Since I was a small child, I have loved to read newspapers.
I used to go to my mother's dress shop in the old public market every Saturday and sit on the pallet bench in an area where people used to read tented comics and other reading materials. It brought me an immense joy.
Some stall vendors recycled newspapers and used those as paper bags for the items they sold like fruits, coffee, etc., which I flattened after opening and read whatever was there.
In high school, we had a subject on current events in Social Studies. There was an additional reading material for us to digest to know what was going on in our country and around the world.
My mother did not buy a television set for us intentionally, since she wanted my brother and me to focus on our studies. Yes I never experienced to have our own TV set at home for a score of my life (20 years or two decades). I had to go to my neighbors / friends' houses on weekends or school days-off, to watch my favorite shows, and in between TV programs there were news broadcasts, that I found really interesting to watch.
When I reached college, I got an honorarium being a publication writer then news editor, finally two-term editor-in-chief, and had side hustles, so I was able to buy on paid subscription three (3) leading newspapers and Reader's Digest regularly. I was always hungry for new information and I felt good being updated on news items as they unfolded. My brains were able to process information, based on the facts and opinions on what was going on written carefully by the writers. It helped me hone my communication skills as a budding journalist. As they say, "I must read a lot to write an article". Aside from that, the creative part of me was always on the lookout for some styles in the advertisements -- combination of words, choice of fonts, graphical images and messages the advertisers wanted to convey. I had a compilation of some advertisements that greatly attracted me.
Many of my elders did not reach high school / college level, so at least knowing that I got a better education than them I had a feeling that I would be a catalyst for development. The habit of reading had a direct positive impact in my life, which inspired some younger relatives, who by now, had reached farther places and achieved more than I did.
In my first company, I was a member of the editorial board, writing corporate news, feature articles, and content of brochures, so my job at the personnel department got more meaningful.
After I quit my job to be a full-time mother, I decided to write for a local newspaper that has been in existence for more than 50 years, for some time. The management had their own letterpress printing press, then later upgraded to offset process. There were many hurdles in running such a business because of the high costs required and local competition. I handled the business side, too -- circulation. We normally distributed free copies among local government offices and sold the rest on consignment basis to some related business entities like bookstores and tourism spots.
When I first arrived here in Dubai, our company was on daily subscription to leading local newspaper. My boss loved to read a lot of news articles, too (aside from his daily Wikipedia-brain-watering). We needed to compile the pages related to job vacancies and jobseekers section for current and future reference, as we were in the manpower supply business. (I remember we reused the newspaper pages as a table cover whenever the staff ate together.)
In the Digital Age, many things have changed as internet removes the distance and time barriers for readers to read articles online. The pages of the printed newspapers got less and less as time passed by.
With the vast space on the web comes a lot of information, and we do not know anymore which is true or not. How many certified qualified 'cyber watchdogs' are there to check all the information? We do not know.
If we are readers of a newspaper in good standing, meaning, many of its articles are substantial and reliable, over time we will stick to it.
The sad thing is when after getting used to reading the online version for free for a long time, it suddenly switches to a paid subscription -- for all or some of its articles. Yes, we understand that there are costs involved in the operation. But I think there are ways to cover those with profit like reaching out to commercial entities for advertisement or sponsorship, so readers' free access to truthful and verifiable information will continue.
These days when there are many threats to humanity -- natural or man-made -- it is important that the right / accurate information reaches many reader on time.
The problem is when there is screen pop-out that says you need to subscribe to read that article. If you want to read it and share it with your family members and friends, it stops at the box popper. (There is no mention of the word 'needs subscription' after the article title, or say a premium icon, so you do not need to waste time clicking it anymore, and get disappointed).
It says you need to subscribe for a certain amount and you get some vouchers worth 6x or more of your subscription fee. But this applies to local stores only. When you share the article to your family and friends, they cannot read it if they are not subscribers. If they do, the voucher thing is useless if they are not in the area where the participating merchants do business as covered in the collaboration agreements.
When a Filipino senior writer of a leading publication went back to its former employer, the competitor of a local publication that offers articles requiring subscription fee, I felt happy for him and for his readers. I am happy to read his articles, and proud of him being from the same country. I am confident that his articles will be beneficial to many readers as they can be read and shared for free. Immediately I sent him a congratulatory message on this, and warm best wishes.
This is a very interesting quote from Edward R. Murrow --
Most of us probably feel we couldn't be free without newspapers, and that is the real reason we want newspapers to be free.
In college when I was the editor-in-chief of our publication, we had some seminars on investigative journalism. (It was very interesting as I loved Nancy Drew's books when I was a little girl.) Whenever we read newspapers containing juicy reports, we can see behind them some reporters playing their investigative roles to make facts verifiable and valid. It is not easy to report government corruption, abuse of power, organized crimes, etc. as their and their family members' lives are in danger after they expose all. But those writeups open the eyes of the readers and they are helpful to the communities and the country.
If we are to prosper in the Information Economy setting, online newspapers must be totally free. They have the right digital platforms, and a wide reach. The easier access to their articles, the wider the reach, the more they attract potential advertisers / sponsors / supporters to buy their spaces.
Neil Kinnock said, "Newspapers are tutors as well as informers."
Content creators are on the rise, and there are many things under the sun that they can teach and inform people. Many of us are in the giving / sharing side, at the same time, receiving side. It's a give and take process. We learn from each other. We develop from each other. Through that, we as informed ones, evolve and process things better than ever. Not uninformed, not misinformed. We learn to balance the truth with falsehood.
It has been a habit for me to passionately monitor news online via my mobile phone or laptop. I sincerely thank the teams behind the free reliable newspapers ('e' or not, online or printed) and silently pray that they grow and thrive. Let us support them.
---
Image credits: Pixabay | USA-Reiseblogger
Comments
Post a Comment