Window Seat 23.8.2020

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee | 23.8.2020

Towards a 'media-mukt' Bharat!!

Mail Today, Delhi's only tabloid newspaper from India Today Group, shut down on 9 August 2020, the day 78 years ago Indians told their British rulers to quit India. A 13 year long journey came to end. In its Farewell message to the readers the India Today group newspaper, which started in 2007 in partnership with Britain's Daily Mail, clearly stated that it couldn't cope with the unprecedented situation in the time of COVID-19 pandemic.

The last print copy of Mail Today.

Several newspapers have shut down in the last 12 months, especially after Corona outbreak. Mumbai edition of DNA had shut down in October last. Several big newspapers including Telegraph and Times of India have closed several editions and pull-outs. Many have downsized or scaled down their operations. The Hindu closed its Mumbai bureau in late June 2020. The Mumbai edition of the 142-year-old newspaper started only five years ago.   Several newspapers have retrenched and laid off staff including big media houses like ABP, publishers of the largest circulated Bengali newspaper Ananda Bazar Patrika and the Telegraph. Many resorted to curtailing of salary of their staff. Scary times for Print.

It raises the question: are we heading towards a time, when there’ll be no newspaper in India? And, then there’ll be no television news-channel- as they are also bleeding profusely for want of advertisements. We’ll enter into the times of media-mukt (without newspaper) Bharat.

Some say, no that’s not going to happen. We may only see newspaper-mukt Bharat. Media houses will move to digital platforms. People will access news on their mobile phones, lap-tops, palm-tops. It is just a change of platform –  from which we access news. The days of newspapers are numbered as production and distribution of newspapers is and will always remain costly and logistics-heavy. Corona made the exit faster as it impeded physical distribution of newspapers and a large section of population had this the perception that newspaper may spread Corona virus, which spiked the circulation of newspapers.

Legacy newspapers like Times of India, The Telegraph, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, The Hindu, Deccan Herald and Deccan Chronicle had  stopped their small town print editions previously. Now because of COVID-19 pandemic, they suffered another blow as their city based editions too struggled to survive. A few of them went for online subscription based revenue model. The question is how long will they survive like this when the country's digital literacy is low?

There is another side of the story, probably more important. Many news-sites completely depend upon on the legacy newspapers and they harvest on the breaking news writing some follow-up stories to grab the eyeballs. There are few websites which are currently into hardcore reporting, fewer still have the resources for ground reporting. As far as TV news channels are concerned, most of them they are only busy with three-four top stories of the day and studio-based discussions.

Therefore, without the co-existence of newspapers (read legacy media) with their expertise and resources in news spotting, collating and writing- digital media startups too struggle to survive.

Thus, absence of the legacy media especially in print is going to be a bolt on the democracy. India needs printed newspapers to build an informative and well aware society.

Cycling

Not many people know that bicycle was invented 200 years ago as a response to an environmental crisis. Baron Karl von Drais, who invented bicycle, did so because he needed a way to replace his horse. Two hundred years later we need to reinvent cycle for three reasons: a. reduce the carbon foot print b. as a response to the people’s need for private mode of transport in the time of Corona and c. for physical exercise; everybody knows cycling is good for health.

The Union Government is presently promoting cycling in a big way- as a recent survey by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy showed that cycling would increase by 50 to 60 per cent as cities come out of lockdown.

The States, especially the city administration across the country need to implement cycling friendly interventions. There should be dedicated lane for cycling. Civil society should make cycling a transport-culture- like in several European cities. Celebrities should make cycling fashionable. The more we take to cycle- better for us and our environment. The administration should make sure that the cycling lane is encroachment-free. Encroachment on cycling lane should attract harsh punishment.

Tail piece: Lockdown diaries

First three weeks- Oh I need a break.  Let me relax. I have been slogging. 

End of the second month- How did two months go? Okay it doesn't matter. We can be productive later. Can do some real worthy stuff later.

End of third month- What the hell did I do for three months? Looked like I was really busy.

End of fourth month- Is it four months already? Let me buckle up. 

Oh No...Sigh..Started with online classes with full fledged Timetable. 

Gosh it's so tiring.  

And what the hell did I do for four months?

Was I so busy doing nothing?

(Courtesy: Social Media)

Tail piece: Urine test for free.....

Go to a tree trunk and take a piss.

If it attracts a lot of ants you have high glucose. If it dries too fast you have high sodium. If it smells like meat, you have high cholesterol. Forgot to open your pants to pee, Alzheimer’s. Had trouble aiming at the tree, Parkinson’s. Nothing comes out, Prostrate enlargement. 

Couldn’t smell the pee, definitely COVID.

(Courtesy: Social Media)

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Journalist turned media academician Mrinal Chatterjee lives in Dhenkanal, Odisha. He can be contacted at mrinalchatterjeeiimc@gmail.com