Read how India’s leading newspapers framed today’s most important domestic and international issues.
View from the Front is a daily product by The Pacific Insights that examines how influential Indian newspapers prioritise and frame key domestic and international developments through their front pages. By comparing editorial emphasis across publications, the product highlights agenda-setting trends and dominant narratives shaping public and policy discourse.
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Methodology Note This assessment is based exclusively on front-page coverage from five influential newspapers: The Times of India, The Indian Express, The Hindu, Dainik Bhaskar, and The Telegraph (e-paper). The focus is on issue salience, framing, and tone rather than comprehensive reporting. Coverage is grouped under thematic areas aligned with The Pacific Insights’ core focus domains.3 |
Tracking Globe
The USA’s Venezuela invasion expectedly took the major slice of the front-page pie, due to its international ramifications. The torrent of news on Venezuela was the Top Spread in all the papers/e-papers. The Hindu quoted Trump as saying that the captured president of Venezuela would be prosecuted. The Times of India stated that the team led by the US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio would run the country. Dainik Bhaskar’s headline was interesting, stating “shantidoot (Angel of Peace) Trump captures Venezuela”. It said the trump was watching live the whole operation, wherein American forces virtually dragged Maduro and his wife from their bedroom. The paper also highlighted strong China, Russia and Iran’s response against the Invasion. The Indian Express quoted the US President as saying that it will tap the oil reserves of Venezuela. The paper pointed out that Delhi has not issued any formal comment, but only advisory for Indians to avoid non-essential travel to Venezuela. The Telegraph quoted Venezuelan vice-president saying it was a “brutal attack”, though later on she ended up toeing the US line. The death of a Hindu man set on fire in Bangladesh was also carried on the front page, albeit in small one column, by most of the papers.
Economic World:
The Hindu carried a big middle spread in six columns about Tamil Nadu announcing “assured pension scheme for the state government staff”. Under the new scheme, “State government employees will be provided with an assured pension equal to 50% of their last drawn basic pay”. Pensioners will also be given DA hikes twice a year, the paper stated.
Dainik Bhaskar also ran a small item on assured pension scheme by Tamil Nadu government, calling it a new scheme patterned on the old model.
The Times of India carried a front-page snippet on ED attaching Rs 100 crore assets of Amrapali group. “The assets attached include office and factory lands, and buildings belonging to Mauria group, an entity of Surekha group”. The paper also highlighted Rs 7 crore loss to a Hyderabad businessman in digital arrest scam.
Politics and Society:
Dainik Bhaskar carried a statement by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat about the need to give self-defence training (education) to women to ward off attempts at "Love Jihad". He also emphasised the need for constant interaction among the family members and strong legal action against the culprits, to arrest the trend. The Indian Express carried an item on Maharashtra State Election Commission asking for a report on “walk over for many BJP-Sena nominees” across municipal corporations. As many as 68 Mahayuti (BJP-Sena combine) candidates have been elected unopposed. The Hindu too carried a small item on the issue of “unopposed wins”. The Telegraph had a big top spread on Malda-based Trinamool MP Mausam Noor rejoining the Congress. The paper blamed the recent “political positioning” by Trinamool for some of its members leaving it of late. It talked about “growing disenchantment” with TMC policies among few of its partymen.
Eye on Environment:
Indore was off the front pages except in The Times of India, where the paper pointed out that the centre’s 2024 survey had flagged unsafe drinking water in the rural Madhya Pradesh. “A recent Union government assessment under Jal Jeevan Mission had found that 36.7% of drinking water samples from rural MP were not potables”. The report talked about contamination in many locations.
Courting Controversies:
Expectedly another major headline was BCCI directing KKR to oust Bangladesh cricketer Mustafizur Rahman from its IPL squad. The Indian Express quoted BCCI putting Bangladesh tour on hold, amid “shadow over cricketing ties”. Dainik Bhaskar quoted an anonymous Bangladesh Board official saying that the “country was surprised with the latest diktat”. He said only on BCCI request we had allowed Rahman to be part of the bidding process. The Telegraph had an interesting headline, “BCCI takes ‘Fizz’ out of KKR”. The Hindu also pointed out that the move had elicited strong reaction from several quarters in Bangladesh. “The sports advisor to the interim government has instructed authorities to stop IPL telecast in Bangladesh,” The Hindu said. The Times of India speculated that “the Bangladesh Board may demand shifting of T20 World Cup games”.
The five papers today devoted lion’s share to Venezuela and controversy involving KKR. There was not much politics, economy, or defence on the front pages.
