I have always been a fan of
Economic Times, the first business daily in India. A reader for the last 35 years and a subscriber
for 33 years, the paper has unquestionably helped me in knowing more about
business, finance, economics and management. I used to cherish the unconventional approach and to a very
large extent the courage it demonstrated in being very focused. I was also
fortunate and privileged to get three or
four of my articles published on the edit page of the paper.
But, of late, the very focus
which attracted me to the paper seems to be losing, leading to disappointments.
For example, the paper on June 15 carried an article by Reshmi Dasgupta on the
edit page about the media Baron Rupert Murdoch’s divorce from his current wife
Wendi Deng(“The Media Baron, the Wives and Making Decisive Splits”).Had the piece
been about the economics of divorce, I
wouldn’t have cared much. But sad to say, it had nothing much inside that deserves to be published in a business daily, much less any positioning on the edit page.
The paper may lose its hardcore followers, unless the editors take special care to be more focused.
