Annette's mail throws up so many issues for debate, so to avoid getting swamped, I'll take just one.
She mentioned that she read nothing in the websites and media about the social festivities in Saligao, scheduled for early May (feast, dance, etc). That's the tragedy. After being involved in the media myself for the past twenty years (fast growing old!) one has to admit that the papers here seem to have little space for local and village-level coverage. Some 2-3 news outlets have opened up on cable TV, offering news in Konkani for about half-hour each day. But here too, the problem lies with definition: politics is news, all the rest isn't. If at all we want to change this situation, we need to start (i) working to put even village-level news on the agenda and (ii) making sure that these stories get written on in the first place. To tackle the second issue first, I think very few people actually write. We're not doing anything to solve this situation. And encouraging young people to write isn't very difficult -- on the contrary, it's addictive. Once they start writing and gain confidence, they usually won't stop. Fact is, since the untimely death of Tipri, sometime in the 'eighties, I think, there has been no local journalist covering Saligao on a regular basis. Francis Ribeiro has been reporting on local issues off and on, but his job is primarily sports. People like Norman Dantas, a very capable journalist whom I had a lot of respect for, died too early and he was more at the upper end of the editorial hierarchy (both at Herald and, earlier, Goa Today of which his dad was a co-owner) and hence not into village-based reporting. Savio D'Souza of Donvaddo has been with both Herald and Gomantak Times, but largely on the editorial desk (there is a near water-tight division between writers and editorial people in India, in keeping with the British categorisation of work). As for myself, when associated with papers like the Herald in Goa, it has been mainly on the editorial side; and for much of my own stint I've been writing for the outstation media. So, in a word, we badly need to be encouraging young people to write. We've tried to encourage young people to read (with the magazine section that has been going strong at Lourdes Convent for the past four years, for instance), but now we've got to go a step forward. If our youngsters don't become 'producers' of information, they'll just be consigned to the fate of being mere consumers of it. A recipe for mental colonialisation. Incidentally, I remember the SALIGAO BULLETIN (hope the name is correctly rendered) brought out by a senior citizen (was it Hubert D'Souza?) and sold in our classrooms via teachers like Miss Ida of Mollembhat, who taught us in the second standard at Lourdes Convent! The guys must have been bold to bring out such a publication in those times, when printing was a far far more difficult task, in a world without computers. If one recalls right, the price for the six or eight pages was 15 paise. I'm sure the veterans on this list would have more stories to tell. (That reminds me, the book SALIGAO published in the 'seventies, is probably awaiting an update too.) FN -- --------------------------------------------------------- Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa, India f r e d @ b y t e s f o r a l l . o r g Ph 832.2409490 / 832.2409783 Cell 9822 122436 Phone calls: preferably from 1300 to 0500 (IST) Try landlines is mobile is temporarily unavailable JUST OUT: Goa photos http://www.goa-world.com/fotofolio --------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--W-E-B--S-I-T-E--=-=-=-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from Saligaonet | http://www.goacom.com/saligao_tinto/ ============================================================================ * Send e=mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] (NOT [EMAIL PROTECTED]) * Leave SUBJECT blank <--- Commom Mistake !! * On first line of the BODY of your message, type: subscribe saligaonet YOUR.EMAIL OR unsubscribe saligaonet YOUR.EMAIL Questions/Problems? Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
