Agra has more than a dozen Hindi dailies each vying for space and audience.

"Till recently we had only the 3 old rivals the Amar Ujala, Dainik Jagran and Hindustan. But now interesting experiments in the form of new slick newspapers are diluting the monopoly and the market is definitely getting fragmented," says old timer Surendra Sharma.

With literacy going up, the market for newspapers is expanding, says Dr. CK Tripathi, registrar of Kendriya Hindi Sansthan.

‘You see phenomenal growth in all sectors of the mass media. Even in the digital media one finds there is tremendous potential building up. Hindi journalism is definitely on the rise.’

Tripathi says, ‘with journalism courses now run by most universities and also by our Central Hindi Institute, there is never a dearth of trainees who can be chiseled and moulded to fit in the specific requirements of each publication.’

Only a few months ago, the daily Sea Express surprised readers with a fine mix of literary content and current affairs packaged in an attractive format. Even at Rs.5 a copy the daily has been able to carve out its niche readership base. The group now has a local as well as a state level TV channel, and the only religious channel for the Jain community "Jin-vani."

Pushp-Savera published by a leading construction firm, is now all set to lit up Yamuna, with its trendy get-up and catchy head-lines. But the old faith-fulls are still loyal to the time-tested war-horses. ‘Right now Agra is segmented into four categories of readers: the first three stick to the top three while the fourth group of readers keeps experimenting and shifting its interest according to schemes and benefits the new papers offer,’ comments senior PR executive Premendra Jain.

The city has its popular afternoon daily DLA, plus three eveningers. The only big players now waiting to enter the fray are two leaders from Rajasthan, Bhaskar and Rajasthan Patrika. The grapevine has it that the Nav Bharat Times is planning to expand and set up base in Agra, also in the pipeline is a project of Punjab Kesri.

‘One reason why Agra is attracting such media attention is the advertising potential, with tourism industry being the real milk cow, followed by mushrooming growth of educational institutions,’ says media marketing executive Lalit.