Sunday, April 28, 2019

On Newspapers

         I remember as a kid, whenever and wherever a newspaper was in my hand, I would turn first to the last page which talked about news that can be easily digested. Normally it would be sports new and told who won or lost with scores. There were times which I had seen the sports event and I already knew the result and had my own review of the event. Reading about it in the newspaper was to see whether I was right or wrong. Now, Why was I turning only to those pages? I remember my father never reading those pages. But he never tried to force his hand in the way I was reading the newspaper. He was happy that I was reading the newspaper, at the least.

        Compare this to the other extreme of one of my friends. His father was so serious , he had his son write down the entire headline article everyday during his summer holidays. This happened in his house everyday, while I played away at his gaming console. I never knew the intention of his father but for me it was a punishment. The punishment was a result of his anger towards the school for giving us vacation. Later I thought that this he forced his son to do this to improve his vocabulary. This idea of his was not working since we were not having any conversation in the English language. We conversed in our local language and we never discussed the topic which he had written for an hour. During the same time I had access to all the comics and magazines his father had subscribed.

        They were instrumental in me knowing about some broader aspects of those days. I think the writing in the magazines was a little special. It somehow grabbed my attention. Maybe it was a combination of visual aids and writing which would combine historical facts and extrapolation to the future. Comics took me to another world. A world devoid of all the perfect sciences and mathematics of my school. The law of least resistance of nature was at play. I had chosen to read things which required the least effort from me to understand what is being read. Now the thing is should we read based on the law of nature or your interests or read it in a sense it is intended to be read.

        What is the newspaper intended for. How is it to be read. In what mental state should the newspaper be read. I believe that the newspaper should be read in a holistic point of view and be read with an open mind without any preconceived notions. Yeah, i get it, you are telling me that whatever is to be read has to be done with the same attitude. Now there are reading objects which are like textbooks which are written with a specific aim and normally with a very narrow and specialized subject. This has to be read in depth. A newspaper on the other hand has to be read holistically and then if interested in a specific subject you can drill down with Wikipedia and then on to textbooks. Can newspapers do some job of Wikipedia and text books. What i meant was a little ahead than "informing" the reader.

        This is where weeklies, monthlies and fortnightlies enter. But there is a chance for newspapers also to do the same thing with their weekend specials. Very few newspapers have nailed the weekend specials. Reading sports news is so easy on the mind. There is no post-processing on the individual except for siding with a specific sides and then reasoning out why one side lost or won. The same goes for movie related articles. They are easy to digest. Newspaper was my window to international movies. This was the next section I used to read after the sports section. I waited for my opportunity to watch the movies I had read about and my god, did i watch them once i got an opportunity. And i love the way newspapers cover international movies. They dont go in depth. They just state the facts and leave the imagination to the user. In depth revies happened only for movies released in our country. And all movies never really made it, particularly ones with "critical" acclaim. This is exactly that moment where I thought that newspapers have to be read in their entirety.

         The act of choosing the newspaper to start doing it and continue to read the same was more difficult than I thought. But I did zero in on "The Hindu". It had impeccable engish and broad coverage and "plenty" of articles to read. The reason for the choice is very interesting. This particular newspaper had a very interesting way of giving out sports news. They mixed it up with other serious ones and the last page didnt have a single sports news. This was a winner in all the things I thought was wrong with newspapers. And then all of a sudden something happened they wanted to reduce the size of the newspaper. I think it was the increase in pulp prices which was forced upon readers with a reduced size. But the newspapers advertised it to tell that they were adjusting to the "millenial" generation. The size is better to hold and read.

        One more thing happened. A few pages went color. An excellent opportunity to increase the prices. So now we had the newspapers adjust the price increase of pulp and at the same time increase the prices showing readers colors. And then something else happened the quality of articles in the Sunday magazine reduced and the most important thing, sports started arriving at the last page, again. But, the present newspaper is back to its glory age with the last page having other articles interspersed with little sports. The biggest change which prompted me to write this post is that the Sunday magazine has changed, a lot. It is now a booklet size, a bigger magazine size and very near to my favorite fortnightly, "The illustrated weekly".

       This was one magazine which had one of the best writers of our time as its editor. There are eminent writers who complain on lack of good content and good writers, but when given an opportunity and responsibility to improve the same they sulk. Khuswant singh is an awesome writer and as an editor, I have not seen anybody in my reading period who is even a bit close to him. Everything about the illustrated weekly was different, awesome. The size, the front shiny pages, the layout of the mag, the collection of articles, the heading where all these articles went, the heady mix of national and international news, the wry humor, the language, the movies, the sports, the politics........ I just fell in love with the mag. I never used to miss it and would wait for the next week. In fact i would call it as fandom.

      But, all good things come to an end. The publication was stopped. To this day I dont really know why it stopped. To this day, I dont want to know what happened. I dont want that feel to end. If you know why and all, it would be like it is over and then move on the next case. I like the feel that I dont know much about why it stopped. Yes, you may know. Dont tell me.

         Compare the physical newspaper with the electronic versions. You will never get a holistic view. You will be fed a particular article. In fact you will be fed with articles you would like to read. This is again not decided by human intervention, but, by machines. The spread of a newspaper with various subject articles is a sensory delight. From generic knowledge/news we are moving towards specific list of interests. I am not against it. But more and more of your interests only and nothing of other information which do have bearing on your interests in various ways is bad.

        Withing walled gardens created for us, we further create walls by specifying our interests. Apps love when people do this. You are interested in sports but an app cannot tell you how the polity-economical condition, technological advancements, world order have any say on your subject of interest. Reading a newspaper is a ritual.

        The quintessential coffee cup with in-frequent sips and turning the pages one by one. I salute Mr. Gutenberg for the print medium he created. Newspaper is a journey in print. It is the existing "classic" in the present modern age. It is no big deal to understand why the apps started by these newspapers are not a hit among readers. It is difficult to squeeze the entire universe into one planet. I would always suggest to all the readers to spend some time a fixed time with a cuppa and read the newspaper, you never know which rabbit hole would interest you.........

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