This month, the Readers’ Editor has some good news to share with you.
First, ThePrint has completed seven years as a digital news and views portal. It has grown and evolved into a more genuine multi-media news destination. But, through all the chopping and changing, its fundamentals have remained constant – the aim is always to offer you good journalism.
Second, ThePrint has heard our readers: It has launched a far more user-friendly subscription format. Subscriptions have been a sore point with many readers: I have received complaints from outraged subscribers, again and again and again. In several Readers’ Editors columns over the last few years, I have shared some of the grievances.
They read something like this:
“The Print webpage has absolutely no recognition for subscribers. There is no login, let alone any subscriber benefits. I find this very strange and indeed a bit annoying…”
“…Whenever I try to read anything on your webpage, advertisements pepper me to such an extent that reading is a pain. I would expect that you offer advertisement-free content for your subscriber.’’
“Lately I have noticed the extremely high number of ads placement on your site, as a paying subscriber with you for the last few years its really disconcerting and frankly a horrible user experience to read anything on the print (sic) since the last few months.’’
“I am paying Rs 5000 year to the website subscriptions (It isn’t the amount per se)…Why do I need to see so many ads, when I am a ‘Paid Subscriber”… It appears that ‘Paid Subscribers’ are subsiding the ‘unpaid’ lot.’’
Dear subscribers, your demand has been met: As of 9 August 2024, ThePrint offers you a login-based, ad-lite experience.
Also read: Criticism, kindness, complaints—ThePrint readers don’t hold back. And we don’t want them to
Why you must subscribe
This was a while in the making, but our technical team has made it happen now.
To see if the new system works, I logged in as a subscriber. I clicked on articles, randomly, and found that most of those annoying advertisements, pop-ups had disappeared. I could read an entire article without disturbance or interference. Like you, I was relieved – and immediately renewed my subscription to ThePrint.
Subscribers had also complained about the absence of a login facility: “EVERY SINGLE MEDIA OUTLET WITH A DIGITAL PRESENCE, PROVIDES YOU AN EXPERIENCE OF ‘LOGIN’ BASED ACCESS,” wrote one of them to me — note, the capital letters for emphasis are his.
Well, this complaint, too, has been addressed, as I’m sure many of you discovered when you logged in. Do remember, however, that you need to sign in with the e-mail ID you used when subscribing to ThePrint—access to the site with another e-mail will be denied. So be careful.
In case you are confused, a step-by-step instruction page has been created which I am sharing with you: https://theprint.in/login-guide/
And I don’t know if you noticed, but the subscription page has been redesigned to make it simpler for subscribers.
Another new feature is on the payment front: International subscriptions can now be made through Stripe, the global payment processing platform. I hope all of you out there find this useful.
My colleagues assure me that there are many more subscriber benefits in the works, one of which has been requested by many subscribers: The ability to save or bookmark articles that you want to read later or retain. So do be patient.
What are the other benefits of a subscription? On the website, these include ThePrint’s exclusive newsletters such as the daily `TheFinePrint’, which offers each day’s best topical content at ThePrint – and in some of the leading English newspapers.
There’s also `In My Opinion’ that shares highlights of ThePrint’s Opinion and Ground Reports on a weekly basis while ‘Editor’s Choice’ introduces you to some of the finest writing on international affairs in the world media.
Subscribers will also get to attend the new video show, ‘Ask Me Anything’ (AMA) sessions with senior editors such as Sharad Raghavan, Deputy Editor, and a chance to see your article in print if you write for the `Your Turn’ section.
Alternatively, if you are a member of ThePrint’s YouTube channel for a mere Rs 159, you get an early preview pass to our premium videos, priority replies on YouTube Live and participate in our subscriber-only polls. Oh yes, there’s also a loyalty badge for you, just to tell you how much we value you.
Subscriptions are important to digital news initiatives: We need them to help us financially. There’s just not enough advertising to go around. We need it to support the kind of journalism we do – as one colleague said to me: “You pay for something you value.’’ So, if you value ThePrint’s content, please subscribe.
Also read: How ThePrint reporters make governance, policy stories interesting for its readers
2017 to now
Seven years in the life of a news media organisation is a tiny speck in media history. For instance, The Hindu first appeared as a newspaper in 1878, The Times of India dates back to 1838. India Today is a product of the 1970s, while NDTV arrived in 1988.
And yet, it seems a long time ago since I first heard that Shekhar Gupta, ThePrint’s founder and Editor-in-Chief, had launched a news web portal. I worked at The Indian Express then, in the autumn of 2017.
Other English news portals were already roaming the world wide web: there was Newslaundry (2012), Scroll (2014), The News Minute (2014), The Quint (2015) and The Wire (2015), to name a few.
Seven years later, ThePrint is well-established as a significant editorial site, with stories and opinion pieces that receive wide recognition.
It has also expanded its coverage into new territories — we have more correspondents based in states, 13 not counting stringers and new sections. For instance, we write much more on culture and pop culture now.
When I joined ThePrint in 2018, content was primarily textual. Now, it has diversified and the video section just grows and grows – in popularity as well as quantity of content. So too podcasts. Check for yourself.
A few mistakes in August
Before I end this, it’s time to own up to a few mistakes made by ThePrint in the last month.
First, we published a report by one of our correspondents on what was said to be a statement by former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. It was reportedly drafted before she hastily left her residence in Dhaka and flew to India. This statement by Hasina, which claimed, among other things, US involvement in her ouster and that she had resigned, was first published in The Economic Times. Subsequently, Hasina’s son Sajeed Wahab said in a tweet that the “resignation statement… was false and fabricated’’. Since Hasina’s statement was never made public and had been refuted by Wahab, ThePrint decided to remove its report from its website.
Second, ThePrint, like many other media outlets, wrongly stated in a report that “150 gm of semen’’ was found in the private parts of the rape and murder victim at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata. This information was based on a document filed by the petitioner (in this case, the victim’s parents) in court that claimed the autopsy had found ‘150 gms of semen’. The post-mortem report showed the reference was not to the amount of semen. The reference was removed from the report.
ThePrint deeply regrets both errors.
When there is breaking news and (mis)information is constantly updated in the media or social media, it’s sometimes difficult to stay on the right side of the story – and the facts. In the case of the rape and murder case, there’s also been considerable criticism of the media sharing too many details about the assault on the victim. This is a valid point but when such an inhuman crime is committed, the details matter — we need to know just how bad it was. But there is a thin line between factual information and sensationalism, and journalists must tread with care.
Shailaja Bajpai is ThePrint’s Readers’ Editor. Please write in with your views, complaints to readers.editor@theprint.in
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)
The Print is least interested in listening to it’s readers.
What the readers want is proper coverage of the pogrom against Hindus in Bangladesh.
Unfortunately, or maybe deliberately, The Print has sent Ms. Ananya Bharadwaj to cover the issue. She belongs to the “secular” cabal and is just not interested in covering the gruesome violence Hindus are being subjected to. Instead, she tries her level best to brush things under the carpet and portray the BNP and even the Jamaat as secular political parties.