1

Marketing Research On
Newspapers

PROJECT DONE BY STUDENTS OF USHA

PRAVIN GANDHI COLLEGE OF
MANAGEMENT

TYBMS

DIV ‘A’

2
 INDEX

1. INTRODUCTION OF NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY 5

2. HISTORY OF TIMES OF INDIA 10
3. CRITISISM ON TIMES OF INDIA 11
4. INTRODUCTION ON DNA 13
5. COMPETITION BETWEEN TIMES OF INDIA AND DNA

16
6. INTRODUCTION ON HINDUSTAN TIMES 18
7. MARKET SHARE OF TIMES OF INDIA 21
8. 4 P’S OF TIMES OF INDIA 22
9. MARKETING STRATEGY 23
10. SURVEY 27
11. SWOT ANALYSIS 41
12. FUTURE OF NEWSPAPER 44

3
4
INTRODUCTION TO THE NEWS PAPER INDUSTRY

MARKET RESEARCH
NEWSPAPER

The newspaper industry has traditionally functioned as a free

press in India. The freedom of expression and independence
for print media has been ensured in the Indian constitution
and the newspapers zealously guard this independence. The
Gujarati Daily Bombay Samachar, started in 1822 AD, is the
oldest existing newspaper in Asia.

The findings of the National Readership Survey (NRS) 2005

show that India's print media readership base has expanded
by 10 per cent over the last two years. Since the last NRS
survey in 2004, the print media have acquired 17 million
more reader’s .The data may indicate that different media
need not necessarily substitute one another. According to
the NRS estimates, India's vast media industry reaches 180
million readers, 383.6 million television viewers, 189 million
radio listeners and six million Internet users.

Despite the growth in readership, a majority of India's 428

million literate adults do not read any periodical publication.

5
Besides India's vast illiterate adult population (252.5 million),
there are 248 million literate adults who are unexposed to
newspapers and to the 180 million who do read publications.
Readers from nearly six lakh villages make magazines, in
comparison up only 48 per cent of the readership base,
although rural India is home to 62,6 per cent of the country's
literate population. This could be due to the urban-centric
nature of most publications, which may not cater to the
interests of rural residents.

THE LITERACY LEVEL IS UP....

2001(in 2004(in % Change

crore) crore)
Population 70.0 71.6 2.28
(12+)
Literate 42.2 44.8 5.21
Population
SSC & above 13.6 15.1 11.03

.... BUT THE NUMBER OF CASUAL READERS

2001 (in crore) 2005 (crore) % Change

Any 23.4 23.7 1.28

publication

6
Any Daily 22.0 22.6 2.7

Any Magazine 11.7 9.5 (18.8)

.... AND REGULAR READERS ISNT

2001 (in crore) 2005 (in crore) % Change

Any
16.0 15.8 (1.25)
publication

Any Daily 14.2 14.5 2.11

Any Magazine 7.3 5.8 (20.5)

INDIA'S TOP FOUR ENGLISH (change this bcoz v comparing

TOI HT N DNA)

7
 Slice 4
0%
2003
2005 31%
35%

2004
34%

2003 2004 2005

TOI 5388 5950 6220

The Hindu 2973 2678 2980

Hindustan
2325 2316
Times 2250

Deccan
790 962 1165
Chronicle

8
According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers' study, Global
Entertainment & Media Outlook 2004-2008, the Indian
newspaper market will grow from $1,869 million in 2004 to
$2,404 million in 2008 at a CAGR of 6.9 per cent.

The government had changed its media policy in 2002 and

relaxed foreign ownership restrictions in the newspaper
category. Today, 26 per cent foreign equity holding in news-
related print media is allowed, though editorial management
must remain Indian.

History of Times of India

9
TOI was founded on November 3, 1838 as The Bombay
Times and Journal of Commerce, and served the British
residents of western India. It adopted its present name in
1861. Published on every Saturdays and Wednesdays
"Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce" was launched as
a bi weekly editions. It contained news of Europe, America
and the sub-continent and was conveyed between India and
Europe via regular steam ships. The daily editions of the
paper were started from 1850 and by 1861 Bombay Times
was renamed as "The Times of India". By 19th century this
news paper company employed more than 800 people and
had good circulation in India and Europe. Originally British
owned and controlled, its last British editor was Ivor S. Jehu,
who resigned the editorship in 1950.

It is published by India's largest media group, Bennett,

Coleman & Co. Ltd. This company, along with its other group
companies are more popularly known as The Times Group,
which also publishes The Economic Times (a leading financial
broadsheet), Mumbai Mirror, the Navbharat Times(a Hindi
daily broadsheet), and the Maharashtra Times (a Marathi
daily broadsheet).

CRITICISMS OF TOI

10
The modelling of sections of the newspaper upon fashion
tabloids is a case in point. The group has also been attacked
by other media houses in India for its management
interference in editorial policy and the policy of selling paid
news. The Time Group has drawn some amount of flak for a
scheme called "medianet", which other firms can use to
purchase editorial coverage in the daily. The ethical
problems for the group have been further compounded by
allegations of extortion by a journalist employed by the
group.

The newspaper has at times been panned for its unabashed

promotion of inhouse brands owned by its parent company,
M/s Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd, (such as Femina, Radio
Mirchi, Planet M, Times Music).

The newspaper has also been accused of overly

sensationalizing news stories. An infamous example being
the Rift in powerful biz family article, which detailed a rift
within the Ambani family. Interestingly, the newspaper was
the first to break the news six months before the feud
became public knowledge.

Their new Mumbai Mirror, an unabashed tabloid parading as

a newspaper, is one of today's finest examples of the
increasing tendency to glorify sleaze even when real news is
available.

11
Though the Times has traditionally tried to portray an image
of political neutrality, it has been by and large viewed as a
pro-Establishment paper. It tends to vary in its support
between the BJP and Congress Party, depending on who
holds the reins of the Central Government. Its whole-hearted
approval of Indira Gandhi's excessive repression measures
during the internal Emergency in the 1970s is not lost on
political observers. Since the 80's and early 90's, the Times
of India has consistently produced some of the country's
finest journalists.

INTRODUCTION FOR DNA

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DNA, the second major newspaper launched in the Indian
city of Mumbai in 2005, is an initiative of the Bhaskar Group
of Publications, better known for the Dainik Bhaskar - a Hindi
language newspaper popular in the central and northern
states of India. It is also counted as one of the top five most-
read newspapers in the country.

Daily News and Analysis was launched on July 30, 2005, after
a much-talked about advertising campaign that continued
for four months. It is notable that it was launched when the
city was in the aftermath of the July 26 deluge, which
submerged almost all of Mumbai which received 94.4 cm of
rain on just one day.

DNA has a strong Editorial Board comprising some of the

most respected names in Indian media. Starting with
Gautam Adhikari, the editor, the Board also has India's
leading cricket writer and analyst Ayaz Memon as the
paper's Associate Editor. Memon handles the Sunday edition,
along with DNA Sport (daily) and the daily entertainment
supplement DNA After Hrs.

B Venkat Rao, former resident editor of Indian Express

(Mumbai) is the other Associate Editor. He handles the daily
newspaper's main edition. R Jagannathan is the Business
Editor, and is in-charge of DNA Money.

13
Noted film critic and Hindi film director Khalid Mohamed is
the Roving Editor, and handles DNA Glory (the glazed
entertainment supplement on Fridays) and Lime Lite (the
two pages of movie stories and reviews on Sunday.

Sidharth Bhatia is the Opinion page Editor, and is also in

charge of the two "Edit" pages on Sunday called Viewpoint
and Signature. Bipul Guha is the art director, while Vinay
Kamat is the Editor for Special Projects. Arati Jerath is the
Delhi Bureau Chief, and is also part of the Editorial Board.

Sathya Saran handles Me, a weekly women's magazine that

is distributed free with the Sunday edition of DNA. Malavika
Sangghvi is the person in-charge of Life 360, a travel and
lifestyle supplement.

Diligent Media Corporation, which owns DNA (Daily News &

Analysis), is a joint venture between two industry majors –
the Dainik Bhaskar Group and Zee TV. With a reach of more
than 120 countries and access to more than 250 million
viewers globally, Zee TV has created a strong brand equity
and is the largest media franchise serving the South Asian
diaspora with presence in major global markets, including
Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, the UK, the US, Canada, the
Caribbean and Africa. The Group has transformed itself into

14
an integrated media conglomerate with operations spanning
the entire media spectrum.

The Dainik Bhaskar Group has soared to the top of the print
media industry in India with its flagship Hindi daily, Dainik
Bhaskar (India’s No. 1 Daily Hindi Newspaper), and the
Gujarati frontrunner, Divya Bhaskar. While Dainik Bhaskar
has a big presence in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab,
Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chhatisgarh and Uttar Pradesh,
Divya Bhaskar is the largest circulated regional daily in
Gujarat.

Targeted at a young readership, DNA is the voice and soul of

Mumbai. Through news, views, analyses and interactivity,
DNA provides readers with a composite picture of Mumbai
and the world. Its interactive platforms seek to bring the
reader and surfer at the centre of its news activity.

COMPETITION BETWEEN TIMES And DNA

15
The battle has been joined; the assault on Bennett,
Coleman's citadel has begun. Last week, the Dainik Bhaskar
group (which is partnering Zee) kicked off a Rs 60 crore (Rs
600 million) outdoor campaign ("Speak up, it's in your DNA")
in Mumbai for its yet-to-be launched English daily, unusually
called "DNA." It plastered Mumbai with 150 hoardings and
500 kiosks with advertisements, and mounted a campaign
on FM radio stations too.

But the publishers of The Times of India, The Economic

Times and other dailies and magazines had not exactly
been sitting idle either. Bennett, Coleman was readying
to launch a newspaper of its own called Mumbai-Mirror
on May 15 and quickly started hiring journalists from
newspapers in the city.

Disappointment for DNA

DNA, the paper launched with so much advertisements

recently in Mumbai (you can find billboards all over Mumbai
with ads for this paper, they have come a couple of times to
my colony to offer subscription to it, etc, etc). I was very
disappointed at it. Well, the paper is cheap, 2.50 rupees for
more than 100 pages. But the content, at least the news
parts, leaves you quite unsatisfied. The international news
consisted of very few items, the two longest about some

16
news in Canada and UK (if I remember correctly) related to
India, and a few short items of hardly any importance.

The fact that news from abroad are always related to India is
something common to many papers here, or at least that is
what I feel. A couple, at most three, news items about some
Indian achieving something, or some government abroad
that has taken a decision related to India, and that’s all you
need to know from what happens in the world (according to
the papers editors). You can’t find anything about what
happens in, for example, Venezuela, or the corruption in
Brazil, or …. it just does not exist.

Introduction of Hindustan Times

17
The Hindustan Times is a leading newspaper in India. It has
its roots in the independence movement of the first half of
the twentieth century. It was edited at times by many
important people in India, including Devdas Gandhi (the son
of Mahatma Gandhi) and Khushwant Singh.

Hindustan Times (established in 1924) is the flagship

publication of HT Media Ltd. It is has a nation wide reach in
India (barring Southern India), with simultaneous editions
from New Delhi, Lucknow, Patna and Kolkata. It is also
printed from Bhopal, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Ranchi. HT has
also launched India's first youth daily HT Next in 2004. The
Mumbai edition was launched on 14th July 2005.

Other sister publications of Hindustan Times are Hindustan

(Hindi Daily), Nandan (Monthly children's magazine) and
Kadambani (Monthly literary magazine).

HT Media Limited is a major player in the print media in

India. It has a leadership position in the English newspaper
market in North India and the second position in the Hindi
newspaper market in the North and East.

The group now intends to consolidate itself as a vibrant and

modern media powerhouse through strategic partnerships,

18
ever-increasing scope of operations and a consumer focused
approach.

Hindustan Times, the flagship publication from the group,

was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi in 1924 and has
established its presence as a newspaper with editorial
excellence and integrity.

Today, Hindustan Times has a circulation of over 1.2 million

and is the fastest growing mainline English newspaper in
terms of readership. Hindustan Times, Delhi, is India’s
largest single-edition daily. In July 2005, Hindustan Times
made a successful entry into the commercial capital of India
– Mumbai.

Hindustan Times has continuously evolved itself to meet the

needs of the global Indian consumer. Changing with the
times, it introduced the compact web-width format that has
now become a norm in the industry. It has recently
undertaken a complete redesign to sport a new,
international look.

Hindustan, the Hindi daily from HT Media Limited, is one of

the leading Hindi dailies in the country with a readership in
excess of 10 million. This makes it the fourth largest read
daily in India.

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The group's news portal HindustanTimes.com, with over four
million unique visitors and 90 million page views per month,
is one of the largest news portals in the country. It has
consistently been ranked amongst the top 10 news sites in
the world by Forbes and offers in-depth coverage and
analyses to its users.

The group recently entered into an MOU with Virgin Asia to

enter the emerging radio space in the country.

20
 MARKET SHARE OF TIMES OF INDIA
According to the survey of year 2005, Times of India holds
the highest market share i.e. (35%) amongst the newspaper
industry. Both DNA and Hindustan Times are essentially
competing for the No. 2 slot in the market. The Times of
India is too old and established to be overthrown in the short
term. With a six lakh circulation, it was far ahead of earlier
competitors like Indian Express (58,000). In fact, it was The
Economic Times (1.47 lakhs) and Mid-Day (1.40 lakhs) that
trailed in second place after The Times of India in Mumbai.
While there are varying estimates on how the new
newspapers are doing, market sources estimate that DNA
sells around two lakhs and Hindustan Times 1.40 lakhs.
However, DNA claims that it is printing 2.90 lakh copies and
Hindustan Times says it sells 2 lakh copies.
Though The Times of India claims that its circulation remains
the same, a newspaper agent says that its counter sales
have reduced by 40,000 to 50,000 copies from last 2 years.”
It’s probably because other newspapers are half the price,
while the content is not very different.
"In the next few years, Mumbai's market will expand by up
to 75 per cent, with even The Times of India growing," says
Meenakshi Madhvani, Managing Partner of Spatial Access
media solutions. "Delhi has a slightly lower population than
Mumbai, but there are 12 lakh [copies of] English
newspapers sold there as compared to only 7.5 lakhs
[copies] in Mumbai. There will be dramatic market expansion
in Mumbai in the upcoming years.

21
 4 Ps of TIMES OF INDIA

4 Ps:

Product :

Newspapers cannot be called totally a product but its a

service product which provides information.
Its supplement products are as follows:
Bombay times, times international, times accent, times
drive, education times(Tuesday and Thursday),times
classified, times matrimonial(Sunday),Westside plus, times
property, times wellness, Rouge(Sunday).

Price:

Rs 4 Monday-Saturday (including free mumbai mirror of Rs

2)
Rs 5 Sundays

Place:

10 cities mainly……

Promotion :

The Times of India is a very well established brand. Though,

every successful or unsuccessful brand requires continuous
advertisements to remind people of their existence.
It mainly promotes itself in theatres & print
ads(newspapers).

22
 MARKETING STRATEGY.
Why has Mumbai's lethargic newspaper industry suddenly
become a `hot market' for new competitors? First, because it
has the country's largest advertisement revenue of Rs.1,000
crores, of which only one player - The Times of India - has
the lion's share. The new entrants are vying for a piece of
the pie. The Times of India's advertising rates are the
highest in the country. For long, advertisers have felt that
they have been held to ransom as they have no choice but
to pay exorbitant rates to The Times of India in order to
reach Mumbai's upmarket consumers. Now, there are other
platforms, but they will have to prove themselves before
advertisers start considering them an option.

"Advertisers are happy that there will be competitors. But,

there won't be a dramatic shift in ad spend in the short term.
Only when any of these newspapers cross 50 per cent of The
Times of India readership, will they claim a place in any
advertiser's media plan," says Himanshu Shekhar,
Investment Director of Mindshare Fulcrum, a leading media
planning agency. At present, DNA and Hindustan Times'
advertisement rates are around one-fourth that of The Times
of India.

Months before DNA and Hindustan Times launched in

Mumbai, The Times of India went on the defensive and
started a new `compact' newspaper, somewhat like a
tabloid, called Mumbai Mirror. But it did not sell much, so
The Times of India started distributing it free with the main
newspaper. Now, for Rs.4, The Times of India reader gets
more than 100 pages. "We always knew that there was
space for a second newspaper in Mumbai, and so we started
an alternative to broadsheets - a compact. By including
Mumbai Mirror with The Times of India, we are improving the
price performance ratio of our brand," says Bhaskar Das,
executive president of The Times of India group. "The Mirror
is a newspaper for the new generation who want news-on-
the-go like McDonalds. It's for the supersonic age where

23
people want to scan news without going into too much
depth.
is essentially a `blockading' strategy - you flood the reader
with so much that he/she does not feel the need for another
newspaper. "A normal reader spends 20-25 minutes on
newspapers. Do you think he/she will spend more time
reading just because there are new newspapers?" asks Das.

The Times of India readers are suddenly seeing a lot more

news in a paper that once gave news a back seat to fluff.
"The TOI has also taken a lot of rear guard action by beefing
up its coverage. New competitors have raised the bar," says
Das. Moreover, both The Times of India and Mirror went on a
massive recruitment of journalists and media executives at
high salaries, mopping up manpower and making it more
expensive for their competitions to recruit. But
advertisement rates are as expensive as ever, around four
times that of DNA or Hindustan Times
What seems inevitable, however, is that circulation will
expand. "Around 40 per cent of Mumbai's population speak,
read and write English, of which only 20 per cent are buying
English newspapers," says Shekhar. As Girish Agarwal,
Director of the Bhaskar group that owns DNA, points out,
"We believe in widening the market, like we have in all the
cities that we have launched newspapers and become the
leader. Since the time we started Divya Bhaskar in Gujarat,
readership there has increased by 49 per cent in two years
and ad revenue also increased by 40 per cent."
Why has Mumbai's newspaper industry been stunted for so
long? "The demand for newspapers is extremely price
sensitive. Until now, The Times of India was way ahead of
the competition. So, it had a high cover price and didn't push
for greater sales, because that would increase their costs
(since the cost of producing a newspaper is much greater
than its market price). They didn't need to increase
circulation, since they anyway milked all the ad revenue,"
says Madhvani

24
THE new newspapers are priced much lower - Hindustan
Times at Rs.2.50 and DNA at Rs.2 - which have boosted
initial sales. "Generally, the price of an English newspaper in
every city is around Rs.2, only Mumbai was an aberration
where The Times of India was priced at Rs.4. However, now
they have tried to increase their value proposition by adding
a second free newspaper to The Times of India," says Sandip
Ghose, Vice-President, Marketing, Hindustan Times. DNA's
vice president, Sales, N.B. Verma, says: "We want as many
people as possible to sample our product, so we have kept
the price low."

The Bhaskar group, which has established several successful

Hindi editions and the Gujarati Divya Bhaskar, has always
followed the strategy of reaching out to readers through
surveys, flooding the market, distributing freebies.
Surprisingly, DNA's counter sales are giving the afternoon
tabloid Mid-Day a run for its money. But, as a newspaper
agent points out, a vendor stands to earn 45 paise more per
copy if he sells DNA in the raddi (recycled paper) market,
rather than selling it at the counter at Rs. 2.

So, are the new newspapers really offering the reader

anything different? Hindustan Times says it is targeting the
`discerning' reader who wants more than `regurgitated
headlines' and page 3. "We are trying to engage people in a
dialogue, and create a product that is uniquely Mumbai.
Hindustan Times takes up Mumbai's issues without dumbing
down the content or making it tabloidish," says Ghose. With
fewer pages than its competitors, Hindustan Times' layout,
more classical and less cluttered, does look different.

DNA, with different business, sports and lifestyle sections,

says it is trying to make newspapers more accessible to
readers. "Ours is a family newspaper that offers value for
money. In our paper, we clearly differentiate fact from fluff.
Readers want both, but they are not mixed together. We
have recruited the best journalists for our team," says
Agarwal. "We have a lot of city news which reach out to the
younger but informed audience. In fact, we even have a

25
page called `Speak Out' where readers can write in," says
Gautam Adhikari, editor of DNA.

The Indian Express is emphasising its USP - `Journalism of

Courage'. As part of a campaign called "India Explained,
India Empowered", it has got several prominent leaders
including the President, Prime Minister, former Prime
Ministers and film actor Shah Rukh Khan to write columns on
the front page describing their idea of an `empowered' India.

The Times of India, while maintaining some of its fluff, has

become far more news-oriented and also more colourful.
"Our newspaper is aimed at empowering the reader. We are
not into crusading or agenda journalism, but are still doing
investigative stories on issues that matter in our reader's
life," says Das. "With all the new newspapers coming in, the
reader is the ultimate winner because everyone is splurging
to gain his/her attention."

26
 THE SURVEY DONE BY US:

A survey of 60 people has been done by us on Times Of

India. The following are the questions:

1. Which newspaper do you read?

TOI - 35
ET - 20
MDY - 18
M M 20
DNA - 4
OTHERS - 3

27
2. In which language do you prefer the newspaper?

ENG - 42
HND - 6
RGNL - 5
Slice 4

28
3. Do you read Times of India?

Yes- 43
NO- 8
Slice 3
Slice 4

29
4. Are you satisfied with the news content of Times of India?

YES- 29
NO- 5
NOT MUCH- 18
Slice 4

30
5. On what topic should Times of India emphasize more?

POLITICS21

ENTERTAINME
NT- 23
SPORTS- 10

BIZ- 19

HEALTH-10

LIFESTYLE- 12

31
6. Do you want Times of India in tabloid form or the way
it comes?

Tabloid- 17
normai- 27
unique- 8
Slice 4

32
7 Your take on advertisements in Times of India?

MORE- 9

LESS- 9

APPROPRIATE-
35
Slice 4

33
8. Do you want prefer b/w or colourful newspaper?

B/W- 9
COLOURFUL- 43
Slice 3
Slice 4

34
9. Do you want news with more pictures?

yes- 39
no-12
Slice 3
Slice 4

35
10. Do you like supplements or everything in one main
paper?

supplements-
25

no
supplements-
26
Slice 3

Slice 4

36
11. Do you think Times of India provides accurate facts and
figures compared to others?

YES- 24
NO- 9
Can't say- 19
Slice 4

37
12. How many people in the family reads Times of India?

1
2
3
ALL

38
13. Is the price of Times of India reasonable?

YES 36
NO- 16
Slice 3
Slice 4

39
14. Rate Times of India on a scale of 10?

5
6
6 to 7
7 to 8
8
9
10

40
 Strength Weakness Opportunities
and Threats

Strength of Times Of India over DNA and

Hindustan Times

Distribution Strategy

sells at Rs 4 in Mumbai

40 per cent – or, around Rs 1.60 – goes to the hawkers

Because of the above two reasons DNA and HT have to follow the
same strategy

Subscription drive of Bhaskat group- joint venture of DNA is very

aggressive. It has proved successful in states like Gujarat Rajasthan
and Chandigarh

But TOI has the strongest distribution

Pricing Strategy

TOI charges Rs.5 but gives many supplements with the main
paper for free

41
DNA and HT false short here as nobody will be ready to pay the
extra supplements along with the main paper which is for
Rs.5

The other papers can’t even lower their price tags as the
publishers pockets will be cut

ADVERTISING REVENUES

TOI has a very good customer loyalty. TOI spends a lot in advertising
space but it delivers results too

DNA and HT will have to try hard to get this kind of customer loyalty

Mumbai is the biggest ad market in the country.

English language publications account for about 70 per cent of the

Rs 815 crore market and The Times of India bags almost half this
sum.

AD revenue from Mumbai’s point of view:

Rs crore
Total revenues 815
English 568.50 (70%)
Vernacular 246.50 (30%)
Newspapers 717.20 (88%)

42
Strength Of Times Of India In Comparison To MID DAY

Mumbai Mirror is India's first compact newspaper being more of a

tabloid than anything else in the city of Mumbai

Whereas Midday has ‘classifieds’ which consumes quite a portion of

the paper.

The news paper was launched at the gateway of india by vilasrao

deshmukh, chief minister of masharashtra on 29-5-2005

The Mumbai Mirror was launched by The Times Group after Hindustan
Times and DNA announced plans to enter the Mumbai market

TOI offers Mumbai Mirror free of cost. So Midday has a big dilemma
here

Mumbai Mirror was a total flop but TOI with its good marketing strategy
is taking over Midday’s market share

43
The future of newspapers:
Now there’s a question that effortlessly divides people into
one-and-a-half groups with the first group – the
overwhelming majority till now – refusing to let go of the
‘feel’ and ‘texture’ and ‘crinkleness’ and whatever the hell
else there is that contributes to the overall tactile fluency
with which news emerges out of newsprint. Of course there’s
no doubt that the reading of papered information is a deeply
associated emotional experience that cannot easily be
replaced by some digital gimmick, no matter how portable,
handy or higher-than-tech.

This is true. Just like digital readouts on wristwatches, which,

even after making an enormous initial fashion statement,
ultimately failed to overthrow the older and more traditional
analog timekeepers. That’s because to the first group,
hours, minutes and seconds had always been associated
with hands. However, here’s something frequently
overlooked: typists didn’t go out of style with the electronic
keyboard revolution. Sure, they didn’t take to mice as
effortlessly at first but keying in stuff was seamlessly
incorporated into their fingertips without a murmur. The
reason? It was an all too obvious improvement on clackety-
clack.

Similarly, some newfangled handheld laptop-like gizmo – no

matter how slim or chic – is never going to be able to defeat
a tradition. Only an enhancement will. When the broadsheets
you hold between your hands as you sit on your favourite

44
throne, feel and crinkle with familiarity yet are actually large
wafer thin monitors that are permanently online and
therefore continuously updated, will you accept it with grace.
Especially since this will not spell the end of the newspaper
industry at all because people from reporters to rewriters will
still have to be around to process the feed being sent to your
output device. It will, however, spell the end to cutting down
trees to make paper.

(And get this: touch on an automobile ad and every model

the maker produces comes on view – with full streaming
video and audio. Touch the one you want for complete
specs, options, warranties and pricing preferences. Test
drive it right there on speciality tracks to your specifications
like in video parlour game rides. Like it? Enter your credit
card number now.)

45