Indian newspapers suck

Okay, I haven't posted in about 2 years so my posting now tells you how irritating this subject is to me.

Why is it that online Indian newspapers suck so badly?

Most newspapers can't even put together a good front page. Most times only the headlines are given rather than a lead-in paragraph to the story indicating what the article is about (e.g. The Economic Times). Even when there is a lead-in there is no guarantee that it summarizes the article, often it's simply the first two lines from the article itself.

Then there is the massive flood of advertising on the websites. I realize the newspapers need to make money but at the cost of selling their dignity? Having a pop-up advert on your front page, particularly one that cannot be dismissed, screams trash journalism. Beyond that most newspapers overload on advertising real estate, often giving more space to ads than content. The Financial Express has 6 different advertising sections plus inline advertising within an article itself. Even this might be tolerable if the blasted ads weren't constantly flashing and giving you a mind numbing headache. Is it so hard to get meld tasteful presentation with business sensibility?

The quality of journalism is even more brutal. Indian journalists think they are so clever when they come up with sophomoric puns and word plays in their headlines. They further show off their talents by cramming in loads of acronyms that only a native Indian who has been subjected to years of this crap journalism will know. And finally they insist on throwing in wordy prose when the simple and elegant will suffice.

My diatribe can easily continue to dissect the retarded "news" that the papers cover - usually garbage on Bollywood ongoings or fifteen headlines on what the Sensex did that day... but I must get back to my assignment. Oh ya, I've been in grad school the last two years.