At last ..

I found it.

It has been many, many months now since I started looking for a really good Indian news site - a site with comprehensive, cerebral, well-organized and well-formatted content.


Frustrated with BBC's laconic approach towards Asian news and ndtv's penchant for luridness I sat wondering how the hallmarks of journalistic brilliance had disappeared


Idly I seeked out the Hindu online and came across a page that looked like an enhanced digital scan of the paper in print. It wasn’t very encouraging but then, I chanced to click on a link to their beta site.


And my friends, I am happy to proclaim, there will be no looking back.


http://beta.thehindu.com/


This is the link. Read it. Tag it. Bookmark it.

If you are tired of front pages reporting bolly wood stories ,

if you abhor the sight of ten lines of a story squashed between 'pictures of hot celebrities' and an ad for money to India,

if you are one of those people who still believe what your teacher told you in school (Read the newspaper editorial , it will improve your English ),

if you still value analytical features over a flash news ticker ... then dear friend, your search is over.


I was mesmerized by the well-spaced layout and font, the subdued colours, the beauty of language, and the erudite columns.



Also featured is a lecture by Guardian editor "Does journalism exist?"


Quoting from that lecture on the subject of what constitutes good journalism is the following -


"they seemed to represent the best of journalistic virtues – courage, campaigning, toughness, compassion, humour, irreverence; a serious engagement with serious things; a sense of fairness; an eye for injustice; a passion for explaining; knowing how to achieve impact; a connection with readers. "


I hope and wish The Hindu online is well on its way to embody these virtues.




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