MUMBAI: The Hindustan Times (HT) may not have created enough hype before launch of its Mumbai edition like rival DNA is doing through heavy marketing, but it has made its impact felt on the first day itself with an investigative story that allegedly exposed links between the underworld and the film industry.
 

 
It set the news agenda for the day. News channels followed up the `Salman Tapes' story and ran it throughout the day.
"The publicity that this story has given us is better than taking 300 hoardings for three months in Mumbai," HT resident editor, Mumbai, Avirook Sen tells Indiantelevision.com. Sen was taking a less than subtle jab at DNA, a joint venture between Dainik Bhaskar and Subhash Chandra of Zee Telefilms, which has splashed the city with hoardings ahead of its launch in Mumbai on 30 July.

 
 
HT claims the newspaper sold out in a matter of hours. "We have clearly raised the bar where editorial content and packaging is concerned, giving Mumbai the kind of newspaper that the city has been waiting for. We have also proved, in an environment where advertising seems to rule, that content is king," says an official release from the company.
Already present in 10 cities with a circulation of 1.2 million, HT will face its toughest battle in Mumbai, the traditional fort of The Times of India. DNA is claiming that it has got a subscriber base of three lakh, ahead of launch.

 
 
The battle may have just begun. But HT has shown that it can't be pushed out. It did what newspapers are meant to do: sound the bugle of war with the right kind of news.