Media & Gulbarga
Recently, a Delhi based journalist landed at Aizwal, capital of Mizoram to attend a National Seminar. To her utter dismay, she learned that the state capital of Mizoram is at standstill for last 3 days protesting the alleged excesses of the Military. There is a paralysing strike yet no space in the national print media.
An accident or a murder with personal motive in Ghaziabad would find space in national print or electronic media but not a burning state capital of North Eastern region.
With Gulbarga, the fate is similar, probably on a lesser ratio. If anyone is reading the largest circulating paper of the state capital, one will be totally unaware of the happenings in divisional headquarters like Gulbarga. Now, even with the presence of their sister concern bureau here the same attitude continues. The attitude of disregard to this region is glaring.
While, Deccan Chronicle, a non-traditional paper catering to a niche group could establish here with their Hyderabad edition, much before they expanded to Bangalore. Why couldn’t the largest circulating newspaper of the our state capital?
Newspapers here have embraced the trend started by E Naadu, in Andhra Pradesh, later successfully implemented by Vijay Karnataka in Karnataka, of having more local content. This has further squeezed the space to have any information of Gulbarga in Bangalore print edition. Exceptions are there.
As though this was not enough, it is the Bangalore state edition that is uploaded to the Internet edition. Except one or two Internet editions that carry news related to each district; the rest deprive the news of interior regions to migrant population in this liberalized world.
Finally, there is a subtle observation that most papers are taking blatant political positions in favour of a party. From the reader’s point of view they are thrust with biased & imbalanced news. It was known that the editorial policy of the publishers was restricted to the editorial content only. Now no page is left untouched. Even the Letters to the Editor column is being used! We see photographs to draw the point in Letters to the Editor section in State Paper! Some have the habit of reading this column first as it might represent a different perspective from that of the editorial, but in vain.
While I was writing letters to the editor on a regular basis a few years ago, my persistence and perseverance saw the merit in publication of more than 200 letters in all state and national newspapers, except one newspaper. Every effort to feel the sense of completeness failed. Dejected, I drew the statistics of the letters already published, the newspaper, edition etc and wrote a letter to the editor personally. He was amazed at the indifferent attitude towards Gulbarga.
Blogs with niche target can fill that gap. They permit one to have their autonomy, no hassles of deadlines and zero editorial intervention. Finally, responses are immediate and direct.
All these years we felt that one is baptised reading a newspaper and that continues for long, life long sometimes. If he or she doesn’t read the paper he is used to, the sense of satisfaction doesn’t manifest. For last few months, I have tried getting different newspapers on different days of the week. It begins with The New Indian Express for a day, The Hindu for two days, Deccan Herald for two days and finally Deccan Chronicle for two days. It has worked wonders. There’s variety and natural balance obtained. We have applied the same to vernacular papers also with satisfaction.
There’s a hitch - convincing the newspaper vendor. It has worked with me. So it should work with you as well. Try it out if you believe in it!
Sharad
An accident or a murder with personal motive in Ghaziabad would find space in national print or electronic media but not a burning state capital of North Eastern region.
With Gulbarga, the fate is similar, probably on a lesser ratio. If anyone is reading the largest circulating paper of the state capital, one will be totally unaware of the happenings in divisional headquarters like Gulbarga. Now, even with the presence of their sister concern bureau here the same attitude continues. The attitude of disregard to this region is glaring.
While, Deccan Chronicle, a non-traditional paper catering to a niche group could establish here with their Hyderabad edition, much before they expanded to Bangalore. Why couldn’t the largest circulating newspaper of the our state capital?
Newspapers here have embraced the trend started by E Naadu, in Andhra Pradesh, later successfully implemented by Vijay Karnataka in Karnataka, of having more local content. This has further squeezed the space to have any information of Gulbarga in Bangalore print edition. Exceptions are there.
As though this was not enough, it is the Bangalore state edition that is uploaded to the Internet edition. Except one or two Internet editions that carry news related to each district; the rest deprive the news of interior regions to migrant population in this liberalized world.
Finally, there is a subtle observation that most papers are taking blatant political positions in favour of a party. From the reader’s point of view they are thrust with biased & imbalanced news. It was known that the editorial policy of the publishers was restricted to the editorial content only. Now no page is left untouched. Even the Letters to the Editor column is being used! We see photographs to draw the point in Letters to the Editor section in State Paper! Some have the habit of reading this column first as it might represent a different perspective from that of the editorial, but in vain.
While I was writing letters to the editor on a regular basis a few years ago, my persistence and perseverance saw the merit in publication of more than 200 letters in all state and national newspapers, except one newspaper. Every effort to feel the sense of completeness failed. Dejected, I drew the statistics of the letters already published, the newspaper, edition etc and wrote a letter to the editor personally. He was amazed at the indifferent attitude towards Gulbarga.
Blogs with niche target can fill that gap. They permit one to have their autonomy, no hassles of deadlines and zero editorial intervention. Finally, responses are immediate and direct.
All these years we felt that one is baptised reading a newspaper and that continues for long, life long sometimes. If he or she doesn’t read the paper he is used to, the sense of satisfaction doesn’t manifest. For last few months, I have tried getting different newspapers on different days of the week. It begins with The New Indian Express for a day, The Hindu for two days, Deccan Herald for two days and finally Deccan Chronicle for two days. It has worked wonders. There’s variety and natural balance obtained. We have applied the same to vernacular papers also with satisfaction.
There’s a hitch - convincing the newspaper vendor. It has worked with me. So it should work with you as well. Try it out if you believe in it!
Sharad
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