Threats to Media Freedom: The Real and The ImaginedSashi Kumar

Rural women take to journalism, redefine lives Shoma A. Chatterji

Let us Adapt to Digital Platforms A note on the WAN IFRA digital media conference

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8 Threats to Media Freedom: The Real and The Imagined Sashi Kumar 12 A difcult phase, when the media is in transition Sashi Nair

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18 Changes in Media Education Necessitated by Media Technology in the New Millennium J V Vilanilam22 Rural women take to journalism, redene lives Shoma A. Chatterji

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33 Let us adapt to digital platforms Shyam Krishna and K.Sreejith

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2005 ss\Pdnepmb ISp hcbpw `ymahpw aqew t]mjImlmc hnXcW tI{nsenb Abpw IppamWv Nn{Xn. Hcp hbpImcn Aem Kmenku A ^mu Hus\nbpsS Npn hncepI AannSnncnpIbmWv. 2005 BKv 1 \v ss\Pdnse Xmlph F es t]mjImlmchnXcWtI{n \npamWv ^n_m Cu Nn{Xw ]IpXv.

dntmdmbn ]{X{]h\ PohnXw Bcw`n It\Unb kztZinbmb ^n_m B{^nbmWv Xs {]h\taJebmbn XncsSpXv. 10 hjtmfw B{^n apgph Npndn cm{obhpw kmaqlyPohnXhpw bpfpw Iem]fpw {]IrXn Zpcfpsamw dntmv sNbvX Ctlw 2005emWv t^mtm{Km^nbntev XncnbpXv. anaoUnbbnepw t^mtm{Km^nbnepw \nch[n AtZiob ]pckvImc t\Snbnp ^n_mdns Nn{X {]apJ AtZiob amyafnsemw {]knoIcnnpv. hnhn[ cmPyfn ^n_m Nn{XfpsS {]Zi\hpw \Snpv.

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aoUnbtbbpw s]mXpkaqltbpw Xn IqnbnWp ]meambn Cu amknIbvp {]hnm Ignbpw. s]mXpkaqln\pw CXp {]tbmP\IcamIs. Fm hnPbmiwkIfpw t\cpp.

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pp FdnbpXn k-tm-j-apv. am-[y-a- hn-Zym-`ym-khpw ]-cn-io-e-\hpw ]T-\hpw ssI-Imcyw sN-p- H-cp m-]-\-n-\v kz--am-bn {]-kn-o-I-c-W-apm-tI-Xv A-Xy-m-t]-n-X-amWv.

]-{X--fnepw am-K-kn-\p-I-fnepw {]-kn-o-Ir-Xam-b te-J-\- k-am-l-cn-p-I-bm-Wv aoUn-b ap-v sN-bv-Xn-cp-sX-n ]p\cmcw-`n-p {]-kn-o-Ic-Wn kz-X-{- te-J-\-fpw ]T-\--fp-am-Wv D-mhp-I F--Xpw G-sd k-tm-j-I-c-amWv.

Ign aqv ]Xnmntesd tI-c-f-n-se am-[y-a-ta-J-e-bv-v I-gn-hp- A-kwJyw ]-{X-{]-h-I-sc kw-`m-h-\ sN-bv-X A-mZ-anbpsS {]h\w Atbw {]iwk\o bamWv. ]-cn-an-XnI a-dn-IS-v kw-m\-s an-I- A-m-Z-an-bm-bn {]-kv A-m-Z-ansb h-f-m k-m {]-Xn-m-_--am-Wv.

tem-I-s-mSpw A-Xn-th-K-X-bn-em-Wv hm-m-hn-X-c-W-am-[y-a- hn-I-kn-p-sImn-cn-p-Xv. am-[y-a--fp-sS co-Xn-bnepw L-S-\-bnepw D-]-tbm-K-nepw km-tXn-I hn-Zy-bn-ep-samw hn--h-I-camb am-- kw-`-hn-p-sIm-n-cn-pp. sXm-gn-en-s _--m-Sp-I-n-S-bnepw C-h-sb-Ip-dn-smw A-dn-n-cn-t-Xv am-[y-a-{]-h--\-n-s A-dnhpw Im-cy--a-Xbpw h-f-m A-Xym-h-iy-amWv. tI-c-f-n-se am[y-a {]-h-Isc Cu am--sf Ip-dn-v t_m-[-hm-m-cm-m\pw A-h-cp-sS sXm-gn-]-cam-b ta D-b-m\pw A-m-Z-an-bp-sS ]pXn-b {]-kn-o-I-c-W-n-\v I-gnbpw Fv {]-Xo-n-pp.

{]-kv A-m-Z-anpw "aoUn-b'pw Fm hnP-bfpw B-iw-kn-pp.

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G{]n 2012

Am-Z-an-bp-sS `-c-W-L-S-\-bn m-]-\-n-s {]-h--\-]-cn-]m-Sn-sb- Ip-dnpw D-t-i-e-y--sf Ip-dn-pw tc-J-s-Sp-n-bn-pv. tI-c-f-n-se am-[y-a-{]-h--I-cp-sS sXm-gn-]-c-hpw _u-n-I-hpam-b \n-e-hm-c-ap-b-p-Xn-\p- {]-h--\--fm-Wv A-m-Z-an- \-S-tXv. A-Xn m-pI, ]T-\-]-cn-]m-Sn- I, N-m-k-t-f-\, sk-an-\m-dpI, ]T-\-]-cy-S-\, {]-kn-o-I-c-W-- Fn-h D-s-Spp. C-sXmw kw-L-Sn-n-p-I-bm-Wv Cu A-m-Z-an-bp-sS Npa-X-e h-ln-p- `-c-W-k-an-Xn-bp-sS ap-Jy-D--c-hm-Zn-w.

Cu m]-\w cq-]w-sIm- F-gp-]-Xp-I-fn-te-v Hv Xn-cn-p-t\m--t-Xpv. am-[y-a-m-]-\- s{]m-^-j-\-en-k-n-te-v sa-s I-S-p-h-cp-t D-m-bn-cp-pq. cm-jv-{So-b ]m-n-I-fp-sSbpw a-p-]-e Xm-ev-]-cy--fp-sS-bpw {]-Nm-c-I-cm-bn {]-h-n-p-t]m- ]-{X--fn hn-Zym-k--cm-b ]pXn-b X-eap-d I-S-p-h-cn-Ibpw A-h ]-{X-{]-h--\-n-s co-Xn-I ]p-\-\n-hNn-p-Ibpw sN-bv-Xp-t]m- Im-e-am-bn-cp-p A-Xv. H-cp t{S-Uv bq-Wn-b-\m-bn ^-e-{]-Z-am-bn {]-h-n-p-t]m- tI-c-f ]-{X-{]-h--I bq-Wn-b B-Wv sXm-gn ]-cn-io-e-\hpw am-[y-a-]T-\hpw ]-{X-{]-h- -I-v th-n kw-L-Sn-n-p-Xp-S-n-bXv. ]-{X-{]-h--\ ]-cn-io-e-\ in-ev-]-im-e -Ifpw ]T-\--f-cn-Ifpw kw-L-Sn-n-p-Xv ]-Xn-hm--bn. C-Xn-\m-bn \yq-kv-{Im-^v-v F-sm-cp hn-`m-Kw X-s bq-Wnb Xp-Sn. "]-{X-{]-h--I' amkn-I Xp-S-n-bXpw C-m-e-p-X-s-bm-Wv.

]-e {]-h--\--n-S-bn h-tmgpw \-S-t H- s{]m-^-j-\ ]-cn-ioe\-sa Xn-cn--dn-hpmbn. N-c-p-n kw-L-Sn-n H-cp ]-cn-io-e-\ I-f-cn- bn-em-Wv B-Zy-am-bn {]-kv A-mZ-an F Bi-bw N- sN--s-Xv. Pn. th-Wp-tKm-]m B-bn-cp-p Avv bq-Wn-b {]-kn-U-v. Sn.sI.Pn.\mb, tXma-kv tP-_v, ]n.cmP, F.hn.ss]en, sI.Fw.tdmbn, a-e-p-dw ]n. aq-k, hn.sI._n., F.F-. k-Xy-{h-X Xp-S-n-b-h-cm-Wv B Nn--bvvv I-cppw Zn-im-t_m-[-hp-ta-In-b-sXv A-v bq-Wn-b P-\-d kn-{I--dn-bm-bn-cp- Sn.th-Wp-tKm-]m H-cp A-`nap-J kw-`m-j-W-n Hm-p-pv (tU-v-sse: N-cn-{X-s Nn-d-In-te-n-b-h sI.F._o-\, Ko-Xm-_n). A-s ap-Jy-a-{n sI.I-cp-Wm-I-c-\m-Wv ]-n-Iv dn-te-j-kv U-b-d-Iv- tXm-w cm-P-ti-J-c-s\ A-mZ-an cq-]-h--cn-m Np-a-X-e-s-Sp-n-b-Xv. ]n-o-Sv ]n.sI.hm-kp-tZ-h \m-b ap-Jy-a-{n-bm-bn-cn-p-tm-gm-Wv A-mZ-an cq-]-h--cn-Xv.

F-n-\mWv Cu ]-g--Y-I hn-h-cn-p-Xv F-p-tXm-mw. Xn-cn-p-t\m-m-sX ap-tm-v t]m-Im-\m-hn-s- kXyw \mw A-dn-bWw. A-m-Z-an-sb kw-_-n- `-c-W-]-cam-b Xo-cp-am-\-sa-Sp-p- ]-epw Cu A-mZ-an F-m-Wv, F-n-\m-Wv F--Xn-s\ Ip-dn-v H-cp [m-c-W-bp-an, ]-e sX-n-m-c-W-I-fp-ap-p-Xm-\pw. ]-{X-{]-h--I-v ]pXn-b A-dn-hp-I D-m-p--Xn\pw sXm-gn-]-c-am-bn Ah-sc D-b-p--Xn\pw B-Wv Cu m]-\w Zo-L-ho--W-ap- a-lm-c-Y-m Xp-S-n-sh-Xv. A-mZ-an XpS-n Ip-sd h-j--v ti-j-am-Wv A-m-Z-an-bn tP-W-en-kw Un-tm-a tIm-gv-kv Xp-S-n-bXv. Im-\q-m-v ]n-n--tm ]-ecpw [-cn-n-cn-p--Xv

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G{]n 2012

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t^m: 0484 2422275

E-Mail: media.kpa@gmail.comWebsite: www.keralapressacademy.org

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G{]n 2012

tP-W-en-kw Un-tm-a tIm-gvkvv \-S-m\m-Wv A-m-Z-an- m-]n-Xv F-m-Wv. A-mZ-an \-S-t ]-e {]-h---\--fn H-v am-{X-am-Wv tP-W-en-kw tIm-gv-kv. Xo--bmbpw tI-c-f-n-se a-v m-]-\--smw am-Xr-I-bm-hp- H-cp tP-W-en-kw tIm-gv-kv \-S-m A-mZ-an {]-Xn-m-_--amWv.

am-[y-a-{]-h--I-v X--fp-sS sXm-gn ta-J-e-sb-Ip-dn-v k-a-{K-m-\-apm-pIbpw B-h-iyam-b sXm-gn ]-cn-ioe-\w \-Ip-Ibpw tem-I-s-mSpw Cu ta-J-e-bn-ep-m-Ip- hn--h-I-cam-b am--sf Ip-dn-v A-dn-hp-m-p-I-bp-am-Wv A-m-Z-an-bp-sS {]-h--\-eyw F Bibw Cu L--n D-d-n-v ]-d-tb--Xm-bn h-n-cn-pp. Cu {]-kn-o-I-cWw ao-Un-b B eyw t\-Sp-Xn-\v A-mZ-an t\-XrXzw B-kq-{X-Ww sN-p- ]-e ]--Xn-I-fn H-m-Wv. apv Cu t]-cn A-mZ-an H-cp {]-kn-o-Ic-Ww \-S-n-bn-cp-p. ]-{X--fnepw am-kn-I-I-fn-ep-sam-s h-p-sIm-n-cp am-[y-a-kw-_-am-b hm--Ifpw te-J-\- fpw ]p-\x{]-kn-o-I-cn-p-I-bm-Wv Av aoUn-b sN-bv-Xp-sIm-n-cpXv. H-cp ]-Xn-mv ap-v A-Xn-s {]-kn-o-Ic-Ww \n-n. A-Xn-s D--S--n Bpw hen-b Xm-ev-]-cy-an F- Xn-cn--dn-hm-Wv A-s Xo-cp-am-\-n-\v Im-cWw.

C-Xn-\-w A-m-Z-an-v H-cp {]-kn-o-I-cW-ta th F. tI-c-f-n-se am-[y-a-k-aq-l-n-\v Ip-d- Im-ew sIm-pm-b am-w h-ep-Xm-Wv. ap-gp-h k-a-b am-[y-a-{]-h--I-cp-sS F-w At\-I aS-v h-n-n-cn-pp. sNdn-b ]--W--fn-t]mepw am[y-a {]-h--I-cp-sS hen-b kw-L- {]-h-n-pp. {]-kv -p-I-fn Fm km-tXn-I ku-I-cy--fp-ap-v. H-cp-]m-Sv am-[y-a C-n-yq-p-I D-b-p-h-n-cn-pp. H--\h-[n tIm-tf-Pp-I-fn tP-W-en-kw Bv I-yq-Wn-t-j Un{Kn tIm-gv-kp-I Xp-S-n-bn-cn-pp. tP-W-en-kw hnjbw B-bn-p- _n.F. tIm-gv-kp-I U-k-I-W-n-\v tIm-tf-Pp-I-fn-ep-v. -kv Sp tIm-gv-kn-\v t]mepw tP-W-en-kw ]Tn-n-p-pv Nn-te-S-vv. am-[y-a-{]-h-\-s Ip-dn-p- A-m-Z-anIv {]-kn-o-I-c-W-n X-ev-]-ccm-b B-bn-c--W-n-\m-fp-I tI-c-f-n-epv FpNp-cp-w. F-m- A--c-sam-cp {]-kn-o-I-c-Whpw tI-c-f-n-en-Xm-\pw.

tI-c-f-n-\-I-pw ]p-d-p-ap-, {]nv ao-Un-b-bn-epw Zr-iy-am-[y-a-nepw {]-h-n-p-, A-m-Z-an-Iv cw-Kpw am-[y-a-{]-h--\-cw-Kpw tPm-en sN-p, A-dnhpw A-\p-`-h-hp-ap- hy-nIsf Cu {]-kn-o-I-c-W-n A-Wn \n-c-m-\m-Wv D-t-in-pXv. cwK-v \nv hn-c-an--h A-h-cp-sS Ime-s Ip-dnv Hm-p ]wn, tem-I am-[y-a-cwK-s A-Xn-i-b-I-c-am-b am-w hn-h-cn-p- ]w-nI, ]pXn-b km-t-Xn-I-hn-Zy-I-fn-eq-sS-bp- Hm--{]-Z-nWw, tkm-jy aoUn-b D-s-sS-bp- ]p- {]-Xn-`m-k-sf Ip-dn-p- hn-e-bn-cp- Cu {]-kn-o-I-cW-s Ip-dn-v R--v hen-b {]-Xo--I-fp-v.

A-h k-^-e-am-m Cu ta-J-e-sb-Ip-dn-v Xm-ev-]-cy-ap- Fm-hcpw k-l-I-cn--W-sav A-`y-n-p-p.

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The Chairman of the Press council, Justice Katju, has set out the reasons why he thinks the Press Council of India needs more powers and a structural shift into a Media Council of India to include the electronic media. He has been very forthright in his views on what ails the news-media in the country today. The issue needs to be joined by the journalistic fraternity and by the media organisations, not in the myopic, short-sighted sense that we saw the News Broadcasters Association joining the issue - by issuing guidelines on how to cover the pregnancy and birth of a child to the Bachchans. That is almost proving Justice Katjus point right, that the intellectual realm in the journalism that we see and practice today is marked by exception. He qualified his condemnation of the press by saying that he does not tar all the press with the same broad brush, but goes on to say that 80% of what we see as journalism today is trivial, is tabloid, is not addressing itself to the impinging social, economic concerns of our day, skirting the issues and is probably unrepresentative of the reality of society out there.

One of Justice Katjus clinging arguments has been why should the press be exempted from a regulatory body when other democratic institutions and professional bodies are subject to regulation and these are not, according to him, purely voluntary self-regulatory exercises. This, I think, is the essential fallacy or the weakness of his argument. In a democracy like India, a democracy of the liberal, freewheeling kind that Justice Katju and you and I are familiar with, there are the clear separation of powers. We have the executive, the legislature and the judiciary and these are the three constitutional pillars of our democracy. But we give the news-media the stature, the status and the moral high ground of being the fourth pillar of democracy. The accountantability of these four pillars needs to

be investigated and this has been written about, by scholars like Umberto Eco. He says that in a democracy the executive, the legislature and the judiciary are accountable to the people in an institutionalised and constitutionalised sense. And, this is what Justice Katju is arguing, therefore why should the fourth pillar of democracy be exempt from such regulations.

That is precisely the defining characteristic of the free press in a democracy - that it should not lend itself to regulation of any external agency. In the moment it lends itself to regulation of any external agency, it loses the qualification of a free press. It becomes a qualified or a controlled press. If you want to use the picturesque terminology of Mani Shankar Aiyer, it becomes a kept press. Therefore, this rudimentary proposition by Justice Katju should be opposed tooth and nail, not just by the journalistic fraternity and the media organisations but by civil society and agents of democracy at large, in defense of democracy. Because, if the fourth estate is to be regulated, it will lose its very rationale, its raison dtre, as you call it. Freewheeling freedom, unrestricted freedom, even irresponsible freedom, as Jawaharlal Nehru said, is the privilege and the prerogative of the fourth estate. Because, the function of the fourth estate is to enhance and deepen and be a vigilante of democracy, to ensure that there is no erosion in the freedoms that the democracy gives us.

There are very important roles that the Press Council needs to play, in terms of furthering the freedoms of the press but not in terms of abridging them. In the Indian context the freedom of the press is an evolved constitutional right and not a prescribed constitutional right. But, the fact of the matter is that, there is a contract and connect with the society, and after the Emergency, every government has been very weary about stepping on the freedom of the press. The people in this country

Sashi Kumar

Threats to Media Freedom:The Real and The ImaginedThe ordinary, sensible citizen will ask, 'yes you are a business, you compete like a business in the market and if I like your product, I will buy it. Why do you want moral high ground? Why do you raise this whole cry about the freedom of the media in peril everytime somebody wants to regulate that market?' If you are a market, you will have to be regulated. If you do not want regulation, don't be a product of the market, don't be a product for the consumer. Be an agent for the reader, for the viewer.

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G{]n 2012

believed that the press is the bulwark of their freedoms, that the press represents them, represents their grievances, their rights, their liberties, their problems to those in power. That, the press will tell truth to power. There is no doubt that we have had several instances and we continue to have several instances when the press has spoken truth to power, however uncomfortable it might have been, both for the press and for those in power. These have meant a change in terms of governance, in terms of responsibility and accountability, in terms of what we expect of those who are in positions of power. We are speaking in the context of another explosion of information parallely, not quite part of the organised structure of the press but an explosion in terms of right to information, in the form of Wikileaks phenomenon. So, when, in fact, technologically, ideologically, thematically, philosophically the thrust and emphasis is on expanding the scope of freedoms of information of which the freedom of press is the centre plank, the move to create borders or conditionalities must be seen almost as a counter-liberal move.

There are some real threats and there are some

mantra of the media and journalism becomes an also-ran, a corollary, a kind of prop to give the media the pretense of the rights and privileges of the press so that it can continue its basic, core business and profit maximisation, there is something wrong with the entire dispensation.

We are seeing the emergence of big media baronages, not just in India. It is a world phenomenon and unfortunately in a finance capitalised globalised world, trend is as much ours as in the rest of the world. We are seeing a form of political capitalism in the media in this country where political parties are owning channels - run as purely commercial enterprises - and therefore they reflect a particular point of view. So, you find this whole mix of power politics and profit maximisation of the media, the convergence that is taking place which is typified by Murdoch and Murdochism. And you know what is happened to the story of News of the World in England, how it get intrusive into the lives of people. We have seen thats happened, and we are also tailing that, not perhaps in that scale. But, there is a huge problem in the way we are also tailing that problem.

The media decides that the Anna Hazare movement is the movement of the millenium, irrespective of what really happened on the ground.

imagined threats to the freedom of the press. The real threats of the freedom of the press are of the kind that the Press Council under the Chairmanship of Justice Katju are advancing because they become part of public discourse. They are tapping a popular sense of resentment against the media today. I think we need to acknowledge that. There is great cynicism about the news-media in the country today. Because, the people are seeing, particularly the electronic media, the way we are rushing to conclusions, the way we are being judgmental, the way we are opinionated, the way we dont think about putting somebody in the dock, about damaging someones reputation. And, therefore, when you see the Rs. 100 crores fine being levied against a channel for, what looks like to me, a very trivial technical error, it is the cumulative image of the genre of the news which also, I assume, influences the gravity of a judgment. It is not only the gravity of the specific offence, it is also a generic sense of how this is affecting community at large which seems to have a bearing.

Therefore, the media needs to introspect. Because, if the fourth estate of democracy is not to be dictated to, it becomes a moral responsibility of the fourth estate to put itself in the dock and asks itself whether it is serving by the responsibility entrusted to it by the people it serves. When we ask that question, again some of the real threats to the freedom of the press emerge. I personally feel that to cite a Majithia Wage Board award as a threat to the freedom of the press is honestly ludicrous. When you look at the bottom-line, we have a press in this country, particularly the big media in this country, whose profit margins are very, very healthy. In fact, the media is an exemplar of capitalist profit maximisation in India so much so that a disjuncture is developing between the concept of media as business on the one hand and journalism as a democratic agency on the other hand. Of course, it is a valid argument that unless you have a profitable business you can not be bold to say what you want to say. But, there is a difference between healthy profit lines and freewheeling profit maximisation which marks the media today. If profit maximisation becomes the main

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So, these are the kind of dangers of the media. We need to separate, as I said, the concept of media and the concept of journalism. What is endangered in India today most is journalism. Where is the working journalist? I am yet to meet journalists who feel proud that they are journalists. They are all apologetic about the fact that they have to do this or do that. Sometimes, if they are writing something, it is purely by default, because there is nobody to see it, or nobody understands what they write. So, freedoms are not positive, they are by default. You slip in the freedom between the cracks that appear. Surely, a fourth estate of that kind can not hold aloft the flag of democracy. It is itself a victim of that process and this has a resonance in the popular mind. So, today if the government were to initiate a draconian law against the media, I personally am not sure that the people in this country will come out onto the streets, shoulder to shoulder with the media, to protest that, like they did during the emergency, and like they did in several instances after that. I think it is important for us to be brutally frank about the fact that we can not continue to be defined as business, that we must retake some of the lost ground in terms of the best practices in journalism.

There are several restraints and bottlenecks in the media that have appeared, sometimes unknown to us. Increasingly I can see that distribution is going to become the big threat for the media and a media which is produced but not distributed or disseminated is of little use to anybody. It is happening in the electronic media, in television, in the DTH platforms. In this country, there is no prescribed tariff for any channel on a DTH platform. It is purely the whimsicality of the DTH operator. There is

no law or any regulatory mechanism. The Press Council should address itself on the free availability of media, not just the rich media but also the middle media, the poor media and try to make these platforms of distribution accessible equally or as equitably as possible to all social classes of the media. Now the whole atmosphere is prejudiced and biased in favour of the rich media. The practice of the electronic media in this country is making a mockery of the historic judgment where Supreme Court ruled that the air waves are public property. Public property can not be suborned or hijacked by a few rich people in a club. It is impossible for a middle-order businessman today to start a channel, because you will have no distribution. Slowly, the sense of distribution is also creeping into the reality of the printed press. When you hear about those who are reaching the papers to the homes organising and going on strike, I think, this is the beginning of a symptom. The press in the country thrives on the fact that the end-distribution, the last mile coverage is almost free labour, or small penny labour. But we shouldnt assume that with the free market price determining mechanisms that we are moving into and with generational changes, this rosy picture will continue. Those were also become monopolised or cartelised or oligopolised and you will find distribution mechanisms getting distorted, even for the newspapers. That is going to be the lynchpin which will determine the success or failure of newspaper or that media.

So, there are structural issues which should be addressed and I wish an organisation like the Press Council of India should set up commissions and expert bodies to look at these issues. It is part of its mandate

When you hear about those who are reaching the papers to the homes organising and going on strike, I think, this is the beginning of a symptom.

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to keep under review any development likely to restrict the supply and dissemination of news of public interest and importance. We have as never before in the history of India such restrictions operating. And, I am telling this as a prime concern, to keep under review cases of assistance received by any newspaper or news agency in India from any foreign source including such cases as are referred to it by the Central Government . This may be a bit outdated because post liberalisation we are not allergic to foreign investment in the media. But, yet, we should at least know what is the extent of foreign influence on the media here. Do we know how much of Indian media is owned by Murdoch today, directly or indirectly, in sectors of distribution, productions, channels, newspapers? We do not know that because there is no such study. And which is the body than the Press Council of India should initiate such a study? You should know the media you are talking about, before you begin to start restricting it. Because, there are already strong restrictions in place. And if you are bring in the restrictions that you are talking about, it will be a double whammy, it will be compounding the distinctions for the poorer press, for the middle press. The rich press somehow goes untouched by all this. It is the diversity and variety of the media that will get affected. We will have more and more homogenous, lesser and lesser media telling us more and more the same.

So, these are, I think, some of the dangers of the way we are moving in terms of the news-media in this country and these dangers can prove very adverse and damaging to democratic process itself. The Anna Hazare movement, we are not debating the merits or demerits of the Anna Hazare movement, but the media decides that this is the movement of the millenium, irrespective of its core strength, irrespective of the number of the people who are there, irrespective of what really happened on the ground, and then we are left to believe that this indeed is a great movement. Not that anything wrong in the movement, but there is a sense of disproportion, there is a sense of exaggerating it all out of proportion. So, the media does not err only by not telling us what is happening, or by telling us lies about what is happening but also by not giving us it in the right proportion, in the context. Context is everything in the media. We dont get any of these contexts.

So, I think, I will end by saying that the litmus test for the free media, news-media in this country is whether the journalist will re-emerge; the thinking, concerned, committed, dedicated, open-minded journalist will re-emerge as the central figure of this new media environment. If it is not the journalist, but the business of the media, the market of the media, the reach and extent of the media, the sophistication of the media, the technology of the media, that we are going to be enamoured of, that is going to dazzle us, I think, it then ceases to be a democratic agent. Then it becomes a force from the market. And, the ordinary, sensible citizen will ask, yes you are a business, you compete like a business in the market and if I like your product, I will buy it. Why do you want moral high ground? Why do you raise this whole cry about the freedom of the media in peril every time somebody wants to regulate that market? If you are a market, you will have to be regulated. If you do not want regulation, dont be a product of the market, dont be a product for the consumer. Be an agent for the reader, for the viewer. Even the terms have changed. We talk about consumers. We talk about media products. So, there is need for resistance within the media, within the media organisations. There is a need for rehabilitating the working journalist, making the sovereignty of the working journalist at the core of the issue. Unless we address that issue, the aberrations, the alibis, the false implications (not in a criminal sense) that even the Chairman of the Press Council of India are putting out into the public realm are likely to be lapped up and that would be the beginning of the end of free media in this country. The media would then have really dug its own grave. We often heard on the channels and newspapers, dont kill the messenger. The paradox of the times is that the messenger doesnt need to be killed, because he is already shooting himself in the foot.

Sashi Kumar is Chairman of Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. This is an edited version of the talk by Sashi Kumar made on National Press day in the function organised by Kerala Press Academy in Kesari Hall Thiruvananthapuram on 16th November 2011.Transcript by Kiran Paul, Institute of Communication, Kerala Press Academy.

The Chairman of the Press council, Justice Markandey Katju

The Press Council should address itself on the free availability of media, not just the rich media but also the middle media, the poor media and try to make these platforms of distribution accessible equally or as equitably as possible to all social classes of the media.

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As I write this, news is everywhere, about senior journalists working for The Sun (the sister paper of Rupert Murdochs News of the World) having been arrested over allegations of inappropriate payments to police and public officials. Those arrested include the deputy editor, the photo editor, the chief reporter and chief foreign correspondent. A shocker at the heart of its newsroom, as the Guardian reported. The story, as most people in the media may know, goes back to the hacking of the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler. Its a sad day not only for The Sun and, indeed, for Rupert Murdochs empire, especially after the News of the World had to close down, but also for all honest and upright journalists and editors for whom journalism is a calling, a deep responsibility to society that is often echoed in journalism schools but seldom practised.

Ultimately, its all about influencing people in power or bribing your way through a labyrinth of streets to reach your goal. The Sun is now facing the thrust of Scotland Yards Operation Elveden, but would it be able to serve its readers well as its editor was quoted as saying he wanted to? Well, corruption is as old as the hills and exists worldwide. Sadly, India happens to be one of the top ten countries where corruption is the most rampant. Malpractices in the media are nothing new. We will all remember the Radia tapes for quite a while. It is not as though the tapes suddenly opened out a whole new world that was hitherto unknown. What it brought into sharp focus was the fact that even some of the superstars of media were dabbling in dangerous territory. It is a malaise that not only all well-meaning journalists but also PR practitioners and communicators must strive to eradicate, and eradicate quickly. Making words work is not enough for a journalist or editor. It must be accompanied by a pledge to remain above board and earn the respect of people.

Open Magazines expose, what it called the X-Tapes, came as a rude shock and media gained an unsavoury

hue. Were there clean-up operations in the media thereafter, or are such operations possible at all? Will some journalists be tempted again to string a source along? Would the BBC, The Guardian or The New York Times have tolerated such errant behaviour from their reporters? There is no doubt that the bar needs to be set higher. Journalists must be governed by a code of ethics, or there must be a set of codified rules and anyone transgressing the line should have no place in the profession.

Unless stringent steps are taken, unless there is a continuing debate among senior editors, publishers and those who matter, about journalistic ethics and what constitutes right and wrong, unless mechanisms are put in place to redress grievances voiced by the reader or viewer and to admit and correct mistakes, it will be difficult for the Fourth Estate to regain credibility. What really is meant by credibility? Its an asset, like goodwill. Its earning the respect of the reader. When I recently met the editor and managing director of the Kalki Group, one thing she said still echoes within me. Speak the truth. Everything is contained in that. To speak the truth we should know the truth, so we should be there and ensure for ourselves that we give a true story, she said. A similar sentiment was expressed at a seminar on new media in a Kolkata college, when the vice chancellor of the Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism, Bhopal, using a Punjabi folk parable, said that a journalist must always reflect whether he was speaking the truth, doing something immoral, or creating friction between people. If the answer was no to all the three, then there was nothing to worry, he said.

But how easy is it to bring credibility at a time when people are talking about the media going Page 3, when there is a sort of unabashed celebration of a personality cult, promotion of consumerism, and trivialisation of and dumbing down serious issues has become routine? An academician said the trivialisation process is eating

A Difcult Phase, When The Media Is In Transition There is no doubt that print and television are focused more on entertaining rather than on informing or educating the reader. Where are the feel-good real-life stories, stories of people who are fighting the odds at the grassroots and turning achievers? Also, in the mad scramble for news and bytes, checking, condensing and clarifying have taken a back seat. So, is Justice Katju completely wrong in saying what he did?

Sashi Nair

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into the vitals of a healthy socialisation process while another wondered whether there would come relief from drowning in this tidal wave of trivialisation, of crass commercialisation. Today, we all talk about the Internet and the new (social) media, forgetting that it is still television that drives the agenda and to which people turn to in a jiffy. We all know how television anchors and reporters play up hard due to cut-throat competition for eyeballs, for TRPs. What television anchors dont seem to understand is that when viewers realise the news put out is not credible, the TRPs will automatically sink. And it is quite a discerning reader/viewer we are catering to nowadays. Sadly, creating frenzy by appealing to the emotions, not the mind; ignoring reality and any search for uncomfortable truth ... that seems to be the media of today.

There is no doubt that print and television are focused more on entertaining rather than on informing or educating the reader. Where are the feel-good real-life stories, stories of people who are fighting the odds at the grassroots and turning achievers? Also, in the mad scramble for news and bytes, checking, condensing and clarifying have taken a back seat. How many young reporters today double-check and cross-check facts and thoroughly know the subject they are covering, or even make an honest attempt to understand things? How many have the patience for legwork and the desire to put in hard hours of work to get to the bottom of a story, rather than Googling up information or using the mobile phone to network and put together a hastily written piece? Perhaps it is symbolic of the times we live in, when we do not even have time to talk or socialise with our own family members. A reporter neednt be exceptionally intelligent, but surely he or she must have more than a passing interest and a worldview of things. So, is Justice Katju completely wrong in saying what he did? May be it was his manner of saying it all too blunt for anybodys liking. But his comments cannot be

rubbished and buried under the carpet. One of the points raised by Justice Katju is indeed

a pertinent one the quality of journalism on offer today, in terms of language, style and substance. Despite journalism schools doing a fairly good job and youngsters today having good opportunities to train or apprentice, why do we hear the familiar refrain: Standards have fallen it is not what it was like years ago? Because accuracy, fairness and balance have taken a beating. Like a senior writer said, facts are often randomly selected for inclusion, the main points made at an event are missing, facts are rarely presented with the context necessary for a reader to make sense of them, direct quotes attributed to speakers are often not correct and sometimes even attributed to the wrong speaker. She offers suggestions: prcis writing, listening attentively, taking notes, doing background research. The other worrying aspect she points out is the fall in the standard of English used (other languages, too). The same is the case with editing skills. And do journalism schools have specific courses on media ethics? It may be a harsh statement to make, but it is to a large extent true that there is a serious problem with the depth of knowledge and awareness apparent in young journalists today. May be corporatisation of media houses has something to do with it.

For youngsters, it is a good time to be in the media when there are so many opportunities available to test a range of skills. But it is a difficult time no doubt, with huge challenges to be met. Earning trust is not easy. It never was, and is likely to be much more difficult in todays world. And then again, no matter what they teach you at journalism school, the classroom is as far removed from the theatre as make-believe is from reality.

The writer is the Editor, Press Institute of India Research Institute for Newspaper Development, Chennai.

News of the World last edition; First edition of The Sun on Sunday and Rupert Murdoch, poses for a photograph with the first edition of The Sun on Sunday

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GXmv Ap ]Xnmtmfw Imew tIcfns ]{X{]h \taJebnepw ]{X{]h\ ]cnioe\cwKpw ]{X{]hI kwLS\mXenepw Pzenp\n hynXzambncpp F. F kXy{hX F kXykmdntXv. AXnhn]pehpw sshhn[yamXpamb B IcwKns Fm hifpw kv]inpt]mIm e]cnanXn A\p hZnpsap tXmpn. AXn\m Atlhpsamcpanv {]hnm Ahkcw e`n Imes Nne HmI am{Xw ]pXpm\mWv Rm Cu Ahkcw hn\ntbmKnpXv.

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ktXyjr ) NRAv Gntwmj

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Hcp No^v dntm Fs\ {]h nWsav Ctmgs No^v dntmam ktXys\ Ip]Tn Wsap tXmmdpv Ctm ]e tmgpw. hmbpsS temIv cmI apgpInnSp No^v

tIcf {]kv AmZan Cnyqv Hm^v IyqWntj Ubddmbn ZoLImew tkh\a\pjvTn, tIcfnse apXn ]{X{]hIcnse {]apJ hynXzambncp, bixicoc\mb F. F. kXy{hXs\ amXr`qanbn Atlns kl{]hI\mbncp teJI A\pkvacnpp.

F. _meIrjvW

F. F kXy{hX

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dntm AXmbncpp ktXys ssien. Fnepw FhntSbpw hm aWp a\pw icochpw. Xs {]h\ taJe sImnbmsWpw ]e Imcyfpw Xncph\]pcs teJImcpsS {i ]Xntbh-bmsWpap Nnmpgsampw Atln\v Atijw Dmbncpn. cm{ob dntmpI, Fp th kIeXnepw Atlw ssIshpw. IqsS ]WnsbSpphscsbmpw shdpsXbncnm hnSn. hmp ]nmse HmSnpw; kzbw HmSpIbpw sNpw.

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hmI Fs\ krnmsav Atlw Rv Imnp.

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Gsdpsd Cpw amXr`qan ]npScp Xv. ]s, B hgnbn ]noSv Gsdmew kXykm amXr`qansmw Dmbncpn. ]{X{]h\ PohnXns Ahkm\ \mfpI Atlw tIcfIuapZnbnembn cpp. B ]{Xns sInepw anepw Gsd amfpmb ImeLambncpp AXv.

IuapZnbn\nv hncanXn\p tijamWv Atlnse bYm A[ym]I\v X\nkzcq]n ]pdp hcm Ahkcw e`nXv. _lpam\y \mb {io hn. ]n. cmaN{ {]v AmZanbpsS kmcYnbmbncp Imew. AtmgmWv ktXy AhnsS tImgvkv UbddmIpXv. AXpey-amb B IqpsIv {]v AmZansb tIcfnse ]{X{]hI ]cnioe\ m]\fpsS ap\ncbnsenXv Ncn{Xw. AXn\Iw At\Iw ]cnioe\ tI{ tIcfn ]{X{]hI mbn s]mnapfncpp Fv HmWw. 1993 apX 15 hjw

Hcp No^v dntm Fs\ {]hnWsav Ctmgs No^v dntmam ktXys\ Ip]TnWsap tXmmdpv Ctm ]etmgpw. hmbpsS temIv cmI apgpInnSp No^v dntm AXmbncpp ktXys ssien. Fnepw FhntSbpw hm aWp a\pw icochpw. kIeXnepw Atlw ssIshpw. IqsS ]WnsbSpphscsbmpw shdpsXbncnm hnSn. hmp ]nmse HmSnpw; kzbw HmSpIbpw sNpw. a\pjya\ns teme`mhsf sXmpWp lrZbkv]inbmb hmItfmSv Atln\v {]tXyI Iw Xsbmbncpp.

hmIp Xs BnbXns HuNnXys Cu k`n {]iwknmsX h.

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kXykm AmZanbnse {][m\ ]cnioeI\mbn XpSp. AhnsS \npw \qdpIWn\p injymscbpw Atln\p e`np.

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amXr`qan ap sU]yqn FUndmWv teJI. Ctm s{Sbv\nv tImgvkv Ubd.

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]n. kpPm-X

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tmfw anIhv ]penb Hcm am[ya Ncn-{X-n thsd-bn-. Hmdn-bm-\-bpsS Hmtcm A`n-apJ kw`m-j-Whpw hnhm-Z v Xncn-sIm-fpn. BtcmSpw ]d-n-n-m cl-ky- t]mepw t\Xm- Hmdn-bm-\-tbmSv shfn-s-Sp-n-bn-pv.

Cy-bn Cn-cm-Km-nsb am{Xta Hmdnbm\ Chyq sNbvX-npq. kp ^n- Aen `qtm, bmk Acm-^-v, sln Inkn, Ab-p sJmta-\n, lpssk cmPm-hv, tKmUm sab XpSn Ign \qm-nse an t\Xm- fpw Hmdn-bm-\-bpsS tNmZy--fn hoWphe--cm-Wv. Inkn- Hcn-se-gp-Xn; ""]{X-tem-Iv Btcm-sS-nepw kwkm-cnv Rm A]-I-S-n NmSn-b-Xv Hcn- am{Xw, AXv Hmdn-bm\ ^m-kn-tbm-SmWv.'' Chyq thf-bn Hmdn-bm-\-bpsS Hcp tNmZyn\v hnb-v\mw bpw ""-bqkvsekv'' Bbn-cp-p-shv Inkn ]d-p. Ata-cn--bnepw ]pdpw AXv henb H-m-Sp-bn.

Cn-cm-Km-n-bp-am-bp kw`m-jWw Cy--]mIv _-s sNdp-Xm-sbm-p-a De--Xv. 1970 Znn-bn hm-Wv Hmdn-bm\ Cn-cm-Km-n-tbmSv kwkm-cn--Xv. hmp-I hfsc Icp-X-temsS am{Xw {]tbm-Kn-m-dp Cn-cm-Kmn Hcp hw `qtmsb ]n Cs\ ]dp; ""\ shfn-hp a\p-jy-\ `qtm, Atlw ]d-bp--sXsv a\-kn-em-m {]bm-kw.'' A`n-apJw BZyw "-KmUn-b' ]{X-n A-Sn-p-hp.- AXv ]noSv Cy-bn-sebpw ]mIn-m-\n-se bpw am{X-a temIs ]e ]{X--fnepw D-cn-p. -C-n-c-bpsS kw`m-jWw hmbnv bYm-n `qtm-bpsS shfnhp sIp. Hmdn-bm\sb hnfnv Cm-am-_m-Zn hcpn `qtm Xpd-Sn-p. ""Cn-cm-Km-nv Htc-sbmcp B{K-lta-bpq. Cu D]-`q-J--amsI shn-n-Snv

Rsf Ah-cpsS Imo-gn Fn--Ww. F\nv Ahsc Hpw _lp-am-\-an-. R kl-]m-Tn-I-fm-Wv. Cncn am{Xw _pn-bp Hcp km[m-c-W-m-cn-bm-bn-cpp ]Tn-pImev Cn-c. Ah-cpsS ssI]n-Snv Ipep-m t]mepw Rm CjvS-s-Sp-n-''.

`qtm-bpsS Chyq IqSn A-Snp h-tXmsS \b-X-{-hr-- A-em-n-em-bn. t\cs Xocp-am-\n--s--cp knwe D-tImSn apS-p-sam-bn. cp cmPy--fnsebpw hntZi Imcy-a{nam Xn kwkm-cn-p. `qtmCnc IqSn-m-gv-N-bvp-- km-[yX an. Xs hmN-I- \ntj-[n-m Hmdn-bm\tbmSv `qtm Xs t\cnmh-iy-s-p. Ah AXn\v hgnbn-. HSp-hn X{-im-en-bmb Cn-cm-Kmn As ]mew hnam-\-m-h-f-n `q-tmsb ssIsIm-Sp-p kzoI-cn-p. B cwKw

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Ign \qm-nse an t\Xm-fpw Hmdn-bm-\-bpsS tNmZy--fn hoWphe- h-cm-Wv. Inkn- Hcn-se-gp-Xn; ""]{X-tem-Iv Btcm-sS-nepw kwkm-cnv Rm A]-I-S-n NmSn-b-Xv Hcn- am{Xw, AXv Hmdn-bm\ ^m-kn-tbm-SmWv.'' Hmdn-bm\ ^m-kn-

sSen-hn-j-\n Iv e-\n Ccpv Hmdn-bm\ t]mepw ssIb-Sn-p. A`n-ap-J- kw-`m-jWw Ncn-{X-nse Ahn-kva-c-Wo-b-amb aplq-ambn amdp-I-bm-bn-cpp. t\mh-enpw ]{X-{]-h-I-\p-amb K{_n-tb Kmjy amIzkv ]d-bpp, ""A`n-apJ kw`m-jWw {]Wbw t]mem-Wv. cp t]pw \ Xm]cyaps-nte kw`m-jWw A-h-m-Ip-I-bp-q. Cs-n Hcp Iqw tNmZy--fpw \nPo-h-amb D-c-fpw am{Xw.''

Hmdn-bm\bpsS A`n-apJ kw`m-j-W- acym-Z-bpsS koa-I ewLn-p-Xm-sWv Bt-]n--h-cpv. Ah Ftmgpw {]tIm-]-\-]-c-ambn tNmZy- FSp-n-p. bmk Acm-^-n-t\mSv Hcn- Ah tNmZnp; ""tamsj Ubm-\- sb-Ip-d-nv \n- Fp ]d-bpp? IrXy-ambn adp-]Sn Xc-Ww. ]Xnhv Dcp-

p-Ifn ]mSn.'', Ink-tdmSv kwkm-cn-p-tm Hmdn-bm\ tNmZnp ""A[n-Imcw \nsf Da--\m-pptm?'' Cm-anIv {]tm`w sImSp-ncnsIm thf-bn Cdm-\nse jmtbmSv Ah tNmZn-Xv Cs\; ""Xm Hcp GIm-[n-]-Xn-bmb cmPm-hm-sW kXyw \ntj-[n-m-\m-Iptam?'' Ccw {]tIm-]-\- tNZy--fn \nd-bv-cp-sXv ]dbph-cpv.

]t Hmdn-bm\ ^mkn Xs tNmZyssien Hcp Iebmn hfn. BtcmSpw ]d-bn-sv Dd-n cl-ky- Ah kwkm-cn-p- ]p-d-p-sImp hp. kw`m-jW thf-bn Ccp-hp-an-S-bn krjvSn-s-Sp-p B_w tNmZyw t\sc sXmSp-p-hn-Sm Hmdn-bm \bvv ss[cyw ]Ip. Cn-cm-Kmn kw`mjW thf-bn Hmdn-bm\tbmSv ]dp; ""^ntdm-kn-t\mSv F\nv KmV amb {]Wbw Dm-bn-cpn--. Fs Ipn-Iv Hcp A thW-am-bn-cpp.

AXn-\m R hnhm-ln-X-cm-bn.'' km[m-cW KXn-bn Hcm C-s\-sbm pw asm-cm-tfmSv ]d-bmdn. Cn-cm-Km-n-sb sImv C-s\-sbms kwkm-cn-n-Xv Hmdn-bm\bpsS ssh`hw. Xs ]nXmhv Bcm-sWv Adn-bm-am-bn-cp- s-nepw Hcn-epw At-ls Xm sNp In-sv hnn {_mUv Gp ]dXv Hmdn-bm\tbmSm-Wv. B{^Uv lnv tImv `oI-c-kn-\n-a-I am{X-saSp m ImcW-sav? ]epw Am-X-amb B hkvXpX Hmdn-bm\bpambp lnvtIm-ns kw`m-j-W-n hmbn-mw. sPkymv ]ptcm-ln-Xsm--amWv _mey-n lnvtImv Pohn--Xv. ""Ah Fs Ftmgpw `b-s-Sp-n-sm-n-cp-p. Ctm Fs Dug-am-Wv. Rm kn\n-a-I-fn-eqsS temIs t]Sn -n-pp''. _mey-Im-em-\p-`-h- Hcp

a\p-jys kz`mh cq]o-I-c-W-sbpw A`n-cp-Nn-sbbpw Fs\ kzm[o-\n-p-sav lnvtIm-n-s hmN-I-n \np hyw.

Hmdn-bm\ tNmZy--fp-sSbpw D-c--fp-sSbpw {Iaw amn--f-bm-dp-sv kl-{]-h-I Ip-s-Sp-n-bn-p-v. Hcn- kn\n-am-m-c-\mb s^n\n Ah-tcmSv Xn-bdn; ""hrn-sI \pW-n, sacp--an-m \mbv,'' Fsmw hnfnp. Chyq A-Snp h-tm Hmdn-bm\ AsXmpw hnp-I-f-n-.

tNmZy--fp-ambn D-c- tXSn Ae-bp-Xn-\n-S-bn Hcn- Xs Hcp Cc adn-smcp tNmZy-hp-ambn Hmdn-bm\bpsS Pohn-X-n-tep ISp hp. {Koknse GIm-[n-]-Xn-bmb `cWm[n-Imcn tPmv ]m t{Um ]ueo-hns\ h[n-m hn^e {iaw \S-nb hnh t\Xmhv Ae-Ivkm- ]\-Ku-enkv Bbn-cpp B adp tNmZy-m-c. Pbn in A\p-`-hn-p-h Ae-Ivkm-sd

tS-Xmbn Dv. 1991 Ghpw IqSp-X hn-gn--s-- Ir-Xn-sb AwKo-Imcw t\Sn-sb-nepw t\mh kmln-Xy-n Ahv Imcy-amb Ne-\-apm-m Ign-n-. ]{X-{]-h-\-am-bn-cpp Hmdn-bm\bpsS alna apgp-h t{]mPz-e-am-nb taJ-e. s]gvk--Wm-enn Chyq A\yq-\-amb Hcp Ie-bmn hfn Hmdn-bm\^mkn Ncn-{X-n kz-am bn Hcp CSw t\Sn. Cy D]-\n-j-n se \Nn-tI-X-kns\ t]mse Hcn-epw Dcw e`n-m- -tNm-Zyhpw sXmSp-p- hnv Pohn-X-tmSp bm{X ]d--tm; D-kp-lr-mb amIzkv FgpXn; ""A`napJ bp-`q-an-bnse Dze t]mcm-fnbpw hoWp''. Ah Ctm kzn {InkvXp-hp-ambn kmm-s\-

p-dnv kwkm-cn-p-I-bm-Ipw.

teJI hoWw ]{Xnse s]mfnn FUndmWv.

A[n-Ir-X-cpsS A\p-hm-Z-tmsS Pbn-en sNpIv Hmdn-bm\ kwkm-cn-p. B kw`m-j-W- {]kn-oIr-X-am-b- tXmsS a\p-jym-h-Imi {]h-I {]tm`w XpS-n. As\ s]mXpam n in Cfhv sNbvXv hn-b--s Ae-Ivkm IrXXm ]pjv]--fp- ambn Hmdn-bm\sb kao-]n-p. Abm-fp sS adptNmZyw Ah-cpsS Pohn-X-ns KXn amn-sb-gp-Xn. Ccp-hcpw hnhm-ln-X-cm-bn. GXm\pw amk- am{Xta B ZmXy_w \ne-\n-p-q. AXn-\Iw Zpcql kml-N-cy-n Ae-Ivkm ]\-Ku-enkv sIm-s-p. "F am' F t]cn ^mkn AtXpdn-v A\p-`-h- Xo-vW-amb Hcp t\mh cNn-p. Xp-]n-d-msX t]mb a-sf-p-dnv "Spssa Nn{U s\h t_m' F cm-as t\mhepw Hmdn-bm\bp

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Communication to the modern world is what the nervous system is to the human body. It became a separate and serious branch of academic learning about 150 years ago when it received recognition in certain universities in the New World of which the United States was the most important region. The Old World of Europe continued to be conservative, especially in academic course offerings, but the U.S. led the world in the evolution of new courses, particularly in the technology of mass communication. Morse and Marconi had already revolutionized telecommunication; and the science of electricity and electronics had registered great progress in Britain and Europe in the 19th century itself.

Today communication has grown into the most important branch of human knowledge, especially because of the tremendous progress made by the U.S. and Japanese technologists in space science, miniaturization, tele-medicine, biotechnology, nano sciences and oceanography. There are unprecedented sociological developments too that have affected the contents, quality and differential spread of the media of inter-personal and mass communication globally.

Training and education in communication had to change according to the new requirements identified in the Western world. Changes did occur in the West but in the East (with the exception of Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore) did not see changes for a long time especially in South Asia. Even the nomenclature of the training institutes in India did not have the word Communication.

In fact, when this writer wanted to change the name of the Department of Journalism in the University of Kerala to Department of Communication & Journalism in 1985, there was a hue and cry against the change, raised not only

by some ignoramuses who attributed personal motives to me, but by well-informed journalists, journalism educators, and members of the University syndicate. Their opposition was based on the premise that Communication had nothing to do with journalism and vice versa! Luckily the controversy died down when it was pointed out to the opponents that well-known universities in the U.S. had changed the names of their departments of journalism to Department of Telecommunication!

Mass communication has undergone a sea change all over the world and it is but proper that this change is reflected in the nomenclature, content and practice of media education and training. The management of newspaper organizations and that of institutes run by journalists professional bodies in Kerala and India must seriously consider the question of introducing appropriate changes in their course curriculum and syllabi to embrace the big changes that have occurred in the functioning of the mass media in the world.

Besides theories, all aspects of communication (intra-personal, inter-personal and mass) must be known to the students who should also be aware of at least the fundamentals of the modes and principles of the new developments in the field satellite and cable TV, international communication, the use of new devices such as blogging, e-mail, Internet, SMS, Twitter, mobile phones, broadband spectra (2-G, 3-G, 4G etc.) and above all the Combo medium and Palm Top where various media can be conveniently used in the Convergence Mode.

The Contemporary Scene Access: Though communication is as old as humanity, the most significant changes in several aspects of it

Changes in Media Education Necessitated by Media Technology in the New MillenniumThe biggest change that occurred in the media world during the past two decades is that the media users have been empowered since they are no longer passive receivers of mediated messages but active creators of messages. Mass communication has always functioned as an immensely large, heterogeneous, anonymous activity organized by huge conglomerates that considered communication as one of their industries. They have considered that the consumers of their media products had little say in the organization and spread of messages. But today, the new technologies of internetting, blogging, u-tubing, mobile phoning, SMS-sending, twittering, etc., have made users and consumers, active producers of messages.

J V Vilanilam

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took place in the last three hundred years, especially in the latter part of the 20th century And the most rapid changes occurred in recent decades of the 21st century that witnessed the electronic revolution in all branches of the one-way mass media and the two-way social media. What is of great importance is that the scientific factors that brought about the big changes in both sectors mass and inter-personal are common: digitalization, rapid transmission, computerization, transistorization, and the use of microelectronic and miniaturized systems of communication, the linking of networks of mass and inter-personal communication, and above all the development of Combo sets where the art and science of combining different media systems telephone, television, radio, film, Internet, e-mail, SMS, Twitter, etc. are combined under the same miniature palmtop device. This is the ultimate experience in communication and the freest and most convenient device a human being can carry wherever she or he goes and still be in touch with the outside world!

But can we ignore that despite the availability of all these new devices of communication, there are severe problems of communication experienced by a very large number of people in India primarily because of the structure of the Indian society. No doubt the number of people using the modern devices has increased and is still increasing, although as a proportion of the total Indian population, namely 120 crores (1200 million or 1.2 billion), the number of modern media users is still small.

In other words, the access to these modern devices of

communication will continue to be limited for a long time to come. The reasons for this are not far to seek; they are mainly economic and sociological, although a minister recently observed that half the Indian population is demanding mobiles, not comfort cabins!

The use: Another question of importance before us is the use to which the modern devices are put by the limited number of their users. Are they using it for building bridges of understanding among people coming from various ethnic, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds or using them for silly preoccupations such as gossiping, listening to some meaningless songs and watching movies. Some politicians were recently spotted watching pornography on their mobiles and that too in the Legislative Assembly, instead of using them for being in touch with the people of their constituencies! Thus there is a flip side to the use of technological progress for not-so-important personal pleasures rather than for social benefit. But we cannot condemn all the modern devices of communication as meaningless and dangerous, (yes, dangerous when mobiles are used by terrorists for detonating explosive devices!) Despite all these undesirable uses of the TC devices, human beings have to recognize their beneficial boons.

Still another aspect of technological progress leading to deviant media behaviour is their heavy use for entertainment. Although life without entertainment is dull, dreary and sometimes very dissatisfying to the human psyche, no society should be entertained

Changes in Media: From Paper to Tablet

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to death!, as a famous communication scholar, Neil Postman, once said. Another world famous communication scientist, George Gerbner, said that the modern man is so dependent on film and television that he organizes his life on the models and styles propagated through stories presented in them. The stories that appeal the most to humans are now the ones that are presented on the mini and maxi screens! This may be an exaggeration but it is an exaggeration of a vital truth. Gerbner reminds people that even news stories are presented in cinema style.

Story-selling VS Story-telling: The modern media are story-sellers, not conventional story-tellers, because their main aim is to sell goods. Facts are not sacred any more for them whereas fiction is! Selling news stories is considered good for selling goods! Once upon a time, stories were hand-crafted but today they are crafted by trained craftsmen, for huge audiences readers, listeners and viewers running into millions in all parts of the globe, mainly aimed at selling goods. The needs of small groups are ignored in this modern craftsmanship. Daily violations of human rights are ignored too. And even the needs of women (forming half the worlds population) are ignored in this scheme of things except for entertainment!

Perhaps from the beginning of the 20th century, the big scientific and technological changes that occurred in various fields influenced the modes and contents of communication its systems, concepts and equipment, although the latest media revolution occurred through the most recent changes that happened since the 1980s e-mail, Internet, digitalization, computerization, microelectronic systems, glass fibres, miniaturization and storage of millions of bits of information on silicon chips of the size of a human nail. All this has provided us a new worldthe e-world, a far cry from the cave walls where our primitive ancestors scribbled their ideas and stories in pictures.

It is exciting and essential for the academies, universities, and training institutes to provide their scholars with a systematic narration of the story of human journey from the hot coves to the cool cyber cells. The story of scraggy humans utterances of meaningless (as well as meaningful) sounds that later developed into speech, writing, printing, radio diffusion, television and the present-day instant devices for social communication, is worthy of the closest attention of teachers and students of communication. But the basis of all these changes is Electronics, and modern students and teachers of communication in every training institution have to know at least the basics of Electronics.

Electronics: Everything in, on, above or below the earth, in fact, everything in our infinite universe consists of atoms. The structure of all atoms including those of human beings, animals and objects, is the same. All atoms consist of a nucleus which, in turn, consists of a positively charged proton and chargeless neutrons. The negatively charged electrons are revolving around the

nucleus. Electrons help in moving information from one point to another in all the media of communication except perhaps the traditional media of staged performances.

Modern media are all electronic. Until the 1970s in India and the 1960s in Europe, North America and Japan (ENAJ countries), printing was mechanical and types were cast in hot metal but when electronic processing was started, printing was cold and called the cold process printing, Most newspapers in the West were produced using the Video Display Terminals (VDTs). Modern printing became a safe and clean processno more dirty black hands and stinking sweat for the press workers!

Digitalization followed, and whatever information was gathered was stored in databanks from where the required information could be retrieved whenever needed and printed quickly. The computer could be hooked to the printer and the whole process of printing could be completed in a short time. * We called the new process of printing as the cold process.**

But training institutes have to discuss the history and background, progress and evolution of modern systems of printing and production. Letter presses and metal types are now museum pieces!

Another question of importance before us is the sociology of the mass media. Every training institute has to teach the sociology of the media against the backdrop of the sociology of knowledge in India. This will include not only the technological aspects of the new devices but the sociology of media ownership. No media system can escape the economic aspects of media ownership since the latter tends to influence the contents of the media and practices of the media owners, publishers and workers as proved by the operation of the phenomenon of Paid News and Private Treaties in recent years, all of which coloured and controlled the credibility of the media. Media workers (editors, field workers such as reporters, television camera persons, selectors of those aspects of reality supposed to attract the media users and thereby influence television/media rating) have to assert their independence in the name of truth and social relevance. Should there not be some emphasis on the use of journalism and communication for the benefit of the people. This is a land where the Father of the Nation, among other things, emphasized that journalism was service to the people.

Perhaps from the beginning of the 20th century, the big scientific and technological changes that occurred in various fields influenced the modes and contents of communication its systems, concepts and equipment, although the latest media revolution occurred through the most recent changes that happened since the 1980s (e-mail, Internet, digitalization, computerization, microelectronic systems, glass fibres, miniaturization and storage of millions of bits of information on silicon chips of the size of a human nail.) All this has provided us a new world the e-world, a far cry from the cave walls where primitive beings recorded their ideas and stories in a crude manner.

Changes have occurred in photography and

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cinematography too. The use of electronic and digital photography, optoelectronics, photophonics and digital transmission of images started in India in the early 1990s, the beginning of the era of globalization. There are now centres of digital imaging technology. Students of mass communication have to visit these centres and observe their working. Press club institutes and press academies have to expose their wards to all the new technologies before they finish their training. Schools of Communication have to equip their wards with theoretical knowledge and practical training in the art and science of COMPUNICATION that is, computerized communication, digital camera operations, scanning, analogue vs digital systems, Desk Top Publishing (DTP), etc. The lingo itself has changed as you can see from the Glossary of many new books on communication.

A significant drawback of many training programmes in the country is that theoretical aspects are sometimes totally missing in them. Of course, some good souls emphasize that communication and journalism are mainly craft-oriented and theory is of no practical value. This is absurd. Communication is a vital aspect of human life and monopolization of it by a few who deliberately shut their trainees eyes to the essential theories that see through the machination of many profit-oriented trainers is not in the ultimate interests of society as a whole. You can train crafts-persons but such training ends up as crafty and deleterious to society since it shuts the trainees eyes to the hard social realities in the country. Therefore there should be a judicious bending of theory and practice in all communication/journalism training. The freedom of speech and information envisaged in our Constitution is not only the freedom of the publisher or the working journalist/media technician but the freedom of the entire people to express their views even views unpalatable to the ruling fraternity! It is peoples freedom that is more important for the nations future than the freedom of the proprietor/publisher/media owner.

This truth and the historical evolution of the concept have to become part of the training programmes in all institutes.

One last point: The biggest change that occurred in

the media world during the past two decades is that the media users have been empowered since they are no longer passive receivers of mediated messages but active creators of messages. Mass communication has always functioned as an immensely large, heterogeneous, anonymous activity organized by huge conglomerates that considered communication as one of their industries. They have considered that the consumers of their media products had little say in the organization and spread of messages. But today, the new technologies of internetting, blogging, u-tubing, mobile phoning, SMS-sending, twittering, etc., have made users and consumers, active producers of messages. Trainees can become citizen journalists.

John Milton, the famous English poet had argued in his famous Areopagytica for the freedom of the citizen to give expression to his or her thoughts without fear of persecution. He even said that people could hold their own personal faith and practise it without harming others. A true church can consist of one person!, he said. This is the basic idea of democracy and the media have to protect and defend this human right. No media education and training will be complete without stressing this fundamental right. Are we stressing it in our institutes and academies of communication and journalism training? Are our trained journalists votaries of this freedom or just mercenaries out there to fight for any cause that brings them huge monetary rewards, foreign junkets and various other personal benefits? Courage of conviction is more important for a journalist/communicator than the sheen and jingle of coins or the glitter and glamour of positions or status.

Prof. Dr. J. V.Vilanilam is former Vice-Chancellor and & Head, Department of Communication & Journalism, University of Kerala, TPuram.

*For details see the writers books: Aa Lokam Mutal e-Lokam Varei (Malayalam), Bhaasha Institute, 2003; and his Public Relations in India, SAGE, 2011) ** Kerala Kaumudi was the first newspaper in Kerala to introduce this cold process in the early 1970s, followed by Manorama, Matrubhumi and other newspapers.

Training and education in communication had to change according to the new requirements identified in the Western world. Changes did occur in the West but in the East did not see changes for a long time especially in South Asia. Even the nomenclature of the training institutes in India did not have the word Communication.

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Navodayam is the merging of two words nava, meaning new and udayam, meaning dawn. It is the name of a community magazine that has realised the dreams of hundreds of women of Chittoor District in Andhra Pradesh, run, edited, published, marketed and distributed by women, for women and of women. It realises the democratic spirit laid down in the Indian Constitution. Over time, Navodayam has become a strong link between village women and the government by spreading awareness about official schemes and programmes targeted at women who can benefit from the programmes. At the other end, it informs the government and its agencies about the needs and concerns of the women. The women do not come from sophisticated, affluent and urban backgrounds backed by university degrees. None of them have ever been to a journalism school. Most of them cannot even speak English, leave alone read or write it. But all that has not caused hurdles for their growth. They have taken running the magazine on, as a learning experience, as a commitment and as a career. The Navodayam Project began as part of the World Banks Poverty Alleviation Programme. The first issue of the newsletter, aimed at empowering women through communication, called Navodayam, was

published on August 15, 2001. The main aim: to take the newspaper to the village. Six poor and semi-educated women living in Chittoor District in Tirupati gathered strength from within themselves to write, edit, lay out, print, publish and distributethe newsletter in Telugu all by themselves. Picking and laying out photographs, and running a cartoon strip done by one member of the staff who happens to be a good artist are all within a days work for the gritty young women whose lives have changed since they began the project.

Navodayam was born in the form of a newsletter with the purpose of putting into actionInformation for Empowerment. The four major aims are to (a) give voice to the rural and poor women, (b) place rural women in charge of news coverage, (c) reach information out to touch, influence and inspire the rural poor, and (d) adapt journalism so that it becomes a tool to empower rural, poor, oppressed and uneducated girls and women. In the process, the six women who began the newsletter have been able to redefine their own lives and look at their involvement with it as a great learning process.

Initially launched as a quarterly newsletter in Telugu with eight pages of printedmatter (the inaugural issue printed only 750 copies), Navodayam today is a

Rural Women Take to Journalism, Redene Lives

Shoma A. Chatterji

Its been ten years since a new dawn arose in a district in Andhra Pradesh, when six poor women in Chittoor decided to bring out a newsletter filled with womens voices and then take it to the villages. They believed that informing rural women who knew nothing, and giving them a voice, was empowerment. From 750 copies, Navodayam is today a monthly magazine with a circulation of 30000, and a readership well past two lakh. From reporting and writing to editing and laying out the pages, its all the handiwork of women. Stories drive home pertinent messages, special issues focus on specific subjects, and semi-literate women have been trained to gather news, file copy, even shoot a video. Its been quite a remarkable initiative that has benefited the marginalised and oppressed communities of Andhra Pradesh.

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powerful, 24-page monthly paper that has grown to 30,000 copies, all of which are sold out. Eighty reporters, all of them from poor families settled in rural areas, have learnt reporting, writing, editing and layout since the newsletter first came out. Navodayam has a readership of 200,000 that can easily beat the readership figures of some of the leading dailies in Andhra Pradesh. It began with six core women. Today, it has around ten staff reporters and 20 contributors. They have initiated a system of annual subscription. The community coordinators and sanghamitras (village-level activists of the Indira Kranthi Patham programme) motivated self-help groups to pay the subscription. The reporters were instrumental in facilitating annul subscription to the magazine by the line departments and NGOs. The reporters personally approached the line departments in the district and managed to get advertising support for the magazine and the amount contributed to the corpus fund. The advertisement rates were worked out beforehand by the team.

Our reporters are semi-literate and poor women from the villages. They have undergone training in newsgathering and filing copy. We have also picked out the artists among them. We have put them through basic

training in journalism that has improved their language, writing and editing skills. They have been so effective that they have acquired the courage and integrity needed to deal with the consequences of conscientious reporting and critical writing, informs Manjula, who began her career as editor of Navodayam.

Mallika, one of the first six and a member of the core group, says that they would receive death threats for covering issues directly dealing with local women, from vested interests who do not want Navodayam to deal with the problems of the women. We bring out a special issue on the basis of a survey we conduct ourselves. We publish our findings in the form of a report in an issue. We also approach the local collector, ask him for his views and publish his side of the story as well. In this way, we move one step ahead of news per se. For example, we went to cover four cases of rape, of four girls. We discovered that in one case, a 14-year-old girl had been raped by a 50-year-old man and she had left school because of the social stigma. We not only brought pressure on the perpetrator but also persuaded the girl to get back to school, recounts Mallika.

The technical logistics and financial issues of publishing the magazine is taken care of by a core

Rural women video journalists, a Scene from Andhrapradesh; Courtesy: outlook

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G{]n 2012

committee formed from within the reporters pool, which manages the total budget. The Zilla Samakhya (district-level federation of self-help groups) was requested to provide its services to help the ongoing publication, distribution and sales of the magazine. Nine members formed the Navodayam Planning Commission six were reporters and three representatives of the Zilla Samakhya. The president is the editor of Navodayam. The reporters began networking with regional newspapers to gain training and experience as professional journalists. Reporters are encouraged to contribute issue-specific features, reports and articles linked to a particular area of the district. For example, if alcoholism is rampant in one area, there is a detailed piece on the impact of alcoholism on the family and ways to resolve the problem.

There was one touching case of a woman who committed suicide and we brought this to public view by writing about it. It happened because the woman had taken a loan from an NGO that offered micro loans to rural women. But the woman did not know anything about the interest payable. So, when she saw the interest that had accumulated after some time, she was shocked and this drove her to suicide. Our aim was to drive home the point that since village women were illiterate, all details needed to be spelt out for them in the future so that such tragic cases did not happen again, Manjula elaborates.

In January 2010, Navodayam brought out a special issue against child marriage to coincide with the Shivaratri Festival. The idea was to spread awareness among people about the evils of child marriage. The special issue carried comparative interviews of women married off as children and interviews with women whose marriages were stopped when they were kids and now were happier for the stoppage, says Manjula. Why Shivaratri? Villagers of Srikalahasti in Chittoor District believe that the night is auspicious for giving away the girl-child in marriage because they last longer than normal marriages and it is the night of Devudu Pelli (Gods Marriage). It is an age-old custom associated with the festivities surrounding Shivaratri. Around 2000 marriages are performed in February of which, many are child brides and grooms putting a stop to the girls

schooling.Navodayam has trained seven women over a ten-

month long span in video journalism. The trained video journalists have made over 100 documentary films and are even providing video clips to major television networks, a source of revenue for them. A video film on child marriage was shown across villages where child marriage was rampant. The women of Navodayam have persuaded women of self-help groups to put the children they had taken out of schools to join the growing mass of child labour, back to school. In addition, each woman who subscribes to the magazine sees to it that every member of her family also reads it.

The Navodayam women are convinced that their poor, marginalised and oppressed readers, have gathered the courage and faith to talk freely about personal problems, about health, domestic violence, the pressure to get their small girls out of school and married off, family peace being threatened by chronic alcoholism among the men and so on. The Navodayam women often intervene personally to settle such disputes and resolve some of the problems. They then narrate their success stories through the magazine, to inspire and encourage other women to come forward and discuss their problems, too.

Navodayam has also spread its journalistic wings towards a revival of cultural roots that are getting lost to time and modernistic interventions such as the cinema, television and so on. Journalists visit senior people in the villages to collect oral cultural forms of performance such as traditional songs, proverbs, grandmother s tales, and so on and publish them in the magazine to inform, educate and entertain the readers of the younger generation. The Navodayam Community Magazine (Telugu) won the UNFPA-Laadli Media Special Jury Award for 2009. It has been a source of inspiration for similar media initiatives like radio and films.

The writer is a freelance journalist, author and film scholar based in Kolkata. She has authored 17 books and contributed to many edited compilations on cinema, family and gender. Courtesy: Vidura

A cover page of Navodayam

Eighty reporters, all of them from poor families settled in rural areas, have learnt reporting, writing, editing and layout since the newsletter first came out. Navodayam has a readership of 200,000 that can easily beat the readership figures of some of the leading dailies in Andhra Pradesh. It began with six core women. Today, it has around ten staff reporters and 20 contributors. Our reporters are semi-literate and poor women from the villages. They have undergone training in newsgathering and filing copy. We have also picked out the artists among them. We have put them through basic training in journalism that has improved their language, writing and editing skills. They have been so effective that they have acquired the courage and integrity needed to deal with the consequences of conscientious reporting and critical writing, informs Manjula, who began her career as editor of Navodayam.

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G{]n 2012

"\ `mj BUw_ca; P\tfmSp [mnI _m[yXbmWv' am[ya`mjsb kw_nv temI nse Ghpw henb hmm Nm\emb _n._n.kn. bpsS \ne]mSv C{]ImcamWv Ah hyampXv. temIw apgp h {inp _n._n.kn. \ Cwojnsd {]Imiw sNmcn bp Zo]kvXw`amIWw FmWhcpsS B{Klw. "t{imXmfpw t{]Icpw _n._n.kn.bn \npw DX \nehmcamWv {]XonpXv. AXv henb DchmZnXz amWv. hnIeamb `mj D]tbmKnpXp hgn a\pgtam AklyXtbm Amfntm Dmm Xp\nbpXv Bpw \X. am{Xa \mbn FgpXnb `mjsbm a\n emm hnjaamWv tamiw `mj'.

\psS am[ya`mj, sSenhnj hmmkwt{]jW coXn Fnhsb sNmn Cs\ A`nam\nm Ahkcapm tIXs? \psS t{]Icn \npw Ipdsmcfhnse nepw `mjm{]tbmKnepw DSnepw hcp icnIfpw sXpIfpw {]XnIcWfpmppv.

hmkvXhn CXns\mcp adphiw Dv. _n._n.kn.bnse Akndv FUndpw FgppImc\pambncp tSmw t^mv Cs\ A`n{]mbsSpp. "henb Hcp hn`mKw t{imXmfpw t{]Icpw tamiamb `mj {inpItbm, tIv Akz cmIpItbm sNpn. Fm \psS \ t{]I tamiw `mjtbmSv AkzX {]ISnnphcpw \ `mj tIm hfsc ktmjnpIbpw B Nm\epambn B_w ]pepIbpw sNphcpambncnpw. hmmNm\ensd \ne\nv AhcnemWv'. CXdnbmhc \. Fm A\h[m\X, Aamw, {ipdhv Fnh Hgn t\can. aebmfn\p tImw XmsX, AtX kabw `mjsb IqSpX IcppXpw kwthZ\aampXpamb ]pXnb {]hWX-I hmmNm\en km[yamhWw. amXrI \Im\msX kqamb cq]w \IpI hnjaIcw.

sSenhnj 1983se tdm] HmKss\tkj dntmv A\pkcnv

`qcn`mKw P\pw \smcp iXam\w hm e`np

Xpw sSenhnj hgnbmWv. Hmw m\w sSenhnj\v, cmw m\w ]{Xv, aqmw m\w tdUntbm. Cu dntmv Xs ]dbp asmcp Imcyw hnizk\obX sSenhnj hmbvmWv FXs{X. Cu IWv amdn adnbpw; hkvXpXbpw. tIcfn ]{X Xs apn. Fm ]{Xfpw sSenhnj\pw \Ip hmmam\Z fn henb Acapv. kw`hw \Sv F{Xtbm kabw Ignv ]{Xw ASnpIbpw ]pdphcnIbpw sNptm kw`hw \SpXns\mw B \nanjw adphiv AXnsd hniZmwimbn sSenhnj Imncnpp FtmWw, Bscsms ]cnlknmepw Hmtcm sNdpkw`hw t]mepw B \nanjw t{_nwKv kz`mhaptXm ^vfmjv kz`mhaptXm BWv. kabw ISpt]mhpw tXmdpw Hcp kw`hnsd hmmKmVX ]{Xv Fs\ Ipdbppthm AXp t]mse Xs sSenhnj\pw hmbpsS {]mapJyn CSnhv Xntmfpw. ]s Innb \nanjw AXv AtX KmVXtbmsS Fbdn t]mtb Xocq. hnNmcWsbv hnainsmepw XpSp hniIe\w \St Xocq. "Z ssSwkn'sd {]K FUndmbn cp tPm Unte hmbpsS DchmZns ]n ]dbppv, "{]nsd {]mYanI DchmZnw s]mXp {]iv\sf Hpw sshImsX kaqlnsd ap \ncbntev DbnsmphcnIbpw hniZambn ]cntim[npIbpw `mhn Xeapdpw IqSn {]iv\]cnlmcn\mbn hniIe\w sNbvXv tcJsSpnshpIbpamWv'. sSenhnj Nm\epI B \nanjw AXp Xs \nlnpp. icnbmbn Xs BtWm \nlnpXv F tNmZyw Dbcmw. cm{obkmaqly {]hIcpw, A`n`mjIcpw, \oXn]oThpw Fmw tN {]{InbbneqsS CXp icnbmb Znibn sImpt]mIpIbmWv ]mmXy cmPyfn sNbvXpt]mcpXv.

\psS hmmNm\epIfpsS \yqkv sUkvIpI DNnX-amb Xocpam\saSppXn\v {]m]vXambn hcptXbpq. \qdv hj ]qnbmnb ]{Xsf Ipdnp _eamb ]cmXnI Ctmgpw _mn \ns ]p hjw t]mepw {]mbamIm apgph kab hmmNm\epIfpsS Imcy

hm: {]XnOmbbpw \ngepwF. kltZh

"ssehv' Bbpw "t{_nv \yqkv' Bbpsams \mSns\ ]nSnpIpepp \nch[n hmI Zn\w{]Xn ]pdphnSp ImgvNbmWv temIsmSpw Zriyam[ya ]phbvpXv. NqSp]nSn NIv Zriyam[ya Ftmgpw hgnsbmcppp. Zriyam[yatemIs ASnm\Xzfpw kmyXIfpw kaImeo\ hnImkfpw ]cnNbsSppIbmWv ChnsS.

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G{]n 2012

n ]qXbntesm kaba\phZnp sImSpt Xpv; {]tXyInp kmtXnIX amdnsmncnp kml Ncyn. Cu kmlNcyw aebmfnse sSenhnj hmm teJIpw hmm FUnampw hmm AhXmcIpw sNdnb DchmZna Gnp \Ip Xv. aebmfn hmm sSenhnj Nm\en\v GXp coXn-bn {]hnmw?

`mj hnIknpp`mj Hcnepw XSen CcnptXbn. Fm

A\nb{nXambn {]hnpXpan. ]pXnb hmpI kzoIcnpw ]pXnb {]tbmK \Snbpw `mj hnIknp sImt Ccnpp. AtXkabw `mjm ]nXm BhnjvIcnsSp LS\bn tI{oIrXambn \nba Gsdpsd ]menpIbpw sNpp.

`mjbvp Poh \IpXv P\fmWv. AhcpsS BmZhpw tIm]hpw cmKhpw tZzjhpw av hnImcfpw hnNmcfpw {]Xn^enp `mjbn AYhpw Nn \obhpw ckIchpw Bb IqntepI kw`hnp tXmsSmw sXpIfpw ISp hcpXv kzm`mhnIamWv. sXp I thXncndnp \ow sNm Nne BhiyamWv. BibmhnjvImcnsd A\cLambn \St kwthZ\w kpKaamhm `mj D]tbmKnph s]mXp\nba ]mentnhcpnSmWp hymIcW]pkvXI DmhpXv. hyXykvXtaJebn {]hnp khntij tPmenI sNphmbn ss _ppIfpw cq]sSpp. `mjmhmmNm\epIv \nbambpw bn ssKUv BhiyamWv.

apJyambpw FgppIm, {]`mjI, A[ym]I, am[ya

{]hI, kn\na, \mSIw XpSnb ZriyIemcq]fn {]hnph FnhcmWp `mj sXv IqSmsX, `wKn tNmp t]mImsX D]tbmKnpIbpw `mhnXeapdp ssI-amdpIbpw sNt Ihyw \nhlntXv. Chcn am[ya{]hIv, XfpsS {]hrn \nhlnm hfsc Ipd kabn\pn \ `mj D]tbmKntn hcpXp shphnfnbmbn amdpp. Chcn Xs ASn am[yanse FgppImcpw sSenhnj\nse FgppImcpw cp Xcw am kzoIcntnbncnpp.

Snhn D]t`mmhn\v GXp \nanjhpw kzw tdm amm Ignbpw. Ahp t{]Icmtbm shdpw t{imXmhmtbm IqSp amdmw. Atm asmcp {]hrn IqSn IqntsSpp. ZriyfpsS bmYmys Dsmm D NpaXe t{]I\p hnpsImv AXn\pdap ImWm\mhm hm Snhn teJI\pw hmmhmb\mc\pw IqSn \Im _m[y\mhpp. aebmfw sSenhnj hmmkwt{]jW nsd hgnbn C\nbpw Zqcw t]mtIXpv. Snhn`mjbpsS LS\sb kzm[o\np \nch[n LSI DsXmWv B am[yan {]hnph t\cnSp shphnfn.

ImWp hm; tIpXpwZriy`mjsb kw_nv _n_nknbptSbpw Atacn

Nm\epIfptSbpw kao]\n \np hfsc hn`namWv \ptSXv. Cpw aebmfnepw av Cy `mjIfnepw hmbn t{]I ImWpXpw tIpXpw Hp XsbmWv. AXmbXp \S(p)Xnsd t\apJh\. Zriyw kzbw kwkmcnpXn\m sSenhnj hmbn t{]Is\ hmbpsS ASpLntep \bnm D hnhcamWv \tIsXp am[ya{]h\n

aqp {][m\ hyXymk ASn, sSenhnj hmIp Xn Dv. BZytXv, sSenhnj teJIv hmm aqeyw AXnsd kabs B{ibnncnpp FXmWv. kabw sSenhnj\v henb hmmaqeyamWv. cmas hyXymkw, Npcpn ]dbp {]mYanI hnhc Xs. hnkvXcnp hnhcWtm hnhcw (C^taj) BWv sSenhnj hmbn BZyambpw Ahkm\ambpw DmbncntXv. ]{X hm hniZoIcnpp. aqmatXv hm ImWptmgpw tIptmgpw D ImgvbpsS in AYhm BLmXw.

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G{]n 2012

sshhn[yam taJeIfn {]hnp ]cnNbap {io _n.B.]n. `mkvI A`n{]mbsSpp. \ `mjbnsegpXp Xpw AXp hmbnpXpw sSenhnj am[ya {]hIsc kw_nnStmfw hfsc {][m\amWv. IrXyX, ham\w AdnbnpXnep \njv]X, \ymbw FnhtbmsSmw Xs \ `mjbpw \ t{]I\v hmKvZm\w sNppv FXv adcpXv. hmkvXhn sSenhnj Nm\epI t{]Icpambn Acsamcp [mcWbn GsSpp Fp ]dbpXmWv icn.

sSenhnj ImWm am{Xa tIm IqSnbpXm-sWv hm Xmdmptm HmbpmhWsamWp {io _n.B.]n.`mkvI ]dbpXv. aebmfw sSenhnj hmm cwKv `mjm]camb Fp amfmWv thsX Xns\pdnv Atln\p hyamb [mcWbpv. "SnhnbpsS ap]n Cm, Fm kao]p asmcnSp \np hmtbm atm tIp t{imXmhns\ IqSn \ HmntXpv'.

KpcpXcamb A_w hp IqSnb Acsamcp k`w {io `mkvI C{]Imcw Hmnpp, "hmmhXmcI() Hcp {]apJhynbpsS Ncahm hmbnpI Bbncpp. thsd apdnbn \nv B hm tIpIbmbncp hyn ]tcXsd t]cv BZy XhW tIn. ]tcXsd t]cv BhnpIbpapmbn. acnXv Bscdnbm\p Pnmk sImv sSenhnjsd apnsenb Atlw kv{Io\n IXv kzw Nn{Xambncpp. Atlw tIcf nepw ]pdpw AdnbsSp hynbmbncpp'. \nbam-bpw ]menncnt \nbaw adp. kw`hnp IqSmt\ ]mSn m A_hpw hp. Nne hnhc hmbn ]ebnS fn BhnncnWsaXv Ctmgpw Nm\epI {inpXmbn ImWpn.

Bh\ kqN\I]{Xhmb\mp hmb\nSbn kwib\nhn

mbn hmbneqsS aptmpw ]ntmpw t]mImw. Snhnbn AXp km[yamXn\m AhnsS shp sSenhnj hm bnse `mj hgnXncnbpp. Fns\ IpdnmtWm ]dp sImncnpXv AXp kw_nv HmsSpp hmm kqN\I CSnsS sSenhnj\n Bhnt Xmbn hcpw. {][m\ambpw Ah hmbn hcp etcp I, hynIfpsS t]cpI FnhbmWv. Nca hmbn acn hynbpsS t]cv Hntesd XhW Bhntn hcpw. Bh\w hfsc DNnXamb CSfn BbncnWw.

24 aWnq Xkab hmm kwt{]Whpw pUn tbmbnse hmmhXmcIcpw kw`hes dntm amcpw Xn \Sp tNmtZymchpw Ahsc, `mjm]c amb `wKnbpw HuNnXyhpw kqnpsImp hm AhXcn npXn kw sNepppv. Ipnmew apXte \ `mjtbmsSmw kcnnnmhv CXp hnjaw XsbmWv.

\ `mj\ `mj FXp sImv DtinpXv, Acw, Dm

cWw, kmcw, Aw, {]tbmKw Fnhbn ipnbpXv FmWv. EPp AYhm BhapXv, t\cnpXv, in-bpXv Fns\ BhWw \psS `mj. {]tbmKn HuNnXyw DXmhWw. \ DtinsXtm AXv ]pdp hcm th hmpItf D]tbmKntXpq. anXhmv, kmcamb hmv, BIjIamb hmv Fns\bmWv hmpI sXcsSpptm a\nepmthXv.

kmcw, AYw\ FmWp ]dbm DtinpXv, Amcyn

hyX DmhpIbmWp {][m\w. Hp a\nempIbpw asmp FgpXpIbpw sNpXv anhcnepw Dmhp ]ni ImWv. \o hmIyfn koWX Dmhpw; sNdnb hmIy Aw hyamncpw. Hcp hmNIn cn e[nIw Bib Dsmnm {ianm A_w hcmw. Dtinm AYw hptNcpXpw Ipdh. Cwojn epw Ccw sXv kw`hnpp FXn\p sXfnhmbn _n._n.kn. DZmlcnp Hcp hmNIw FSppImmw: "t^m Zn skdv ssSw C knIvkv a\vXvkv, F {]nkW Av Ulmw Pbn lmkv ssUUv B^v lmnwKv lnwsk^v C lnkv sk', (Bdp amkn\nSbn cmw XhW Hcp XShpImc Xsd XShdbn Xqnacnp). Hcmv cp XhW BlXy sNm IgnbpsamWv Cu hmNIw \s t_m[ysSppXv! hmkvXhn \psS `mjbnepw C{]Imcw Hcm cp XhW hnPbIcambn BlXy sNbvXpIqSmbvIbn. CXp Fs\ amn FgpXmw? XqnacWn\v {]m[m\yapv. Fm AXp ]pXphmb. "Ulmw Pbnen XShpImc Xqn acnp' F XpSw t]mcm. XShpIm XpSsc BlXy sNpXn\p ImcWapmhmw. AXn\m Bh\n\p {]m[m\yw sImSpWw. "Ulmw Pbnen Hcp XShpImc IqSn BlXy sNbvXp. Bdp amkn\nSbn Cu Pbnen \Sp cmas BlXybmWnXv.'

efnXamb Bib efnXamb `mjbn ]dbpXmWv DNnXamIpI. ]{Xpw sSenhnj\pw FgpXp tImn bn henb hyXymkapv. DZmlcWw: "tamkv tPmk^v tIcfnsd ]pXnb s]mXpacmav a{nbmhpw. tIcf tIm{Kv (sP) ISppcpn Fw.F.F. Bb Atl nsd t]cv ]mn sNbam ]n.sP. tPmk^v BWp {]Jym]nXv...' CXnse cmw hmNIw cmpI. "tamkv tPmk^nsd t]cp ]mn sNbam ]n.sP.tPmk^v BWp {]Jym]nXv. tIcf tIm{Kv (sP) ISppcpn Fw.F.F. BWp tamkv tPmk^v'. tamkv tPmk^nsd t]cp BZyLn BhnpXmWp t{]Is\ kw_nnStmfw DNnXw.

`mjv tNXv Icn {]tbmKamWv. `wKnbpw HuNn Xyhpw AXmWv. "_n emZ h[nsXv' \ \ymboI cnmXncnpI. "Hkma _n emZs\ Atacn h[np' F XmWv icn. hm hmbnsSpXnt\m, hmbnp XmWv, \Xv.

]{Xhm FgpXpXn \np hfsc hyXykvXamWv sSenhnj hmm Fgppw AhXcWhpw. hm FgptXsXs\? CXp kw_n BZy ]mT \In bhcn {]apJcmb antkmdn {Kqv hniZoIcnpXs AXv hyamnbnpv. Hcp kw`hs ]{X hmbmp Xn s]mXpsh kzoIcnp aqeyfn Fmw Xs sSenhnj hmpw {][m\ am\ZamIpp. AtX kabw aqp {][m\ hyXymk ASn, sSenhnj hmIp Xn Dv. BZytXv, sSenhnj teJI v hmm aqeyw AXnsd kabs B{ibnncnpp FXmWv. kabw sSenhnj\v henb hmmaqeyamWv. cmas hyXymkw, Npcpn ]dbp {]mYanI hnhc Xs. hnkvXcnp hnhcWtm hnhcw (C^ taj) BWv sSenhnj hmbn BZyambpw Ahkm\ambpw DmbncntXv. ]{X hm hniZoIcnpp. aqmatXv hm ImWptmgpw tIptmgpw D ImgvbpsS in AYhm BLmXw. sSenhnj\p thn hm sXcsSpsSptm kabw {][m\ LSI-

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amIpp. t{_nwKv \yqkv tmdnp henb {]m[m\yamWv e`npI. ]Xnhp ]cn]mSn \ow sNsSpp. A{Xp AXymhiyamWv B hm ]pdmtIXv Fp kmcw. Cu kab{]m[m\yw Fm LSItfbpw kzm[o\npp. {]m[m\yw Gdnbm AXphsc {]m[m\ysap tXmnb hmI t]mepw ]nsSpp. Nne hmI aWn qdpI sSenhnj\n m\w ]nSntmw.

ham\ Imen kw`hnpXv.FmWv hm FXnt\ Fs\ AhXcnn

Ww Fp IqSn \nbnm B hm kw sNeppw. Fp am{Xa ham\ ImesbmWv AXv Dw shpXv. B \nanjw Fp \Spp FXn Du \IpIbpw sNpp. CXn\\pkrXamb `mjbpw Hw tNcpp. AXn\m `qXImen (]mvsSkv) sSen hnj hm FgpXsSmdn. Ignbp{X hm h am\Imen FgpXWw Fp hcpp. Npcpn FgpXW sap hcpp. kw`mjW`mjbntep amdWsap hcpp. DZmlcWw. "\app Inp shw Hpw ipasp ]cnnXnkwLS\bmb {Ko ]dbpp. ("]dp' FXp amn). hfsc ]gb Imcy am{Xta ]mv sSkn FgpXq. ImenI {]m[m\yw IqSpX FSppImWnm "FXm\pw \nanjw ap]p', "A]kabn\pn', "Cp cmhnse', Fsmw {]tbmKnpp. Ign Znhkw \S Hns\n Cp ]dtbnhcptm, "10 Znhkambn XpScp temdn ss{UhamcpsS ]WnapSv Ahkm\np' FmsWgpXmdv (Cse Hgnhmn). ]Icw B hmbn Cv Fp ]pXn bXp kw`hnp Fp Isn tNpp. hm Ct Xmm AXmWv hgn.

sSenhnj hm ssehv BWv. Fgpnepw hmb\bnepw AXs\ tXmpIbpw thWw. BZy hnhc A]qamWv FXpw BZy hkvXpXm ]niIpI Xncpn, icnbntev sImpt]mIpXpw sSenhnj\n kzoIcns hmmk{ZmbamWv. sSenhnj pUntbm bnse hmsb ]nbp kmtXnI ]dn "Hcp Znhkw ]e XhW hm {]ntep t]mIpp'' FpIqSnbmWv.

hm hmpIfpsSbpw ZriyfptSbpw hnhmlw

\yqkv Z amtcyPv Hm^v thUkv BUv ]nIvtv : ASnam[yan hm hmpIfpsSbpw Nn{XfptSbpw hnhmlamsWmWv hnhcnsSpXv. sSenhnj\nse

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