The focus is more on readability and the so-called ‘spice’ value of a particular news item. As veteran journalist, Nurullah says, “Whoever came to power, the Thanthi people will be the first to land up in their offices with the biggest garland.” They also do not take overt political leanings apart from exceptional situations. The paper is known for being equally supportive of the ruling party, as it is critical of the opposition during the reign of both the AI-ADMK and the DMK at various points in time in Tamil Nadu. In terms of their political leanings, Thanthi is well-known for being pro-establishment, regardless of which party is in power. This would have been impossible before Thanthi,” says Amuthan. “Even a school dropout could suddenly pick up and read the newspaper, get to know what’s happening around the world. While these two sections of the language were sacrosanct and never mixed before Thanthi came into the picture, he brought many aspects of the spoken language into the written. His various suggestions/ corrections were later compiled as the Ithalazhar Kaiyedu or Journalists’ Guidelines, which detail various aspects of writing, reporting, and even what words to use for news reports.Īthithanar’s focus on a simple language also served to bridge a crucial gap between the written and the spoken word in Tamil. Various interviewees state that he also used to take a copy of the previous day’s newspaper, mark out all that he felt was incorrect with it, and make sure all journalists working at the establishment received a copy.
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It’s a stepping stone of sorts in that sense,” says Amuthan.įounder-editor CP Athithanar issued various guidelines on how to report on happenings and what kind of language to use. “If I have to say one line about Thanthi, then it would be that it will enable a person who can’t read very well to take up reading. The overarching theme behind their paper is to essentially “keep it simple”. Thanthi’s editorial outlook has primarily remained the same in its over 75-year history. He adds, “Many a time, it is the same person who handles the information gathering and news reporting as well as advertisement gathering for the newspaper.” Thus, when any news developments occur, he is informed of it, and this person goes on to file stories for the newspaper as well,” says Professor Arasu. “In small towns, the distributor becomes a representative of the newspaper. It is also the case at Dina Thanthi that the distributors of the paper double up as stringers/ reporters for the paper as well.
He adds, “The onus is on the journalist to do things that are appeasing to management otherwise, it’s challenging to survive there.” “In Thanthi, the editorial is not a big thing it’s all about management,” says Amuthan.
If you do take up investigative pieces, your boss will be your first obstacle to cross.”Ī peculiar characteristic of Thanthi is that the power centres at its various bureaus inevitably rests with the management. As Amuthan says, “There’s hardly any scope for things like investigative journalism in this setup. Often, the city editor or the news editor calls up various reporters and asks them for stories from their particular beats or asks them to follow up on a particular angle. He adds, “There are no edit meetings as such. “There is a feudal structure that governs the newspaper still,” says RC Amuthan, a senior journalist in Tamil with over three decades of experience in the field. The reporters at multiple centres are also mandated to cover news stories assigned to them, as opposed to coming up with story pitches and following up on them. From the interviews conducted so far, respondents stated that the various bureaus are informed of what news developments will occupy the front page of the newspaper across centres. The Dina Thanthi is very much a top to bottom organisation.
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