a way that appeals to their audience. (Continued…)
Alyss Tsukayama
posted 8/13/08 @ 10:32 AM PST
As a journalist my blood was boiling when he began his buisness spiel, but the paper is obviously surviving. I just wish that somehow we can find the right formula to make news readable for everyone. (Continued…)
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