Media Wars

Deccan Chronicle launched it's Bangalore edition on the 26th of May, a day after the
election results were out.One more newspaper in an already crowded market.

I don't what the big bosses at Deccan Chronicle are thinking.
The Deccan Chronicle ads are very crude and tasteless.
Of all products, Should a newspaper use such ads ?
Also as opposed to the usual low price entry strategy that they followed in Chennai,
Deccan Chronicle is available free of cost in Bangalore.
I am not sure if this makes sense.Since it is free and is distributed along with other papers It will give DC a good reach.Most of the people will not bother to read the paper.People will give a cursory glance in the first few days out of curiosity but if the content is not good enough , they will keep it aside to be sold for 5/kg or whatever the going rate is, at a later date.

The content in DC is very very bad to say the least.TOI's Bangalore edition(Not that it is different in other cities) caters to folks who just want to spend 5 minutes , go through the headlines and look at a few pictures.TOI does the job pretty well.
Lots of news on parties, a supplement that contains nothing but pics of actresses and beautiful women.Whenever a survey/Research report/whatever on sexual habits/preferences/anything remotely connected to sex gets published anywhere in the world TOI picks it up and gives a lot of space to the details of the findings.
There are many other articles on sundry topics that have absolutely no value that get published everyday.In such a scenario , Can DC be successful ?
IMHO, the chances are very remote.

Today's DC contained a review of Shobaa De's Superstar "India From Incredible to Unstoppable".The reviewer called Shobaa De daring, courageous among other things.I have never seen/read such praise for a Shobaa De work.Considering that a lot of people have already trashed the book, I fail to understand the motivation behind the review.

Bangalore has a good crowd and I believe there is scope for a serious newspaper in Bangalore.Good newsworthy articles and meticulous analysis sans "The Hindu's" biases will definitely attract enough readers.It is disheartening that no newspaper is ready to invest and try it out atleast on an experimental basis.

Free newspapers don't command the same respect as the other elements of the mainstream media and rightly so.There is no way we can arrive at a reasonable readership figure.No way to account for the value gained out of advertising in such a paper.Will advertisers pay high prices for ads in DC Bangalore ? Will it get the same price as the Hyberabad edition ?Deccan Chronicle followed a low price strategy in Chennai and is still losing money there.Will Bangalore edition also go the same way ?
Or will it be wiped out , much like the Deccan Chargers.

Murakami rocks........

I took 2 fiction titles from the library this time around.
The last 2 months have seen me reading only non-fiction and so
I thought I wanted a change.

Chose a book by Haruki Murakami and one by Kurt Vonnegut.
Currently reading " Hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world" by
Murakami.

This particular book alternates between 2 different story lines.
The 2 narrations eventually merge together into a single story.The progress
of the 2 narratives and their eventual coming together is a treat to read.

I have read the first few pages of Kurt Vonnegut's Bluebeard.
I think that will also be wonderful. I just can't wait to finish
Murakami and take up bluebeard.

I know I am late to Murakami and Vonnegut but as the much abused saying goes
It's better late than never.