There was a time when life was simple. The front page of the newspaper had headline news. The back page had sports. The centre page usually had the editorial. And so on.

Somewhere discretely would be tucked away a few advertisements. So discretely that a front page solus had a huge price attached to it and a size limitation. And the masthead…well, the masthead was sacrosanct.

But what has happened now?

There is no section of the newspaper that is virgin pure or holy. And the ratio of news to ads has left the unwritten 60:40 norm on the streets of forgotten history.

Of course some people opine that even the little news that the papers carry is more often ‘paid for’ or ‘sponsored’ than not.

So what sense does it make to call these aberrations ‘News’ Papers? Or rather what cheek? What gall?

I think the Advertising Community should take objection and insist that the term AdPaper be immediately introduced. And that one of the advertising professionals be immediately appointed as Editor.

Think about it. There are more ads in the paper than news. Ads are more credible than news items. More people buy papers to see the ads than to read the news. I can think of many more reasons, but I think that should suffice.

And just think, if the industry agrees and actually calls their publications ‘AdPapers’…what fun!

First of all, the news items that creep into their papers can now officially be ‘paid for’. Reporters will start making news items more readable so that they stand out from the clutter. Innovative headlines, interesting pictures…can you imagine news becoming a favourite pastime?

So Katrina Kaif in a slinky outfit…in a space sponsored by Kala Mandir, Niketan, Anjali, Sagar…or any of the million Kalas…announcing the latest Cyclone Mela with special HudHud Discounts for the first 500 survivors…

How morbid? But not as stupid as calling the publications newspapers, isn’t it?