The Front Page Dilemma

You are shell shocked, are you?
Your sensibilities are raped, you say?
Your sense of peace is ripped apart, is it?
“Every time I pick up the newspaper in the morning,
I am assaulted by the stories and pictures on the Front Page.
There, 29 killed and 56 injured in Peshawar
Here, 5 burnt alive in communal violence
Oh, and look at this small side column
There it is, in fine print
Elderly couple clubbed to death in South Delhi
Yesterday was more gruesome, remember?
Was it 74, or 84, that were sent ahead of others
In that car bomb explosion in Baghdad?
Today seems to be a nicer day, by comparison
The numbers on the dead are lower, and the injured seem to be fewer
And look, no politician arrested for attempted murder, either!

But what I can say about tomorrow morning?
How will that be in terms of its routine invitation to nausea?
I just can’t stand this, day in and day out
My agony over strangers dying in far away lands
And the thought of their orphaned, maimed children
Are feelings I could jolly well do without!”

My friend, I see and hear your pain
And don’t want to doubt your sincerity one moment
You, like me, must be a man (or woman) who was
Raised in a happy family, in a time and age
When the front page was different and wars few and far between
Random killings were indeed random – as in very rare,
Scores were settled in private and deaths were not so public
And parents exhorted children to develop the habit of reading
By reading the newspaper regularly.

But, my dear nauseated friend, have you ever given thought
To the Front Page dilemma of the junior editor
Who is responsible for sifting through
At least ten, twenty times the number of pictures and stories
To decide which ones to accord the honour of prime coverage
Night in and night out, he takes calls on what a million eyes
Will see the next morning
Imagine his plight, spare him some thought
Think of his capacity for absorbing the gore that spews out
24 by 7
How does he do it, you ask?
I am not sure, but maybe there is some unwritten formula
Like if there are more than 50 dead, stick it at the top and use this font size
With less than 10 dead, don’t just bother!
But, if among the 10 dead is a VIP, switch to the first rule
Routine Iraq bombings in small print, please
US School shooting with over 5 dead, sure, people want to know
So get the text next to the cartoon, with the CNN video grab stuck to its right;
And with a communal rape, give it top billing while sending
That story of a simple intra-caste one, to page 7.

It must be complicated, this rule book, you wonder?
You bet, it must be, and with the benchmarks changing constantly
Not an easy one to keep updated.
Today’s “at least 50 dead” rule is tomorrow’s “routine” limit
News no more, and certainly not worthy of the Front Page.

Imagine what it would be like to be in the shoes of this man
Who for a living has to bear witness to this daily, mounting heap of horror!
While you and me, at least, have the luxury of moving
To the cartoon page, with a sigh, a sip and a flip.

Limerick

There was once a man called Shastry
Who was a student of Practical Chemistry
Till one day he –
Experimented with TNT –
And now he is part of History!

–

Pramod voluntarily gave up his plum position as the Managing Director of Syncata in 2005 to focus on his passion for training, teaching and mentoring. He believes in having fun while doing whatever he does, and infects people with the same virus!  Contact him at pramodkjoshi@gmail.com.