An old adage suggests that the pen is mightier than the sword. If that be so then surely our writers and editors need to be extra careful and vigilant in the choice of words that are allowed to be offered on print in the national press! The media's role is one of an opinion-maker. I believe it is seriously charged with the responsibility of presenting news and views in an objective manner. It should resist the temptation of being judgemental, no matter how fashionable it may be to be so!
In one of the dailies, a writer decided to write about the lost cause propounded by the CBI in the matter of the theft of the Nobel maedallion belonging to Rabindranath Tagore. I am not perturbed by the author's dig at the apparant obsession of the Bengali with Tagore. Nor is it the subject of my reflections. What worries me is that, in her wisdom, she decided to describe Kolkata as "the decadent city". She must be having cojent reasons for doing so. However, I feel that it is dangerous to use such damaging words because firstly, it is difficult to establish the intent and, secondly, it is tantamount to foisting the writer's "coloured" perception on the readers' minds.
Decadence means moral deterioration. Are we sure that Kolkata and all Kolkatans have lost their moral fibre? Are we sure that rape, murder, robbery, scams, frauds, rave parties,corruption which comprise the moral fabric is the sole preserve of Kolkata and Kolkatans? If it is indeed so then I rest my case.
However if, it is not so and such signs of degradation can be found in other places as well, then the writer has done a grave injustice to a section of the nation's populace as against the others. This is reprehensible and it cries out for meningful and effective editing of all that is published and put forward for the reading pleasure of the people at large. The vox populi must not be fostered by opinionated and immature correspondents, who give themselves the right to pronounce judgements on matters they may not be experts at.
To end with another adage...it is said that ignorance is bliss. If that be so then it is time that our "journalist" friends of today awaken fast from this state of bliss and spare the poor readers of their biased considerations.
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The copy editor (erstwhile sub-editor) seems to be a dying species these days. It is very clear from reading any news story in an Indian paper that each article, even front page news, gets little more than a cursory, last-minute going-over. Mistakes in grammar, syntax are all to apparent. More worrying is the fact that there seems to be no one at the desk to check or temper copy such as the one you describe. I think my training at IANS was more old school, and I am forever thankful for that. "Decadent city" would have triggered fireworks in our office back when I was there. And rightly so. Journalists seem to be getting a little too casual in their thinking and writing. And that can be extremely dangerous. This is one of the reasons I've been getting more and more disillusioned with my vocation of choice and have serious doubts that I will go back into that line of work. Will have to find a new calling.
ReplyDeleteNo Rupa, don't give up. People like you are very badly needed in any medium that disseminates information.
ReplyDeleteI took great heart from the fact that no less a person than our Honourable Vice President has chosen to express his despair over the lack of any kind of effective editing in the various media outputs.