Every day, before I enter the newsroom, Eshwar stops me at the office gate. He is a security guard, but it isn't for security reasons that he stops me. Eshwar is a keen follower of news and current affairs. Before I sit down with my editor for our morning meetings, I have to first answer Eshwar's queries on the news of the day. His perspective of news and media in general is always different. No matter how good or comprehensive a report is, he has another angle to add, something yet to be covered.
During the Assembly Elections 2008, we had one such talk. Eshwar came out with an idea on how the announcement of elections generates temporary jobs for many, apart from those who are directly involved in the process. He cited his own example. He was taking off from work for 15 days and was participating in the political campaigns, which were more lucrative. "Everybody loves a good election," he had said. We dug further on that line, and discovered many human interest stories which we published in a series. The story line-up included how a cook got a huge contract of serving food to the visitors, people involved in making publicity material etc.
According to Eshwar, newspapers suffer from memory loss. "Whenever the government announces a new infrastructure project, newspapers give mad coverage to it and many a time, forget to look at the history. Many such projects are repetitive and are mere alterations of old announcements," he says. "In that way, news papers also duplicate, I want them to be original."
Eshwar wants newspapers to think out of box. "Newspapers should generate new ideas and find solutions to the problems in the system," he says and cites an example. "I don't know whether there is provision for this or not. But if the government is really short of funds to rebuild the lives of flood victims in North Karnataka, why can't it divert the money seized by Lokayukta all these years?"
Copyright 2009 DNA Media, distributed by Contify.com
Source Citation
"More than just security checks; Newspapers are repetitive in their coverage, sometimes ignoring history of the issue." DNA [Daily News & Analysis] 12 Dec. 2009. Educator's Reference Complete. Web. 24 Dec. 2009.
Gale Document Number:A214268301
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