Digitally yours, The Hindu
Broadsheet and net reading are not comparable. The rustling, shuffling and crumpling experience of the broadsheet is unique.
B P Sanjay
Descriptions abound when it comes to newspaper reading habits. Southern bias would make it synonymous with morning coffee. Images of spectacles, a paper and a hot cup of coffee are familiar. Times have changed (or have they?). The idea of a 6 am newspaper is somehow rooted in our minds although until distribution methods improved and new technologies were adopted newspapers at 6 am was not very common in many places, especially, non newspaper publication centers. So when the Hindu decides to go digital and announces that it will be available from 6 am the notion of a daily newspaper and associated habits get reinforced.
September is the foundation month for The Hindu. Its history begins on September 20, 1878 and students by memory can recall the story of the six men who founded the Hindu as a reaction to the then Anglo Indian Press¿ objection to the appointment of a ?native? as a judge.[i] It requires the eloquence of writers such as S Muthaiah to recall the history of this newspaper and vividly capture its growth and development. When it announced the launch of its digital edition last week it was in a way commemorating its birth anniversary.
Old habits do not die but curiosity always takes an upper hand. Rather than waiting for the broadsheet to arrive one is tempted to check out the experience of the digital edition. Preconditions and realities of digital DIVide may render such technological advances elitist. However, for academics for whom the Net is indeed a valuable resource experiencing the digital edition was an obvious choice. The registration process, which is now common for any net resource, also indicated that the free subscription is valid for three months. Time that the newspaper feels is sufficient for the reader to make a choice.
Broadsheet and net reading are not comparable. The rustling, shuffling and crumpling experience of the broadsheet is unique and you feel it. The browse, search and scan experience of the net requires focus and eye movement orientation of a different kind. It is still not clear why a newspaper feels that the digital edition should in all respects be like the broadsheet: However the newspaper claims that it is offering the newspaper itself. ?You can see each page as it appears in each of the three print editions. This means all the reports, articles, photographs, and other graphics have been organised, laid out, and presented according to their importance, with the appropriate typography and design elements. You can also see the advertisements as they appear on the page.?
It was in a way reminiscent of doing library research with microfiche copies of newspapers. Patience to check out the paper allowed for a quick scan of all the pages. The experience also allowed for recognising the archival potential of newspapers.
One of the revenue models already adopted by many newspapers worldwide is to levy per view charges for old issues. The company, ninestars, which has done work for the digital edition of the paper, has a few other Indian news media as its clients. Suggesting that the media companies are sitting on a huge ¿gold mine of content¿ it feels its solutions allow them to monetize their content. Its business proposition is perceptive; ?the new media-TV, Internet and wireless? is eating into newspaper subscription base and ad revenue potential. The pressure to innovate is evident and looking for revenue streams is a natural business practice. Differentiating between web editions, the company promises futuristic ePaper and eMagazines.[ii] Indian readers are however privileged at this stage because newspapers are absorbing many of such innovative costs as an investment.
The Hindu¿s launch of the digital edition reaffirms its faith in new information and communication technologies. A newspaper that has many technological firsts to its credit has reason to celebrate this reader friendly offer. Its governing principle, ?what needs to be done tomorrow should, in fact, be done today? is evident throughout its 125 year plus history. It became the first newspaper in India in 1963 to acquire and operate its own aircraft to reach its ?provincial? readers across different states. To overcome the limitations of using the aircraft for distribution it adopted another innovation, facsimile editions in 1969 to have simultaneous printing of the newspapers in other centers. The launch of its national capital edition in 1986 allowed it to adopt a satellite-based communication system for printing. Adoption of journalist specific communication technologies took care of getting their copies directly to the photocomposition unit. Sequential adoption of colour printing with emphasis on photographs particularly for sports section endeared the newspaper to many sports enthusiasts. Many other production specific technologies have been continuously introduced[iii]
The paper in 2003 noted that the Internet generation would find it hard to understand how difficult it was for newspapers not so long ago to exploit the technology of the day. A fifty plus reader now will wonder how difficult it is to make a transition from a broadsheet to a digital edition. Well, a three-month free trial period may accustom us to digital newspapers too.
Contact: bpssn@uohyd.ernet.in
[i] ?Believe it or not, The Hindu, was born in ire. Six angry young men, all barely out of their teens, felt the campaign waged by the Anglo-Indian Press - newspapers owned and edited by the British - against the appointment of the first Indian, T. Muthuswami Aiyer, to the Bench of the Madras High Court was blatantly unfair and should be forcefully rebutted. So they borrowed a rupee and twelve annas and founded The Hindu, printing 80 copies at the Srinidhi Press in Mint Street, Black Town, and promising every Wednesday evening an eight-page paper, each a quarter of today`s page size, for four annas. In that first issue of September 20, 1878, `The Triplicane Six` justified their venture thus: ?The Press does not only give expression to public opinion, but also modifies and moulds it according to circumstances. It is this want that we have made bold to attempt to supply... The principles that we propose to be guided by are simply those of fairness and justice. It will always be our aim to promote harmony and union among our fellow countrymen and to interpret correctly the feelings of the natives and to create mutual confidence between the governed and the governors... ?Looking Back, ?Willing to strike and not reluctant to wound,? The Hindu, September 13, 2003. In this special supplement to mark the 125th anniversary of the paper S. Muthaiah provides a historical perspective.
[ii] See homepage of Ninestars, http://www.ninestar.co.in/media.htm
[iii] K. Balaji, ?Technology-Guided by a vision of tomorrow,? The Hindu, September 13, 2003.
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