A striking sentence in Umberto Eco’s novel Foucault’s Pendulum reads: “I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.” These words came alive in a manner that I did not imagine when we interacted with a group of readers of this newspaper in Hyderabad last Saturday for the third Open House. The level of engagement with the readers and the responses from them define the functioning of a Readers’ Editor. The RE’s ability, insights, and efficacy are formed by the little scraps of wisdom the readers impart at moments, when they aren’t trying to teach but instead share their knowledge, perceptions, and judgements. I realised that millions of readers share my workload, and scrutinise each and every word printed in this newspaper.
Taking stories forward The interactive session was more than mutual learning. It helped bring to the fore some important omissions that take place in a deadline-driven process where journalists, after flagging off a story, tend to move on to another without providing a proper closure to the earlier one. For instance, K. Suresh, president of Osmania Medical College Doctors’ Forum, drew our attention to the reportage about the resurfacing of polio cases in India and the global concerns it generated. He felt that the many bits and pieces of information failed to give a complete picture about this important development. This was a valid point. But had Dr. Suresh waited a day, he would have noticed a detailed analysis in the weekend ‘Being’ page titled, “ >All eyes on Telangana’s rapid response ” (June 19, 2016), which looked at this specific issue. The story based on interviews with Dr. Pradeep Haldar, Deputy Commissioner — Immunisation, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and Dr. G Srinivasa Rao, Chief Programme Officer, National Health Mission, Telangana gave a picture of the responses of various health authorities in addressing this issue. The good news is that the Editor and his team have started a new weekly section called ‘Ground Zero’ to provide detailed insights into critical developing stories.
In the course of the three-hour interaction, an issue that emerged clearly was the gap between the people’s aspirations and the speed in which institutional arrangements move in India. The Hindu was the first national newspaper to create a separate Telangana edition when Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated. The readers’ desire of the newly created State to have more exclusive stories about their own State — its culture, cuisine (Hyderabad is not just biryani), and problems — was understandable. Though the political division of the State took place a couple of years ago, Hyderabad continues to host the legislative assemblies of both the States. This forces the editorial staff based in Hyderabad to cover both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in equal measure. This is a transitional period, and the reportage reflects this. The incremental transition towards Telangana-specific coverage in the State pages also had its share of criticism. Another reader, Sunita Reddy, found the Telangana edition wanting in its coverage of Andhra Pradesh news. I am sure the editions in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh will arrive at an optimal level of mutual coverage in a year.
One of the readers felt that the business page was not doing justice to the economic activities of the State. He felt that the present one and a half pages of business is national in its focus and does not provide adequate attention to the particular developments within the State. He cited the example of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s investment plan for the city. The Editor agreed with the reader. He said local business news would be covered extensively and accommodated in the State and city pages.
S. Sivaranjani, an application engineer from Oracle India, dwelt on the newspaper’s digital platform and its social media initiatives. She firmly believed that while its Twitter handle was user-friendly, the architecture of its Facebook alerts needs a certain amount of tweaking to make readers aware of the content at first glance. She wanted the newspaper to have an e-letter curating the important stories for its registered readers.
Bizeth Banerjee, while praising the newspaper’s exposé about the reality behind the Kairana “exodus”, wished to see more of such high-quality investigative journalism. “When there are all sorts of claims, it is critical reports from credible newspapers like The Hindu that help us to know the truth,” she said. Seshagiri Rao Karri, an avid crossword solver of The Hindu for years, felt that the puzzle had become unnecessarily tough over the last few years, and with a wry sense of humour declared that now he flunks in the crossword test regularly.
It was heartening to note that the readers were concerned about the fortunes of the media industry and its impact on the quality of journalism. There was a lively discussion about the price of the e-paper, limited paywall experiments, paying for quality content, the cost of journalism, and the need to move towards a content-generated revenue model from the present advertisement-driven revenue model. There were diverse opinions. But there was also a consensus that it is everybody’s business to ensure a sustainable model for credible journalism.
readerseditor@thehindu.co.in
