There was a time when you read news to get inspired. Reading news on the internet wasn’t something people did back then. Good old newspapers and magazines and the smell, the smell of any printed periodical, of the paper and some residual of the print itself, added to the experience of it completely. My paternal grandfather would often insist that I go through the newspaper to increase my vocabulary.
There were just so many inspiring things in the news. If you saw someone in a newspaper or magazine, you knew it was much more than the financial aspect of life. It definitely had an impact, quality of life was better, the thought process that flowed around was better, there were a greater number of people telling someone about this man or woman who had done this thing of exceptional nature.
I was small back then but observant enough to know that in the present the trajectory of some things had missed the mark completely and with each day it was going beyond recovery. Imagine from getting inspired in past and coming to present where you scroll across a news online where this unknown gentleman is worried that despite having income more than 95% people I know, this guy can’t save money, and he is worried how will he be able to keep up, that’s all in the headlines of the news itself, because they know most might not bother otherwise. I don’t understand the point, clearly there are differences of income based on the nature of work, that is not new, there are areas where there are more expensive properties that’s also known, but apparently it is quite highlighted nowadays. Then there is this son of a clearly affluent person who cleared his school and his parents got him a car and a driver, good for him, but why is it in news, further a film star gives out his/her property for rent.
I was thinking time and again, it was the newspaper, but it wasn’t, it this digitisation of it, the competitive need to attract attention, to put something out there desperately trying to label it as ‘look here is something interesting’. But that’s not news and go to the comment section and you’ll see people are saying the same. But who is listening? And at what cost is it being continued. Once respected and prestigious news organisations, ridiculed by their readers who are pointing at their many glaring flaws. Just last year a veteran celebrity’s demise was declared even though it did not happen, one news organisation declared it and the others followed and they all made a fool of themselves.
It’s a constant irritation having to go on hunt for the essential amongst the deliberate attempts to make your attention stop at something completely useless. It’s a mess and there is no visible intention of clearing it. I have once again bought a subscription of daily newspaper hardcopy and it is much better there. Yes, I know newsprints consume about 13% of all paper produced and I am in no manner supporting the felling of trees. The world needs more trees than it needs news, even though many may surprisingly disagree. This is just a temporary shelter, waiting for the weather to clear out, if there is a possibility, otherwise I would simply have to endure it out there like many other people, we will sarcastically smile together at the reality.
Written by Anuran Chatterji
The Unnecessary Information’
Early Morning Memories 