The Indian Newspaper of 2013

The first rule of a capitalistic enterprise is to boost value to its shareholders by increasing profits and expanding revenues. But as capitalistic pursuits go, the Newspaper business does not fall so neatly into such frameworks. What is the real goal of a newspaper? Does it owe its allegiance to its stock-holders or to the public at large? Managing these two objectives, sometimes conflicting in nature, has always been a challenge to any newspaper worth its salt. 

Before proceeding, I must confess that I am no insider to the newspaper industry. My sole experience with the newspaper lies with the thousands of hours I have spent reading newspapers in the living room, the bed room, the kitchen and most-definitely, the bathroom. Thanks to my parents, I was introduced to reading the morning paper very early on and I cannot imagine a day now without at least skimming the headlines and the editorials. 
However, unlike other industries, newspapers lend themselves to convenient scrutiny by the public at large. As voices of commentary and critique of the society, it is only fair that the public also exercise that right from time to time. Another point I would like to stress is that the object of commentary in this piece is only the newspaper industry (that too, largely on the English Newspaper industry in India) and not TV news or Vernacular newspapers. 

Firstly, I believe that profits cannot and must not be the sole motive of a newspaper. Indian constitution rests on the three pillars of the Judiciary, the Legislature and the Executive. But there is a silent, fourth pillar, eternally examining and censuring the actions and inactions of the first three, that is the role of the Media as envisioned by the creators of our Republic.

As much as we would all like the media to be an independent, profit-agnostic exercise, the fact remains that achieving financial self-sufficiency is a prima facie requirement for the pursuit of intensive journalism. Unlike other enterprises, the media cannot rely on state funding as that could convert the media from the voice of the people to the voice of the rulers. So from that perspective, the framers of the Republic would like the Media to attain financial independence from the State for the carrying out of its responsibilities to the Indian public. 

When countenanced with such delicate, roundabout arguments for balance, it is likely that every once in a while, the Media will tip-toe on the wrong side of the border. I fear that this could be a time of such an unwarranted incursion. 

Indian newspapers have a long and glorious history. From the Bengal Gazette in 1780 to the Times of India in 1838 and The Hindu in 1878, Indian newspapers were an integral and catalysing part of the reawakening of the nation under the ambit of nationalism and Satyagraha. They were constant commentators on the British Government in India and the Indian Freedom Struggle. With such a long tradition of critical study and reporting under its belt, the Indian print media was well placed to midwife the Nation towards a mature democracy with a vibrant media. 

While Indian print media has a long history, it paled in comparison with the print media in the West, especially when it came to technology if not in terms of content or quality of reporting. 
Technologies, management practices and revenue-generating initiatives that were commonplace in the West would take many years before making their way into the Indian English Newspaper Industry and later on, into the Vernacular industry. But this time delay in the transfer of technological and management benefits from the West has been greatly reduced in the last few decades. Today, the latest and greatest in the world of reporting and printing are used in India within a few years of them making an appearance in the West. This has been a major boost to the profile and esteem of our Newspaper industry. 

However, tighter integration and globalisation mean that the bad effects get propagated too, sometimes with frightening intensity and pace. The Western print media is now crippled with the twin body-blows of falling advertisement revenues and plummeting subscription numbers. Consolidation and sale of major, iconic newspapers such as The Boston Globe and The LA Times have become staple news pieces. In these times of such great financial uncertainty, one cannot help but wonder at the effects these would have on the journalistic independence and investigative endeavours of these newspapers. 

Even though Indian newspapers are not facing the same issues as their Western counterparts today, thanks to lower internet percolation in the country, they cannot stay smug for too long. It is only a matter of time before the growth in Internet percolation ensures people start considering hard copy newspapers a redundant expense. 
But being behind the curve in this matter, has given Indian newspapers some time to adapt and hopefully stave off the crises of the West. 

Among the measures pursued by Indian newspapers in warding off the fall of subscription numbers, the most prominent are the increasing focus on entertainment aka the tabloid culture and a capricious tendency of sensationalism often by throwing caution to the wind. 

Personally, I am deeply concerned by this development as an indirect victim of these policies is the relegation of investigative journalism especially in topics unpopular with the masses. A newspaper that allows its subscription numbers to decide its charter fails the Constitution, the public and the tradition of journalism. While I may sound alarmist to many, I have very solid reasons behind my panic. Reputed, national newspapers which deeply influence public opinions are also falling into this trap and transforming the business of reporting into pitched street battles played out through pointed advertisements on TV and Youtube. There is no 'one way' of journalism, and ergo, there is no 'one-right-way' of reporting the news. It is amusing to see newspapers with over 150 years of experience  implicitly propounding this fallacy. 

The arrival of 24x7 news channels on TV revolutionised Indian Media and the public's perception towards news and current affairs. Thanks to the inherent advantages of the medium, 24x7 news channels took the daily news to millions of Indian hitherto deprived from it. Their proliferation, thanks to healthy backing by sponsors, eventually led to a situation where news channels struggled to differentiate themselves from the horde. 'In just how many ways could you read the daily news?', one might ask. Some channels responded with the introduction of media-induced sensationalism. News items were picked for broadcast, not for their intrinsic worthiness but rather for their ability to stir up partisan emotions. Purporting to portray the angst of the 'urban, middle-class Indian' (of which I am a part) these channels have been at the vanguard of a disease that has hollowed out the media from within. The print media was not far behind as reputed newspapers started clamouring for the viable (and lucrative) voice of the urban educated masses. These developments have already converted the role of the media from that of an impartial rapporteur of events into a selective PR machine cum ad-hoc judiciary cum myopic speculators. One can only shudder about the future.

The second disturbing trend is the ever-increasing focus and pages being devoted for sports, entertainment and local political claims and counter-claims. Understandably, these instil great enthusiasm among readers and hence, occupy a role in any standard newspaper. But can they claim to be the bread and butter of a standard, non-tabloid, newspaper? Most certainly not. But market dynamics suggest that this strategy, 'tabloidization' if you will, is certainly working. Newspapers that devote greater share to tabloid-worthy material and localized content are boosting their readership numbers in B and C centres, for long the holy grail of the newspaper industry.  While the latter is a recommended measure for catering news, the former is a concerning development in the long run.

While there is nothing wrong in a newspaper catering to the requirements of its readership, any newspaper should first take into account two considerations. The first is the growth of the Internet in India. Driven by mobile devices, which already account for 2/3rd of Indians reaching out to the net, close to 122 million Indians go online regularly. That number is expected to double or triple in a decade or less. Given the fact that the Internet is a reservoir for news on entertainment, sports, fashion etc., for how much longer can a newspaper expect its readers to turn to it alone for these topics? Personally, I believe that it is highly unlikely.  The Internet can always deliver faster, steamier reports on these issues.
The second consideration is a subjective one that will vary from person to person and newspaper to newspaper. Whose voice does a 'national' newspaper represent? If we go by population figures, it must represent the voice of the rural poor. But how many in that demographic refer to a newspaper regularly? If it went by readership numbers alone, it will necessarily have to represent the voice of the urban middle-class. Neither extreme is justifiable of the term 'national newspaper'. Rather, I believe that a 'national' newspaper owes its primary obligation to an implicit social contract it shares with the people of India, all the people of India. A social contract that binds it towards equitable, objective representation of all their views, concerns and interests without falling to market compulsions or ideological tones. From that perspective, devoting greater and greater share of the newspaper to catering to a small subscription base is denigrating the social contract of the Newspaper with the people. 

It is imperative that newspapers collectively awaken to arrest these trends. Introspection is a bitter pill to swallow for anyone, let alone for an inured critic. Each newspaper must recognize its voice in this integrated, internet-driven, noisy world where each one has the information at hand to have an opinion. This soul searching must definitely involve market conditions but only as a peripheral concern rather than as the scope of the search. 
Newspapers must understand that the only areas where they can always hope to compete with and surpass content on the crowd-sourced Internet are editorials, in-depth analyses and investigative journalism. Realization of its key strengths will help in harmonizing the identity of the paper with its strategies. The internet is an important tool that must be leveraged by each newspaper, not only for boosting revenues but also for widening its reach. Some articles could be made available for free on mobile internet sites while the others could be charged, similar to the strategy adopted by leading International newspapers such as The New York Times. 

A relatively more obscure weapon in the arsenal of Indian newspapers but with potentially game-changing consequences is the treasure trove of historical data in its archives. As a nation, we are notoriously inept when it comes to maintaining history and more importantly, learning from it. No wonder that we needed the British to rediscover the wonders of our own history. Newspapers are the greatest collective source of contemporary Indian history, which is of more value to the governing of this nation. The historical archives of leading Indian newspapers must be indexed and made available online. Several newspapers could come together to make this information available in the public domain. Apart from making this information available, newspapers must also strive to use them more actively in their reporting. Editorials and analyses must draw historical parallels to enable a more comprehensive understanding of the problems of today. In a nation with little or no regard for historical facts, Newspapers are vital guardians of the value of history. 

In all fairness, Indian newspapers are in fairly good shape. It is a vibrant industry that is growing well in a country with increasing literacy levels and an overdue demographic dividend. The industry has an active self-regulator in the Press Council of India and a few newspapers such as The Hindu are reputed worldwide for their quality of news reporting. These achievements sit side-by-side with dangerous, nascent overtones which must be studied and checked. The public must play a role in this, an active role. After all, this is a classic question of who will report on the reporters. And democracy rests that responsibility on my shoulders, and yours. 




 
 

The Monolingual Indian

In a land with 18 official languages enshrined by the Constitution, 1652 natively different mother-tongues and over 30,000 dialects, it should be odd to find a monolingual citizen. But far from being an oddity, people like me are becoming the norm of today.

I must clarify upfront that I am not monolingual in the way an American is with English. No, I can speak Tamil fluently and Hindi passably. I can understand enough Malayalam and Kannada to find my way around. If multilingualism related solely with the functional usage of a language, then I plead guilty to the count of a misleading blogpost-title. 

However, I refuse to accept this inferior definition for multilingualism. In an excellent essay on Bilingual Intellectuals, Ramachandra Guha defines a language as a bridge or a wormhole into an entirely new universe of values, ideas, conventions and cultures. By imbibing these natively, a bilingual intellectual can connect them with readers of a different tongue. That is a powerful thought and I have borrowed liberally from it in this post. 

Pluralism is the only word that can define India and ergo, define an Indian. There is no 'One' India and there is definitely no 'One' Indian. One of the facets of the Plural Indian is his linguistic identity. Personally, I am a Tamilian. But the Tamil I speak at home is greatly different from the Tamil spoken on the market streets of Madras. My Tamil could then be classified as Brahmin Tamil. However, it would still be different from the Tamil spoken by Iyers. The words, pronunciations and phrases will be quite different. So I can finally say that my mother tongue is Iyengar Brahmin Tamil. 

But I still consider myself as a Monolingual Indian for neither can I think effortlessly nor can I communicate complex thought processes in Tamil or Hindi, half as well as I can do so in English. English is, in the broadest sense, my 'mother tongue'. 

An important aspect of knowing a language is one's literary contributions to it. Many people might be satisfied with just using a language as a functional tool for purchasing bus tickets or for ordering dinner. If everyone had such a commonplace relationship with languages, the world would be a very dull place indeed. I like to consider a language as a malleable sheet of gold. One really must try bending it back and forth to express more than just 'Two burgers and a Coke'. But literary outputs in any language requires a greater depth of understanding and an intrinsic ability to 'connect' with the language on a sub-conscious level. Of course, many writers first output their work in their native or first language and then translate it into their second language. But if the translation is to retain the spark and vigour of the first, the 'connection' with the language becomes paramount. 

I cannot 'connect' with Tamil the way I can with English. As a Tamilian, if not as a Tamil Brahmin, I can claim inheritance to the extensive literary outputs of the Sangam Age, the Self-Respect Movement, the Dravidian Pride Movement and the Bhakti Movement. Sadly, I cannot and certainly could not do justice to such an inheritance. I can pay lip-service to my heritage but it is a dead artefact to me for all practical purposes.

I do not have the luxury of repining as I was not denied in any manner from learning Tamil, Bengali or Sanskrit well. I certainly had the opportunities but not the inclination. In a misplaced childish sensibility, I used to regard English as a symbol of status and power. The vernaculars seemed to be the pointless exercises of a nation that got subjugated by an island for 300 years. To rephrase in a less odious manner, English appeared like the express to the future, while vernaculars seemed to be bridges to a broken past. 

I regret those convictions today. The past, broken or otherwise, carries powerful totems for the future and it's imperative that we carry forth its heritage. My inability to connect with my own linguistic heritage and thereby influence my literary outputs, in English or otherwise, renders me handicapped. I can connect easier with the British peerage of the 19th century than with the Thanjavur Marathas who ruled my native town. 

A sanguine commentator would advise me to plunge right-away into learning Tamil from first principles.  He would ask me to understand the grammatical underpinnings of the language and over many years, achieve the level of comfort required to comprehend the great works. That is certainly a plan. I could definitely learn the grammar and hope to reach a level of comfort with the language that I currently enjoy with English, but I fear that it will always be the effort of an 'English speaker attempting to learn Tamil'. My thought process will always kick start in English and then hopefully switch to Tamil. But I suppose it is better to try and fail than to not try at all.

Here is to hoping I can someday write a rant in Tamil about having missed the opportunity to connect with Bengali! 

The communication paradox

I vividly remember the summer holidays in Kolkata after my 7th grade. Amidst the searing heat and tee-shirt clenching humidity, I discovered the letter. What started out as a playful prank with my cousin (also a wiry 12 year old) who lived in Chennai, soon turned into a continuing series of correspondence spanning an array of interests and aversions, ranging from Pokemon and Batman to Brinjals and the Australian Cricket Team.

Members of both families found our obsession with letter-writing rather odd. After all it was the year 2003 and the e-mail had started to become ubiquitous even amongst the Dial-up modem middle-class. My mother surmised to be to be a P.G.Wodehouse-inspired phase of mine, but avidly encouraged me to get better at it.

A few months back, while I was shifting a few things from Chennai, my home town, to Bangalore, my work town, I recovered one of those letters. Cliched, assiduously formal but with childish content and expressed in a bits-by-pieces scrawny handwriting, the letter brought back some old memories and rekindled old laughter. It was a good thing to discover. But running into old, warm things is nothing new, right? We all see that old diary in the back of the cupboard and end up poring over it that weekend, or we rediscover that buried tin box with all our childhood treasures in it and rack our brains all day trying to figure out what was so special about that one-armed G.I.Joe. No, my discovery was very much within the boundaries of coincidence and a childhood well-spent.

But I believe that finding that letter was more than just that. It almost felt like the Universe was nudging me to understand the under-currents below my feet and acknowledge them. You see, I am a communications engineer. I work on a mobile system-on-chip. For the better part of my education, I have studied about communication and ways of making it more effective. And haven't we?
From the once-revolutionary Telegraph to the today's 'sexting' convenient Snapchat, we have come a long way in making communication more effective, efficient, cheap and most-importantly easier.
But is communication, just the transfer of ideas or thoughts from one person to another? Is it just that mechanical experience we all have to endure to convey information to others? After reading that letter, I refuse to accept that premise.

Because that letter was not about the content. What it spoke to me was not written on it. The subtle implication that another person took the trouble of sitting down with a pen and paper, jotted down their thoughts, phrased them eloquently (*citation needed* ), stuck a stamp onto, walked down to the post box and dropped it, all for the express purpose of my having a peek into his opinions on Pokemon evolution. That was never written on that letter, but that was the message which struck home. That letter had character. It had meaning and more importantly, a human face behind it.

I wish I could say otherwise but today we do not have that. The under-currents that flow beneath every letter and which sometimes need 10-20 reads to identify have been made irrelevant today. Earlier, words used to be the mode for describing a beautiful vista outside one's hotel room when traveling. Today it is about Instagram this and tweet that. That picture was never taken for one special person to admire along with us, it was taken to boost one's self worth on a virtual reality.

I am all for the communication revolution. After all, it pays my bills! I agree that in this fast paced world, awaiting a week for a reply is not feasible. But surely there could be a middle ground? That does not just mean forcing kids to do it to appease the guilt of their parents. Surely, we could find more things to say without just punching into a slab of metal and glass?

My me time.

Firstly I should apologize. Both to myself and my (pitiably low :P ) readership. I have been unable to update my blog in over a month now despite a resolution (much before New Years) to the contrary. 

My reasons are so painfully cliched that I will not bother you with the details. I have just been busy. 

Working in a leading tech-firm such as Nvidia is an awesome experience for anyone who has even a passing interest in tech. Add to that a super fast internet, amazing collection of online resources and good coffee , then there really is no reason to leave the office! It is no secret that the top companies in the world of tech such as Google prefer their employees spending as much time as possible within office premises. To enable this, they provide every conceivable home-comfort right at your desk! 

This post, alas, is not about office comforts at Nvidia. Instead I would like to share a startling revelation that struck me mid-way into last week.

The past couple of weeks had been rough. There was a lot of work and a LOT of meetings. And in between meetings, there was a ton of prep material to go over so that I could add my 2 cents to the meetings. Apart from this, I had my usual work load which suddenly started demanding a lot of preparation time. All this distilled down into my staring into a computer/phone/tablet screen for ~15 hours a day. If we add the dreams I dreamt about buying a macbook air and that number will go even norther. 

Staring at a computer screen can strain ones eyes badly. I particularly take care not to over-strain my eyes by taking plenty of coffee/ping-pong breaks in between. But working on a computer is NEVER just working! There is always my browser on with ~20 tabs open including the staples - facebook, twitter, quora. Also in the Always Open list are my favorite news sites such as BBC and The Verge. A Wikipedia Random Article loop runs through my browser every few hours. So there is that. Also open are the gamut of blogs that I follow.

As if only appealing to my visual senses were not enough, I am also on grooveshark for most of the day. If not online, my itunes will always be up and running. 

In between all this information overload, I work. And in between work, I also perform my 'truly random' browsing. 

After a long work day, I used to come back home, power on my laptop and the same routine began. Except, replace the work segments with Youtube. 

I love assimilating information. It does not matter if I will never need that titbit of info, I simply must know it! And the Internet gives me plenty and more. But occasionally, even for a news-junkie like me, the Internet starts to become overwhelming! 
That irritating itch to constantly check my facebook newsfeed, my twitter tweet-reel, my quora top answers page can become crushingly painful. There can come a point when one's life starts to seem more 'virtual' than a physical, living, breathing, crying and laughing entity. 

I hit that point mid-way through last week. 

Stung by that realization, I drastically told myself to stay off the Internet (except for work, STRICTLY work) for a month. Within an hour, I broke my own word. The truth is without the Internet, we are all diminished people. If I tried reading the newspaper, without the internet, I can comprehend maybe 50% of the articles. With the Net, that number zooms to +80%. So if you want to do something well, the Net is a must today.

The next day, I watered down my previous resolution into a very simply worded sentence.
'For the next one month, before going to bed, I shall read. No phone. No tablet. No computer. No internet. Just me and my book. Whatever I do not understand, I will note down for future clarification.'

I decided to rekindle an old school-days habit of mine to combat my Net-affliction. 

I will not lie. It was not a hard resolution to upkeep. I enjoy reading and I can comfortably keep off the Net for an hour. I have been resolutely following this self-mandate for close to a week now and things are looking good :) 

I am starting to notice some really interesting things emerging from this experiment which I hope to share with you all in my next post. (Hopefully within a few days!)