The Times of India

The Times of India
The Times of India logo
The Times of India cover 03-22-10.jpg
The June 26, 2010, front page of
The Times of India
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.
Publisher The Times Group
Editor-in-chief Jaideep Bose
Associate editor Jug Suraiya
Founded 3 November 1838
Political alignment Classical liberal[1]
Language English
Headquarters Times House
7 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi, Delhi 110002
India
Circulation 3,146,000 Daily
OCLC number 23379369
Official website Timesofindia.com

The Times of India (TOI) is an English-language broadsheet newspaper that is widely read throughout India. It has the largest circulation among all English-language newspapers in the world, across all formats (broadsheet, tabloid, compact, Berliner and online).[2][3] It is owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. which is owned by the Sahu Jain family.

In 2008, the newspaper reported that (with a circulation of over 3.14 million) it was certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations as the world's largest selling English-language daily newspaper, placing as the 8th largest selling newspaper in any language in the world.[4] According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2010, the Times of India is the most widely read English newspaper in India with a readership of 13.4 million. This ranks the Times of India as the top English newspaper in India by readership.[5] According to ComScore, TOI Online is the world's most-visited newspaper website with 159 million page views in May 2009, ahead of the New York Times, The Sun, Washington Post, Daily Mail and USA Today websites.

Contents

History

The Times Of India was founded on November 3, 1838 as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce,[6] during the British Raj. Published every Saturday and Wednesday, The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce was launched as a bi-weekly edition. It contained news from Britain and the world, as well as the Subcontinent. The daily editions of the paper were started from 1850 and in 1861, the Bombay Times was renamed The Times of India. In the 19th century this newspaper company employed more than 800 people and had a sizable circulation in India and Europe. It was after India's Independence that the ownership of the paper passed on to the then famous industrial family of Dalmiyas and later it was taken over by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain of the Sahu Jain group from Bijnore, UP.

India's press in the 1840s was a motley collection of small-circulation daily or weekly sheets printed on rickety presses. Few extended beyond their small communities and seldom tried to unite the many castes, tribes, and regional subcultures of India. The Anglo-Indian papers promoted purely British interests. Robert Knight (1825–1892) was the principal founder and the first editor of the Times.

The son of a son of a London bank clerk from the lower-middle-class, Knight proved a skilled writer and passionate reformer. Knight helped create a vibrant national newspaper industry in British India. When the Sepoy Mutiny erupted, Knight was acting editor of the Bombay Times and Standard. He broke with the rest of the English language press (which focused on Indian savagery and treachery) and instead blamed the violence on the lack of discipline and poor leadership in the army. That angered the Anglo community, but attracted the Times's Indian shareholders, who made him the permanent editor. Knight blasted the mismanagement and greed of the Raj, attacking annexation policies that appropriated native lands and arbitrarily imposed taxes on previously exempt land titles, ridiculing income taxes, and exposing school systems that disregarded Indian customs and needs. Knight led the paper to national prominence. In 1860, he bought out the Indian shareholders and merged with the rival Bombay Standard, and started India's first news agency. It wired Times dispatches to papers across the country and became the Indian agent for Reuters news service. In 1861, he changed the name from the Bombay Times and Standard to the Times of India. Knight fought for a press free of prior restraint or intimidation, frequently resisting the attempts by governments, business interests, and cultural spokesmen.[7]

Times today

The Times of India is published by the media group Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. This company, along with its other group companies, known as The Times Group, also publishes The Economic Times, Mumbai Mirror,Pune Mirror, the Navbharat Times (a Hindi-language daily broadsheet), the Maharashtra Times (a Marathi-language daily broadsheet).

The Times is self-declared as a liberal newspaper,[1] and is sometimes described as irreverent.[8]

The present management of The Times Group has been instrumental in changing the outlook of Indian journalism. In India, as is elsewhere in the world, the Editor of a newspaper has traditionally been considered as the most notable position in a newspaper set up. The Times of India, however, changed this in the early 1990s, in keeping with the management policy of treating the newspaper as just another brand in the market. The main newspaper and its many sub-editions are now run by editors who are appointed within the ranks and the company gives equal chance to everyone to occupy the editor's seat. The Times Group also places equal focus and importance to every department and function - which has made it a professional entity and ensured its place as the most profitable newspaper in the country.

In late 2006, Times Group acquired Vijayanand Printers Limited(VPL). VPL used to publish two Kannada newspapers Vijay Karnataka and Usha Kiran and an English daily Vijay Times. Vijay Karnataka was the leader in the Kannada newspaper segment then.[9]

In January 2007, the Kannada edition was launched in Bangalore and in April 2008 the Chennai edition was launched. Their main rivals in India are The Hindu and Hindustan Times, which hold second and third position by circulation.[10]

Editions

The Times of India is printed from the following places in India:

TOI press at Sahibabad

Total Average Circulation for 2008: 3,433,000 copies

World Top Ten English Dailies (net sales)

  1. The Times of India (India): 3,433,000
  2. The Sun (UK): 3,046,000
  3. USA Today (USA): 2,293,000
  4. Daily Mail (UK): 2,194,000
  5. The Wall Street Journal (USA): 2,012,000
  6. The Daily Mirror (UK): 1,400,000
  7. The Hindu (India): 1,331,000
  8. The Hindustan Times (India): 1,189,000
  9. The Deccan Chronicle (India): 1,003,000
  10. The New York Times (USA): 1,001,000

Source: World Press Trends 2009 (published by World Association of Newspapers)[11]

Supplements

The Times of India comes with several city-specific supplements, such as Delhi Times, Calcutta Times, Bombay Times, Hyderabad Times, Indore Times, Kanpur Times, Lucknow Times, , Nagpur Times, Bangalore Times, Pune Times, Ahmedabad Times and Chennai Times, The Times of South Mumbai, The Times of Doon, Meerut Plus, Haridwar Plus , Bhopal Plus .

Other regular supplements include:

Tabloids:

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Times of India Leader Article declaring its position. www.timesofindia.com
  2. "TOI Online is world's No.1 newspaper website". Times of India. July 12, 2009. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS-India-TOI-Online-is-worlds-No1-newspaper-website/articleshow/4769920.cms. Retrieved 2007-10-16. 
  3. "Dailies add 12.6 million readers: NRS". The Hindu. August 29, 2006. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/001200608291820.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-16. 
  4. "List of newspapers in the world by circulation". International Federation of Audit Bureaux of Circulations. June 30, 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_the_World_by_circulation. Retrieved 2007-10-16. 
  5. "Times now Masthead of the World". The Times of India. June 30, 2008. http://www.newswatch.in/newsblog/1821. Retrieved 2007-10-16. 
  6. "The Times of India turns the Times of Colour". Televisionpoint.com. April 26, 2006. http://www.televisionpoint.com/news2006/newsfullstory.php?id=1146042260. Retrieved 2007-10-16. 
  7. Edwin Hirschmann, Robert Knight: Reforming Editor in Victorian India (Oxford University Press, 2008) ISBN 978-0-19-569622-6
  8. "Indian press consider surprise result". BBC News. May 14, 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3713599.stm. Retrieved 25 July 2009. 
  9. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Times-Group-acquires-Vijayanand-Printers/articleshow/1651347.cms
  10. "The Times of India consolidating in Chennai". Televisionpoint.com. July 7, 2008. http://www.televisionpoint.com/news2008/newsfullstory.php?id=1215426326. Retrieved 25 July 2009. 
  11. http://www.wan-press.org/worldpresstrends/home.php
  12. 12.0 12.1 "Services". Medianet. http://www.timesmedianet.com/oms/userfiles/Services.aspx. 

External links