Indian newspaper trades equity stake for advertising

Salil Tripathi writes on the SAJA Forum that the Times of India — the largest English-language newspaper in the world — is taking equity stakes in some of its advertisers.

Tripathi wrote, “When editorial and advertising blend, the first casualty is credibility. A reader simply cannot know if a particular company, product, or an idea being promoted is because there’s a mass base of support for it, or because some experts like it, or is it because of financial considerations.

“The Times of India‘s new business concept, Private Treaties, is audacious, innovative, and breathtaking. And incredibly underwhelming. It trades advertising for equity in companies.

“As described in its poorly-designed, shoddily-edited, and jargon-filled website, it creates intangible value for companies in which the TOI group has a stake, by highlighting its intangible qualities, through the medium of TOI’s publications. If  all that it means is a promotion restricted to discounted rates for advertising in the TOI, that would be simple enough, and acceptable to most purists in journalism. But with the Times you are never sure. in the past, it has encouraged its reporters to go on junkets to tourist resorts, and not always revealed the nature of the hospitality received.

“When the Times group has launched its own businesses – such as music, entertainment, and so on – using prominent Indian performers, the newspaper’s page 1 has to give way to stories about that event, as though it is the most talked about event in town, if not the only event in town.”

Read more here. The newspaper is also part of a group that owns the Economic Times, the largest business newspaper in India. How long before a U.S. newspaper does the same thing?

. The newspaper is also part of a group that owns the Economic Times, the largest business newspaper in India. How long before a U.S. newspaper does the same thing?

Thanks to Sree Sreenivasan, dean of student affairs at the Columbia Graduate School or Journalism, for pointing this out.