Next year, same day, we would have completed eighteen. Intelligent readers, I am sure, would have already calculated that we are today ending our seventeenth year of continuous publication and stepping into the final year of minor life. But then, what is eighteen but just one number among the infinite that lie beyond and a ‘minor’ milestone compared to the ‘major’ hurdles that we have crossed or are yet to cross.
We are already a very mature paper, without exactly waiting for the calendars to herald our majorhood, for this product of T.R.R had really come of age the very day it was born, bearing in its imprint, decades of his professional experience and excellence.
It was my father’s wish to start a morning newspaper, but then, those dangerous, deep waters were infested by big sharks and to fight them, one really needed great financial dhum (This un-English proved to be too tempting a rhyme to miss. Apologies). TRR owned very few shirts, that too with very shallow pockets which in turn were full of holes, as he was a socialist who gave according to his capacity unlike those who appropriated according to their needs.
And by diving and dipping into that aforementioned shark-infested ocean, he only ran the risk of losing even those shirts. Whereas the relative calm of the twilight sea offered a happy and free swimming space for him to practise his different strokes and he set about establishing a niche for himself and the paper which, to quote a TV commercial, was just an extension of his self.
I am proud that the extension continues even after he is gone instead of getting interred with his bones, unlike as willed by a few comrades, particularly his comrades. Sure, it has been an uphill task, but then we have enjoyed every bit of the climb and cherished the challenges posed by the ordeal of survival.
Apart from the commercial risks dictated by the vagaries of the ‘business of journalism’, newspapers– particularly the smaller ones like us who neither have the financial muscle nor the backing of big barons–are exposed to other hazards wrought by what they print or sometimes, what they do not. As it is for the people, even for the press, the single major threat to its existence and integrity emanates from the politicians, particularly those in power.
Not that those out of power are great patrons of a free press, but their potential for damage gets much diminished due to lack of governmental clout. Handed a stick to wield, every politico would love to beat the media into submission for tolerance of criticism is as alien to them as honesty.
Not a single politician worth his name–he is worth little else–possesses an understanding of how a newspaper operates and often displays a callous lack of tact in dealing with the press which is a very delicate and sensitive being and has to be handled with care. The media in a sense can be likened to the two dimensions of a woman– it can be treated as a mother whose counsel is for the country’s sake as also as a young girl whose chastity is at stake.
But unfortunately, the politicos make light weather of even the genuine misgivings of media even as they engage unabashedly in outraging its modesty. And one effective way of doing that is by stripping the publication of its reasonable quota of government advertisements. Presently, this paper is playing the Draupadi with the Kauravas in power acting as is their wont. But this being Kaliyug, our readers have doubled up as the Lord to save us from the rational tormentors. The newspaper on your hand is the proof of the pudding.
And we are getting colourful too, in tune with the trend set by the eminent seniors in the trade. In fact, we have already made a beginning through the glossy weekly supplements in News Today, while its sister Maalai Sudar has come out in colour on several days, which is no mean achievement for an evening newspaper for whom it is always a race against time.
Shortly, your daily evening issue would be a multi-hued glitzy affair, as visually pleasing as the idiot box, but more informative and entertaining. The youthful charm and the techno wizardy of the new gen would be amply evident in the days to come, as News Today grows progressively younger and more vibrant by the passage of time.
I think I should keep my trumphet aside to address a matter of vital concern. A calamity of greater magnitude is staring the industry in its face and it has already assumed sinister overtones. Politicians are no longer content with whipping the press from the sidelines and are now jumping into the ring in droves, or rather, mobs.
They are slowly and steadily becoming the media themselves. Having realised what control of media and through that, control of peoples’ mind, can do to their fortunes, which is their only concern, they have in the last few years brought to play all the might of ill-gotten wealth and political muscle at their command.
The media bug appears to have bitten everyone, be he a Thaanai thalaivan or a petty caste leader, and the infiltration has attained alarming proportions what with political parties launching their very own home satellite channels and starting or buying out newspapers. One dreads to speculate where this reckless politicisation of media will eventually lead to and it surely does not augur well for the industry.
For the baron-politicians it most certainly will be a Midas touch as otherwise they wouldn’t touch, but the delicate newsprint is more likely to turn into ashes, unable to bear the heat of their greased palms.
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