Chapter 4 Profiles of Dailies Selected 96 Chapter 4 Profiles of Selected Dailies As stated in the previous chapters, this study is being carried out on the basis of two dailies, namely, The Times of India and The Indian Expressin English, and Sakal and Lokmat in Marathi. Given below are the profiles of these dailies. 4.1 The Times of India Tracing its roots to 1838, the Times Group is India’s largest media house with its flagship, Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited (BCCL). BCCL and its subsidiaries, which are called The Times of India Group, are present in every existing media platform such as newspapers, magazines, books, TV, radio, Internet, event management, outdoor display, music and movies among others. With a dominant presence across all media platforms and a footprint spanning the whole of Indian sub-continent, the flagship daily of the group – The Times of India – is today the largest English newspaper in the world with its sister publication – The Economic Times – being world’s second-largest English business daily, according to its official website. Also, according to IRS Q3 2012 survey, The Times of India remains among the top 10 dailies in Average Issue Readership (AIR) with 76,53,000 and India's most readable newspaper. (http://www.ficci.com/spdocument/20217/FICCI-KPMG-Report-13- FRAMES.pdf) Founded to serve the British residents of West India, The Times of India has now a circulation of more than 4 million copies, covering almost 8 million 97 readers. Originally, this paper was owned by British, but since Independence, it has been owned by the Times of India Group. The Times of India is particularly valuable for its coverage of key historical events in India, which included the rise of Gandhi’s Civil Disobedience movement, India’s Independence, Partition and many more. The Times of India provides exceptional depth to the study of colonial and post-colonial times, class and gender issues, religion, as well as international economics, international relations and cultural studies. The Times of India has its roots in The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce which was first published on November 3, 1838 as a biweekly newspaper for Bombay's business community. Dr. J.E. Brennan, who was also the secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, was the editor, with the owners comprising a British syndicate of eleven firms, two barristers, a doctor and a native merchant– Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy. In 1850,the shareholders decided to increase the share capital.Thus,the paper was converted into a daily. In 1859,the Bombay Standard and Chronicle of Western India merged into The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce to form the Bombay Times & Standard. In 1861, the then editor, Robert Knight, merged The Bombay Times & Standard, and the Bombay Telegraph & Courier to formThe Times of India - giving it a national character. After 30 years in 1892, T. J. Bennett became the editor and entered into a partnership with F.M. Coleman to form a joint stock company - Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. (BCCL). Later, Stanley Reed, who was the editor, revolutionised news production by extending the deadline to midnight. Around the same time, the newspaper’s first price war was initiated. The Times of India cut its cover price from 4 annas(current 25 paise) to 1 anna (current 6 paise)– leading to a five-fold 98 increase in its circulation. It took many years for its next transition. In 1948,The Times of India got the Indian ownership with Seth Ramakrishna Dalmia buying the company in 1946. In 1947,an exclusive Sunday edition of The Times of Indiawas launched in Mumbai. The company also launched its Hindi daily – the Nav Bharat Times in Delhi.Sahu Jain Group took over as the owner of the company after Ramakrishna Dalmia sold the firm to his son-in-law,Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain, who became the first chairman of the group. Today, Indu Jain is the chairman of the group. At present, the group runs 14 newspapers, 18 magazines, 11 publishing centers, 26 printing centres across India. The newspapers are: (1)The Times of India (TOI): It is the English language daily with a lineage stretching back to more than 170 years.The Times of India sells over 4 million copies daily across 41 locations in India, making it not only the largest English daily in India, but also the world. TOI which was voted as one of the world’s six greatest newspapers way back in 1988 by the BBC, has now moved ahead of international stalwarts such as The Sun, The Daily Mail, USA Today, New York Times, theWall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post among others. The daily has following supplements : Times of India Metro Supplements (TIMS) In 1994,The Times of India took a bold step of experimenting with not just news, but something more. The result was a supplement then called the Bombay Times which broke the mould of capturing the latest happenings in and around the city.It captured the essence of the city: its people, culture, fashion, 99 art, theatre, sports, films and private public social gatherings so on. Times Pluses Times Pluses are supplements with local news and advertising, which are customized for various readers through geographic zones within a particular market. The Pluses are a tool for readers to address their civic and other local and topical issues, which are specific to their location. Times Ascent It is a weekly supplement offering the best job postings and career- related news and views from doyens of corporate world and academicians. Education Times It is also a weekly supplement offering the best of content related to education and career options, right from primary level to doctorate. Life The suppliment is aimed at initiating a dialogue and provoking thought and debate among its readers. Life is the glossy lifestyle supplement published every Sunday with The Sunday Times of India. Often, the topics touched upon are the ones, which run-of-the mill newspapers would like to avoid in fear of generating extreme opinions. Life lays every aspect of life bare for the reader to think and decide. 100 Times Property This is a weekly supplement containing the best of news, analysis and announcements on real estate.It is read by investors and buyers, sellers of real estate. Also Times group launches Magic Bricks NOW channel on Oct.2015. Among the online media, the newspaper has: The Times of India Online The Times of India Online is India’s most popular news website. With 13 million unique visitors and over 300 million page views per month, it consistently ranks among the world’s Top 10 English-language newspaper websites. It offers complete, in-depth and up-to-date coverage — in text and video formats — of national, international, city, sports, entertainment, lifestyle, business, health, science and technology topics. The Times of India epaper The Times of India is among the first newspapers in Asia to launch the online replica version of the physical edition. The Times of India mobile paper The Times of India was also among the first newspapers in India to launch the replica of the physical edition, exclusively for cell phone users. (2) The Economic Times (ET) : Being published since 1961, The Economic Times is India’s first pink financial daily. But it was not just colour that made ET India’s largest and world’s second-largest English financial daily, but also the quality of the content with a circulation of almost 8,00,000 copies. 101 ET was the first to recognize the importance of economic liberalisation and the need to move hand-in-hand with key constituents in this journey. Today, The Economic Times has a pan-India presence, being printed from 17 locations with 11 main editions. (3) Maharashtra Times (Marathi) : The group publishes the Marathi language daily,Maharashtra Times. Launched in 1962, Maharashtra Times is the Mumbai’s largest read and circulated Marathi language daily. With the Hindu God ‘Ganapati’ being its brand symbol, Maharashtra Times has the distinction of being the first- all language daily in Mumbai to go all-colour and also introduce separate pages in English through the supplement Education Times every week.In addition to Mumbai,the Maharashtra Times also has editions in Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad and Kolhapur. (4) Navbharat Times (Hindi) : Established in 1947, the Navbharat Timesfrom Delhi and Mumbai is the largest read Hindi daily among educated urbanites with significant disposable income. It has a combined circulation of over half-a-million copies. (5) Vijay Karnataka (Kannada) (VK) : Launched in 1999, the Vijay Karnataka from Vijayanand Printers, became the number one Kannada newspaper in the state in a short span. In 2006, the Vijay Group exited from the newspaper business and BCCL acquired the company. Since then, it has grown with a high penetration in the state with multiple editions. (6) Mumbai Mirror (English) :The Mumbai Mirror, the English tabloid,was launched in 2005. Today, along with Mumbai it has its 102 presence in Ahmadabad, Bengaluru,andPune. (7) The Speaking Tree (English) : The English weekly was launched in February 2010. The Speaking Tree caters to the reader seeking any form of wellbeing of the mind or body. It is not designed only for the evolved person already steeped in the pursuit of spirituality. Rather, it is for the person who has some yearning for self- realization and self-improvement. (8) ET Wealth (English business weekly) : The Times Group is the first media house to publish a weekly newspaper devoted specifically to personal finance. The ET Wealth, a national paper, which is circulated every Monday from eight centres - Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmadabad, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.Ithas news and analysis on a vast range of topics such as investment in stocks and funds, insurance, banking, borrowing, pension and taxation to stories on career and salaries, and those that help one spend smartly.