I've begun to be pissed off by the recent trends of Indian print media. Dailies have long been tabloidised, and you have a hard time finding the news that really matter. Recently, Sourav Ganguly, one of Bengal's holy cows, had his chain stolen by his house servant. And this item became the lead news in a premier daily of India!
Of course, infotainment rules. But why should I spend money for reading this kind of crap?
Serious weeklies are also going down the same route. OUTLOOK is the latest addition to this list. There have been change in fonts and formats, but you get less and less stuff for reading.
What has peeved me recently is its current marketing strategy. It's distributing "free" a life-style magazine launched by the house. But in reality, one has to shell out more bucks now because its price has gone up from fifteen to twenty. A novelty in marketing perhaps (they sell the new magazine without any extra effort) but why should I buy an extra magazine which I hate to read?
How funny that with the current issue, Outlook is giving a free CD of ten popular Hindi songs!
I smell a kind of bankruptcy in such selling moves. So, is it the time when you can't sell anything, however good, in a straight way? Or, has it become a fashion?
Whatever the case, I've decided to unsubcribe from OUTLOOK.
MRINAL BOSE
