Quoted Fabricated Journalism – Still Invisible

One of the nastiest opponent of media in fabricated journalism. But here, by fabrication one does mean fabricating events, stories, or even quotes. It is an unusual kind of fabrication which is not even noticeable. In simple words, it means quoting people who are known to you without actually sweating it out to recognize what the common concerned masses think.

I memorize reading features of a very juvenile journalist in a reputed national daily appearing on Sunday’s. Every time I would see his article quoting one individual over and over again and the photograph present will have a lady posing always. NO matter what the theme of the article is, the two entities will be omnipresent. When enquired, I came to know the person quoted was the journalist’s best friend and the photographed lady his ‘girlfriend’. You can minimally say that it is a customary thing but isn’t this constructed.

This is a very usual incident in today’s journalism and the reasons knowingly unknown. Either our journalist sees the profession with utmost comfort and believes in taking it the same manner. He does not want to put in sweat to get his work completed, favors an easy way out. He considers himself the boss and the best judge.

Another possible reason can be the ignorance dynamic. The journalist feels that he can quote anyone and everyone and it is not critical to be mindful of something like this. He has a permanent batch of populace whom he quotes every now and then. For him, this is standard reporting and he has boundless grounds to guard it.

Few months back, I read an article about introduction of 20:20 in cricket. To my surprise, I was not able to spot a single quote from a cricket player (either present or ex) of any level. All talked about was the sixes, the fours and the short time duration. The journalist seemed to be in a rush to finish the work to meet the deadline at the expense of killing the sense of the article.

A very important thing to remember is ‘whom’ to quote. You cannot ask a vegetable vendor about sensex or about changing faces of media. Although, everyone here is an expert and can talk about anything but this is not the journalism we know. The journalist needs to identify the people among the common masses to be quoted. Ask people about the things that concern them and not just anything. The day one realizes that, this fabrication will die right away.

With growing media competition, we have a single person reporting and editing the article, the sole soul to do it. When the instance of playing multi tasking role occurs, such mistakes happen. Things are taken for granted and the journalist loses the sight of being an editor also. The person is always in a hurry to finish his job and it pays also but in the incorrect way.

We are living in an era where anybody can develop into a journalist overnight. The person can meet deadlines, get facts and write any piece for you. But it takes courage, passion, hunger, determination, and the willingness to take responsibility.

According to Mamkol, “Next time you w-right an article, memorize the definition of a gener-a-list”.

Kashmir And Newspapers: An Unending Tie

We all have witnessed newspaper stands encumbered with papers (daily, weekly, monthly), tabloids and magazines. Did you ever thought about that stand? It has such a big quantity of publications loaded on it that the stand himself doesn’t know the exact figure. But, do not blame him either because can anyone of you recollect the precise tally; forget about the names, of all the newspapers you notice on the stands.

Every other day, we have a brand new newspaper being launched and yet again, it announces to be the finest. It asserts to be unusual and carrying the ‘voice of the masses’. I, from time to time, wonder if we have so many channels to speak, why are the “voices” unheard? Have you even tried to imagine what it means to own a newspaper? Not really, because it might mean nothing to you. But, do the people who hold such positions really know what it means.

Print media in valley still enjoys a much higher position than the electronic counterpart. Besides our press enclave, considered to be the hub of media, every nook and corner of the city has a newspaper office. Still, I have not been able to recognize the motive of some people behind running a newspaper. There is a very interesting incident that occurred to me when I was a student like I am right now although the age and weight have augmented.

Once I went to a marriage celebration and having lately joined Mass Communication course, I was introduced to a person who was an editor of newspaper whose name I had never heard. He talked to me a lot about journalism, of which I knew nothing, and the fascination and passion for it. I got more than a couple of chances to meet the gentleman over the coming few weeks. He finally invited me to his office one day. It was a two room cozy office and the paper was being sent for printing. He asked me if I wanted a copy or two of his newspaper and I said yes. He called someone and said, “Aaz chapayzev 2 copies extra, ye bache chu na aatum, amis ti havo as kya chi chapavan, magar paper chun zaya karun” (Print two copies extra, this kid also wants to see what we publish but make sure you don’t waste any piece of paper).

In one second, all the admiration for the fellow died and I am still in the process of thinking if that was the journalism he was talking about. An editor prints an exact number of copies for the near and dear ones and limits the use of our newspaper just as a means of money making.

In a conflict region like Kashmir, news sells like hot cakes. It is the best place for any individual to work in any type of media. But, that necessarily doesn’t mean that you forget the basic duties of owning a paper and keep on striving hard to earn the personal benefits. It makes people to begin questioning the authenticity of media. You should be opinion makers, the people to bring revolution, change minds and do what is best for the community. But, as again I said, our media people also seem to be a lost crowd.

There is another fear that is quite dreadful, about the ignorant journalist. People who just take a pen, a paper, a camera, hang an ID card around their neck and become journalists. They can be devastating to the society. For them, sensationalism is the ‘best’ news and creativity, morals, ethics, principles and rules are ‘mere’ words in the English dictionary. These journalists do not seem to think whether they need to know anything at all or not before writing even a word.

One remembers the name of only a handful of journalists whose stories we wait to read, who speak through their writings and who know what they write. Answer a simple question, name ten journalists from different newspapers in one minute? If you get this answer, you will realize what do I mean by ignorant journalists?

Everyone can be a journalist but not all. It requires passion, the extraordinary role to play in the society, becoming a voice of unheard and down trodden, the hunger for truth and the love for doing this. There is a threat lies that lies in blurring the line between journalism and public relations. When such a thing happens, a journalist denies his or her liability to implement a personal verdict of what is important by substituting for it the judgment of others. A possible reaction of the profession must lie in determination on editorial independence as a supporter of journalistic honesty. It takes plenty to be a journalist.

Each and every one upcoming editor has a particular line to say, “We will hit the stands soon”. I imagine what will happen to that stand you all are going to hit. That stand is already occupied by so many publications to take the weight. It is not a big thing to hit the stands but to survive there and get recognized. I anticipate that the future editors will consent with it.

With all the respect for the people who have been running newspapers and doing justice to it, this article is just an attempt to discover the ugliest side of operating a newspaper. Media is not just about money, it means a lot more than that.

According to Mamkol, “Read a news-paper$ before publishing one, you might find out more than a few thing$”.

Car Market In India – More Lucrative Than Ever

The scope for marketing cars in India has been flourishing at a prompt pace. The rising GDP rate, per capita income, economic independence and high ownership ability has made way to the sudden increase in the Indian Car Market. As India gets more and more economic liberty, the need for comforts becomes a priority and that is where, a car comes as a ‘precedence'. In India, about 1.4 million four-wheelers were sold in the 2006-2007 only.

Cars, once considered to be a style statement or status symbol have acquired the position of ‘needs’ of a common man. India has a majority of middle class population where owning a car was a dream. But, with cost effective small cars like Maruti and now, Tata Nano with a mere price of 1 lakh rupess, the market for cars becomes vast.

It is not only the small cars but the image of style statement still remains in India that has a fine market for luxury cars where the growth rate is 28%.

Another field to look at is the passenger car market with a growing rate of 18.3%. All over the country, one can see passenger cars running either intra-city or intercity or even inter-state, and the requirement for such vehicles grows with industrialization and better infrastructure. Companies like Tata, Suzuki, Hyundai, Bajaj and others are already in the race to explore this not so familiar market.

With increasingly new cars coming up on the prospect, the scope for used cars (second hand cars) cannot be neglected. Large numbers of cars are being sold out every day and you have buyers for them. This market is not fresh, but unrevealed. The scale for earnings is, therefore, highest.

India has a majority of young populace with growing income stages, an under discovered rural market, and an economy running at 9% plus increase rates. A major reason for this growing market is the easy availability of the cars. By availability, it means the access to cars and the ways to acquire it. Banks and other finance companies offer car loans to people at a considerable rate of interest and without much hassle. This is evident from the fact that 80% of the cars sold in India last year were financed by banks and other financial corporations.

In the last few years, only General Motor, Fiat, Honda, Nissan, and Hyundai have announced Indian venture valued at roughly $1.5 billion. India is considered as the most captivating promising market opening in Asia.

According to the consultancy Keystone - a subsidiary of LaSalle Consulting Associates, India has been predicted to become the world's third biggest automobile market by 2030, after China and the US. A very important aspect of this future success lies in the coordination between the car industry and government which seems to be going well until now. Take for example, like the duties on small cars were cut down from 24% to 16% and the government is willing to spread out the markets.

It is a right time for investments in Car Market to garner the maximum benefits. Start now before the occasion gets too far from you.

According to Mamkol, “I must own a car to $urvive, it is ONe of my ba-sick needs”.

Veto plastic for your future, otherwise it may never arrive

I went into a shop recently and saw a beautiful jute bag which had a tagline written on it saying, “Ban Plastic, especially smiles”. Felt good to see that people are really getting conscious about the hazard of plastics. You know plastic bags are prepared from petrochemicals which are not a renewable resource. When littered or inappropriately disposed of, they are horrid and can be a danger to wildlife. Most plastic bags do not readily decompose when littered nor in a sealed sanitary landfill.

That single line really made me reflect a lot and I finally planned of buying the bag. As I was making the payment, the guy in the counter handed over that jute bag to me in a ‘plastic carrier’. An unusual feeling came on to me and I left the place. That guy might not have even realized what he had done because he does not care and even I say that no one cares. Plastic seems to have become a very important part of our lives, you can’t even think of a world devoid of plastic.

Plastic bags can even cause unsupervised infants to suffocate. About 15 children die each year when plastic bags accidently cover their faces, leading to suffocation. About 80% of the deaths reported to the Consumer Products Safety Commission from 1990 – 1997 were of children under one year old where ash, garbage, and dry cleaning bags were most often involved.

The guy who comes to my place in the morning to pick up the garbage doesn’t like garbage being given to him in the bin. His preference is that we put the stuff in plastic bags which makes him feel comfortable to do the job. Even I agree that we cannot do without it but can’t we limit the use.

The worst danger comes from the plastic grocery bags. Many of these grocery plastic bags are reused as book and lunch bags as kids head off to school, as trash can liners, and so on. But like candy wrappers, chewing gum, cigarette butts, and thousands of other pieces of junk, millions of the plastic bags end up as litter. Once in the environment, it takes months to hundreds of years for plastic bags to breakdown. As they decompose, tiny toxic bits seep into soils, lakes, rivers, and the oceans.

According to United States Environmental Protection Agency in 2001, somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year.

Many governments have prepared laws to ban the use of plastic bags like The Delhi Degradable Plastic Bag and Garbage Act, 2000 but the implementation has to come in the actual sense, not just simply on paper.

The dangers are too many to think about. As always, the charity begins at home, let us promise to ourselves to limit the use of plastic for a healthier future.

According to Mamkol, “Blast and Plast-ic have a lot in common, they just kill, only the effect is immediate or gradual”.

A Speacial Valentine's Day

Valentines Day is considered as an occasion when lovers express their love for each other. This celebration includes writing poems for your dear ones, exchanging gifts, cards, partying, shopping and many more such things. It is an ideal occasion to spend time with your lover. On this occasion, we honor nothing but ‘love’.

One wants to spend this time with a very special person, and the dreams comes true also. I tried to figure out some of the very remarkable pairs that should hook up together this Valentine’s Day.

George W Bush and Osama Bin Ladin

Osama will surely gift him the blue print of attack behind 9/11 and Bush will honor him as the ‘last guest’ while in office.

Hillary Clinton and Obama

Clinton will carry the edited version of Obama’s speech (correcting the so called ‘mistakes’) and ask him be rehearsed it next time, you know proud Americans. Obama will extol her with a copy of speech that the Clinton family has been using for ages (to keep as a memorial).

Britney Spears and Michael Jackson

Both of them might agree to start a charity show for the people (u know who?). All the planning can be done there only; of course it is possible when Britney is around. They can also discuss their “not so personal” lives if they feel there is nothing left.

Roger Fedrer and Rafael Nadal

Both of them didn’t catch up in the Australian Open finals, so, it is the day to meet. To express what it feels when you and your competitor both fail on the same occasion. A huge mug of beer as the end note

Sania Mirza and Shaun Tait

They will discuss the idea about not playing. The fame they generate from saying all this, the revenue to come and the future statements. They can share a lot including the very famous frequent injuries.

Darell Hair and Steve Bucknor

They must be discussing about who hurt Asian’s more and planning for a retirement plan. Even considering umpiring a series before retiring in Asia is also a probability.

Martina Hingis and Maria Jones

It will be the same old drugs and sports. Hingis has a book titled ‘When to Say The Truth?’ for Maria and she too has a lovely book titled ‘List of enhance drugs that don’t show up in tests?’ for Hingis. An anti-drug campaign is certainly a possibility here.

Christiano Ronaldo, Richard Gere, Shilpa Shetty and Bipasa Basu

This one will be a big hit, keeping all the speculations alive. The only person curious here would be Ronaldo, as he hasn’t visited India yet. He would be dying to know what does a “kiss” means in India.

Shahid Kapoor and Rosa

Shahid will surely gift Rosa some of the belongings of Saif he found in Bibo’s room, at least she can keep them if not something else. Rosa will furnish Shahid with a list of upcoming events which he should avoid attending (so that he doesn’t see his ex with a new Gen-X).

Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narsima Rao

Atal Ji must have written a poem for Rao titled ‘Gone Are the days” (Chale Gaye Vo din) and Rao will reciprocate with a video of those days when Ataj Ji preferred not to speak (to let him know how actually he looked like a PM). The perfect “Old Age Home" probable’s.

According to Mamkol, “Be-live in love, a date will surely arrive accompanied by your Valentine”.

God made so many different kinds of people. Why would he allow only one way to serve him?

Religion is a sacred ‘possession’ that all of us carry from our parents, something which is too susceptible, too sensitive to talk about and always protected. This has always been one of the major criterions of dividing the world population into different categories. But, instead of looking out the differences in the religions, cannot we look at the similarities? One cannot claim that all religions teach their followers the ‘same’ thing but the underlying concept of following a religion remains the ‘same’. It is just the different means of serving “GOD”.

All the religions teach us a genuine, obedient, and an honorable way to live. They teach us the win of ‘good’ over ‘evil’. All believe in GOD and the submission to HIM in one way or the other. But, we actually have forgot all this and drawn boundaries, which if broken, are considered the biggest ‘evil’. All religions teach us to love each other and live peacefully.

India is a land of many religions। Do you actually remember the total number of religions that exist in India? Believe it or not, there are 6 major religions here, and about the rest of the religions, we may have no or very little idea.

• Hindus: 82.0%
• Muslims: 12.12%
• Christians: 2.34%
• Sikhs: 1.94%
• Buddhists: 0.76%
• Jains: 0.40%
• Other Religions & Persuasions: 0.44%
• Miscellaneous: 0.05%

One cannot out righty label a religion as ‘good’ or bad’. Every religion has its customs, rituals, rites, and beliefs which need to be respected. It is really awful on the part of people who tend to generalize a religion on such basis or on the grounds of the behavior of few of its followers. Say for example, terrorism. No religion favors terrorism, killings, or bloodshed but because of the fact that few “Muslims” are involved in the act, one tends to term “Islam” as a religions that favors it. All one needs is to accept the existence of other religions, try to understand it and give respect.

Fighting in the name of religion does well to none. In fact, it has all the dreadful repercussions which continue to haunt our lives. It just leaves scars which even time is unable to heal. In first quarter of 2007, 23 people were killed and 611 injured in 191 communal incidents in India. It means effecting more than 600 families directly and all the other families related to them. What all do we get from it, actually ‘nothing but the pain’.

We live in an era where everyone feels himself to be an expert to comment on anything including ‘religion’. We all have sentiments associated with our religions; it is quite a delicate subject. Do not ever try to use it for personal benefits. Next time, you might see someone else commenting the same for your religion.

All one needs is to accept the existence of other religions and respect them. This will do the world of good to humanity and believe me, there will be peace all around.

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self

It has really been a long time since I wrote something on my blog, reasons unknown. I really never felt being myself the way I am feeling after writing only a few lines. Today I feel that writing, has and still, been the finest means of being ‘you’ expressing yourself without any restraints or boundaries. It is a voyage of your mind, imagination and creativity which takes you to the pinnacles which you never thought of reaching. It is a mode of free will where you are open-minded to speak or convey.

While writing, I belong to my world possessing the sovereignty of which I forever dreamed. I acquire the liberty which was only a contemplation and devoid of limitations which all the time looked unattainable in the real world. Writing is the only existent ‘thing’ regarding you. No matter how much you amend, how much you fake or attempt to not to be yourself, your writing merely replicates what you are. It is one of the simplest means of evaluating a person.

Keep in mind that there is always a ‘but’. You cannot cancel out the fact that there is a huge chunk of populace who write intentionally in a way in which they even do not feel. Even writing has become a means of pleasing the others rather than pleasing yourself. You write what people like than what you sense. It has become so technical in the manner that you know what sells and you write the similar way.

Writers do not worry about their understanding of an object and look through the eyes of others। They do it all because they want to be prominent, famous, eminent, well known (all the adjectives I guess) in the globe. The brains have become machines which run on commands, follow guidelines and crash if they challenge the system. I have believed in the fact that one should write to influence people not to be influenced by them, write to express rather than impress.

But still, I consider writing as one of the very few existing apparatus of knowing a being। Just look for the ‘self’ within when you write, the rest you need not worry about.