Indian media picks up ToI tale

Hyderabad: It was a story too good to be missed, and media organisations are picking up Deccan Chronicle’s report of The Times of India lifting thousands of classified ads and printing them for free.

On Monday, The News of Pakistan published the report of The Times of India lifting Deccan Chronicle classified advertisements. The News is published by the Jang Group in Pakistan. The report of the pillaging of thousands of classified ads of Deccan Chronicle, published on December 5, has already been carried in the Gulf by Khaleej Times and Gulf News. The Times of India has been slammed by the Indian Journalists Union and the Madras Union of Journalists.

Read: ToI-ing with readers: Court directs cops to investigate theft of DC classifieds by The Times of India

Also on Monday, sify.com, the sixth largest news website in India, picked up the story and reported: “While The Times of India is famous for its lack of a proof reader and other recent scandals, this one has to be the strangest yet.” “The Times of India, which often claims to be the most read English-language newspaper in India, was caught stealing advertisements from the Deccan Chronicle,” it reported.

Showing pictures of DC classified advertisements published in The Times of India, it noted: “The advertisement was not only lifted from the Deccan Chronicle, but even the contact address was not changed — A Times of India advertisement was advising interested parties to contact Deccan Chronicle!” The report was titled: “Scooped? Times of India caught stealing Deccan Chronicle ads.”

Read: Gulf Newspapers report ad lifting

The website wearethebest.wordpress.com, which carries the tagline “the news, the views, the juice”, reported the story under the headline: Deccan Chronicle says ToI is stealing its ads! Pulling no punches, the website, which had been cited by the New York Times, New Yorker and Bloomberg, among others, said: “Nothing is impossible in the merry world of Indian journalism.”

“Big newspapers (and magazines) flick stories from small ones without as much as acknowledgement. Big TV stations conduct whole debates on issues first flagged by newspapers (and magazines) without so much as a by-your-leave.”

Read: TOI tactic is Gulf news, newspapers of Dubai, Doha report theft

“But at least there’s a word for it: plagiarism. What’s the equivalent in advertising?” it asked. “Also, for the record,” the website said, “Hyderabad is the one city where ToI has not managed to make great headway. After 14 years of publication, one recent issue of the newspaper in September had 16 in-house advertisements.”