UX - Is that experience, or extortion

I do understand the point of serving ads as a way to monetise and/or keeping things running. Yes, The Hindu is bleeding for long now, but this is nothing short of obscene. The first time the page loaded, a wide Amazon ad covered the title + first paragraph here.

I would consider paying for content, yes, but with this kind of presentation, doubtful. I don't trust your devs/designers to come with anything less obtrusive even for the patrons*. Top it off with decaying quality of late. It might be time for The Hindu to reinvent, a lot.