For journalists who switched loyalty, it's a quantum jump in salaries and perks, but the mainstay of any daily newspaper - the tribe of vendors - are in a fix as rival groups are offering all kinds of lollipops, including insurance cover, advertising space and all sorts of plastic stuff.

Over the years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of newspaper readers in the area, who are indeed a pampered lot.

'Whichever newspaper offers us better and more attractive gifts and schemes, in addition to routine contents, will be bought by us,' says newspaper reader Hari Dutt Sharma. His argument is "we are now exposed to so many competing media platforms that by the time you get the morning newspaper, many bits of useful information have already done several rounds of the globe, through TV, news websites and now mobile news."

Indeed the print media is facing a tough challenge and what will be the "Future of News" it is difficult to conjecture at this point of time, says Kendriya Hindi Sansthan registrar, Dr. Chandra Kant Tripathi, a PhD in journalism.

Old newspaper loyalties no longer work these days, explains 80-year-old newspaper vendor Achal Jain, who has been distributing newspapers for half a century. 'Readers' tastes have changed and they now go for gloss and glitter,' he adds.

The DLA afternoon daily, Kalpataru Express, Akinchan Bharat, Aaj, Agr-Bharat and half a dozen other smaller eveningers in the daily segment, the battle for supremacy could see a chain of new experiments and marketing strategies.

With so many newspapers in the Agra region, including the local edition of Hindustan Times and two weekly supplements (Times of Agra, plus Property Times, Life-styles) week of the Times of India, media consumers indeed have a bouquet of choices and with elections round the bend "every outfit will try to build on its credibility and clout through extensive coverage," says theatre personality and former head of journalism department of Agra University, Dr. Jitendra Raghvanshi.

The city of around 22 lakhs has more than 300 dailies and periodicals in addition to three fairly good local TV channels.

Interestingly the Agra media scene is much livelier and exciting because the number of readers is perhaps the highest in Uttar Pradesh and the revenue from private advertisements to the media is also the highest in the state, what with a string of five star hotels, resorts, and so many shoe, iron foundries, glass-ware units.

Of late media houses have also become regular event organizers and campaign launchers. The Amar Ujala is supporting the Clean Yamuna movement, while Dainik Hindustan has achieved good results with its sustained campaign for clean politics and more politics. Jagran in Agra launched the Helmets for safety movement last year and won many friends. The number of entertainment programmes, award ceremonies and market expos also saw a discernible high in 2011.

True, at end of the day, it will be the consumer who will stand to gain the most, but one has also to be mindful of the quality of the output in terms of media coverage, says cyber journalist Piyush Pandey. "The stuff being churned out from many of the local journalism institutes is not up to the mark. Even today big brands like IIMC, Jamia continue to dominate the media scene. However the scene is changing fairly fast, as one can see from the active participation of young journalists on the Facebook and other social media sites. The city is definitely beginning to show signs of unease and this augurs well for the future."

For the moment however the city is debating the business model and marketing strategy of the Sea Express priced at Rs.5 per copy. "In an era of free or cheap newspapers will there be enough buyers for the Sea Express to sustain it for long," asks newspaper reader Sudhir Gupta, who says the Re.1 products I-Next of Jagran group and Compact of the Amar Ujala group are doing fairly well and have created a vast support base in the rural hinterland.

But Shravan Kumar Singh another reader disagrees. "It is a slick and contemporary newspaper with lots of content beautifully presented and packaged. They have targeted a different class of readers for sure and through advance subscriptions made sure the experiment clicks," Singh explains.

Even with so many outlets and platforms, the hunger for news grows. "Obviously the increased purchasing power of the readers is fuelling this cut throat race for supremacy, but for sure the media monopoly of the first five post-independence decades is over as we see newer players," says social activist Ravi Singh.