When a top media house approaches Counterview for 'content subscription'...

By Rajiv Shah

I felt terribly awed, and somewhat strange, when I received an email from the “Hindustan Times Media Group, India”, one of India’s top corporate media houses, owned by offering Counterview, a nonentity, run on a voluntary basis, and edited by me, offering what was called “content subscription business.”

The email, by the Group’s “Content Alliances manager”, elated me somewhat – that a top media house has approached me, suggesting, they seem to be closely observing what all is being published in my site, which essentially deals mainly with current affairs stories.
Addressed to me as “Dear Rajiv”, and greeting me on behalf of the powerful media house, the email from the person who sent it to me said, he wanted to “check” if we are “looking to subscribe to more Indian content” for “our website, print and magazine.” It underlined, “We can licence you our digital content. We have content from all genres – Politics, Entertainment, Business, Health and Lifestyle, Tech, Auto etc.”
I don’t know why it talked of “print and magazine”, which we are not, even though it seemed that they appeared to see our website closely. The email observed, “I have seen your website, and as per my observation, the text content of our below given portal will suit your platform and audience, please have a look and let me know if you are interested.”
I liked the criticism, one reason why I thought I should seek details of what the Hindustan Times has to offer, even though the list of offers included following areas:
National - https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/
Tech - https://tech.hindustantimes.com/
Entertainment - https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/
Health- https://www.healthshots.com/
Lifestyle - https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/
Covid 19- https://www.hindustantimes.com/coronavirus/
Opinion- https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion
Auto - https://auto.hindustantimes.com/
Desimartini - https://www.desimartini.com/
Outlook Money- http://www.outlookindia.com/outlookmoney/
The email continued: “Images Subscription: We have launched an image platform called content garden where you can search and download all the images of your choice once you buy a subscription. Please visit the content garden.”
It added, “If you don't want to buy a subscription then you can let us know the images which you want to use for editorial or any other purpose and we will provide you he original image and you can pay us on per images basis. URL - https://www.contentgarden.in/ht/#/”
It continued to explain why I should one subscribe the Hindustan Times content:
1- Well researched content written by experienced journalists and writers.
2- HT is one of the oldest media houses in India, so trustworthy and best quality.
3- Better than Agency content as agency content is available with every other news website.
4- You don't need to arrange the photo separately as the photo will be a part of Rss feed.
Just to check, I decided to send an email seeking “details on what HT has to offer”. I don’t know how it assessed the worth of Counterview, but the person concerned sent “pricing for text news from Hindustan Times”, whose “news will be shared with you through Rss feed,” adding, “Most of the stories will carry an image link also so you don't need to arrange for the images separately.”
The costing was as follows: Rs 18,000 per month for three stories per day; Rs 25,000 per month for five stories per day; and Rs 40,000 per month for 10 stories per day – all with text plus images and in English.
I was also told to note the following:
1- You will be given full access to our daily news base, you can choose and pick the story of your choice.
2- If using on website, proper credit line and canonical tagging is must.
3- Image link will also be provided along with the news feed.
“Please let me know your thoughts on this so that we can discuss and move further”, I was told.
No comments!

Postscript: I replied back stating Counterview is a voluntary site, which perhaps the Hindustan Times people didn't care to see... No reply thereafter. Not even thanks.

Comments

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

The golden crop: How turmeric is transforming women's lives in tribal India

By Vikas Meshram* When the lush green fields of turmeric sway in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, it is not merely a spice crop — it is the golden glow of self-reliance. In villages where even basic spices once had to be bought from the market, the very soil today is yielding a prosperity that has transformed the lives of thousands of families. At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Vaagdhara, which has linked turmeric with livelihoods, nutrition, and village self-governance — gram swaraj.

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

Search This Blog