The Times of India

{{Infobox newspaper

| name = The Times of India

| motto = Let the Truth Prevail

| logo = File:The_times_of_india.svg

| image = The Times of India cover 03-22-10.jpg

| caption = 20 August 2013 front page of The Times of India (Kolkata edition)

| type = Daily newspaper

| format = Broadsheet

| owners = The Times Group

| publisher =

| editor = Jaideep Bose

| staff =

| foundation = {{Start date and age|df=yes|1838|11|03}}

| language = English

| headquarters = Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

| publishing_country = India

| circulation = 1,872,442

| circulation_date = April 2023

| circulation_ref = {{cite web|title=Highest Circulated Daily Newspapers (language wise)|url=http://www.auditbureau.org/files/JD%202022%20Highest%20Circulated%20(across%20languages).pdf|access-date=28 July 2023|publisher=Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC)|url-status=live |archive-date=28 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230728074928/http://www.auditbureau.org/files/JD%202022%20Highest%20Circulated%20(across%20languages).pdf }}

| sister newspapers = The Economic Times
Navbharat Times
Maharashtra Times
Ei Samay
Mumbai Mirror
Vijaya Karnataka
Bangalore Mirror
Times Now News

| ISSN = 0971-8257

| oclc = 23379369

| website = {{Official URL}}

| political = Centre-right

}}

The Times of India (TOI) is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest selling English-language daily in the world.{{Sfn|Kaminsky|Long|2011|p=706}}{{cite news|last=Westhead|first=Rick|date=5 February 2010|title=It's the best of Times|newspaper=Toronto Star|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2010/02/05/its_the_best_of_times.html|access-date=20 April 2018|archive-date=26 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200226005225/https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2010/02/05/its_the_best_of_times.html|url-status=live}}{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52–61}}{{cite web|title=National Newspapers Total Circulation|year=2011|url=http://www.ifabc.org/site/assets/media/National-Newspapers_total-circulation_IFABC_17-08-2012.xls|access-date=10 November 2014|publisher=International Federation of Audit Bureaux of Circulations (IFABC)|archive-date=20 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820100451/http://www.ifabc.org/site/assets/media/National-Newspapers_total-circulation_IFABC_17-08-2012.xls|url-status=live}}{{cite web | title=Highest daily English-language newspaper circulation | website=Guinness World Records | date=12 May 2024 | url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/92821-highest-daily-english-language-newspaper-circulation | access-date=12 May 2024}}{{cite book | last=Natarajan | first=C.S. | title=National Words: A Solution to the National Language Problem of India | publisher=Notion Press | year=2018 | isbn=978-1-948147-14-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H91LDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT179 | access-date=12 December 2024 | page=179}}{{cite book | last=Dahiya | first=S. | title=Indian Media Giants: Unveiling Business Dynamics of Print Legacies in India | publisher=OUP India | year=2022 | isbn=978-93-91050-10-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ymLdEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT213 | access-date=12 December 2024 | page=213}} It is the oldest English-language newspaper in India, and the second-oldest Indian newspaper still in circulation, with its first edition published in 1838.{{Sfn|Bhattacherje|2009|p=A126}} It is nicknamed as "The Old Lady of Bori Bunder",{{Sfn|Joseph|2005|p=227}}{{cite web|date=24 April 2013|title=The old lady of Bori Bunder celebrates 175 yrs with panache|publisher=Exchange4Media|url=https://www.exchange4media.com/media-print-news/the-old-lady-of-bori-bunder-celebrates-175-yrs-with-panache-50681.html|access-date=9 March 2020|archive-date=22 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322004209/https://www.exchange4media.com/media-print-news/the-old-lady-of-bori-bunder-celebrates-175-yrs-with-panache-50681.html|url-status=live}} and is a newspaper of record.{{Sfn|Frost|Weingarten|Babington|LePan|2017|p=27}}{{Sfn|Barton|Weller|Yilmaz|2014|p=28}}{{Sfn|Anil|2023a|p=192}}{{Sfn|Singh|2015|p=52}}{{cite arXiv | last1=Halterman | first1=Andrew | last2=Keith | first2=Katherine A. | last3=Sarwar | first3=Sheikh Muhammad | last4=Connor | first4=Brendan | title=Corpus-Level Evaluation for Event QA: The IndiaPoliceEvents Corpus Covering the 2002 Gujarat Violence | date=27 May 2021 | class=cs.CL | eprint=2105.12936 }}{{cite web | last=Caulfield | first=Mike | title=National Newspapers of Record | publisher= | date=8 January 2017 | url=https://pressbooks.pub/webliteracy/chapter/national-newspapers-of-record/ | access-date=12 May 2024}}{{Sfn|Anil|2023b|p=25}}

Near the beginning of the 20th century, Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, called TOI "the leading paper in Asia".{{sfn|Malhan|2013|p=212}}{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/A-daily-in-the-life-of-India/articleshow/19684884.cms|title=A daily in the life of India|last=Bose|first=Jaideep|newspaper=TOI|date=23 April 2013|access-date=23 July 2017|archive-date=5 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205125243/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/A-daily-in-the-life-of-India/articleshow/19684884.cms|url-status=live}} In 1991, the BBC ranked TOI among the world's six best newspapers.{{Sfn|Baxi|Prasad|2005|p=167}}{{Sfn|Aggarwal|Gupta|2001|p=128}}

It is owned and published by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. (BCCL), which is owned by the Sahu Jain family. In the Brand Trust Report India study 2019, TOI was rated as the most trusted English newspaper in India.{{cite web|title=TRA's Brand Trust Report India Study 2019|url=https://trustadvisory.info/tra/fullReportPdf/BTR2019.pdf|access-date=29 July 2021|publisher=TRA Research Pvt. Ltd.|page=48|archive-date=29 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729003709/http://trustadvisory.info/tra/fullReportPdf/BTR2019.pdf|url-status=live}} In a 2021 survey, Reuters Institute rated TOI as the most trusted media news brand among English-speaking, online news users in India.{{Cite web |last= |title=Digital News Report 2021 |url=https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2021 |website=Reuters Institute |page=135}}{{cite web | last=Content | first=Afaqs! Partner | title=Trust in The Times of India: The Key to Its Continued Success as India's Most Trusted News Brand | website=afaqs! | date=24 April 2023 | url=https://www.afaqs.com/news/marketing-initiatives/trust-in-the-times-of-india-the-key-to-its-continued-success-as-indias-most-trusted-news-brand | access-date=12 May 2024}} In recent decades, the newspaper has been criticised for establishing in the Indian news industry the practice of accepting payments from persons and entities in exchange for positive coverage.{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52-61}}

History

File:TimesOf Buildings.jpg

=1800s=

==Beginnings==

File:Machinemen, pressmen and sepoys, in The Times of India office in Bombay, November 1898.jpg, November 1898]]

TOI issued its first edition on 3 November 1838 as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce.{{cite encyclopedia|date=15 April 2013|title=The Times of India|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Times-of-India|access-date=10 November 2014}}{{cite web|date=26 April 2006|title=The Times of India turns the Times of Colour|url=http://www.televisionpoint.com/news2006/newsfullstory.php?id=1146042260|url-status=dead|access-date=16 October 2007|publisher=Televisionpoint.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012225524/http://www.televisionpoint.com/news2006/newsfullstory.php?id=1146042260|archive-date=12 October 2007}} The paper was published on Wednesdays and Saturdays under the direction of Raobahadur Narayan Dinanath Velkar, a Maharashtrian social reformer, and contained news from Britain and the world, as well as the Indian Subcontinent. J. E. Brennan was its first editor he died in 1839 and George Buist became the Editor. It became a daily in 1850 under him. George Buist had a pro British editorial policy and a Parsi shareholder Fardoonji Naoroji wanted him to change his editorial policy particularly in background of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. However, Buist refused to change his editorial policy or give up his editorial independence. After a shareholder's meeting he was replaced by Robert Knight.{{Sfn|Parhi|2008|p=32}}{{Sfn|Parthasarathy|1989|p=273}}{{Sfn|Naqvi|2007|p=58}}{{cite news | url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/life-and-times-of-an-editor-108111301061_1.html | title=Life and times of an editor | publisher=Business Standard | work=Dileep Padgaonkar | date=29 January 2013 | access-date=5 December 2018 | last1=Padgaonkar | first1=Dileep | archive-date=5 December 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205193754/https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/life-and-times-of-an-editor-108111301061_1.html | url-status=live }}

In 1860, editor Robert Knight (1825–1892) bought the Indian shareholders' interests, merged with 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, and led the paper to national prominence.{{Sfn|Hirschmann|2008}}{{Sfn|Lalvani|2016|p=383}} In the 19th century, this newspaper company employed more than 800 people and had a sizeable circulation in India and Europe.

==Bennett and Coleman ownership==

Subsequently, TOI saw its ownership change several times until 1892 when an English journalist named Thomas Jewell Bennett, along with Frank Morris Coleman (who later drowned in the 1915 sinking of the SS Persia), acquired the newspaper through their new joint stock company, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.

=1900s=

==Dalmia ownership==

Sir Stanley Reed edited TOI from 1907 until 1924{{sfn|Baxi|Prasad|2005|p=168}} and received correspondence from major figures of India such as Mahatma Gandhi. In all he lived in India for fifty years. He was respected in the United Kingdom as an expert on Indian current affairs.{{Cn|date=June 2024}}

Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd was sold to sugar magnate Ramkrishna Dalmia of the industrial family, for {{INRConvert|20|m|lk=r|year=1946}} in 1946, as India became independent and the British owners left.{{Sfn|Kasbekar|2006|p=112}} In 1955 the Vivian Bose Commission of Inquiry found that Ramkrishna Dalmia, in 1947, had engineered the acquisition of the media giant Bennett Coleman & Co. by transferring money from a bank and an insurance company of which he was the chairman. In the court case that followed, Ramkrishna Dalmia was sentenced to two years in Tihar Jail after having been convicted of embezzlement and fraud.{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52-61}}

Most of the jail term he managed to spend in hospital. Upon his release, his son-in-law, Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain, to whom he had entrusted the running of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., rebuffed his efforts to resume command of the company.{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52-61}}

==Jain family (Shanti Prasad Jain)==

In the early 1960s, Shanti Prasad Jain was imprisoned on charges of selling newsprint on the black market.{{cite news|date=5 May 1964|title=Indian Millionaires arrested|newspaper=The Herald (Glasgow)|via=Reuters|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-2JAAAAAIBAJ&pg=3701,623038|access-date=6 May 2015|archive-date=11 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611052440/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-2JAAAAAIBAJ&pg=3701,623038|url-status=live}} And based on the Vivian Bose Commission's earlier report which found wrongdoings of the Dalmia – Jain group, that included specific charges against Shanti Prasad Jain, the Government of India filed a petition to restrain and remove the management of Bennett, Coleman and Company. Based on the pleading, the Justice directed the Government to assume control of the newspaper which resulted in replacing half of the directors and appointing a Bombay High Court judge as the chairman.{{Sfn|Kohli-Khandekar|2013}}

==Under the Government of India==

File:The Times of India 1988 stamp of India.jpg

File:The Times of India 2013 stamp of India.jpg

Following the Vivian Bose Commission report indicating serious wrongdoings of the Dalmia–Jain group, on 28 August 1969, the Bombay High Court, under Justice J. L. Nain, passed an interim order to disband the existing board of Bennett, Coleman & Co and to constitute a new board under the Government. The bench ruled that "Under these circumstances, the best thing would be to pass such orders on the assumption that the allegations made by the petitioners that the affairs of the company were being conducted in a manner prejudicial to public interest and to the interests of the Company are correct".{{sfn|Malhan|2013|p=212}} Following that order, Shanti Prasad Jain ceased to be a director and the company ran with new directors on board, appointed by the Government of India, with the exception of a lone stenographer of the Jains. The court appointed D K Kunte as chairman of the board. Kunte had no prior business experience and was also an opposition member of the Lok Sabha.{{Cn|date=June 2024}}

==Back to the Jain family==

In 1976, during the Emergency in India, the Government transferred ownership of the newspaper back to Ashok Kumar Jain, who was Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain's son and Ramkrishna Dalmia's grandson. He is the father of the current owners Samir Jain and Vineet Jain).{{cite magazine|last=Subramanian|first=Samanth|date=1 December 2012|title=Supreme Being: How Samir Jain created the modern Indian newspaper industry|magazine=The Caravan|url=https://caravanmagazine.in/reportage/supreme-being|access-date=10 November 2014}} The Jains too often landed themselves in various money laundering scams and Ashok Kumar Jain had to flee the country when the Enforcement Directorate pursued his case strongly in 1998 for alleged violations of illegal transfer of funds (to the tune of US$1.25 million) to an overseas account in Switzerland.{{cite magazine|last=Mitra|first=Sumit|date=7 July 1997|title=Trying times: Editorial changes in The Times of India raise disturbing questions|magazine=India Today|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/media/story/19970707-a-b-vajpayee-accuse-i-k-gujral-of-shielding-tois-proprietor-ashok-jain-from-feras-case-830332-1997-07-07|access-date=10 November 2014}}{{cite news|date=4 July 1998|title=Ashok Jain arrested|newspaper=The Indian Express|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/ashok-jain-arrested/|access-date=18 May 2013|archive-date=11 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611052441/https://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/ashok-jain-arrested/|url-status=live}}{{cite magazine|first=Sudha|last=Mahalingam|date=18–31 July 1998|title=Ashok Jain is arrested by the Enforcement Directorate|magazine=Frontline|url=http://www.frontline.in/navigation/?type=static&page=flonnet&rdurl=fl1515/15151170.htm|url-status=dead|volume=15|issue=15|access-date=10 November 2014|issn=0970-1710|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514051123/http://www.frontline.in/navigation/?type=static&page=flonnet&rdurl=fl1515/15151170.htm|archive-date=14 May 2014}}{{cite magazine|date=6–19 June 1998|title=A newspaper scandal: Editorial changes in The Times of India raise disturbing questions|magazine=Frontline|url=http://www.frontline.in/navigation/?type=static&page=flonnet&rdurl=fl1512/15120860.htm|url-status=dead|volume=15|issue=12|access-date=10 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514045521/http://www.frontline.in/navigation/?type=static&page=flonnet&rdurl=fl1512/15120860.htm|archive-date=14 May 2014}}

==During the Emergency==

On 26 June 1975, the day after India declared a state of emergency, the Bombay edition of TOI carried an entry in its obituary column that read "D.E.M. O'Cracy, beloved husband of T.Ruth, father of L.I.Bertie, brother of Faith, Hope and Justice expired on 25 June".{{Sfn|Austin|1999|p=295}} The move was a critique of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's 21-month state of emergency, which is now widely known as "the Emergency" and seen by many as a roundly authoritarian era of Indian government.{{cite news|date=30 May 2011|title=New book flays Indira Gandhi's decision to impose Emergency|publisher=IBN Live News|url=http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/new-book-flays-indira-gandhis-decision-to-impose-emergency/706495.html|url-status=dead|access-date=10 November 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20131123164002/http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/new-book-flays-indira-gandhis-decision-to-impose-emergency/706495.html|archive-date=23 November 2013}}{{Sfn|Desai|1986|p=208}}

== ''Bombay Times'' ==

The Bombay Times is a free supplement of The Times of India, in the Mumbai (formerly Bombay) region. It covers celebrity news, news features, international and national music news, international and national fashion news, lifestyle and feature articles pegged on news events both national and international that have local interest value. The main paper covers national news. Over ten years of presence, it has become a benchmark for the Page 3 social scene.{{Cn|date=June 2024}}

The Times of India - and thereby the Bombay Times - are market leaders in terms of circulation. The name of this supplement contains the word Bombay, which is the older Portuguese name of the city. It is not retained in the new supplement Mumbai Mirror that comes with Times of India.{{Cn|date=June 2024}}

= 2000s =

In late 2006, Times Group acquired Vijayanand Printers Limited (VPL). VPL previously published 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.{{cite news|date=15 June 2006|title=Times Group acquires Vijayanand Printers|newspaper=TOI|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Times-Group-acquires-Vijayanand-Printers/articleshow/1651347.cms|access-date=10 November 2014|archive-date=29 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129134320/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Times-Group-acquires-Vijayanand-Printers/articleshow/1651347.cms|url-status=live}}

The paper launched a Chennai edition on 12 April 2008.{{cite news|title=TN CM launches Chennai edition of Times of India|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/tn-cm-launches-chennai-edition-of-times-of-india/articleshow/2949306.cms|date=13 April 2008|newspaper=The Economic Times|access-date=10 November 2014|archive-date=19 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819234427/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/tn-cm-launches-chennai-edition-of-times-of-india/articleshow/2949306.cms|url-status=live}} It launched a Kolhapur edition in February 2013.{{Cn|date=June 2024}}

==TOIFA Awards==

Introduced in 2013{{cite news|title=TOIFA 2013 nominations|newspaper=TOI|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/category/media-center/articles-in/toifaarticle/18398495.cms|access-date=17 July 2016|archive-date=8 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408020918/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/category/media-center/articles-in/toifaarticle/18398495.cms|url-status=live}} and awarded for the second time in 2016,{{cite news|date=21 March 2016|title=TOIFA 2016: 'Bajirao Mastani' Bags 6 Awards, Celebs Have a Rocking Night|newspaper=IndiaWest|url=http://www.indiawest.com/entertainment/bollywood/toifa-bajirao-mastani-bags-awards-celebs-have-a-rocking-night/article_eb9c4f64-efba-11e5-a9e0-53e3fd5c3197.html|access-date=17 July 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160522181810/http://www.indiawest.com/entertainment/bollywood/toifa-bajirao-mastani-bags-awards-celebs-have-a-rocking-night/article_eb9c4f64-efba-11e5-a9e0-53e3fd5c3197.html|archive-date=22 May 2016}} "The Times of India Film Awards" or the "TOIFA" is an award for the work in Film Industry decided by a global public vote on the nomination categories.{{cite web|title=About TOI Film Awards 2016|newspaper=TOI|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-film-awards-2016/about-us/toifaabout.cms|access-date=17 July 2016|archive-date=5 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160905034942/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-film-awards-2016/about-us/toifaabout.cms|url-status=live}}

Editions and publications <span class="anchor" id="City centric supplements"></span>

File:Times of India Building.jpg in Mumbai, where it was founded.]]

TOI is published by the media group Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. The company, along with its other group of companies, known as The Times Group, also publishes Ahmedabad Mirror, Bangalore Mirror, Mumbai Mirror, Pune Mirror; Economic Times; ET Panache (Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore on Monday to Friday) and ET Panache (Pune and Chennai on every Saturday); Ei Samay Sangbadpatra, (a Bengali daily); Maharashtra Times, (a Marathi daily); Navbharat Times, (a Hindi daily).

TOI has its editions in major cities such as Mumbai,{{cite news|url=http://www.mid-day.com/news/mumbai|title=Online Mumbai Newspaper|newspaper=Mid Day|date=24 April 2014|access-date=24 April 2014|archive-date=21 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140421234649/http://www.mid-day.com/news/mumbai|url-status=live}} Agra, Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Aurangabad, Bareilly, Bangalore, Belgaum, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Dehradun, Delhi, Gorakhpur, Gurgaon, Guwahati, Gwalior, Hubli, Hyderabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kochi, Kolhapur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Madurai, Malabar, Mangalore, Meerut, Mysore, Nagpur, Nashik, Navi Mumbai, Noida, Panaji, Patna, Pondicherry, Pune, Raipur, Rajkot, Ranchi, Shimla, Surat, Thane, Tiruchirapally, Trivandrum, Vadodara, Varanasi, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}

Awards hosted

Times Group Network

The Speaking Tree: A spiritual network intended to allow spiritual seekers to link spiritual seekers with established practitioners.{{cite news|url=http://www.exchange4media.com/Digital/Times-Internet-launches-Hindi-version-of-Speaking-Tree_55373.html|title=Times Internet launches Hindi version of 'Speaking Tree'|publisher=Exchange4Media|date=17 April 2014|access-date=1 November 2017|archive-date=28 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028183509/http://www.exchange4media.com/digital/times-internet-launches-hindi-version-of-speaking-tree_55373.html|url-status=live}}
Healthmeup: A health, diet, and fitness website.{{cite news|url=https://www.medianama.com/2011/03/223-indiatimes-launches-health-blog-healthmeup/|title=Indiatimes Launches Health Blog – HealthMeUp|first=Nikhil|last=Pahwa|publisher=Medianama|date=17 March 2011|access-date=1 November 2017|archive-date=7 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107011509/https://www.medianama.com/2011/03/223-indiatimes-launches-health-blog-healthmeup/|url-status=live}}
Cricbuzz: In November 2014, Times Internet acquired Cricbuzz, a website focused on cricket news.{{cite news|date=10 November 2014|title=Times Internet acquires cricbuzz|newspaper=TOI|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Times-Internet-acquires-Cricbuzz-com/articleshow/45096951.cms|access-date=15 August 2015|archive-date=26 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151026070915/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Times-Internet-acquires-Cricbuzz-com/articleshow/45096951.cms|url-status=live}}

Criticism and controversies

=Paid news=

TOI has been criticised for being the first to institutionalise the practice of paid news in India, where politicians, businessmen, corporations and celebrities can pay the newspaper and its journalists would carry the desired news for the payer.{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52-61}}{{sfn|Rodrigues|Ranganathan|2014|pages=121–127}}{{Sfn|Mudgal|2015|pp=100–120}} The newspaper offers prominence with which the paid news is placed and the page on which it is displayed based on the amount of the payment. According to this practice, a payment plan assures a news feature and ensures positive coverage to the payer.{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52-61}}

In 2005, TOI began the practice of "private treaties", also called as "brand capital", where new companies, individuals or movies seeking mass coverage and public relations, major brands and organisations were offered sustained positive coverage and plugs in its news columns in exchange for shares or other forms of financial obligations to Bennett, Coleman & Company, Ltd. (BCCL) – the owners of TOI.{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52-61}}{{sfn|Rodrigues|Ranganathan|2014|pages=121–127}}

BCCL, with its "private treaties" programme, acquired stakes in 350 companies and generated 15% of its revenues by 2012, according to a critical article in The New Yorker. The "paid news" and "private treaties" practice started by TOI has since been adopted by The Hindustan Times group, the India Today group, the Outlook group, and other major media groups in India including Indian television channels.{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52-61}}{{cite web|url=http://specials.indiatoday.com/specials/slideshow/power_list/jainbrothers_9.htm|magazine=India Today|title=50 Powerful People|access-date=5 March 2019|archive-date=25 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025065525/http://specials.indiatoday.com/specials/slideshow/power_list/jainbrothers_9.htm|url-status=live}} This division of the company was later renamed Brand Capital and has contracts in place with many companies in diverse sectors.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

The "paid news" and "private treaties" blur the lines between content and advertising, with the favourable coverage written by the staff reporters on the payroll of TOI.{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52-61}} The newspaper has defended its practice in 2012 by stating that it includes a note of disclosure to the reader – though in a small font – that its contents are "advertorial, entertainment promotional feature", that they are doing this to generate revenues just like "all newspapers in the world do advertorials" according to TOI owners.{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52-61}}{{sfn|Rodrigues|Ranganathan|2014|pages=121–127}} According to Maya Ranganathan, this overlap in the function of a journalist to also act as a marketing and advertisement revenue seeker for the newspaper raises conflict of interest questions, a problem that has morphed into ever-larger scale in India and recognised by India's SEBI authority in July 2009.{{sfn|Rodrigues|Ranganathan|2014|pages=121–127}}

Under an ad sales initiative called Medianet, if a large company or Bollywood studio sponsored a news-worthy event, the event would be covered by TOI, but the name of the company or studio that sponsored it would not be mentioned in the paper unless they paid TOI for advertising. In 2010, a report by a subcommittee of the Press Council of India found that Medianet's paid news strategy had spread to a large number of newspapers and more than five hundred television channels.{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52-61}}{{sfn|Rodrigues|Ranganathan|2014|pages=123–125}}

Critics state that the company's paid news and private treaties skew its coverage and shield its newspaper advertisers from scrutiny.{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52-61}}

The Hoot, a media criticism website, has pointed out that when a lift in a 19-storey luxury apartment complex in Bangalore crashed—killing two workers and injuring seven—all the English language and Kannada language newspapers, with the exception of the TOI, called out the name of the construction company, Sobha Developers, which was a private-treaty partner. An article titled "Reaping gold through Bt cotton"—which first appeared in the Nagpur edition of TOI in 2008—reappeared unchanged in 2011, this time with a small-print alert that the article was a "marketing feature". In both cases, the article was factually incorrect and made false claims about the success of Monsanto's genetically modified cotton.{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52-61}}

According to a critical article published in the Indian investigative news magazine The Caravan, when the Honda Motors plant in Gurgaon experienced an eight-month-long conflict between management and non-unionised workers over wages and work conditions in 2005, the Times of India covered the concerns of Honda and the harm done to India's investment climate, and largely ignored the issues raised by workers.{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52-61}}

Vineet Jain, managing director of BCCL, has insisted that a wall does exist between sales and the newsroom, and that the paper does not give favourable coverage to the company's business partners. "Our editors don't know who we have," Jain said, although he later acknowledged that all private-treaty clients are listed on the company's website.{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52-61}} Ravindra Dhariwal, the former CEO of BCCL had defended private treaties in a 2010 interview with the magazine Outlook and claims that the partners in the private treaties sign contracts where they agree to clauses that they will not receive any favourable editorial coverage.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

=Anti-competitive behaviour=

There have been claims that TOI would strike deals with advertisers only if they removed their advertisements from other competitor newspapers.{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52-61}}

TOI is also embroiled in an active lawsuit against the Financial Times. In 1993, when the Financial Times was preparing to enter the Indian market, Samir Jain, the vice-chairman of BCCL, registered the term "Financial Times" as a trademark of his company and declared it his intellectual property in an attempt to stymie the Financial Times and prevent them from competing with The Economic Times, which is owned by BCCL.{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52-61}}

In 1994, when the Hindustan Times was the top-selling paper in New Delhi, TOI slashed their prices by a third, to one and a half rupees after having built up their ads sales force in preparation for the price drop to make up for the lost circulation revenue. By 1998, the Hindustan Times had dropped to second place in Delhi. TOI took a similar strategy in Bangalore where they dropped the price to one rupee despite protests from Siddharth Varadarajan, one of the editors of the newspaper at the time, who called the strategy "predatory pricing".{{sfn|Auletta|2012|pp=52-61}}

=Cobrapost sting operation=

In 2018, Vineet Jain, managing director of BCCL, and Sanjeev Shah, executive president of BCCL, were caught on camera as part of a sting operation by Cobrapost agreeing to promote right-wing content through the group's many media properties for a proposed spend of {{INRConvert|5|b|year=2018}}, some of which the client said could only be paid with black money.{{cite news|url=https://thewire.in/media/times-group-vineet-jain-sting-operation-cobrapost|publisher=The Wire (India)|title=At the Times Group, Cobrapost Sting Shows How Cash is King|access-date=5 March 2019|archive-date=4 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404072503/https://thewire.in/media/times-group-vineet-jain-sting-operation-cobrapost|url-status=live}} BCCL has responded to the sting claiming that the video that was released by Cobrapost was "doctored" and "incomplete" and that the CEO Vineet Jain was engaged in a "reverse-sting" of his own to expose the undercover reporter during the filming of the video.{{cite news|url=https://thewire.in/media/times-group-says-vineet-jain-was-conducting-reverse-sting-on-cobrapost|publisher=The Wire (India)|title=Times Group Says Vineet Jain Was Conducting 'Reverse Sting' on Cobrapost|access-date=5 March 2019|archive-date=6 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306111453/https://thewire.in/media/times-group-says-vineet-jain-was-conducting-reverse-sting-on-cobrapost|url-status=live}} The company is yet to release the video evidence.{{Cn|date=June 2024}}

Notable employees

Sham Lal, Editor
Girilal Jain, Editor and Scholar
Samir Jain, Vice-chairman

Publisher

Vineet Jain, MD
Jug Suraiya (associate editor, "Jugular Vein" columnist, Dubyaman II cartoonist)
Swaminathan Aiyar (columnist, "Swaminomics")
R. K. Laxman (You Said It editorial cartoon, featuring the famous Common Man)
M. J. Akbar, Columnist, "The Siege Within" and former Editorial Team
Chetan Bhagat, Columnist, Sunday TOI
Shashi Tharoor, Columnist of "Shashi on Sunday"
V. D. Trivadi, Humorist
Twinkle Khanna, Columnist of "Mrs. Funnybones"
Swapan Dasgupta, Columnist, Sunday TOI

References

= Bibliography =

{{cite book|last1=Aggarwal|first1=Vir Bala|last2=Gupta|first2=V. S.|year=2001|title=Handbook of Journalism and Mass Communication|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sCIf8MM1ZlAC&pg=PA128|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|isbn=978-81-7022-880-6}}
{{cite book | last=Anil | first=Pratinav | title=Another India: The Making of the World's Largest Muslim Minority, 1947–77 | publisher=Hurst Publishers | year=2023a | isbn=978-1-80526-074-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YUK5EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT192 | edition=Illustrated }}
{{cite book | last=Anil | first=Pratinav | title=Another India | publisher=Penguin Random House India Private Limited | year=2023b | isbn=978-93-5708-843-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4DyEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT25 }}
{{cite magazine|last=Auletta|first=Ken|author-link=Ken Auletta|date=8 October 2012|title=Citizens Jain – Why India's Newspaper Industry is Thriving.|magazine=The New Yorker|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/08/citizens-jain|pages=52–61}}
{{cite book|last=Austin|first=Granville|author-link=Granville Austin|year=1999|title=Working a democratic constitution: the Indian experience|publisher=Oxford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r42bAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA295|isbn=978-0195648881|location=New Delhi}}
{{cite book|last1=Barton|first1=Greg|last2=Weller|first2=Paul|last3=Yilmaz|first3=Ihsan|year=2014|title=The Muslim World and Politics in Transition: Creative Contributions of the Gülen Movement|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uZzNAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA28|publisher=A & C Black|isbn=978-1-4411-5873-4}}
{{cite book|last1=Baxi|first1=C. V.|last2=Prasad|first2=Ajit|year=2005|title=Corporate Social Responsibility: Concepts and Cases : the Indian Experience|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AB_u44-xJOUC&pg=PA167|publisher=Excel Books India|isbn=978-81-7446-449-1}}
{{cite book|last=Bhattacherje|first=S. B.|year=2009|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Events & Dates|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oGVSvXuCsyUC&pg=PA126|publisher=Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd.|isbn=978-81-207-4074-7}}
{{cite book|last=Desai|first=Akshayakumar Ramanlal|author-link=Akshay Ramanlal Desai|year=1986|title=Violation of Democratic Rights in India|publisher=Popular Prakashan|location=Bombay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9i5sNMNh_uIC&pg=PA208|isbn=978-0861321308}}
{{cite book|last1=Frost|first1=Corey|last2=Weingarten|first2=Karen|last3=Babington|first3=Doug|last4=LePan|first4=Don|author-link4=Don LePan|last5=Okun|first5=Maureen|year=2017|title=The Broadview Guide to Writing: A Handbook for Students|edition=6th|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7rGhDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA27|publisher=Broadview Press|isbn=978-1-55481-313-1}}
{{cite book|last=Hirschmann|first=Edwin|year=2008|title=Robert Knight: Reforming Editor in Victorian India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fpQLAQAAMAAJ|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-569622-6}}
{{cite book|last=Joseph|first=Ammu|author-link=Ammu Joseph|year=2005|title=Making News: Women in Journalism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KQRlAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA227|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=978-0-14-400057-9}}
{{cite book|last1=Kaminsky|first1=Arnold P.|last2=Long|first2=Roger D.|year=2011|title=India Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic [2 volumes]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VVxlfDHGTFYC&pg=PA706|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-37463-0}}
{{cite book|last=Kasbekar|first=Asha|year=2006|title=Pop Culture India!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle|publisher=ABC-CLIO|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sv7Uk0UcdM8C&pg=PA112|isbn=978-1-85109-636-7}}
{{cite book|last=Kohli-Khandekar|first=Vanita|title=The Indian Media Business|year=2013|publisher=SAGE Publications|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aeb3nQEACAAJ|location=Mumbai|isbn=978-8132113560}}
{{cite book|last=Lalvani|first=Kartar|author-link=Kartar Lalvani|year=2016|title=The Making of India: The Untold Story of British Enterprise|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|url={{GBurl|q4SlCwAAQBAJ|p=383}}|isbn=978-1-4729-2484-1}}
{{cite book|last=Malhan|first=Sangita P. Menon|year=2013|title=THE TOI STORY: How A Newspaper Changed The Rules Of The Games|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers India|location=Noida|url={{GBurl|ybzjAAAAQBAJ|p=212}}|isbn=978-9350296646}}
{{Cite book |last=Mudgal |first=Vipul |title=Media Ethics and Justice in the Age of Globalization |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-349-50520-3 |location=London |pages=100–120 |chapter=News for Sale: 'Paid News', Media Ethics, and India’s Democratic Public Sphere |doi=10.1057/9781137498267_6 |editor-last=Rao |editor-first=S. |editor-last2=Wasserman |editor-first2=H.}}
{{cite book | last=Naqvi | first=Hena | title=Journalism and Mass Communication | publisher=Upkar Prakashan | year=2007 | isbn=978-81-7482-108-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mhqnBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 }}
{{Cite book |last=Parhi |first=Asima Ranjan |title=Indian English through newspapers |date=2008 |publisher=Concept Pub. Co |isbn=978-81-8069-507-0 |edition=1. publ |location=New Delhi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-pPLnk1RyHEC}}
{{cite book|last=Parthasarathy|first=Rangaswami|year=1989|title=Journalism in India: from the earliest times to the present day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L_5kAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA273|publisher=Sterling Publishers|isbn=9788120708976}}
{{cite book|last1= Rodrigues|first1=Usha M.|last2=Ranganathan|first2=Maya|title=Indian News Media: From Observer to Participant|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2RqJCwAAQBAJ |year=2014|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-93-5150-158-9|pages=121–127|chapter=Paid News: Cocktail of Media, Business and Politics}}
{{cite book | last=Singh | first=Prema | title=How Solidarity Works for Welfare: Subnationalism and Social Development in India | publisher=Cambridge University Press | series=Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics | year=2015 | isbn=978-1-107-07005-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=229bCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 }}