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| PLEASE BE THERE, IF YOU ARE IN SAMBALPUR. |
Saturday, 18 November 2017
Friday, 17 November 2017
Wednesday, 15 November 2017
Article | Challenges before Media in India in a Digital era
Challenges before the Media in India in the Digital Age
Dr. Mrinal Chatterjee
Professor
and Regional Director,
Indian
Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC),
Eastern
Regional Campus, Dhenkanal, Odisha
mrinalchatterjeeiimc@gmail.com
News-media in India
have faced several challenges since its beginning in 1780 with the publication
of the first newspaper Hicky’s Bengal Gazzete like State repression, poor
investment, weak infrastructure, non-professional leadership and indifferent
management, lack of trained manpower, poor business and revenue generation.
However media survived the challenges and managed to grow- both horizontally
and vertically. The growth accelerated in 1980s thanks mainly to the
technological advancements and more so in 1990s thanks to liberalization,
globalization and further technological advancement in information and
communication technology ICT. Internet was introduced in India in mid 1990s and
gradually digital era dawned. Initially it tremendously contributed to the
growth of media. However, as the technology began to be accessible to almost
everybody with the help of cheap and user friendly devices and everybody
started using social media (the term was coined in 2004) new and unforeseen
challenges began to raise its head before mainstream news media. So much so it
is now seemingly threatening the right practice of Journalism and its very
existence.
The
challenges could be grouped under three heads:
1. Concept of News
2. Authenticity of News
3. Business of Newsmedia
Concept
of News:
In earlier era
journalists used to be the custodians of news. They used to define and mark
what is news. What the readers ought to read and ought to see. They used to be
the gatekeepers. In the digital era, with social media becoming the major
platform to access news- that, gradually is changing. In absence of a
gatekeeper, anything and everything is going by the name of news. Credibility
and accountability- the two hallmark of journalism are being brushed aside.
This in alignment with the post-truth mentality is posing a huge challenge to
the old school journalism.
Authenticity
of News:
With improved
technology for creation and distribution of media content and social media
providing easy platform at a global scale, anybody can create news or what
appears like news. Fake news has become a big menace. As public opinion becomes
more important to determine who rules the country and what should the policies
be- the tools to impact public opinion also has become most sought after. This
precisely is the reason for the proliferation of fake news. It is eroding the
credibility of news and in a queer way public faith on journalists. There is a
need to contain this menace. The challenges pertain to – who will do it, and
how? Will the State do it? Will the companies providing large digital platforms
like Facebook or Google do it? Should they be allowed to ‘dictate’ what is
news? And how will it be done?
Business
of Newsmedia:
Digital technology
has made copying and distributing content easier. This has severely impacted
the business of all media, which rely on monetising the content for its
survival and growth. This has also raised serious questions on issues like
copyright, source credibility and authenticity.
Every
challenge is also an opportunity to explore new ways and possibilities.
Newsmedia in India have had faced and survived numerous challenges. It will
find ways to engage with and surmount the challenges posed by Digital
technology and public scepticism, which I believe stems from over expectation
from newsmedia. This, in a way is a good sign. Over expectation has in it an
element of faith in media’s capacity and capabilities. The major challenge
before newsmedia is to meet the public expectation.
***
Sent for publication in PCI journal, 2017.
The Great Indian Editors | Harish Chandra Mukherjee
The Great Indian Editors 3 | Dr. Mrinal Chatterjee
Harish Chandra Mukherjee: Brief Life, Big Impact
Harish
Chandra Mukherjee, remembered for being one of the first intellectuals to usher
in liberal democratic ideas in British India and for being a fearless and
crusading editor through the newspaper (Hindoo
Patriot) he steered to glory died early, at the age of just 37. He left a
legacy that was hard to match, and a paper, which had made a reputation of
supporting social causes and fighting for the masses.
Harish
Chandra Mukherjee was born on April 1824 at Bhowanipur in Kolkata. His
ancestors belonged to Sridharpur in the Baradhaman District. His father Ramdhan
Mukherjee had three wives and Harish was born to his third wife Rukhmini Devi. Ramdhan
Mukherjee was a man of modest means. Harish Chandra studied as a ‘free student’
at Union school. Financial problems forced him to give up his studies and
sought out to earn his livelihood. Mukherjee got a clerical post in the office
of Military Auditor General through competitive examination and started working
there. Through his education was discontinued in early days, he learnt history,
politics, law and English by himself.
He started
writing columns in newspapers like the Hindu
Intelligencer edited by Kasi
Prasad Ghosh and the Bengal
Recorder edited by Ramgopal Ghosh while he was serving the office of Military Auditor General. His
writings were critical of the policies of the government. It attracted
attention of the intelligentsia.
In 1852, he
became a member of the British Indian Association, one of the first political
associations in British India and was active in social and political dialogues
and discourses.
The Hindoo Patriot, a weekly in English
language was first published on January 6, 1853 by Madhusudan Ray, under the
editorship of Girish Chandra Ghosh. It began to be published every Thursday
from Kalakar Street where Madhusudan Ray's press was located. Harish Chandra Mukherjee was involved with the paper
from the beginning. Gradually his involvement became more intense and he began
to take keen interest in the editorial matter. Around June 1855, he bought the
newspaper from Girish Chandra Ghosh in the name of his elder brother Haran
Chandra Mukherjee as he was still serving at the office of Military Auditor General he
could not have bought it.
Harish Chandra however took charge
of Hindoo Patriot in 1856-57 and soon through his remarkable journalism
imbibed with a keen sense of national sentiment, not only made the paper the
voice of the oppressed peasants but also made it as the first national
newspaper of India.
The Hindoo Patriot under
Harish Chandra played a vital role against the tyranny of the Indigo Planters, particularly
during the post-Sepoy Mutiny period. In mid-19th century the British traders
aided by the officers tried to increase the cultivation of Indigo. The farmers
were forced to cultivate Indigo, even though it was not remunerative for them.
The coercion reached to a barbaric level. When the farmers revolted and refused
to grow indigo, a reign of terror was unleashed to suppress them forcibly. Mukherjee through the Hindoo Patriot, wrote about this movement and thus played a key
role in arousing public sentiments against the alien rulers. Regular editorials
against such tyranny on the poor hapless indigo farmers attracted public
attention and evoked universal condemnation from a large cross-section of
educated Indians.
Other social issues highlighted by the Hindoo Patriot in its columns were Women’s Education and Hindu Widow
Remarriage. As regards women’s education, the paper advised everybody to follow
the lead given by John Drinkwater Bethune and on the question of widow
remarriage it sided with the reformists and supported the cause of legalising
such marriages. The paper, however, opposed the implementation of divorce laws
in Hindu society.
Although the principal objective of the Hindoo Patriot was to focus anomalies in British Government in
India, it pinned very high hopes on the liberalism of the British public and
parliament. Thus, it always advised Indians to look for the redressal of their
grievances to the British public and parliament whenever the British Indian
administration failed to redress their complaints. Again, the focusing of
multiple anomalies relative to British rule was never intended to tarnish the
image of the British Indian government. Rather, criticism of anomalies was
intended to make the administration aware of public grievances and their causes
so as to enable the government to effect their speedy rectification. To the Hindoo Patriot, British rule in India
was not blind folded imperialism but something highly noble to be supported for
public welfare. Indians had still much to learn from the English and English
rule was accordingly to be endured.
Thus, when during the Sepoy Revolt, the government imposed press
restriction in India, by Act XV of 1857, and papers like the Hindu Intelligencer suspended
publication in protest, the Hindoo
Patriot made no particular grievance of it.
Many
contemporary historians have lambasted Harish Chandra for being ‘soft to the
alien rulers’. However, many hailed him as one of the first intellectuals to
usher in liberal democratic thoughts in British India. In his paper titled Harish Chandra Mukherjee and
the Hindu Patriot: the
Diffusion of Liberal Democratic Ideas in Bengal in the Mid-nineteenth Century, (published in International
Research Journal of Interdisciplinary & Multidisciplinary Studies (IRJIMS),
Volume-III, Issue-V, June 2017, Page No.
314-320) Abhishek Karmakar writes:
A staunch journalist as well as liberal modernist Harish Chandra
bore almost all the indispensable features of modern liberal democracy such as,
raising questions and criticizing freely against a despotic authority, arguing
for the defense of equality and most of all acknowledging and ascribing most
importance on public opinion in governance. He fearlessly raised questions
against various arbitrary policies of Lord Dalhousie. Harish Chandra opposed
Dalhousie‘s policy of annexation and confiscation of different provinces of
India like Nagpur and Jhansi. Considering the policy as ‘foolish‘, he attributed it as ‘the source of discontent
in the country’, which prepared the ground for the Great Revolt of 1857.
The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 provided him with a
platform to raise the issue of being Indian and solving all our problems by
ourselves. The political discourse during this time was not properly defined in
Bengal, and hence through his writings in the Hindu Patriot he tried to
inculcate a patriotic feeling. He wrote “The time is nearly come when
all Indian questions must be solved by Indians. The mutinies have made patent
to the English public what must be the effects of politics in which the native
is allowed no voice.
Besides ascribing most importance on the public opinion of the
governed Harish Chandra, unlike contemporary newspapers, both the vernaculars
and the English as well as contemporary political modernizers who even
attributed the Queen‘s Proclamation (1858) as the Magna Carta of India
magniloquently raised question, ‘where is the guarantee that the promises,
though coming out of the Queen, will be honoured?’
Though Hindoo Patriot
was an influential paper, but it did not do well financially. And as it was
writing against the Indigo planters there were several litigations, which
drained Mukherjee’s resources.
Harish Chandra died on June 16, 1861 at the age of
37. At the time of his death as material property he only had his house and Hindoo Patriot paper. Mukherjee’s widow
was targeted with different court cases by the Indigo merchants. His house went
on auction and Hindoo Patriot was almost on the verge of closure.
It was Kaliprasanna Singha who bought
the paper and saved it from extinction. Kaliprasanna initially handed over
managemnet of the magazine to Shambhu Chandra Mookerjee. Girish Chandra Ghosh who had severed all ties with
Hindoo Patriot three years ago, was moved by the plight of Harish Chandra
Mukherjee's bereaved mother and helpless widow and took up the editorship
again. After he left Hindoo Patriot
again in November that year, the paper was bought over by Ishwar Chandra
Vidyasagar. Kristodas (in Bengali the
pronunciation is Krishnadas) Pal became its new editor, who edited the paper 23
years and took it to greater glory.
Harish Chandra Mukherjee was one of
the first editors of British India, who brought in liberal democratic thoughts
without bowing down to the authorities or towing the official line. He was one
of the first editors who showed what a sensible pen and meaningful discourse
can do.
Long after his death a large public park in
Bhowanipur, Kolkata and a road has been named after Harish Chandra Mukherjee.
***
Edited version of this article has been published in Vidura Oct-Dec. 2017 issue.
This series is being published in Vidura.
Monday, 13 November 2017
Column | Window Seat
Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee
12.11.17
Public Service Broadcasting
NOVEMBER 12, is observed as the Public Service Broadcasting
Day in India to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi’s maiden visit to All India Radio
(AIR) studio. On November 12, 1947, Gandhi spoke on radio to the refugees from
Pakistan, stationed at the camp at Kurukshetra. It was Gandhi’s first and last
visit to the studio of AIR. He was a communicator par excellence. He had always
emphasised on the service and advocacy aspect of media, two important pillars
of public service broadcasting.
Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) is the broadcasting made,
financed and controlled by the public, for the public. It is neither commercial
nor state-owned. It is supposed to be free from political interference and
pressure from commercial forces. Through PSB, citizens are informed, educated
and also entertained. When guaranteed with pluralism, programming diversity,
editorial independence, appropriate funding, accountability and transparency,
PSB can serve as a cornerstone of democracy.
Public service broadcasting is based on the principles of
universality of service, diversity of programming, provision for minority
audiences including the disadvantaged, sustaining an informed electorate and
cultural and educational enrichment. The concept was conceived and fostered
within an overarching ideal of cultural and intellectual enlightenment of
society. The roots of public service broadcasting are generally traced to
documents prepared in support of the establishment of the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC) by Royal Charter on January 1, 1927. This corporation grew
out of recommendations of the Crawford Committee appointed by the British
postmaster general in August 1925. Included in those recommendations was the
creation of a public corporation, which would serve as a trustee for the national
interest in broadcasting. It was expected that as public trustee, the
corporation would emphasise serious, educational and cultural programming that
would elevate the level of intellectual and aesthetic tastes of the audience.
The conception of the BBC was that it would be insulated from both political
and commercial influence. Therefore, the corporation was a creation of the
crown rather than Parliament and funding to support the venture was determined
to be derived from license fees on radio (and later television) receivers
rather than advertising. Within the governance of national authorities, public
service broadcasting was recreated across western European democracies and
beyond, in various forms. At the core of each was a commitment to operate radio
and television services in public interest. The principal paradigm adopted to
accomplish this mission was the establishment of a state-owned broadcasting
system that either functioned as a monopoly or at least as the dominant
broadcasting institution. Funding came in the form of license fees, taxes or
similar noncommercial options. Examples of these organisations include the
Netherlands Broadcasting Foundation, Danish Broadcasting Corporation,
Radiodiffusion Television Francaise, Swedish Television Company,
Radiotelevisione Italiana, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Australian
Broadcasting Corporation. While the ideals on which these and other systems
were based suggested services that were characterised by universality and
diversity, there were notable violations of these ideals, especially in
Germany, France and Italy. In some cases the state-owned broadcasting system
became the political mouthpiece for whoever was in power. Such abuse of the
broadcasting institutions’ mandate made public service broadcasting the subject
of frequent political debates.
Public service broadcasting, differs from broadcasting for
purely commercial or political reasons because of its specific remit, which is
essentially to operate independently of those holding economic and political
power. Its agenda is different. Its objective is public service. It provides
the whole society with information, culture, education and entertainment; it
enhances social, political and cultural citizenship and promotes social
cohesion.
Both AIR and Doordarshan have been envisaged to work as
public service broadcasters. By and large both these organisations, especially
AIR have managed to retain its character as public service broadcasters. Here
is wishing them a long journey.
Dog
Looking
at the way some of my friends love and care for their dogs and some youngsters
cuddle street dogs, I always thought this. Now research proves me right. Humans
have more empathy for dogs than people.
Why so?
I put this question on my facebook wall and got several answers. Not
surprisingly nobody questioned the result of the study. Almost all the
respondents more or less accepted this.
Among
the answers I got were: Dog is not selfish, human beings are. Dog is not
treacherous, human beings are. Dogs are easily tameable, human beings are not.
Dog is not dominant in nature, most of the human beings are.
As I
went through the answers and saw the way pet dogs are pampered at some homes, I
strongly wish to be reborn as one.
Life moves in circles
The
first motorised vehicle that I bought for myself in 1989 was a second hand
Luna. Gearless. Twenty eight years later I bought my first car. A Honda City
Automatic. Gearless.
Life, it is often said moves in circles. The beginning and the end have uncanny resemblance in some form.
Life, it is often said moves in circles. The beginning and the end have uncanny resemblance in some form.
Tailpiece: Election Special
A drunk
man at the voting booth stands before
the voting machine for ten minutes. The Polling Officer asks, what happened?
Any problem?
The man
answers, No problem with the machine. But there is another big Problem.
Last
night somebody gave me two bottles and asked me to vote for a particular
symbol. I can’t remember the symbol now.
(Courtesy:
Social Media)
***
Mrinal Chatterjee, a journalist turned
media academician lives in Dhenkanal, a small Central Odisha town. He also
writes fiction.
mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com
This column is published every Sunday in Sikkim Times and posted in www.orissadiary.com
Monday, 6 November 2017
Article | Public Service Broadcasting
Public Service Broadcasting
Dr. Mrinal Chatterjee
NOVEMBER 12, is observed as the
Public Service Broadcasting Day in India to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi’s maiden
visit to All India Radio (AIR) studio. On November 12, 1947, Gandhi spoke on
radio to the refugees from Pakistan, stationed at the camp at Kurukshetra. It
was Gandhi’s first and last visit to the studio of AIR. He was a communicator
par excellence. He had always emphasised on the service and advocacy aspect of
media, two important pillars of public service broadcasting.
What is
Public Service Broadcasting?
Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) is
the broadcasting made, financed and controlled by the public, for the public.
It is neither commercial nor state-owned. It is supposed to be free from
political interference and pressure from commercial forces. Through PSB,
citizens are informed, educated and also entertained. When guaranteed with
pluralism, programming diversity, editorial independence, appropriate funding,
accountability and transparency, PSB can serve as a cornerstone of democracy.
Genesis of
PSB
Public service broadcasting is based
on the principles of universality of service, diversity of programming,
provision for minority audiences including the disadvantaged, sustaining an
informed electorate and cultural and educational enrichment. The concept was
conceived and fostered within an overarching ideal of cultural and intellectual
enlightenment of society. The roots of public service broadcasting are
generally traced to documents prepared in support of the establishment of the
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) by Royal Charter on January 1, 1927.
This corporation grew out of recommendations of the Crawford Committee
appointed by the British postmaster general in August 1925. Included in those
recommendations was the creation of a public corporation, which would serve as
a trustee for the national interest in broadcasting. It was expected that as
public trustee, the corporation would emphasise serious, educational and
cultural programming that would elevate the level of intellectual and aesthetic
tastes of the audience. The conception of the BBC was that it would be
insulated from both political and commercial influence. Therefore, the
corporation was a creation of the crown rather than Parliament and funding to
support the venture was determined to be derived from license fees on radio
(and later television) receivers rather than advertising. Within the governance
of national authorities, public service broadcasting was recreated across
western European democracies and beyond, in various forms. At the core of each
was a commitment to operate radio and television services in public interest.
The principal paradigm adopted to accomplish this mission was the establishment
of a state-owned broadcasting system that either functioned as a monopoly or at
least as the dominant broadcasting institution. Funding came in the form of
license fees, taxes or similar noncommercial options. Examples of these
organisations include the Netherlands Broadcasting Foundation, Danish
Broadcasting Corporation, Radiodiffusion Television Francaise, Swedish
Television Company, Radiotelevisione Italiana, Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation and Australian Broadcasting Corporation. While the ideals on which
these and other systems were based suggested services that were characterised
by universality and diversity, there were notable violations of these ideals,
especially in Germany, France and Italy. In some cases the state-owned
broadcasting system became the political mouthpiece for whoever was in power.
Such abuse of the broadcasting institutions’ mandate made public service
broadcasting the subject of frequent political debates.
How is it
different from commercial broadcasting?
Public service broadcasting, differs
from broadcasting for purely commercial or political reasons because of its
specific remit, which is essentially to operate independently of those holding
economic and political power. Its agenda is different. Its objective is public
service. It provides the whole society with information, culture, education and
entertainment; it enhances social, political and cultural citizenship and
promotes social cohesion.
Status of
public service broadcasting
Michael Tracey (1998) writes that
though public broadcasting is arguably the single most important social,
cultural and journalistic institution of the 20th century, in the past 15 years
it has been assaulted politically, ideologically, technologically and is
everywhere in retreat.
Relevance of
PSB now
Critiques of American communications
policy underscored concerns about the evils of commercialisation and the
influence of the open marketplaces. Studies pointed to the loss of minority
voices, a steady decline in programmes for segmented populations and a
demystification of the illusion of unlimited programme choices introduced by
the new television delivery systems of 500 channel cable networks and direct
broadcast satellites. Content analyses revealed programme duplication, not
diversity and the question of just how far commercial broadcasters would
venture away from the well-proven formulae and formats, was getting public
attention. A concerned electorate was beginning to ask whether the wide scale
transformation of telecommunications was not without considerable risk that
turning over the electronic sources of culture, education and political
discourse to the ever-shifting forces of the commercial marketplace might have
profound negative consequences. By the mid-1990s, telecommunications policy
issues ranged from invasion of privacy, depictions of violence on television,
the manufacturing of parent-controlled TV sets, revisions in technological
standards to finding new funding alternatives to sustain public service
broadcasting in some form. These issues were also firmly embedded in the public
discourse. The environment of electronic communications was in a state of flux
as the new technologies vied for a piece of a quickly expanding and constantly
evolving marketplaces. PSB were reassessing their missions and were building
new alliances with book publishers, computer software manufacturers and
commercial production houses. In the United States, public radio and television
stations were experimenting with enhanced underwriting messages that looked and
sounded more and more like conventional advertising. The relative success of
these and other new ventures worldwide was still unknown. Whether public
service broadcasting will continue well into the 21st century remains a topic
for robust debate.
Almost the same situation prevailed
in India. With the proliferation of cable and satellite television from late
80s, market-driven content began to gain prominence. Mainstream media tried to
cater to the want of paying public and not to their need. This created a
situation, where it is difficult to find a sane voice amidst cacophony. PSB is
and will always be relevant and required as a watchdog of democracy. Since PSB
does not a have a commercial or political agenda, it is typically universal in
terms of content and access; it guarantees editorial independence and
impartiality; it provides a benchmark of quality; it offers a variety of
programmes and services catering for the needs of all groups in society and is
publicly accountable. It is a safeguard against bulldozing of minority voices
and stereotyping of programmes.
But PSB has to look at the changing
taste and need of the public it wants to serve. Changes in programming style
and format may have to be introduced to meet the requirements of the 21st
century. But the principles remain. Reasons for that are not difficult to find.
It is challenged by political and economic interests, by increasing competition
from commercial media, by media concentrations and by financial difficulties.
But the main reason is the widening gulf between the need and want of the
public. PSB tries to provide need and commercial services try to provide the
want. Obviously PSB finds less viewers in normal times. When viewership gains
importance to decide funding- PSB is in a fix. Technology also played a part in
reducing the importance of PSB. Spectrum scarcity was no longer there.
Deregulation of communication industries was a necessary prerequisite to the
breakdown of international trade barriers and the shift towards increased
privatisation brought new players into what had been a closed system. The growing
appeal of economic directives derived from consumer preferences favoured the
substitution of the American market forces model for the long—standing public
trustee model that had been the backbone of public service broadcasting.
However, the trend will end up full
circle. People will get fed up with relentless bombardment of triviality and
ultimately will carve for substance, that matters, that relates to their real
need and not some manufactured wants.
References
Books
Public Service Broadcasting in the
Age of Globalization Edited by Indrajit Banerjee, Kalinga Seneviratne
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=8bwlvxicNw0C&pg=PA149&lpg=PA149&dq=public+service+broadcasting+in+india&source=bl&ots=nnNkTw4Wjr&sig=zJKhTwBaCqp1gjpxLPU4HVhPspQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=EcN8UqeTJYGFrgeWnoDIBw&sqi=2&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=public%20service%20broadcasting%20in%20india&f=false
Articles
Website
http://www.psbt.org/general/more
Sunday, 5 November 2017
Saturday, 4 November 2017
Column | Window Seat
Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee
Agriculture in India
There is a saying in
Sanskrit: Banijye basati Laxmi, tatardhen
krishi karmane. Translated in English it would be: Laxmi resides in
business; farming yields half of that. But the condition of most of the farmers
in India seems to be much worse than this. Hundreds of them are committing
suicide in Maharastra, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and many other states. Odisha is
facing a grim situation now as farmers in Western Odisha are burning their
paddy fields fearing total loss of crop as pests ravage their standing paddy.
This is ironical considering
the fact that the history of Agriculture in India dates back to Indus Valley
Civilization Era and even before that in some parts of Southern India and India
is presently among the top three global producers of many crops,
including wheat, rice, pulses, cotton, peanuts, fruits
and vegetables. Its gross irrigated crop area of 82.6 million hectares (215.6
million acres) is the largest in the world. India exported $38 billion worth of
agricultural products in 2013, making it the seventh largest agricultural
exporter worldwide and the sixth largest net exporter. Indian
agricultural/horticultural and processed foods are exported to more than 120
countries, primarily in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, SAARC countries, the
EU and the United States. India’s food processing industry is one of the
largest industries in the country. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry
and fisheries accounted for 13.7% of the GDP (gross domestic product) in 2013,
about 50% of the workforce. Though the economic contribution of agriculture to
India's GDP is steadily declining with the country's broad-based economic
growth, still, agriculture is demographically the broadest economic sector and
plays a significant role in the overall socio-economic fabric of India.
Though India produces enough
food for herself and exports, the country experiences double irony: there is
wide spread hunger and mal-nutrition on the one hand, and on the other-
agriculture largely remains non-remunerative. Farmers across the country are
demanding for better prices. There have been hundreds of cases of farmer
suicides. As a nation we must address the problems of the farmers on a priority
basis.
Fake News
Collins Dictionary recently named ‘fake
news’ as the word of the year. The UK based lexicographer found that the use of
‘fake news’ registered a 365% rise in the last 12 months. Earlier the committee of the Australian
Macquarie Dictionary has proclaimed ‘fake news’ as the word of the year. It
refers to deliberate, brazen misinformation with intent to mislead. It is
different from ordinary misinformation and disinformation in that it takes the
form of real news stories provided by what appear to be legitimate news
outlets. It is more dangerous because people tend to easily believe information
given to them in the name of news.
Fake news is not a new phenomena. In
fact fake news has been around longer than the organized news media itself. Some
historians cite ancient Greek writer Herodotus as the founder of
selective sourcing; others claiming fake news began in 15th century Italy
(where a Franciscan preacher named Bernardino da Feltre used a rumor to justify
the mass-arrest, torture, and execution of members of the Italian Jewish
community); and still more noting Orson Welles's 1938 radio adaptation of H. G.
Wells’s The War
of the Worlds, first
broadcast as a news bulletin.
Infact, The control,
presentation and manipulation of news has played a key role in the assertion
and subversion of power in colonial, totalitarian and radical societies
throughout history worldwide.
What is happening now is that
the manufacturing fake news and disseminating has become easier thanks to
development in ICT technology and Internet. Social Media has made it even
easier.
As a result, the role of news
media as intermediary of news is being increasingly questioned. When the
credibility of mainstream news media is questioned, there is a chance of fake
news to sneak in. It was difficult to find space in the mindscape of people as
mainstream news media used to occupy that. With social media gaining ground
fake news has an easy access.
One might question: Why
we tend to believe ‘fake news’? Recent and historical work in psychology shows
mere exposure to fake news makes it spread. To understand why — and the extent
to which false stories seep into our brains, we need to understand the
psychology of the illusory truth effect.
The more we hear a piece of
information repeated, the more we’re likely to believe it. “Even things that
people have reason not to believe, they believe them more” if the claims are
repeated, Gord Pennycook, a psychologist who studies the spread of
misinformation at Yale University, says.
And recent research shows the
illusory truth effect is in play when we hear or read fake news claims
repeated, regardless of how ridiculous or illogical they sound
Last year (2016) Oxford Dictionary legitimized an adjective:
post truth. It refers to dishonesty and deception in contemporary life, a
culture that plays on our emotions and personal belief and drugs us so that
perceptions, not facts, determine our actions.
Taken together it
points to a very grim reality. Credibility of news is increasingly
suspect. Media must take proactive steps
to engage with this. It is a question of survival of credible media.
Credible media is the mainstay of informed opinion, which drives democracy.
If the foundation is built on a pile of untruth then democracy is doomed.
The real danger lies there.
Tailpiece: Whom to Blame?
Girl (to God): I don’g want to marry. I am educated,
independent and self sufficient. I don’t need a husband. But my parents are
asking me to marry. What should I do?
God: You are my finest finest creation and undoubtedly will
acheve many great things. But some things...inevitable, will not go the way you
want. Worse, some things will fail. Whom will you blame? Yourself? No! You need
a husband to blame.
Boy (to God)...but then what will I do? Whom will I blame?
God: Your scope is much wider, Son. You can blame the Govt.,
the education system, the infrastructure, the environment, the economy, the
politicians, the bureaucrats...even me. But never ever blame your wife.
***
A journalist turned media academician Mrinal
Chatterjee lives in Dhenkanal, a Central Odisha hilly town. He also writes
fiction. mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com
Review | Novel: The Tough Gets Going
Review | Dr. Mrinal
Chatterjee
The Tough Gets Going
(Novel)
Authors: Simanta and
Susanta
Publisher: Blue Rose
The Tough Gets Going weaves two genres into a
single narrative, the genres being thriller and romance. The kernel of the plot of the novel lies in a
secret which I am not going to reveal to you. I do not want to deny the readers
the pleasure of discovering that.
The plot of the novel involves two generations. Among
the lead characters are the dotting father and obeying son, two young ladies
and assortment of other characters. Interestingly there is no ‘villain’ in the
story. Circumstances, happenings that alter the course of one’s life very often
play that role.
The narrative moves in a jig jag way jumping from one
time frame to the other. This kind of narrative often becomes difficult for the
readers to keep track of the story line. However, it is to the credit of the
authors that they keep the readers glued. The racy prose does half the work;
the lingering secret does the rest.
The Tough Gets Going is the story of Dr.
Roshan and his father Sekhar Dev. Roshan idolizes his father Sekhar to the
extent that he is ready to sacrifice his budding love for a promise that his
father has made. The character of Sekhar is interesting. Passionate about life,
Sekhar is an indulging husband and father. However, one momentary lapse pushes
him towards tragedy.
The first part of the novel portrays the budding love
between Dr. Roshan and Mehak in the unlikeliest of the places: hospital. Mehak
is the daughter of a wealthy Muslim businessman Mr. Khan and his Hindu wife. The opening
chapter of the novel narrates a car accident which grieviously injures Mr. Khan
and brings him to the hospital. He is treated by Dr. Roshan and there he meets
Mehak and falls in love with her. This part has been handled with care and sensitivity,
without a trace of wild passion. Roshan is torn between his love for Mehak and
his duty to marry Varsha, daughter of his father’s friend and his childhood
buddy. It seems the character of Roshan’s friend Dr. Anubhav has been created
to etch out the nuances of Roshan's character.
The story moves languidly till Roshan reaches home
after completion of his medical education to join a hospital and to marry
Varsha. Roshan is in love with Mehak but cannot defy the wishes of his family
to marry Varsha. He is almost resigned to his fate.
From here the narrative catches pace, accelerates and
moves in break neck speed till the climax. There is a completely unexpected
twist in the tale, which makes the novel interesting.
I enjoyed
reading the novel.
I have just two reservations. One – It could have been
an excellent short story instead of a 174 pages novel. Novel warrants expanse, which
again needs something happening, something meaty. That was lacking in the
novel. The canvas is too small. The second reservation is about the
interjection of comments and observations in between the narrative which
somehow impacted the pace of the novel.
Over all the Tough
Gets Going may not be a great literature but it definitely is a good read.
***
4.11.2017
Thursday, 2 November 2017
Wednesday, 1 November 2017
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