Atanu Dey on India’s Development

Peddling Pornography

Caught a glimpse of the front page of The Times of India while commuting to work this morning. I noticed that they are now peddling pornography to increase their circulation. No wonder they are referred to by some as The Slimes of India. The top left hand corner of the front page declares in bold print:

Internet Hawker Puts Brittney Sex Video Up For Sale

A few weeks ago it was confirmed that the newspaper has paid editorial-page content that masquerades as honest reporting. I wonder how much they get paid for peddling pornography on the front page.

{See also India’s Primary Concern.}

June 26, 2004 - Posted by | Humor and Silliness, The Slimes of India

15 Comments

  1. Couldn’t agree more. Not only that they reek of pro west bias in their reporting, making me think that they are extension of jew media mafia. What a day we live in! apparently it has highest circulation in key metros.

    Comment by Sudhanshu | June 26, 2004

  2. Very true. Even their political ideology is based on who gives more moeny. Unfortunately they have the highest subscrition. The day the readers decide enough is enough and demand quality journalism or they boycott, I don’t see a change happening.

    Comment by SV | June 26, 2004

  3. Cheap sells, literally and figuratively.

    Arun

    Comment by Arun | June 27, 2004

  4. Cheap sells, literally and figuratively.

    Arun

    Comment by Arun | June 27, 2004

  5. For TOI the top bar of the front page has become a daily boob gallery. Now they have additional supplements so that they can carry more ads e.g. Bombay Times, Education Times & Times Wellness. I frankly subscribe to TOI because, I don’t have time to tell my paperwala to discontiue, bugger just drops the paper at door and goes away.

    Anyway who needs a newspaper these days. I have become so vorocious these days that even news.google.com doesn’t satisfy me.

    And moreover blogger like you give more satisfying content and news about real “India”.

    Through TOI I assume that more than half of India needs “Weight Loss Programme” and through you I know that “Indian Are Dying of Hunger”. The news which is lost in insignificant corners of these newspapers.

    Comment by Santoshkumar | June 28, 2004

  6. It’s time to take media power out of the hands of people like the Times of India. Although I don’t think that the blogs will become the central source of information in India in a long while, it’s time we, as a community begtan to support intelligent newspapers like the Hindustan Times and the Asian Age which are trying to make inroads into Bombay.

    Comment by Sujoy Mukherjee | June 29, 2004

  7. I didn’t see that headline of course, but in any case it is wrong, since to the best of my limited knowledge Britney Spears has never engaged in any sexual hijinks on video. Not that I would care if she did, since obviously her musical talents are limited at best, and I don’t think that she has that much skin left to show that she hasn’t already shown us over the years.

    Comment by Anonymous African Coward | June 30, 2004

  8. Sure, agree to what has been written about The Times of India. In an effort to get a bigger circulation than The Hindustan Times, they have resorted to printing sleaze.

    Well, sex sells easily….and that is what TOI is resorting to. Seems to me, till date most newspapers had missed out the illiterates of society…thats a big market in any city in India, so me thinks TOI is trying to sell printed paper to that sector, where the text print is never observed, and only the ‘exposed’ graphics are of cheap interest.

    Suggest HT to take note of this and not follow suit. TOI has been banned at my place and I sure hope most of the educated class would do the same.

    Todays edition (9/7/2004) of TOI carries full graphics on understanding ones tax burdens…..something unbelievable…TOI has not even left such topics clean of such smut.

    It is a shame such publications are allowed to function normally … the TOI directors need to be jailed.

    Comment by ashok | July 9, 2004

  9. Ok folks,
    I get what you all say but why don’t you think about us teenager who are living in a social family and where pornography of any sort is completley banned . At this time it’s only TOI that comes to much of our rescue .

    I give to thumb up to TOI people for living upto our expectations,thank you TOI.

    Comment by Kapil | November 15, 2005

  10. Kapil echoes a viewpoint thats not unexpected really. Thanks to the remarkable scarcity of pornographic media in India, broadsheet newspapers have to now expand their coverage to satiate the needs of the common consumer. The Times of India is merely serving a market. This is of course to the chagrin of serious readers like Atanu and myself, however this is the disappointment most of us would face because of the glut of pornography in mainstream media or the lack of niche pornographic (or other entertainment) segments.

    Broadly, I think this extends to most market segments in India as niche markets are not adequately explored or catered to. This obviously presents huge untapped sub-segments (like the wine market for example) that few entrepreneurs can identify and build solutions for.

    Comment by Pranay Da Spyder | November 28, 2005

  11. […] most important bit of the day. India is shining? I think it is really poor. {See also Peddling Pornography.}

    7 Comments to ‘India’s primary co […]

    Pingback by Atanu Dey on India’s Development » India’s primary concerns | February 19, 2006

  12. Dear friends,

    I agree with you.I used to buy only Sunday edition of TOI due to Jug Suraya’s column,but has even stopped that and it is a great relief.I buy Hindu and Indian express only and for the sake of good jouranlism please abandon TOI

    Comment by sharath | April 30, 2006

  13. Dear Atanu Dey : The Times of India is not the only old-India-world integrity-value-institution which has been mercenerised, bowdlerised, vulgarised, and SOLD OUT………nor such socialite journalism ( and the ToI do it well, better than others, I must admit !)…nor SCHOOLS, COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES, CIVIL SERVICES, not to mention politicians of all persuasions………MONEY, SEX [dishonest goonda-sex NOT LOVE and ROMANCE and COMPANIONSHIP], power-which-translates to money and more power VOTES, by selling destroying giving away forests, tigers, snow leopards, rivers, air, water, ground-water, glaciers, mountains, lakes, lagoons……….WE ARE UNDERMINING ALL OF OUR WILDERNESS AND NATURE………….YET even the development we get is being frittered away by a lack of character and leadership……..So, carry on with your good work.THE next 2 years will see a change with younger Indians of clean thoughts and clean hearts taking over !

    My full support,

    Hari Dang, Padma Shri

    —– Original Message —–
    From: Hari Dang
    To: atanudey@gmail.com
    Sent: Friday, June 02, 2006 12:25 PM
    Subject: Good work ! Congratulations.

    Equity and Magnanimity by the Young, for all human beings and for the conservation and sustainable use of Nature, creates a harmonious society and leads to a Healthy Planet

    Hari Dang Padma Shri
    Schoolmaster/Headmaster/Rector, Mountaineer, Naturalist; President, Centre for Development and Environment (CENDEVEN), Narayani Mata, Dist. Alwar, Rajasthan [Sariska Wildlife, Tiger, Forest and Ground Water Research Centre]; Editor, International Journal of Sustainable Development; Founder-Member, SURGE, Gurgaon and the NCR; Founder-Member, INTACH.
    Wilderness Equity [International] School(s)
    TWECS and TASD House,
    No. 924,
    Sector 17-B,
    Gurgaon-122001, Haryana, India

    haridang@vsnl.com wildernessequityschool@airtelbroadband.in
    tel:
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    91-11-124-234 2290/1014; 4015433
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    The Indian School(s) of Excellence and Equity Sponsored by :
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    From : Hari Dang Padma Shri [pro-tem Chairman, Board of Governors / Chief Editor]

    THIS LETTER FROM :

    Chambers and Field Office of The JOURNAL of Sustainable Development [1989] now going On-Line :
    WILDERNESS EQUITY SCHOOL EDUCATION & SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT HOUSE
    924, Sector 17-B, Gurgaon-122001, Haryana (NCR), India;

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    2 June, 2006

    Dear Atanu Dey :

    Were you with me when I was RECTOR, at St. Paul’s School, Darjeeling ?

    Congratulations, in any case, on your excellent online work. Are you aware of the NCFI and now the NNFI which we started, with LokSatta and CHRI and others from delhi ? Finally, the politicians are being exposed and India is changing, thanks to young people like you !

    Affectionately,

    With good wishes,

    Yours sincerely,

    ( HARI DANG ) Padma Shri
    * Chairman, International Himalayan Environment Programme and Action Projects Conference; United Nations International Year of Mountains, 2002; UN Year of Water 2003; Member, Governing Body, Automobile Association of Upper India; Founder-Member, Society for Urban Regeneration of Gurgaon and the National Capital Region, and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH); Former Member, Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), National Integration Council, National Commission on Teachers, National Children’s Board, Indian Board for Wildlife; Society for the National Institutes of Sports, Government of India (SNIPES); All India Council of Sports; Expert Committee on Infrastructure Development, Chairman/Convenor, sub-groups/committees on the Gulf of Kachchh in Gujarat, India; and Himalayan Heli-Skiing; Convenor, Society for the Conservation of the Delhi Ridge and the Yamuna (1970); Chairman, pro tem, The proposed India International School; President, The World Education Centre Society; Division of Elementary Education and Literacy, Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development Working Group on the 10th Five Year Plan; Honorary Chief Patron, The (Indian Education) Technology Mission; National Campaign for India (NCFI); National Network for India (NCNI); Consultant, Education Consultants of India Limited (Ed CIL).

    Chief Editor, Quarterly International Journal of SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT; President-Chairman, The (Third) World Education Centre Society (TWECS); The India International School; Author of “HIMALAYAN ENVIRONMENT-Issues and Concerns of Conservation and Development”; “India’s New Education Policy”; “The Snow Leopard of the Himalayan and Its Prey; “Blueprint for School Education”; “Timebound Total Literacy”; “Borderless Education:The Role of ITES”; “Gender Sensitivity in Education”; “The Vandalisation of India’s Wilderness since Independence”; and “India’s Heartland : Central Asia” (under preparation); President, Society for Technology and Action for Sustainable Development (TASD); Chairman, Centre for Development and Environment (CENDEVEN), Renuka Dang Memorial Drought Proofing & Desertification Research ; Woman and Child Development, Total Literacy ; and Sariska Tiger Conservation and Wilderness Centre, (at) Village (s) Jagannathpura/Narayani Mata and Roopu-ka-Bas, Tehsil Thana Ghazi, District Alwar, Rajasthan; Consultant, Education Consultants of India Limited (Ed CIL).

    Comment by Hari Dang | June 2, 2006

  14. the mainstream television media is the worst culprit. they are allowing underwear advertisements with vulgar connotations during peak hours. there is no sting in the advertising council of india. i wonder if they exist. when you can feel the erect penis of a poor man’s underwear on the large tv screen before 8 pm news sitting with your ever inquisitive children you understand who are shortselling us. television channels are vying with one another with trivial news of new delhi and mumbai where whole india has no existance. no news channel besides may be ndtv has gone beyond the metros for ages. as if metros constitute a country within this country. hope there should be some kind of regulation to check these abberations.

    Comment by sam | October 22, 2006

  15. Times of India has now taken it up as a zeal to introduce pornography to kids. They have segmented the market into 8-12 and 12-15 years old. Look at the Sunday Supplement of 18th Feb 2007 and they have a large photo of two 8-10 year old kids peering into a porn mag and the accompanying article distorts an ostensible research conducted in US. It is the height of yellow journalism. Peddling pornography is one thing which they have almost made passe now. But thrusting it onto the hands of kids and tom-tomming it as the done thing using distorted interpretation of research results placed out of context, is an insidious inroad into our traditional psyche and a pernicious attempt to sear the moral fabric of our country.

    Comment by Siddhartha Sinha | February 24, 2007


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