Introspection needed in the media

IT COULD BE an exalted sense of my place in the grand scheme of things. It could be that when I sit down to write the first column of a new year, I remember that journalism is supposed to be the first draft of history.

- Tavleen Singh

IT COULD BE an exalted sense of my place in the grand scheme of things. It could be that when I sit down to write the first column of a new year, I remember that journalism is supposed to be the first draft of history. Whatever the reason, I admit that as I sat down to write this first column of 2025, I felt nervous and a little overwhelmed. I do not like to read those tedious catalogues of events in the year just gone by, so I try not to write them. I thought of writing about the ominous spurt in Islamist terrorism that we saw last week in the United States and the week before in Germany, but much has already been said about this. So, I have decided to stick instead to examining if we in the Indian media are indeed writing that first draft of history in a way that will be useful to historians in the future.

No sooner did I start mulling over this subject than I saw clearly that we have been writing a draft that will be of little use to historians except those who have a special interest in political gossip, trivia and frivolous details. Political journalism has deteriorated to a point when most of us so-called political pundits never seem to get beyond writing about political bickering and political speeches. So much attention is paid to these two things that we seem never to get to the issues that really affect ordinary people like healthcare, education, pollution and the horrendous conditions in which most Indians are forced to live.