Role of newspaper in modern age

Role of newspaper in modern age

(By Pragya Kumar ) 

Image By:- Sandeep

It's still dark out there. Though the sun was quite visible in the sky but the dense fog opaque it's view for me.  Rubbing my hands to get rid of the morning numbness. I walked to the metaled road that hardly had any people.  I could see only a few morning walkers breathing out clouds of fog out of their mouth. I reached my working place. Grabbing the bundles of rough grey printed paper tied up altogether I started my duty. By the way, I did introduce myself, I am "Raja"( this is what people like to call me) and I distribute newspapers in an area of 10 km. My family has been working in the same field for many years and I carried the flag of this legacy when my father died. I really felt bad when my father woke up early and left for his work. Everytime he used to come back, I questioned him about his early departure. He said,"  you have no idea how much people love to read newspapers. And I am responsible for providing them with this happiness". With the same thought I always wake up early to do my duty. As I walk through one gate and another through rolled up paper aiming a parabola. I was surprised to see that some people didn't even bother to pick the previous newspaper. Some had food spread over it to feed their pets. And some just finished reading it quickly and curled it up in the trash. The only thing that brushed my mind was,  "where did this happiness go? "

“Newspapers cannot be defined by the second word—paper.  They’ve got to be defined by the first word—news.”
Arthur Sulzberg, Jr.

The rough grey pages bring together a world that lies divided by distance. Newspapers were one of the most accessible weapons that bridged the war of independence for our country. It stood as the voice of the nation yelling the screams of freedom from the striding rule of the Britishers. We raced through the thorns of their rule, we accomplished freedom and printing of newspapers played a drastic role in the course. When the newspaper stood like a pillar then how did it dashed to grounds? They are like melting snow flakes to us now.  Vanishing and deteriorating.

The privilege of acquiring a newspaper is often left unnoticed by many people.  It evokes a sense of ideology which sharpens with reading the newspaper. It envelops many opinions and all the patience of understanding these opinions. It lifts our consciousness as well.  

But…  with the growth in technology and the invention of the internet the wrecks of newspapers were found submerged in the pool of the web. All the news that I wanna see is just a click of the button away.  And the most hierarchical fact is that I attain all the notifications of the important news of the day.  Hence this bifurcation has made the importance of newspapers nullified. Imagine me just getting the piece of news that I want with a mere touch on the screen rather than flipping the eleven pages of newspaper printed on both sides. 

Language is also another barrier in the sinking ship of the newspaper. The language has created a rift between the people who don't want to put effort in understanding the meaning behind a particular word. The discrepancy in the language has depressed the spread of knowledge through it. 

Apart from language, the other thing that affects the role of newspapers in today's generation is that it is a bit time consuming and our generation is always short of it.  Beside the fact that we are more materialistic than our ancestors hence we are inquisitive about our time as well.  

Modernisation is the pursuit of all living beings now.  What we own is what we desire? We are bestowed with the blessing of the internet and we take full advantage of it. Newspapers are something that is lacking behind the time.  The generalisation has overpowered it's essence. And it's not wrong to be digitalised.

Newspapers  now left to puzzle out the crosswords or to be absorbed with a sip of tea. This is the harsh reality. 

  

Disclaimer:-

The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Light de Literacy and LDL does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.