IS JOURNALISM REALLY 'LITERATURE IN A HURRY'?
Guys... any of you watch the HEADLINES section on the Tonite Show? Jay Leno?
We dedicate these bloopers to Leno... now check this out... They sure don't make em as good as the one's that appear on his show.
What would you expect to learn from a former chief minister, alleged matka (a form of gambling) sympathiser (well... that's as far close as we can get) a former home minister and say... a pilot...
Here's what The Navhind Times thinks are nuggets of wisdom from our honourble cabinet minister Ravi Naik, who's had the reputation of being quite a ladies man for almost a couple of decades now...
We dedicate these bloopers to Leno... now check this out... They sure don't make em as good as the one's that appear on his show.
What would you expect to learn from a former chief minister, alleged matka (a form of gambling) sympathiser (well... that's as far close as we can get) a former home minister and say... a pilot...
Here's what The Navhind Times thinks are nuggets of wisdom from our honourble cabinet minister Ravi Naik, who's had the reputation of being quite a ladies man for almost a couple of decades now...
'Ravi advocates use of latest methods in milk production'
This header appeared in the NT on September 13... Congratulations to Roger Figueiredo and his team... these vague press note issued by the department of information have found an equal and compatible match in you guys now... You could read the story on here.
We know passions and adrenalin runs low on the night shift... A glass of milk wouldn't be a bad idea at all, but make sure you don't let your fantasies out in print boys...
Then there's this one.
This reeks of such below-par work. The sub-editor probably still thinks he's done nothing wrong... And since postmortems happen in The Navhind Times only when the marketing department's Vijay Kalangutkar calls up to say that one's of the advertising clients' name has been misspelled, we'll just try and bring it to the subs notice.
Here's the header
'Pernem municipal staff yet to get salaries of 2 months'
'salaries of of 2 months', how pedestrian can one get?
The story if you guys wants to... can be read here...
And here's the finale... guess the Harry Mann episode psyched dear old Herald so much... check out how they spelled Liberhan, of the Justice Liberhan commission probing the Babri masjid demolition and the aftermath. Read this excerpt from an edit which was published a few days back. (check out the words in bold)
Wooing game
....Earlier it was the UPA government which set the ball rolling by asking for a report on the Liberman Commission, asking Maharastra to implement the findings of the Srikrishna
Report and to table the Sanchar report in Parliament...
LiberMAN? hahahaha... and guess what... Sachar of Sachar commission is now 'Sanchar' and Maharashtra... 'Maharastra'... three mistakes in a sentence...
Is the printer's devil at work or the devil himself?
posted by Pen Pricks at
23:10
9 Comments:
Herald carried the milky report a good 5 days after Navhind Times. Talk of stale news.
in the earlier days, we heard that there was a section called as proofreaders. But nowadays, the subeditors are glorified pagemakers, parttime proofreaders and many other things rolled into one.
i think we need to introduce proofreading again to contain all these howlers.
as a subeditor i can sympathise with roger and co due to the pressure.
But how about a shot of Christian brothers, Old monk or Vat 69 to get over the night shift blues. White rum is smoother and tastes better also.
Remember Ron Hendricks and his ilk.
Journalists publish press notes too in a hurry.
The govt. since the regime of parrikar adds the words 'in public interest' whenever it transfers its officers. What is the meaning of this part of the sentence?
Journos need to monitor the frequency of some and the infrequency of a few other officers' transfers.
Let the people decide, whether or not a transfer is in their interest!
I've been closely monitoring the Mopa airport issue. I have discovered that there is an office called the 'Mopa Land Acquisition' department in the Junta House. I decided to probe into the functioning of this office. There is one officer Mr. Melvyn Vaz as the head and 2 to 3 staff. Has any of you heard of a department of just 2 staff? How can this officer possibly compete with other officers in promotions when he has only a skeleton workforce?
When the Mopa airport land acquisition is in a deep freeze, what work does this department do?
Why am I as a tax payer, being made to pay for this department?
(Please note that I have nothing against Mr. Vaz. He is not the issue here. The issue is that of the department)
So journos, the next time you write 'in public interest', think again. Ask yourself, is it in public interest?
Oh I forgot to mention about Bacardi in my earlier comment.
Bacardi has been sponsoring many events and I am sure that quite a few crates of this rum reach the rooms or bedrooms of atleast some journos.
the point here is that we are all in drunken stupor, that of being journalists. like a frog in the well, we are completely ignorant of how a real newspaper looks and reads despite copying Times of India design to some extent.
it is only when we go out of Goa, like some of our colleagues have done, that we realise how pathetic our newspapers are.
Leave aside our dubious reputation, which is as marred as the political setup.
can we atleast instill some quality into the newspaper?
grass is green: You say "...like a frog in the well,..."
With the proliferation of the internet and www.google.com in the lead, it's no longer a frog in the well syndrome.
Our journos have the worlds newspapers and libraries just a mouse click away.
Lets take the analogy of a room requiring its windows to be kept open to allow the fresh air in. There is however a danger that with the fresh air, the stink from the gutter can also enter.
Imagine that on a global scale ... all the good and bad of journalism can and has crept in.
Re penpricks: the good and bad of journalism can and has crept in.
So our new slogan should be to rise from the gutter and shine like the sun, especially after much murky water has flown under the Mandovi bridge and the Ourem creek bridges after the Cash for Edit scam.
But the trouble is, we journalists are just poor souls, literally, figuratively and virtually. What say have we in any newspaper set up. There are only a few good men (read scribes) left in the top rung. Even then I don’t think, these few goodies, can do much to improve the quality of the newspaper. Can they ask for proofreaders and get them or can they ask for good designers? Can they get honest guys who will remain uncorrupted forever?
While the scamsters have a ball, the good guys are always on the run. How long can they continue to shuttle from one newspaper to the other. The good guys are always hunted, shunted, and in general are never left alone. Their crime is that they cannot bow down to unethical cocks; they cannot tolerate mediocrity; they can stand in the shit but cannot take the shit; they stand up for the truth and they just want to be themselves – upright persons. But who will allow them.
Not everyone can become a Rico but even he cannot walk in to a newspaper and tell the boss that his paper looks, feels and reads like shit.
Ultimately it’s the ‘PET KA SAVAL’. Some of the good ‘un’s may resign themselves to their fate and allow things to be as they are, provided they get their pay slip at the end of the month.
As for the management, they have a squint in their eyes which allows them to only see the moolah which comes in through the advertising door. The editorial desk be damned.
‘Cause, if u step on the advertiser’s toes then the newspaper will not have much ads during the festival seasons when the dances, the parties etc draw half page and even full page ads.
Tell me, which court of law will take cognisance of the Cash for Edit scam by Penpricks, I am not sure.
During a scam, the management will find its scapegoat and will sacrifice it on the public altar; a few virtues of good journalism will be preached from a moral pedestal and then, it will be ‘all’s well with the world’. Raul and Dempo will do what they want; Sinha and Robin will continue their crap; and poor Roger, Ashley, Agnel will be tweaking up the brightness of their computer monitors to cheer themselves up during the dark and despondent times.
Is there a possibility that real good journalists can get funding to bring out a newspaper that is free, fair and infallible, sans interference from any quarter. It’s a rhetoric because we have the example of Tehelka, when it was launched and what it is now.
Fear of reprisal, fear of goons, even probably death are all the work hazards that the good journos have to face.
Can everyone be perfect? No. But the tragedy is some don’t care to be perfect.
Can everyone be perfect? No. But the tragedy is those who want attain perfection are put down by the putrefying sores who call themselves journos.
On a lighter note, Bob Marley’s ‘Get up, Stand up’ comes to my mind.
Hey lot of hectic activity goin on in the Herald. Penprick guys you have turned the tables upside down. Grapevine has it that yo guys now want to target the Reporters and Sub Editors of Herald only. That is what i call stooping to low level guys. You never Know that the wind blows in different directions.
wind blows anon: Cover your nose and run!(hehehe)
wats wrong at herald, yesterday they published a photo of a girl working on the laptop on two different pages, one in b&w and on another page in color...... no news kya?????
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