Dubai: Monday was the day that Indian media powerhouse Times of India should have taken a crash course in crisis management. Instead, they responded to Deepika Padukone’s justifiable outrage at a sleazy photo gallery posted on their site with a tweet that only made things worse — and drew the censure of their fellow journalists.

“@deepikapadukone, It’s a compliment! You look so great that we want to make sure everyone knew! :)”, TOI Entertainment website tweeted on Sunday evening.

Meghna Kothari, director of McCollins Media, advises companies on how to use social media. TOI should have taken the debate offline, she says.

“Deleting it is not an option,” but a message on their website, and an apology to Padukone personally, might have quelled the firestorm. “They should have put out something very diplomatic, saying they respect women. But they will not say they have made a mistake.”

When contacted by Gulf News, Times of India’s entertainment editor said the paper “did not want to comment at this time”.

Plenty in the media industry did want to comment, however.

“Finding Fanny aside, @deepikapadukone may help journos find some sense!,” tweeted NDTV founder Vikram Chandra. His colleague Barkha Dutt added: “Good for you @deepikapadukone — nothing embarrasses misogynists more than some plainspeak!”.

Formerly at CNN-IBN, now with India Today, Rajdeep Sardesai named her his “Star of the day: @deepikapadukone For giving it back as good as it gets.”

In a message to Gulf News, he saluted Padukone’s “right to express herself ... it is her body after all”. But he said that what the newspaper did on their website wasn’t that unusual. “I think the tabloid streak exists across media, and gets heightened on websites ... so TOI is only reflecting what is happening.”

Indeed, the website — like many around the world — deals heavily in sordid stories, featuring both celebrities and civilians.

Revealing pictures of celebrities — such as the hacked nude photos of American star Jennifer Lawrence earlier this month — are now a regular occurrence, although, as with Lawrence, Padukone’s story was among the few to spark an outcry.

Can the fact that it’s now a media norm excuse it?

“Entertainment ‘news’ has rarely ever treated women with much respect. I’m surprised by the surprise. For once someone decided not to let it go,” wrote actress Dia Mirza via her twitter handle @deespeak.

Don’t expect the salacious style of celebrity journalism to change, columnist Shobhaa De (whose pieces are published in Times of India) told Gulf News. “I seriously doubt it will lead to any kind of ‘reform’’ or critical self examination. India, despite a comparatively free and liberal press, is still a long way off from the kind of highly intrusive tabloid journalism that is popular in Britain. Salacious celebrity coverage generates controversy, which in turn, generates sales. It is here to stay.”

“One cannot forget that sensationalising is part of films,” says veteran entertainment journalist Rita Mehta, who launched the magazine CineBlitz in 1974 with Bollywood sex siren Zeenat Aman on the cover and a photo feature showing actress-danseuse Protima Bedi streaking on a beach. Of the Padukone gallery, “I feel it’s sensationalising on part of Times of India. Yet journalism, whether TV or written, sensationalises everything [today]. A cleavage is no longer shocking, or at least restrained, as it would have been when I was with CineBlitz. But I feel it isn’t a publicity stunt [on Deepika Padukone’s part] because the pictures were removed soon after she commented. Yet in my almost 40 years of experience in film journalism I’ve noticed if you write wonderful things about them they love you and never say anything. But one critical remark and they don’t let you forget either.”