0 % NEWS, 100 % PLUG

The Navhind Times seems to have run out of steam. After a week and more of fancy layouts and byline stories that did give Herald and GT a scare, they have finally run out of ideas. We will come to this (the pic above) sham of a story later, but let's run through a couple of stories which were played up by these fools earlier.

First they carry a story on May 15 Goans throng beaches for healing bath, which -- like the header suggests, reads that Goans are thronging to the beaches for their annual sea-bath. The story is credited to the NT team and claims that this ritual was verified by its team of reporters who went to various beaches in the state to cover the story. Phew... Thanks guys...

The very next day they run a story which says Goans turning away from beaches . How silly is that fellas. The very next day? So what did the team of reporters do when they visited the beaches before they filed the first story? Ogle?

Now we come to the plug which was published on May 17. As journalists who work in Goa, we know that when Dinesh Patel's byline's appears in a newspaper, the story is generally a plug, with absolutely no journalistic intent. The Dinesh kind of articles are either compensated with money, ads or at least a free meal. But when Dinesh's stuff flies high on page 1, just below the masthead we have to admit guys that it's not very healthy. How can this story be featured as a page 1 lead? How can it be even taken seriously? For a moment, just for a moment lets forget the fact that Dinesh filed this story. The story does not quote anyone? It does not credit the figures stated to any source or published material. Crediting a story like this rough estimates and running it as a page 1 lead? Its simply bizarre. Its worse that the TOI's pay for newspace stuff.

Not done... Not done at all. Whats the trade off Sinha?

Why are you guys suddenly sucking up to the casino lobby? Are the Dempo's applying for a casino licence too?