These media sources are slightly to moderately conservative in bias. They often publish factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes) to favor conservative causes. These sources are generally trustworthy for information, but may require further investigation. See all Right-Center sources.
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: India
World Press Freedom Rank: India 142/180
History
The Times of India(TOI) is an Indian daily newspaper owned by The Times Group. The Times of India launched in 1838 as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce.
The Times of India focuses on news, politics, sports, entertainment, business, and technology. The Times Group owns the Times of India via its digital arm, Times Internet. The Sahu Jain family owns the Times Group. Indu Jain is the Chairperson of The Times Group (Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd). Currently, the editor-in-chief is Jaideep Bose.
Read our report on how media is influenced by Government in India.
Funded by / Ownership
The Times Group (Bennett Coleman and Company Limited) is the owner. The Times Group is India’s largest media and entertainment group. The Times of India generates revenue from online advertising and subscriptions. The Bureau of Outreach & Communication details the guidelines for Government advertising, which consists of a significant portion of advertising revenue for Indian Newspapers.
Analysis / Bias
In 2019, Reporters Without Borders ranked India 140 in their Press Freedom Index, which is borderline completely lacking press freedom.
In review, according to The Wire “most newspapers in India would be completely unprofitable were it not for government advertising and other kinds of rent that they are able to collect. Bloomberg reports “India’s government spent $640 million on advertisements.” Therefore, it is crucial for the media to be close to the ruling governments. Further, paid news, which is defined as an “organized practice in Indian newspapers and other media outlets, where news space and favorable coverage is exchanged for money” is still practiced.
The Times of India publishes articles with emotionally loaded language and with a pro-Narendra Modi tone (Current Prime Minister and right-wing nationalist party BJP leader) such as “When presidents held umbrellas for Modi” and “Making India $5 trillion economy challenging but achievable.”
When it comes to sourcing, they often hyperlink to themselves as well other credible sources through quotes, such as the BBC. When covering world news, pertaining to the USA, they cover the Trump admin with a negative tone, such as in this article “India suffers collateral damage in Trump’s trade war against China, Mexico.”
In general, there is little press freedom in India, therefore the papers, including the TOI, reports news in favor of the ruling party. In this case, the ruling party is right-leaning and hence the bias of the Times of India.
Failed Fact Checks
Overall, we rate The Times of India Right-Center Biased based on reporting and story selection that favors the right-leaning ruling party. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to four failed fact checks. (M. Huitsing 6/19/2019) Updated (8/03/2020)
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