A Newspaper to Thinking Person

I read The Indian Express. The strongest point about it is its integrity. The paper is seldom influenced by special interests or government pressure. It has never modified its mast-head for advertisers or carried advertisements masquerading as news items. It lives by its commitment to the “Journalism of Courage”. In-depth and gutsy coverage of the emergency, killing of IES officer Satyendra Dubey and Gujrat riots bear witness to it.

            Politics remains the mainstay of Express; and that includes politics in sports, local power structures and political economy. In a sense, this is what the fundamental responsibility of newspapers and other media is: to make the common man acquainted with the happenings in corridors of power and make the powerful accountable. This relentless pursuit of relevant political stories often results in the paper reporting important news stories before anyone else.

However, one will be disappointed if he buys newspaper to read local news. City news is one of the weaker sections of Express. It doesn’t help average Joe that there are few reports about local events, weather and traffic. The paper also lacks health stories, event listings, children and women’s space, science and technological updates, social trends and other aspects which have become staple of newspapers nowadays.   

            In general, The Indian Express possesses a sense of proportion and doesn’t get swayed by hype generated by a century of centuries or an Oscar win. The paper leans right, as reflected in its editorials. So there exists some degree of unfair biasness when it comes to selection of news stories and setting of discourse. It would help if it does away with its Tavleen Singhs and Surjit Bhallas.

            There’s a general apathy towards rural affairs when it comes to English language media in our country. Express has never ceased to report grass root news stories. In fact, there are more stories on human rights, women empowerment and activism in Express than any other paper on a given day. Its “From the field” supplementary page of farm reports is unique.

             The ‘International’ page is a weak point of The Indian Express. For a major paper like Express, it has no permanent foreign correspondent, except Yubaraj Ghimire in Nepal. To compensate for that, Syndicated news reports are carried from news agencies. These stories usually reflect the priorities and viewpoints of the West; which is not desirable.

            The Indian Express is antithesis of sensationalism and trivia. It’s a newspaper to thinking person. Unlike many of its contemporaries, it doesn’t use titillating images or misleading headlines to sell its copies. Even its sports and culture pages are full of intelligent reporting, instead of bland noise. E. P. Unny’s daily cartoon is thought provoking, too.

            Express is one of the few papers which still have proper editorial and op-ed pages. It boasts of many excellent writers. Some of the articles remain too academic in nature, though. And often Mr. Shekhar Gupta occupies most of the space. Nevertheless, they remain the most readable pages of the paper.

A societal perspective on article 377

The debate on article 377 must be framed in terms of individual rights v/s societal well being. Take the example of drugs such as cocaine or marijuana. These items have been banned because they not only harm an individual’s health but also because their acceptance in society leads to overall decrease in productivity and efficiency, straining of social relations and surge in crime. In other words an individual may well be within his rights to indulge in drugs but he isn’t allowed to do so, for his action surely sets a trend which is detrimental for the society at large. Similar case can be made for homosexuality. Examples of instances of homosexuality in ancient South Asian literature notwithstanding, it’s the rapid urbanization, modernity and electronic media boom that has lead the spread and acceptance of homosexual relations. Otherwise we still abhor practices such as incest or bestiality (sex with animals), which are thankfully still illegal. For those of us who consider the traditional family system essential for proper uprising of children and a healthy society, legalization of homosexuality spells disaster. It means rise in sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS, denial of balanced fatherly / motherly care for children and rupture of social fabric. In the West rapid sexual freedom has resulted in innumerous social problems such as ever increasing divorce rates, teenage pregnancies, single mothers, adultery, dysfunctional families and subsequent rise in crimes. There are things humanity has always kept sacrosanct. Let’s keep them that way for our own well being.

"Attack that wasn't" - My piece in 'The Companion' magazine