Not a huge corus

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Though it was big in the English-language newspapers, the coverage of the Tata-Corus deal was patchy in most regional language papers. Telugu daily Vaartha splashed the Tata-Corus deal as the lead story on its front page, besides carrying interviews of Ratan Tata and Corus' Chairman Jim Leng on its business page on Saturday. The other two leading Telugu newspapers "" Eenadu and Andhra Jyothi "" relegated the news to their business pages. While Eenadu carried the news as the lead on that page, Andhra Jyothi ran it as the second lead. On Monday, Vaartha carried a translated copy of Sunday Times' special feature "Corus faces a much brighter future after the agreed takeover bid from Tatas" as the lead story on its business page.

The Tata-Corus deal received a lot of attention in the Kannada press as well with all the newspapers carrying the developments prominently in the business and commerce section. Vijaya Karnataka, Praja Vani and Kannada Prabha had regular updates on the deal for almost a week.

Vijaya Karnataka editorially hailed the Tata-Corus deal as an important milestone in the history of Indian industry. "This is a revolutionary step for the Tatas and the Indian industry. Tatas, who have become a household name in the nation, have fetched laurels for the Indian industry. This deal can be termed as the greatest achievement of the Tatas in their 100 years of existence," the editorial stated.

Praja Vani, too, commended the Tatas for acquiring a bigger company. "Tatas have shown that it is not just the Indian IT industry that can acquire global companies, but manufacturing firms also have the scale. It is a significant development for the Tatas and India, which have announced their arrival with a bang. Credit should also go to the Indian government for liberalising the economy and enabling companies to acquire global status," Praja Vani said in its editorial.

In Chennai, though, Dinamalar didn't carry the story on even its business pages. While the daily carried reports on various SEZs and on the fire at the Reliance refinery in the business section, it didn't carry any report on the Tata-Corus deal during the last couple of weeks. In the north, Dainik Bhaskar had the story on page one.