Times of India - waning influence. Review on The Times Of India

We have been readers of the TImes of India every morning for the last 30 years. My father came to Mumbai around 32 years ago and has never changed his subscription to any other paper. Having been brought up on TOI all my life (all of 25 years), and having also read other newspapers in my time, I have seen a very slow but steady decline in TOI's quality of reportage.

TOI has been a standard bearer in news reportage for all english newspapers in India and abroad.Indeed, about 2 years ago, TOI was rated as one of the six best newspapers in the world in terms of circulation and quality, along with such leading names like Washington Post and New York Times. While TOI still remains the best among all other newspapers, and it still holds on to its character (albeit eroding), its image among its long time faithfuls has taken a beating.

The reason seems to be rapid crass commercialisation. TOI is not just a newspaper; its a large media conglomerate that needs to make profits. It has diversified into music production, multimedia, e-commerce, FM radio, etc. Increasingly its flagship brand - its newspaper - is being used as a vehicle for advertise its other businesses. Imagine seeing a huge write-up about Radio Mirchi (their FM radio channel) along-side other important news items like by-elections in some states of India. Its very annoying to see so much importance given to a non-event, just because it belongs to their business group. Events sponsored by the TOI group like rock shows are given pride of place on the front covers. People having influence and money are able to splash their photos on the front covers of the main paper and the supplements - to announce the launch of some product. Their Sunday supplement is titled Men & Women - where a Mr. or Ms Moneybags is glorified to iconic status and written about at huge lengths. There is constant attempt to artificially push a particular-somebody as an icon and splash colourful photos of those people. Their daily supplements looks like a collection of all page-threes of other tabloids - semi-clad-voluptuous women, juicy gossip about what a Ms Shobha De wore (or didn't wear) at a party, how many times a certain celebrity couple held hands, or who were looking like a hot item at a rich guys booze party! All designed to push up sales of the main newspaper!

So I ask this - wheres the objectivity in news reportage? Who or what decides newsworthiness? Can moneybags grab center-space on the newspaper? Do leading newspapers have a moral obligation of giving proper direction to the collective wisdom of their readers, or don't they? Is the TOI a family newspaper anymore? Can a 10 year old kid read the supplement without his mother having to censor it? Can the TOI preserve its objectivity?