Editorial policy: Case study on the Times of India

Abstract

The Indian newspaper is thriving; in fact, circulations and advertising are on the rise, a trend which isalmost absent in the West. The Times of India is the largest English daily across the world in terms ofcirculation. This is as a result of a large subscriber base and the age-old habit of browsing through anewspaper early in the morning with a cup of coffee. So, how does the print media industry cater tosuch a large subscriber base with varied interests on a daily basis? How do they work in different teamsacross regions to print an issue circulated throughout the country? Such questions intrigued us to takeup this study on editorial policy and internal workings of the Indian print media houses with The Timesof India as our focus newspaper.For our study, we chose two stories of national importance covered across 4 editions of The Times ofIndia and 3 competitive publications. We compared these editions for differences in terms of layout,style and coverage. This analysis supplemented by primary and secondary research led to both insightsand learning.Across editions, TOI maintains a simultaneous sense of autonomy along with resource sharing. This isshown in the common lead stories and editorials across editions alongside layout, positioning andheadline changes. They have the freedom to pick and choose what they adopt from different sections.The cross publication insights are their style of packaging stories, headlines with direct quotes for higherimpact and high levels space allocated to advertisements. The Times of India takes every decision basedon what they believe their customer wants to hear