Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee | 7.11.21
Journalism
and Critical Thinking
Journalism
basically is an act of identifying and collating information into news and then
putting it in a presentable form and disseminate it. Besides providing information,
which is the prime job of journalism its other objectives are to help the
readers/viewers understand events and issues, help them form an opinion and
make a choice, and ultimately take a decision. To do all these, the journalists
must know facts with right context and must have a clear idea about the
different and often differing perspectives. Here comes the role of Critical
Thinking.
Critical
Thinking is more than fact checking from multiple sources. As Jonathan Heber,
Author of ‘Critical Thinking’ said, “Facts are the lifeblood of journalism. They’re terrific, they’re
important, I’m a big fan of fact checking sites, but facts are not enough.’
Consider ‘Zohnerism’. It refers to "the use
of a true fact to lead a scientifically and mathematically ignorant public to a
false conclusion". I have written about it in this column earlier.
This occurs more often than you think, especially when politicians, conspiracy
theorists, spin doctors and charlatans use proven facts to persuade people into
believing false claims. The fact that people can be misled so easily is highly
unsettling.
Therefore Critical
thinking is an essential skill for journalists. For some it means being
sceptical — the time-honoured school of “If your mother says she loves
you, check it out.” That’s a start at
critical thinking. It involves logic as well as creativity.
The first time critical thinking was documented is
believed to be in the teachings of Socrates, recorded by Plato. Over centuries,
hundreds of thinkers across the world have contributed to the development of
the concept of critical thinking. Each major discipline has made some
contribution to critical thought.
Some insightful modern-day critical thinking
definitions include: “Reasonable, reflective thinking that is focused on
deciding what to believe or do” and “Deciding what’s true and what you should
do.”
Centre
for Critical Thinking defines it “The intellectually disciplined process of actively and skilfully
conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating
information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience,
reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.”
Basically
it is the art of learning to question the ends and objectives, the sources of information and fact,
the method and quality of
information collection, the mode of judgment and reasoning used,
the concepts that make that
reasoning possible, the assumptions that underlie concepts in use,
the implications that follow
from their use, and the point of view or frame of reference within which
reasoning takes place.
Journalism schools must teach their students the art
of critical thinking. That will help media survive the ‘copy-paste’ kind of
journalism that we see increasingly occupying the mediasphere.
Diwali, Deepavali and
Kalipuja
India
is a land of unity in diversity. Its festivals are testimonies to this amazing
concept. Consider Diwali, Deepavali and Kalipuja- which are celebrated more or
less on the same day, with lights and crackers, but there are differences.
While Diwali, celebrated mostly the North Indian States marks the return of Lord Rama
after his exile to Ayodhya, Deepavali mostly celebrated in the South Indian
States celebrates Krishna defeating Narakasura (the demon Naraka) and
Kali Puja, celebrated in Eastern States of West Bengal, Odisha and Assam
worship Mother Kali- the ferocious form of Durga.
Diwali is a festival of five days. The five days
of this festival are Dhanteras, Choti Diwali, Diwali and Lakshmi Puja,
Govardhan Puja, and Bhai Dooj. Though Dhanteras celebrates the birth of Lord
Dhanvantari, regarded as the physician of gods, the pride of place is given to
the goddess Lakshmi. The day of Choti Diwali holds significance because it is
believed that Lord Krishna slew Narakasura on this day. Choti Diwali is the day
when Deepavali begins. The main festival of Diwali is on the third day, which
marks the arrival of Rama to Ayodhya and also the emergence of Laxmi from the
sea. This is also the day when Kali is worshipped in eastern Indian states. The
fourth day of Diwali celebrates the feat of Krishna protecting people from
flood by lifting the mountain Govardhana on his little finger. Krishna is
worshipped on this day. The fifth and final day, Bhai Dooj is celebrated, where
sisters pray for the wellbeing of their brothers. This festival called Bhatri Dwitiya or Bhai Phonta is also
celebrated in Bengal.
See the way the festivals are similar and also
different. That is the beauty of our country.
Kali
Among
the Hindu goddesses, there is none as ferocious-looking as Kali. With the
garland of skulls hanging on her bare torso she holds a blood stained falchion
and wears an angry and vengeful look.
There
are several tales about Kali’s origin, the best known of which comes from the
Devi Mahatmya. It says that when Durga was so enraged by demons that her anger
burst from her forehead in the form of Kali. Once born, the dark goddess went
on the rampage, killing demons and stringing their heads on a chain around her
neck. Her dance of death and destruction was stopped only when Shiva lay on her
path and she stepped on her husband’s chest by accident. She was terribly
embarrassed and finally calmed down. Kali is thus associated with war, death
and cremation.
There
is another legend. Men and gods were
being terrorised by Daruka who could only be killed by a woman, and Parvati was
asked by the gods to deal with the terrible demon. Since she came out of
Shiva's poisoned throat, she became the dark, deadly Kali who eliminated
Daruka.
This
cult of the 'terrifying mother' is fascinating. The powerful cult of mother
goddess, representing power, protection, blood and victory, has been there in
several ancient civilisations like in Greece and Rome.
However,
Bengal has a slightly different version of Kali. Here folk-lore has turned the
ferocious mother goddess into a mild-natured mother, who occasionally takes up
arms and is pleased with his son’s offering of Jaba (hibiscus) flower.
Tailpiece: Traffic Light
What
did one traffic light said to the other?
- Stop looking, I am changing.
(Courtesy: Social Media)
+++
Journalist turned
media academician Mrinal Chatterjee lives in Dhenkanal, Odisha. He also writes
fiction and plays.
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