Readership: The journey so far

KARACHI: Choosing a newspaper is like choosing a lifestyle – something you have to adopt and adapt to. “It  s like your morning cup of tea – you have to be used to the flavour,” says recent subscriber of The Express Tribune Naeem Tahir, a Lahore resident.

The Express Tribune turns one today. And what better way to celebrate its anniversary than by honouring the readership. Today, your views and opinions matter most and are what have made the newspaper progress through the year. While change comes with a natural trepidation for everyone, The Express Tribune embraced it by becoming the first internationally affiliated newspaper in Pakistan, with a fresh layout created by an international award-winning designer.

This was much appreciated by homemaker Rubina, who says the best thing about ET is its affiliation with the International Herald Tribune, especially the Books and Culture section, which she reads avidly.

Nonetheless, there have been readers who have not immediately taken a shine to us. While its ayout and design has been hailed as “eye-catching and revolutionary” by many readers, such as Romana Khan, a resident of Karachi, she says being an ‘old-fashioned Karachi’ite’ makes it hard to veer away from the likes of Dawn.

Others have been critical of the layout. Adil Pasha, a strategic analyst for BullsEye Communications and a former subscriber, feels that content has far more value than visuals.“The Express Tribune’s content reads

more like a blog, than news,” says Pasha, adding that the newspaper needs to build its credibility. “Take Pakistan Today, for example. They used their editor on billboards to advertise their paper,” he says. Naeem Tahir shares a similar view of creating a public image, which according to him, The Express Tribune lacks.

Rafaya Sufi, who works for a think-tank in New York, shared, “I definitely appreciate the newspaper’s editorial and opinion section.”She added that one of her

favourite reporters is Saba Imtiaz. “It’s not necessarily the content I’m talking about. What stands out for me is the effort the reporter puts in,” says Sufi. An avid follower of The Express Tribune website, she says apart from being the fastest in breaking news stories, it is user-friendly and reads like a magazine. But its blogs do not seem to be serious or consistent with the paper’s policy. “As a new newspaper, ET is taking on everything that comes its way and seems vague on its policy,” she says.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th,  2011.