Are you one of those who open main door first thing in the morning in search for your newspaper?
Do you get flustered if it hasn’t yet arrived?
Do you get glued to the paper unmindful of other happenings at home?
Then you surely have a mind that is habituated or addicted to newspaper. What we don’t realise is that our addictive mind searches for titillation or sensation that all addictions bring. Addictive newspaper reading under pretext of thirst for information and news could be one too. Newspaper addicts probably enjoy high sensations, are very argumentative, hold strong emotions and get impatient by even superficial logic.
I know that because I was an addict for five decades. Had read newspapers without fail and on some days, I read ten newspapers, in detail. I was addicted to newspapers and my profession compelled me to scan them every day for three to four hours, every working day. But recently, I unsubscribed to all and started enjoying my existence, my breaths, my surroundings. But I don’t avoid newspapers and have learnt to read them either cautiously or consciously depending on the subject of the article.Now don’t get me wrong here.
A warning: I do not intend to propagate my values about newspapers in this article. Neither do I advocate against habit of reading newsapapers. Though my personal convictions are different regarding media. If interested you may check links here:
Let’s begin on this common ground :Newspaper is a product. A product conceived by business interests and wrapped up as a service claimed to serve people, like any other product. It’s also claimed as an essential pillar of democracy. You pay for every copy or subscribe to it like daily milk. You had trusted your product without checking credibility because you were conditioned to believe, over the years. Distrust means unbelieving your decision over the past years, also means a break and change from the past, demands a kind of introspection...so it is comfortable and convenient to believe than to disbelieve. While we have progressed to check the quality of milk, we have not applied standards for product newspaper and have refrained questions on the authenticity, factuality, source and presentation of news on newspapers. Why? All I ask you now is for a willing suspension of beliefs to understand what news industry and newspapers are all about.
While all across the counter products carry some transient benefits to the buyer, newspapers were deemed to be beneficial to the human mind, projected as mark of some knowledge and information and supposedly brings practical benefits too. We can’t under estimate their value in contemporary competitive exams in India while advanced countries check reasoning ability, analytical and language skills for admissions into Schools, Universities and jobs. In fact, in many societies in India, newspapers are flaunted as mark of intellectualism. Even journalism is treated as literature and newspapers run literary festivals to confuse people as if both are same. Many newspaper editors and barons claim that their product encourages questioning, dissent and reasoning on matters of public interest and newspapers are mere messengers. Such lofty ideals are really heart warming as also the claim of innocenct messenger. In short a person who is knowledgeable and could debate on any subject is admired. Pause and take time to think whether you agree or disagree on these statements.
Let’s get real now. A newspaper surely does help with providing information though it’s is now being replaced by digital news services. But primarily, a newspaper remains a hard core business enterprise and to survive, ought to necessarily satisfy and represent varied interests and agree to influences for the business to survive. If a newspaper denies these interests, it’s simply exercising the dishonesty that runs the business. There is a huge( an often used journalese word) mismatch between what a business claims to market product and the actual product. Newspapers don’t come with warnings either. The business interests of a newspaper may include:
Profit making
Inviting more advertisement revenue
Satisfy advertisers
Personal interests of owners
Serving other business interests of owners
Satisfying Social connections
Pleasing Political connections
Etc
The amalgamation of all these interests is what you pay, buy and read in the product called newspaper. Throughout history, advertisements were given prominence over news because of this sole reason. News was never priority #1 though they call themselves newspaper. Maybe because they may not sell if called adspaper. The number of pages in a newspaper always increases proportionately to the advertisements published. Have you seen them go voluminous during Christmas and Diwali? They never increase by news events. You buy and read what the newspaper industry seeks you to read, which is mainly advertisements and secondarily, news. You also have now Advertorials in which articles openly written praising a business for a fee. The choice of materials for publication is always done to suits business interests. Advertisements form the oxygen of news industry and it not an exaggeration that you pay to read them. Admire the cleverness of the industry that takes money from the advertisers for publishing advertisements and also sell those advertisements to buyers under garb of selling news.
We are often told in defence of news media that news industry is a mere messenger and is objective. The choice of lead news, the presentation of headlines and captions, the location of the news, the opinions regarding the news are not matters of objectivity. They vary from newspaper to newspaper and hence far from factual. There is a selective censoring of news within the industry that does not match the permitted influences we discussed earlier. Editing is not just about language but is a skill for priming, pruning, deleting, adding , finishing news as deemed fit by the editor. As long as the medium is human and transmitted through human subjects employed by the industry, objectivity can not exist. Claim of objectivity in news presentation is a sham. It never was and never will be. Maybe when AI takes over editing, things may get better as machines are considered to be emotion less and without personal interests.
What threats newspaper can pose? Incomplete facts, twisted facts, misinterpretation of facts, rousal of emotions by adding adjectives, hyping of silly issues, down playing of issues that may offend business interests, colouring, distortion of opinions can easily turn a gullible reader a sucker. Newspapers succeed because you have come to associate them with honesty, intelligence, character, objectivity and social causes. You have failed to recognise it as a business with an inbuilt subtle propaganda machine within. In short, you will be a victim to the machinations of press, if you are not conscious and be aware of their intents. Your belief and loyalty to a newspaper is meter for the level of gullibility you possess. For example, newspapers that always gave lead news to Congress Prime Ministers do not give same treatment to non Congress PMs like Narendramodi.
Every newspaper in India represents a section of people, an opinion, a business and an interest. The mushrooming of tv channels too proved this point. Irony is those who call themselves independent journalists are most prejudiced. Worse is the alarming fact that those competition that calls others as fake news are past masters of fake news. Some experts on fake news even go around the country advising how to distinguish fake news from real news. Hypocrisy in the industry beats other industries. Fake news Is now grown out of proportion and no newspaper or news media is interested in introspection. Can there be growth when there is lack of looking within?
Under these conditions, can a newspaper, any newspaper present you with facts? It’s like asking whether there can be life in moon. There could be no life there because there was no oxygen and water to for lives to survive. Using this analogy, the conditions in news industry do not permit facts to present news. Recently, Rafale papers were tampered, to abuse the government of male fife intentions and were published by a Chennai based daily. The newspaper did not apologise for the travesty but instead defended it. The temerity also proves that readers are not respected anymore and they are treated as foot mats by newspapers. How half truths become full facts? If they are defending it, isn’t it true that standards and ethics do not exist and instead sensationalism and breaking news matter more. All businesses do twists and only the degree of dishonesty varies in any money making activity. News industry is no different.
How does one define facts? A fact is defined as something known to be true. Like, New Delhi is the Capital of India. But facts not are so simple in complex situations. They are created by media with selective circumstantial evidences. Salted with personal interests or agendas. Lets take news on Israel as example. Because of the frequent clashes between Palestine Muslims and Jewish Israel, we have come to believe Israelis are anti Muslims. They even fight Muslim nations when irritated. So the assumption is Israel is an enemy of Muslims. Really? The propaganda is so strong that the tiny Jewish State is presented as killers of Muslims. Trash on facts because Muslims comprise 17.7% of the Israel population and Muslims have never faced any kind of discrimination within Israel. Israel has no constitution that declared itself as Jewish like many Muslim nations. But News is repeatedly presented in such a way wrapped up with subtle or brilliant lies to create strong emotions against Jews. To this end, the violence of Muslims on Jews is concealed and presented as a response to some Jewish attack. Remember Israel doesn’t follow Jewish religious law too unlike many Muslim and Christian nations and the Secular forces have blocked attempts at Jewish laws taking predominance. Israel is a secular nation with Jewish majority. But propaganda against Israel continues without regard for facts. Newspapers may not seem to lie often but don’t speak truth either.
Newspapers have an axe to grind in the way news is presented. When newspapers are pulled up for major errors and forced to apologise, they do not have the courage of character to publish them as prominently as they did when they slandered. This is the honesty of media in presentation of news.
Newspapers in brief can’t do without interests that are contrary to public interest. Hence often, even the news team remains sub average as the best talents chose other professional careers like medicine, engineering, civil services, etc. News team are chosen to blindly take orders and never have contradicting opinions to those of the management. But the does news team remain loyal to the pay masters. Till they shift office.
Newspapers today follow paradigm of propaganda. The reader has to be aware of this fact before turning the pages. If not aware, the risk of being sucked away and losing consciousness remains. While we mock television viewers as couch potatoes, we have treated couch potatoes addicted to newspapers as intellectuals. Isn’t a newspaper now a printed television channel? Hence some Practical tips to stay independent while reading newspapers and avoid being victimised:
Take a deep breath. Keep mind calm and decide not to be carried away by any news.
Decide what you want to know and where to begin with. I go backwards from Sports page as sports give a positive vibe.
As newspapers follow the inverted pyramid method in news presentation, you can escape being a victim by reading backwards.
Scan the paper, check the headlines.
If you feel good about some captions, read on.
On negative news, just get specifics and move away immediately.
As you Read, feel empathy to the suffering but don’t get deep.
If you find yourselves struck with emotions, close the paper to breathe in and breathe out.
It is a miracle to be alive in a negative world & don’t succumb to negativity.
Always remember presented news is based on half facts, half truths, some opinions to sway your mind in a particular way. Watch your breath. Don’t let news affect your body.
Keep a strict time watch on reading newspaper. Fifteen min maximum for a 24 page edition is good.
Choose before hand on what you prefer: International news, National news, Local news, Opinion pages, Pages on Economy and industry, Sports, Lifestyle or Entertainment.
Make a conscious choice. Of what you want to know.
Check whether you remain calm as when you began reading the paper.
If not, introspect what kind of news disturbed you. If you can personally contribute to a situation, please do. Or forget the news.
There is life beyond newspapers ( and TV news channels).
Enjoy the newspaper. Stay happy, relaxed.
By doing so, you can bring peace and harmony in your life and in your family.
The purpose of reading a newspaper is to enjoy reading it. Never let it create tension.
Stay alive. Keep mind to body and don’t let it slip.
Smile!
PS: If you are habituated to intense heart beats after reading a newspaper and are unable to stay alive after a newspaper, here is a simple solution: Throw away the newspaper for good.
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