Column

“A good newspaper is, I suppose, a nation talking to itself,” said the great American playwright Arthur Miller and it remains the most erudite description of what good journalism ought to be.

We, who actually work in newspapers, don’t think of our jobs in such philosophical or grand terms on a daily basis but, over the years, a certain sense of responsibility does creep into our DNA. Journalists like to be cynical — it is part of our contract, they will tell you — but scratch that surface cynicism and the idea of a larger purpose will be visible just below the skin.

But a conversation should be a two way process. We cannot talk to the nation, or assume to be custodians of that dialogue, without some feedback coming from the nation itself.

Newspapers all over the world have understood this, which is why they try to be ‘interactive’. The web editions are, of course, the best way to open up a discussion — chats, blogs, online interviews with columnists and now ‘citizen journalism’ are all efforts to make the reader feel closer to the newspaper.

We in DNA pioneered the ‘Speak Up’ page — indeed, our path-breaking ad campaign was based on the idea of the citizen speaking up — and its smashing success has inspired competitors to start their own versions.

Not many papers had thought of handing over a full page to its readers on a daily basis; the fact that our readers took to it in a big way clearly indicates the pent up demand among citizens to get their voices heard. On this page they sound off on all manner of issues, often rustling up controversies and getting into arguments with their fellow readers.

Probably the oldest form of reader feedback is the Letter to the Editor, where readers — usually in an irate mood — sound off on the newspaper’s views or about any issue that catches their imagination.

This column, alas, has been shrinking in most newspapers and I am often asked why this is so. The easy answer is that editors want the space for something else and don’t care much for their readers or their views. While this may be so in the case of some papers, it is also true that fewer readers are writing letters nowadays.

This last statement needs a bit of explanation. We still get a fair number of letters, but subtract the ones that are written by the ‘professional’ letter writers and the number goes down. The prolific ones write several missives a day, possibly hoping that out of every ten or so, one would make it into print.

But where are the general citizens who have something important to say, who want to be part of the democratic process? There is no dearth of issues in this country that should excite them.

Don’t they feel angry, unhappy, upset, delighted, surprised enough to want to put pen to paper and let the world know their views?

Just a handful of topics get people worked up enough to write letters. Write an article on minorities, religious or caste, and an avalanche of letters will pour in, screaming ‘pseudo-secularism’.

Touch on a subject which minority communities consider their domain — civil code, for example — and a spate of angry emails will follow. Apart from these, the big bugbear of our vast readership is cricket or, more accurately, our cricket team. That is more or less it.

The bigger social issues of our time, national and global, seem to interest our readers not a whit; at least not enough for them to write in.

What are the conclusions one can draw from this, or should one draw conclusions at all? Perhaps people are too busy to write letters, or just don’t care. Both these premises are valid, if somewhat disturbing.

Maybe Indians feel their letters will have no impact whatsoever. That is easily disprovable, because a letter to the newspaper can have a tremendous impact. A slightly off-beat theory suggests that letter writing has become passé because ordinary people would much rather be interviewed for a channel than write to a newspaper.

I have no easy answers, but I do think that feedback from readers is invaluable, not merely for the newspaper, but also for society at large. This is the way the nation keeps up the dialogue and debate so necessary for our democratic health.

Email: sidharth01@dnaindia.net