All the news that’s fit to read

There are no programmes on media awareness in school courses. At the most, there are a few passing references to the media in some stray lessons. In addition, it is also possible that some kind of reference may be found in classroom lectures on civics or in the history of political science, particularly when general elections are on the horizon in some parts of our country. But this is different from a comprehensive course on media awareness.

Therefore, it is now imperative that a sort of rudimentary or introductory instruction in media studies is planned and put in place at a secondary stage of school education. It will help make students more thoughtful consumers of media inputs and shape them as potential commentators of the future, by giving them a foresight into the future of a society increasingly involved with news and the new media.

Let us not forget that today’s students are tomorrow’s voters, and perhaps even candidates for electoral battles. Before they are ready to form a mature view of the political environment, they need to be fully acquainted with and comprehend what the mass media is all about, and how and for whom and why they operate the way they do, particularly now in a rapidly globalising India.

In the US recently, The New York Times published an eight-page supplement telling readers what the NYT institution stands for, and about its star reporters, correspondents and writers. Similarly, The Wall Street Journal, believed to be probably the finest financial daily in the world, brought out an eight-page pull-out explaining its editorial thrust and its policies in public interest. It also spoke at length about “the new needs of the reader; enhancing 24X7 news experience and providing the intelligence to live well in buy times.”

This is an insight that we in this country would do well to internalise.

The writer is a former professor of journalism and mass communication, IIMC, New Delhi