The more things change, the more your newspaper will be the same
The debate between National and local newspaper continues. But as Sujay Gupta argues, it is the local paper which brings the touch and feel of your land to your doorstep
This is a debate that will never really reach a final conclusion. But it is clear which side the scales are tilted. Are local newspapers the real voice of the people of Goa, or do we need national newspapers which may have their reasons for their presence-mainly to sell their product in a “market”?
Well. Keep in mind that newspapers are not like Mcdonalds franchises where they look, feel and taste the same from Missisippi to Margao. But national news papers with multiple editions do exactly that. The main pie consists of many parts that are like the Mcdonalds middle. But while this is palatable to those used to seeing the same mastheads in Punjab and Panjim, let me tell them this. The soul of a newspaper is its connect with people. A local paper brings the smell, sounds and music of your land home. You laugh with it, cry with it, you get angry, you get hurt, it is your friend, it is your partner, it is your solace, it is your strength. And yet it is your weakness. Becasue you can’t do without it.
The big national paper, swamps you, tries to take your circulation, your readers and your “market”.
But it can’t take away the soul of a local newspaper. It’s that equivalent of the scene in Dewar where Sashi Kapoor says those immortal lines to Amitabh Bachchan when the latter asks “ I have wealth, bungalows, cars .. what do you have”? and Sashi Kapoor replies ‘Mere paas maa hain” ( I have my mother)
One doesn’t need to explicitly put this in context of the present newspaper scenario in Goa. But let’s get this straight. More than two years after the arrival of the so called national giant arriving to get the Goa market, Goa wakes from Canacona to Calangute, reaching out for its oldest newspaper to get the newest local news.
At the same time, the market too has supported O Herald O. And the paper has acknowledged that. But the fulcrum if its success has been that in the Times of Mcdonald, O Herald O is clear that any change it makes in its stride to the future will be reader driven. Because our “market” is our reader.
Its not going to be easy. Even in America, in the eighties, 45 daily news papers close shop in one year. 38 eveningers, 6 morning dailies and 1 all day daily. But those which survived to tell this tale were many hard core local papers, whose people did not let them down.
Local newspapers will continue to score when people are with them. The challenges are however many and the biggest one os technology and the fact that the next generation will embrace it rapidly
I see 3-D emerging to near Twilight Zone capability. You’ll put on your hypnoglasses, or enter an enclosed room in your home. Then, the digital 3-D experience will be as lifelike as you can imagine; you’ll actually feel like you’re sitting in front of Don Corleone’s desk when watching a movie like the “Godfather.” You won’t be able to touch Marlon Brando or smell the Old Spice on his cheek, but everything else will be right next door to reality.
This coupled with Facebook, Twitter and live blogging will change the way we do journalism. But as we grapple and adapt to these changes, the simplest reality will still be getting the pulse of the people. And can’t happen through technology but through touch. The human touch. Of meeting and talking to people. Because technology changes the manner in which we present news, but manner in which we get it remains age old. The good old chat.
So as the Times of Mcdonald dishes out its daily burgers, your ole faithful, will just go out and talk. To you.
