Grievances of a reader of 18 years : My Letter to Times of India

There are certain aspects of you that you cannot choose, you just get born into it. In a peculiar way, that is what i define my relationship with your newspaper- The Times of India. I read it as a child and have never looked at any other newspaper since.

Maybe its the fidelity, maybe its the format, the look that i am so accustomed to. But then eventually the material comes under scrutiny. The older i have gotten, the more meek and scandalous i have found you.

I am not going to mince any words. The newspaper has become a bastion of classy sensationalism. So many times i wake up to a laughable front page. Some times there is not a front page, but an advertisement staring at my face. Sure you have to make money, but sacrificing your front page is not the way to go about doing it. You might as well attach a 20 page leaflet to cater to your bottom line. There is a difference between reporting the news and selling a story. You seem to have found a niche pandering to the latter. You place higher stock on a Tiger Woods controversy (by giving the front page 9 dec,2009) than you do on reporting the daily happenings in the government. It seems that you have forgotten what investigative journalism is.

There is not article on any government department unless there is a sensational scandal or radical reform. You have stopped reporting the what happens on a daily basis. The argument that repetition can cause disinterest is not the one you should make as i see you reporting about "man made global warming" in the most sensational possible way, trying to scare the readers. You report the now very nearly debunked "science"(myth would be more appropriate) with the alacrity of a politician trying to push his/her agenda through. There seems to be no room for balanced argument. You seem to either be scared or unwilling to report the harsh truth. If you are scared of ridicule or slander, you are really in the wrong profession. If you are unwilling, you are not fit to write anything, even you letter resignation. The only article that is worth reading is Swaminomics.

Some of your "tactics" or strategies to sell more or attract a more "niche clientele" smacks of elitism. For example, the crest edition. You are creating what is called in economics as 'price discrimination'. There is nothing wrong about the concept. Airlines and multiplexes use it to attract different customers. But you not should indulge in it. You cannot paint the truth in different shades and sell it according to price fixing policy. That more than anything points to the fact that you treat yourself as a corporation and not as a medium of veracity.

You proudly claim, almost in a boastful smug, to be largest newspaper in the world. Maybe you have become too concerned in entertaining the masses than doing your primary duty. You might be aware of the fact you are not the fastest growing newspaper. Reading your newspaper, there is no reason it should be.

It is your primary job and purpose of existence to enlighten people and report the truth, undressed and unadulterated. The way you have embraced the modern day culture of pandering to the masses is unbecoming of a newspaper. You are dumbing down the people and there can be nothing more terrible that a newspaper can do.

You seem to more like the proponents of propaganda than a reliable source of veracity. You wield immense power in terms of your reach and the nature of your job. And for all intents and purposes you are abusing your power. You have not reported anything about 'climategate', you haven't poked holes into the very porous government story of the events of 26.11.2008 Mumbai attacks. You do not expose the corruption that is so rampant.

A country's news agencies are said to be the indicator of the state of affairs. During the independence struggle, there were brave and dutiful journalists who did their job because they owed it to their profession. Nowadays, the only iota of loyalty you reporters seem to have is to your paychecks. I wish i could say that i look forward to your reply but i am not naive. You will brush it away and look at new ways to expand you readers. Take a moment and introspect. You are not what a reporter or a journalist is but someone who pretends to be that- a sellout.