Friday, October 21, 2005
FREE and FAIR Press
Today I was supposed to tell you the story of Bhagmati. But there is more interesting news and I could not keep myself away from the new story.
I count myself as one of the countless asses, who has a peculiar habit of spending at least a couple of hours every morning going through at least 3 newspapers and at the end cursing myself for wasting my valuable time.
This morning I encountered with a real surprise in Times of India; It seems sometime back renowned novelist Vikram Seth (famous for his book ‘A suitable Boy’) said,’ I often feel newspapers are just filling up space. And sometimes I do wonder about the priorities of newspapers.’ The editorial board challenged Seth to take up editorial task of TOI for one day. And the result is today’s edition of TOI, which is edited by Mr. Vikram Seth.
No doubt a novel piece of publicity for both the author and TOI. Let’s see the impact.
In today’s edition the front page carries the following headlines:
- Dalits (untouchables – lower caste) see nirvana in conversion; the story about a planned mass conversion of dalits to Buddhism at Nagpur, the headquarter of Rashtriya Sayam Sevak Sangh, (the right wing Hindu outfit) is situated here to coincide with 50th year of Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism.
- EC wants union minister’s kin re-arrested; a story about Election Commission asking Bihar Govt. to re-arrest Vijay Prakash, candidate for assembly election and brother of union minister Jaiprakash Narain Yadav a RJD candidate of Lalu Prasad Yadav
- Narayan Murthy ( The Chief of Infosys – the IT giant) in a sulk, quits airport body
- Rahul Gandhi ( son of Sonia Gandhi) to visit city today
No doubt notable change from the standard headlines of murder, rape, Tarannum (the bar girl, infamous for her supposed role in cricket betting) etc.
There is a detail account of activities of Mr. Seth as Editor on Page 14 of Hyderabad edition from which I give here a few quoted lines:
‘Seth wasn’t impressed with our decision to put a story about Cristino Ronaldo being accused of rape on the front page’
On creating a special page Bird flu – Seth was worried about creating needless panic, but also said it might not be bad idea to make readers aware of the threat and remedial action.
On trial of Saddam Hussain – an editorial ‘trial is not victor’s justice’.
An account of Karva chauth - a festival of married women on Kartik Poornima (Full moon Day) - ‘Dalits splurge on Karva Chauth’
the Google story – google earth – ‘a fascinating tussle between territorial claims and the information technology’
“How’d Sourav do in his comeback match?” And we saw a real sobering reporting on Sourav’s play instead of the regular criticism that we got accustomed with in recent days
His advice to the TOI
1. ”That way you’ll be taking a proactive approach to news rather than just reacting when it happens” – GOD save us.
2. “Remember, the great man-made famine in china took place only because they didn’t have free and fair press, which could highlight the extent of human suffering”
In my mind that is the real issue. The editorial board of all the media need to remember the golden rule ‘free and fair press’. The emphasis should be on both the words; FREE and FAIR.
I have kept our tryst with Bhagmati for the next edition. Do come back soon.
I count myself as one of the countless asses, who has a peculiar habit of spending at least a couple of hours every morning going through at least 3 newspapers and at the end cursing myself for wasting my valuable time.
This morning I encountered with a real surprise in Times of India; It seems sometime back renowned novelist Vikram Seth (famous for his book ‘A suitable Boy’) said,’ I often feel newspapers are just filling up space. And sometimes I do wonder about the priorities of newspapers.’ The editorial board challenged Seth to take up editorial task of TOI for one day. And the result is today’s edition of TOI, which is edited by Mr. Vikram Seth.
No doubt a novel piece of publicity for both the author and TOI. Let’s see the impact.
In today’s edition the front page carries the following headlines:
- Dalits (untouchables – lower caste) see nirvana in conversion; the story about a planned mass conversion of dalits to Buddhism at Nagpur, the headquarter of Rashtriya Sayam Sevak Sangh, (the right wing Hindu outfit) is situated here to coincide with 50th year of Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism.
- EC wants union minister’s kin re-arrested; a story about Election Commission asking Bihar Govt. to re-arrest Vijay Prakash, candidate for assembly election and brother of union minister Jaiprakash Narain Yadav a RJD candidate of Lalu Prasad Yadav
- Narayan Murthy ( The Chief of Infosys – the IT giant) in a sulk, quits airport body
- Rahul Gandhi ( son of Sonia Gandhi) to visit city today
No doubt notable change from the standard headlines of murder, rape, Tarannum (the bar girl, infamous for her supposed role in cricket betting) etc.
There is a detail account of activities of Mr. Seth as Editor on Page 14 of Hyderabad edition from which I give here a few quoted lines:
‘Seth wasn’t impressed with our decision to put a story about Cristino Ronaldo being accused of rape on the front page’
On creating a special page Bird flu – Seth was worried about creating needless panic, but also said it might not be bad idea to make readers aware of the threat and remedial action.
On trial of Saddam Hussain – an editorial ‘trial is not victor’s justice’.
An account of Karva chauth - a festival of married women on Kartik Poornima (Full moon Day) - ‘Dalits splurge on Karva Chauth’
the Google story – google earth – ‘a fascinating tussle between territorial claims and the information technology’
“How’d Sourav do in his comeback match?” And we saw a real sobering reporting on Sourav’s play instead of the regular criticism that we got accustomed with in recent days
His advice to the TOI
1. ”That way you’ll be taking a proactive approach to news rather than just reacting when it happens” – GOD save us.
2. “Remember, the great man-made famine in china took place only because they didn’t have free and fair press, which could highlight the extent of human suffering”
In my mind that is the real issue. The editorial board of all the media need to remember the golden rule ‘free and fair press’. The emphasis should be on both the words; FREE and FAIR.
I have kept our tryst with Bhagmati for the next edition. Do come back soon.
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