Censorship is pure political: Sanjay Kak

Censorship serves no other purpose but political. That is what Sanjay Kak, an ace documentary filmmaker said at grand finale of orientation ceremony held at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi. He had been invited to provide some insights to IIMCians on documentary-filmmaking and also make them aware of the pitfalls one has to go through being in this profession. As documentaries are usually based on serious issues, multiplexes don’t showcase them and most of the time the content of documentaries gets controversial thus leads to showcase-challenges. On asking why he won’t allow censorship of controversial segment, he emphatically answered “I would accept screening-hurdles but would never compromise on my message.”

His lecture was tailored with the history of documentary culture in India, also beautifully embroidered with his personal anecdotes. Though the trend of documentary set in after WW2, it is only after 1977 that the watershed moment came with the popularity of documentaries like Prisoners of Conscience, Waves of Revolutions by renowned documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan who also happens to be his inspiration. It was Mr. Patwardhan’s visit in his college which sowed the seeds of documentary-love in his heart. He shared an interesting anecdote that it used to be mandatory for movie-theatres to screen at least one documentary before projecting movie but the trend somehow died. Though he advocated that it must be rejuvenated but also added with the inception of internet, documentaries are actually reaching out to people. Screening is no more a problem. There is now a good chunk of audience interested in documentaries.

Mr. Kak ended his lecture by reiterating that censorship isn’t pro public but political and which is why independent filmmakers need not bend knees before politicians or extremists. If the work is flawless and extraordinary, it will surely be recognized by audience whatever may be the medium. If not an organized screening then an online one!

Clap with neighbors not slap: Mani

Unmindful of earlier backbites including recent ambush and subsequent killing of five Indian soldiers by Pakistani intruders, Congress still shies away from taking hawkish tune against its aggressive neighbor. If one is to go by what senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyer said during orientation ceremony held at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi, “slap approach” as being suggested by opposition is no solution, amicability with neighbors is significant and which can only be brought about through “clap approach”. He also added that exuding the zenith of patriotism, opposition might say “teach buggers a lesson but well one has to consider that those buggers have nuclear bombs too.”

Mr. Aiyer separately discussed India’s relations with each of its neighbors historically and also currently. He said that India has always shared rapport with Bhutan which still continues with bonhomie with current king Khesar Nagmyal. He cautioned that though India helped Nepal restore democracy in its state but given that it is a buffer between India and China, India must be hyper sensitive about their sensitivities. As for China, the geographical disputes still continue. Tibet and Arunanchal Pradesh are major bone of contentions yet economic bonding with China is strong. It is an irony that it was India who vehemently supported and assisted in the formation of Bangladesh yet the latter doesn’t seem to extend friendly hands.

He also doubted at foreign policy being a Centre prerogative given the fact that state governments increasingly and forcefully influence foreign policy stand for their own vested interests.

To surmise his entire lecture, India cannot afford to take a tough stand against its rough neighbors be it Bangladesh, SriLanka or even Pakistan because being in a globalized world it’ll take no time for small neighbors to summon in super-powers in order to fight against their mammoth neighbor i.e. India. Thus the only way forward for India’s Foreign Policy towards its neighbours is that “uninterrupted” and “uninterruptable” dialogue with them doesn’t come to stall.

Profit motives are killing serious journalism: Sevanti Ninan

Indian print-media business is in doldrums. Recently Outlook did away with three of its magazines and Times of India closed its weekend edition named Crest. Grappling with huge revenue deficit due to lower cover price and exorbitant print cost, Industry is bound to bend towards advertisers. As Sevanti Ninan, media critic and columnist said during orientation lecture held at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, it’s profit maximizing industrial trends of media profession which are driving the journalism trends and subsequently taking the sheen out of business.

Earlier media was embraced as a service. Owners used to get more concerned about people than profit. But with the reins being handed over to second-generation, the things have turned for worst. The management no more sees media as a service but business. For them minting monies is the mere motive. They can go to any extent to win high-heeled shareholders and advertisers. This advertisement-driven or profit-driven media model has actually given a leeway to planted news and assassinated the real journalism.

Ms. Ninan also threw light on how English dailies like Times of India and The Hindu are going to launch their regional versions and also entertaining supplements in order to earn revenues and thus boost the quality of their mother-product.

To conclude, revenue deficit in print media organizations is what ails the industry qualitatively and ethically. As the end-product i.e. the published paper is exceedingly cheaper than what is spent on its produce, management will definitely look for other sources of funds. Either the overhaul in price structure of newspaper will take place or let’s just accept that print-media business will soon die, perhaps within 10 years to come.

Blunder of Past, Pain in Prsent: Prof Kumar

Currently battered Indian economy is just paying the costs of historical mistakes. To understand the concurrent economy, its development since independence needs to be seen in a long-term perspective. That is how Professor Arun Kumar from Jawahar Lal University saw Indian economy and also worded his thoughts in a book named Indian Economy since Independence: Persisting Colonial Disruption.

Prof. Kumar made his appearance at orientation ceremony held at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi where he lectured on current macro-economic challenges and also put forth historical angles to corroborate why India chronically suffers from those challenges. He explained that there is sentiment of slowdown in almost each industry like automobile, realty, manufacturing and infrastructure etc. which causes export-slowdown. As India is an import driven country and there is slump in exports, it consistently runs Current Account Deficit which puts downward pressure on rupee and makes it depreciate against dollar. These developments make rating agencies like CRISIL, Standard & Poor’s etc. to downgrade ratings thus prompt capital-flight i.e. outflow of dollars by foreign investors. As Lack of dollars is the cause of ballooning CAD in the first place, India gets stuck into vicious cycle. Cure for one becomes the pain for another and cycle keeps extracting its fuel out of pains.

Why India could not break this vicious cycle, could not turn it into virtuous one is because the country never focused on indigenous means and ended up being the victim of external sector volatility. The country remained work-horses, provided cheap labor to overseas manufactures but never itself developed technologies, never worked on exploiting internal resources

To surmise his entire lecture, historically we, Indians failed to stay original and innovative and got increasingly dependent on volatile foreign trade but we will have to understand that external weather cannot be controlled so its better to develop internal resistance.

Media for conviction not convenience: Mr. Varma

Equipping IIMCians with essentials of media profession during orientation ceremony held at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi, Mr.  Uday Kumar Varma, former secretary of Information and Broadcast Ministry, said selection of pertinent issues and presenting them in a language being understood by laymen is a must for media professionals. Those who are driven to media with firm determination not just out of shallow interest can only make a change, can head to north. Thus whether to pursue Journalism by conviction or convenience...choice is of one’s own!

Mr. Varma’s informative lecture also threw light on when the newspaper breathed first and how it grew up during the years to come. He told that Raja Ram Mohan Roy is known as the father of press whose Samwad Kaumaudi is the very first published newspaper on Indian soil. Newspapers were launched during independence movements in order to make people aware of the atrocities British inflicted on Indians. He further elaborated that in today’s scenario; media must mould public opinion towards the good and must also arouse some “desirable sentiments” in the hearts of readers.

His lecture was full of stories, anecdotes, poems and popular phrases which appealed to students and teachers alike. In the end, he motivated the students by stating that compassionate and passionate attitude is a must for budding journalists. He rested his words by reciting following poem by Janet Rand:

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach for another is to risk involvement. To expose your feelings is to risk exposing your true self. To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To live is to risk dying. To believe is to risk despair. To try is to risk failure. But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live. Chained by their attitudes they are slaves; they have forfeited their freedom. Only a person who risks is free.    

   

Audience-research is must for survival in profession: Mr. Cherrian

Very soon research based campaigns will be a must for political parties to run the current democracy consisting of vigilant audience. Not only politics, audience-research is going to become the pre-requisite for any profession to successfully survive. After all, before you sell, you must know who your buyers are. That was the message what Dilip Cherrian, an image guru who owns one of the leading Public Relations firm named Perfect Relations, conveyed through his orientation lecture at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi.

Mr. Cherrian, in fact, himself began his speech with quick audience-research in order to weave his thought-threads for the gathering sitting before him. Sensing the changing perceptions of today’s audience, he also enumerated three components what audience will be expecting from producers and which are veracity, understandability and stretch. To elaborate, in the Babel of voices around an authentic produce, easily understandable, something which stretches knowledge-span is what will cater to the interests of emerging audience. Thus, the crux of his entire lecture can be surmised in following words: “Slice your audience and press the button which wins you most of them.”

Tidbits:

1)    He advised that being a budding journalist, each mass com student has to have a say on at least three stories in a day. Not just a verbal say but a flash on social media is also required.

2)    He defined the word ‘strategy’. The pre-requisite to strategize is to know your enemy and then proceed with planned and healthy combat.

3)    There is hearsay about three key components of running a restaurant and which are location, location, location. In the vein of it, three key ingredients for being a successful journalist is Research, Research, Research.