Times of India , I must say, is truly trying to renovate the sphere of news and journalism. Through the move of introducing the Crest Edition, an apt preparatory material for CAT Group discussions, full of big essays on World and India, the Times Group vouched to keep its readers busy all week long.
Though not a big success, the Crest Edition is worth a buy for Rs 6, occasionally, if one forsees a boring weekend. This newspaper cum magazine does offer a wholesome read and whole lot of facts.
The spree to introduce variety has not stopped, the Times Group has come out with a supplement - The Speaking Tree on Sundays. This is an assortment of articles, on spirtuality, mind, body and soul, travel and few more arbitrary topics. The first edition dated Feb 28, 2010 has been a huge disappointment, with very poorly written articles, uninteresting matter running to few pages, adding much unwanted bulk to the Sunday newspaper. The articles school children write for their English exams fare thousand times better and score more in terms of content, flow, expression and style.
Times of India is no novice to the art of providing its readers with turn off s - the front page at times is just half the normal size, hangs out like a vestigeal appendage, hindering you from the simple act of folding the paper for a confortable read, there are innumerable pamphlets stocked between the pages of the newspaper, they fall like colorful confetti to brighten your morning, advertisements run from top to bottom, page after page and you search for news between advertisements, Aman ki Asha campaign figures on every page involving two nations who are currently in no mood for peace or talks, ruining the content and purpose on special days like the New year/Republic day, a multitude of articles on lifestyle, health, people and cultures with highly opposing and at times controversial opinions constituting a head swirling rigmarole.
The Speaking Tree, to state in simple terms, adds to the list of turn offs. I don't know what made the group name the supplement "The Speaking Tree", probably the act drew inspiration from Abhishek Bachchan's tree act for the Idea cellular advertisement. It is HIGH time, Times of India realised that adding volume to the newspaper does not offer any happiness to its readers or revamp the space of news/print journalism. The matter printed MATTERS a lot.
If Times of India continues to add meaningless volume like this to its editions, some day, TREES WILL SPEAK ... Save Us ... they are cutting us down for no purpose/reason.
Though not a big success, the Crest Edition is worth a buy for Rs 6, occasionally, if one forsees a boring weekend. This newspaper cum magazine does offer a wholesome read and whole lot of facts.
The spree to introduce variety has not stopped, the Times Group has come out with a supplement - The Speaking Tree on Sundays. This is an assortment of articles, on spirtuality, mind, body and soul, travel and few more arbitrary topics. The first edition dated Feb 28, 2010 has been a huge disappointment, with very poorly written articles, uninteresting matter running to few pages, adding much unwanted bulk to the Sunday newspaper. The articles school children write for their English exams fare thousand times better and score more in terms of content, flow, expression and style.
Times of India is no novice to the art of providing its readers with turn off s - the front page at times is just half the normal size, hangs out like a vestigeal appendage, hindering you from the simple act of folding the paper for a confortable read, there are innumerable pamphlets stocked between the pages of the newspaper, they fall like colorful confetti to brighten your morning, advertisements run from top to bottom, page after page and you search for news between advertisements, Aman ki Asha campaign figures on every page involving two nations who are currently in no mood for peace or talks, ruining the content and purpose on special days like the New year/Republic day, a multitude of articles on lifestyle, health, people and cultures with highly opposing and at times controversial opinions constituting a head swirling rigmarole.
The Speaking Tree, to state in simple terms, adds to the list of turn offs. I don't know what made the group name the supplement "The Speaking Tree", probably the act drew inspiration from Abhishek Bachchan's tree act for the Idea cellular advertisement. It is HIGH time, Times of India realised that adding volume to the newspaper does not offer any happiness to its readers or revamp the space of news/print journalism. The matter printed MATTERS a lot.
If Times of India continues to add meaningless volume like this to its editions, some day, TREES WILL SPEAK ... Save Us ... they are cutting us down for no purpose/reason.
Addendum 1 : Mar 21, 2010
Nothing has changed, The Speaking Tree issue priced at Rs 1.50 comes now on Sundays. Nothing valuable in the last two issues. I tried nailing my attention to the one dated 21 March 2010 and found only the 3 lines verses by Sarvajna (A renowed Kannada poet) with English meaning worth a read. Plainly, the remaining matter in the paper failed to attract any interest.
1 comment:
couldn't agree more esp about the smaller size front page and of-course the Aman ki Asha campaign
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