The Hindu : Front Page : <I>The Hindu</I> sports a new look

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 14, 2005

Front Page

Front Page

The Hindu sports a new look

Special Correspondent

"Always classical, always contemporary"

CHENNAI: The Hindu on Wednesday reiterated its commitment to the classical core values of journalism on the occasion of the launch of its new look. At a function organised to announce the launch of the redesigned newspaper, and to mark the circulation of one million copies, The Hindu promised its readers that it would meet the "exciting challenge" of remaining compelling and attractive to the readers while staying true to the journalistic values of truth-telling, independence, and social responsibility.

Dr. Mario Garcia, of Garcia Media, who redesigned The Hindu , explained how the new look would grab the modern media consumer's attention through a marriage of words and images. The Hindu , he said would be "always classical, always contemporary, but never dull."

N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, and N. Murali, Joint Managing Director, interact with Mario Garcia and Jan Kny at the launch of the new look The Hindu at a function in Chennai on Wednesday. _ PHOTO: N. SRIDHARAN

Modern readers, he said, were "scanners" whose attention needed to be caught with the help of headlines, captions and visuals. Readers were changing, and the new generation read the newspaper in two or three sittings. They were multi-media users, who listened to the radio or television or had the computer on while reading the newspaper. They obtained information from a variety of sources: a day in the life of a media consumer involved the radio, the television, the e-mail and the phone.

However, the habit of reading had not come down. But people had become "more selective" in what they read.

The eye-tracking studies had shown that a reader in 2003 took only 10 seconds to decide what to read on a page. There was thus a need to attract the readers who were "in a hurry", Dr. Garcia said. A newspaper had to have something for everyone. He identified more legible typography, efficient navigation, hierarchy in news display, colour coding, better organisation of photographs, new opportunities to advertising, and systematic use of white space as the concepts behind the redesign.

Elegant, functional newspaper

The Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu , N. Ram, said The Hindu had continually sought to be in the world of Indian and international newspapers. The purpose of the redesign was to offer a more contemporary, elegant, and functional newspaper, he said.

Challenges

The Joint Managing Director of The Hindu , N. Murali, said that a major challenge for a newspaper like The Hindu would be to continuously and successfully balance the two seemingly conflicting objectives of the practice of serious journalism and the commercial aspects of sustaining a viable and profitable undertaking.

At the launch, among the audience, G. Kasturi, former Editor, The Hindu (right), S. Rangarajan, Managing Director, and Dr. Nalini Krishnan, Director, Kasturi and Sons. — Photo: V. Ganesan

All-round changes

The Hindu should also be able to reflect the all-round changes taking place at a mind-boggling speed and meet the changing, more demanding and increasingly complex expectations of different segments of the readers.

Ramesh Krishnan, the tennis player, and his wife, among the audience; (below) Two of the guests at a display of The Hindu 's front pages. — Photo: V. Ganesan

"And all this in an era of multiplicity of choices for any media consumer." The Hindu 's formula of being classical, yet contemporary in all respects, had successfully stood the test of time. "It will continue to be its guiding motto," he added.