As , Hyderabad, marks a milestone celebrating 50 years since its launch, the dynamics of the editorial newsdesk too witnessed a considerable shift. Initially, the Hyderabad edition was just reporting events and sending copies to the head office in Madras (now Chennai). The editorial desk was set headed by R. Chandrasehkar who moved to Hyderabad from Madras.
Later, under the tutelage of ‘RCS’ as he was known, the remote pagination department and the regional newsdesk was established in Hyderabad in 1998.

The pages for Ongole, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Visakhapatnam, Rayalaseema and Telangana were also being handled here as the desk gradually began expanding operations.

From ticker copies to dot matrix computer printouts, the editing as one can imagine was being done by hand with the printouts sent to the desk after a scan by the chief reporter/bureau chief concerned. ‘RCS’ as he was called was a no nonsense man and many a time he used to use his pen to sharpen the copy or cut it for verbosity. He was succeeded by his Deputy News Editor P. K. Kurien in 1999. After Mr. Kurien’s retirement in April 2007, S. Sreevatsan helmed the editorial desk as the News Editor till he was transferred to Chennai in 2013.

As the newsroom composition changed, so did the software upgrades. Gradually, the printouts were dispensed with and the copies landed directly on the computer system after being cleared by the bureau chiefs. The News Editor then assigned them to the respective sub-editors who would then edit the copies on large computer screens with the keyboards rattling as the deadlines neared. Soon, these desktops too gave way to the laptops for the sub-editors while the news editors and designers became more comfortable with the desktops for a better perspective.

Things began changing from the design perspective too as brought in changes in its newspaper design with emphasis on newer elements, colour schemes and graphics to embellish the overall product to match competition. All along Hyderabad also introduced supplements in education, real estate, entertainment to cater to the local tastes. 

Meanwhile, the centralised desk for united Andhra Pradesh gave way to decentralised desk at Vijayawada with pages for A.P. being made in Vijayawada after the bifurcation of the State and formation of Telangana in March 2014. Thomas Sebastian took over as News Editor for Hyderabad/Telangana edition in 2014. As things moved forward S. Vasudeva Murthy, who was moved from Chennai to Vijayawada, took charge as the first News Editor of an integrated newsdesk for both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He was later stationed in Hyderabad before moving to Bengaluru as the News Editor for Karnataka.  

Hyderabad is from where teams for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh operate editing stories and making pages, both for the first edition and the late city edition as well. A couple of sub-editors are stationed in Vijayawada and Vizag as well. As the journalism and newsroom dynamics and evolved, the focus has now shifted to web first as the desk uploads stories for the digital edition simultaneously before they go onto the page. Well! one thing that has not changed over the last few decades is that the race to meet tight deadlines continues without any compromise on quality and accuracy that stands for. Happy Golden Jubilee!