While the ship sinks in the U.S., Indian media is buoyed by new print editions

I'm particularly excited for mint, a business paper produced by HT in partnership with the Wall Street Journal (primarily because it's designed by the fabulous Mario Garcia). It debuts tomorrow, and the Web site will go live as well; should be interesting. They're playing around with monetizing the online vehicle, which hasn't yet proved very successful in the subconty, so it'll be interesting to watch not only for journos, but also for crorepatis and techies (oh my!). FINALLY, you should pick up a copy ever day, if only to search for an upcoming article (profile?) of K. Thomas Oommen, currently the director of a journalism school in Kerala, and a fabulous, fabulous character.

Another pub of interest is Metro Now, a 48-page morning tabloid published jointly by HT and TOI. Thus far, tabloids in Delhz have been execrable (and I should know, I worked for one!) -- tits and ass, maybe some cricket, and tepid nightlife listings taken from the Delhi Diary. Can't find any Web presence, but the hubby knows the editor, so it should, at some point, actually make it onto newsstands.

I find it endlessly fascinating that, while circulation is dropping in the U.S. (AND PANIC ENSUES! IT ENSUES!), there's such a flourishing market in India. Why go to j-school -- why invest in writing for a living -- if the newspaper industry is circling the toilet bowl?

My suggestion for burgeoning young American journalists? DON'T spend some of your most promising years toiling away at City Council meetings. Take a chance. Move to a different country, play up your native English language skills and the benefit they can bring to other people in the newsroom, work for chump change (come on, you'll be doing it anyway), and get excited! Don't scoff at what you perceive as "poor" news coverage -- keep an open mind, take what works, chuck what doesn't.

OK, it's sanguine, and it probably doesn't address underlying economic drivers, etc., but at least you'll have something cool to blog about, eh?