Some are linked to political interests. (That the new Marathi
daily to be making an appearance sometime now is BJP-linked
has been hotly denied.) Others are just commercial, make-money
-quickly ventures. But some might grow into useful publications
over time. At least a few of these occasional publications
have dreams of making it to the 'daily newspaper' status someday.We don't know what category the 'Harbour Times Weekly Newspaper' falls in. It's edited by journalist (who turned to politics at Mormugao, if one recalls rightly) Baburao Revankar, with Lata Nambiar as the News editor, Anil Sankhwalkar and Elvino Araaujo (sic) as corresondents and Manish Bandodkar as business manager. Govind Girap will handle customer care.
It's another matter that the designations were described differently in the pressnote put out by the Department of Information. (As an aside, get an DI official to inaugurate your publication, and you have garnered quite some free publicity, at the cost of the taxpayer!)
First impressions: A number of large advertisements from official quarters, including the Department of Information (a full-page ad that claims "the world's favourite tourist destination... is also an investor's delight"). MPT gives a colour back-page, Indian Oil has a full page, while the Mormugao Municipal Council has thrown-in a half page. VM Salgaocar also has a large ad in the first issue. Goa Shipyard Limited has a front-paged ad cautioning about the road accidents and appealing "to motorists, bus drivers, truck and tanker operators and every citizen" to be more careful on the road.
While advertising isn't a bad word in itself, the truth of the
matter is that today, the larger advertisers, can well control
what appears (and doesn't appear) through their purse-string
politics.While Harbour Times' masthead suggests it is a Mormugao-based paper, it's coverage is, strangely, all-Goa. The lead story screams 'Give Me Justice', but is about a Vasco-based advocate who claims he was sidelined in the selections for the post of Legal Assistant.
On the front page, of the Rs 5 priced tabloid, there are two political stories. One says "Shripadbhau refuses to contest bye-elections" while the other announces that Ravi Naik is expected to be the next GPCC chief.
One interesting story is titlted 'History of Political Tsunami in Goa' and informs about defections, including as early as in the first assembly of Goa since 1963! A useful record indeed.
There's quite some element of PR-ish news. Almost every publication in today's Goa seems to be thriving on this. An advert for Special Kesar Chyavanprash is laid out almost as a news item!
Just some first impressions. Your views are welcome!
FN _____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa \ __\/ \ India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.bytesforall.org \/ ----------------------------------------------------- Sign up for low-volume, high-quality news summaries and updates from Goa at http://newsfromgoa.swiki.net * It's free and volunteer-driven.
