When it launched its Madras edition three years ago, the 173-year-old Times of India did what its chief competitor, the 132-year-old Hindu wouldn’t be caught dead doing.
Which is, associate its masthead with a “mass” gaana song—Naaka mukka—from a Tamil movie.
Now, to launch its Madurai edition, ToI goes one step (and several dappan kootu beats) further, even as its chief competitor hurtles from court to high court to supreme court, seeking answers for such a fundamental question as, who should run the newspaper: owner or outsider?
(For the musically inclined, the singer in the ToI video is Chinna Ponnu, who recently starred with Kailash Kher in the Indian version of Coke Studio)
Link via Shobha Sarada Viswanathan
Also read: Any number will do in game of numbers
IJR 
Small thing can be big with Hindu if it’s related to ethics. Who should run the newspaper becomes the top most agenda in such scenario. Let commercial gain wait for sometime.
Actually, both the Coimbatore and Madurai editions of ToI are still struggling to gain acceptance. Off the record, the ‘contract journalists’ of ToI Coimbatore are a little anxious about their future.
They also add that the Madurai edition was launched only so that their marketing guys could use it as another selling point to advertisers (especially the MNC’s).
Another interesting tidbit that I picked up is that ToI has a policy that only photos of “good looking” people will be published by it (read good looking = fair).
Some of the ToI journalists in Tamil Nadu (especially those who cover politics) are a haggard lot because of this, since most of the native people of Tamil Nadu are naturally dark skinned!