Dear Goanetters, Fred has worked for the oHERALDo in its formative years. I have read it and occasionally contributed articles to it and whetted its information on agriculture for accuracy. It was in this connection that I first met the then Editor, Rajan Narayan and News editor, Norman Dantas[ who had earlier almost prophetically predicted the collapse of the Mandovi Bridge, based of simple, but consistent , investigations.]. If at all oHERALDo is a newspaper of some standing today, it has to thank Rajan Narayan and the Konkani movement....and not necessarily in that order of preference. It was a happy coincidence for AC Fernandes that he launched the English avatar just as the Portuguese-Konkani bi-lingual was facing a silent burial. My father was a faithfull reader of the O Heraldo in Portuguese and continued to read it even when it became a rag [ like the trial issues of the Goan Observer]. The little of Portuguese spellings that I know is largely due to the reading of the newspaper like a semi-literate would.
> "Frederick Noronha (FN)" [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote ------------------------------------------------------------------ Some comments on the occasion, mostly in response to what the Herald is > saying (or not saying): > * Editor Robin Abreu's brief front-page piece is titled 'Dev Borem > Korum'. In addition to Rajan Narayan's almost patented phrase, he also > signs off with an additional 'Devan Tumcher Bessaum Galum'. M: So Robyn is robbing Rajan Narayan of his pet terms and glory ...all in one go? Robin terms Herald Goa's "largest read paper" and says it > is "getting stronger and stronger". M: Both these contentions are eminently debatable. For one, he has shifted the focus from verifiable 'print run' and 'circulation' figures to an arbitrary 'readership' which can be factored from 1 reader per paper to maybe a dozen readers in a library to come up with 'winning results'. His contention that"the changes over the past one year" have been undertaken "to meet the varying demands of our readers" can however be debated. Firstly, most changes are advertiser-driven and seem shaped with the trends being brought in by papers like the Times of India. The ascent of the marketing sections over editorial is clearly visible in many papers, including the Herald. This has little or nothing to do with providing a better product to the reader. (In fact, readability of such papers has gone down.) M: The improvements are cosmetic, the degradation in the editorial content disastrous. Not only are the 'Editorials' poorly [ghost]written, the reader is dumped with a full page of unsubstantiated rubbish that Dr.Joe D'Souza's pickled brain can churn up. What he could not achieve in Microbiology is now being vented in verbosity of subjects in which he 'knows not what he is doing'...and hence amply eligible for forgiveness. The same , perhaps , applies to Robynhood and his merry men in the oHERALDo. > > Instead, it has everything to do with jazzifying and sexing-up the product, under the (mistaken) belief that everyone wants a glamorous, colour and snazzy paper in between their hands, one that appeals to their emotions rather than to their brain, and one which is advertiser-friendly and conflict-free (it doesn't care about local concerns and ignores them often). M: Unfortunately, only grey newsprint is subsidized. Otherwise the oHERALDo would have long shifted to glossy art paper and splashed some sexy blondes on its pages. All cats are grey in the dark. The 'local content' that was responsible for the newspaper's mercurial rise is now to be found only in the Sakal's Gomantak TIMES. Like Mangal Pandey, it is Rising and the oHERALDo's raj is on the decline. > > THE NEXT THING that drew my attention was Uday Bhembre's article on Page 5, titled 'Remembering with gratitude'. It acknowledges "the contribution of Herald to the success of the language agitation in 1986". M: The shoe is on the other foot. The Konkani agitation contributed to the oHERALDo's success. From 200 copies a day for the bi-lingual its circulation crossed 10,000 copies for the English version that promoted Konkani. Except for conning the Diocesan Society of Education[DSE] to shift to Konkani medium of instruction in all its schools in 1993 what did the Konkani Movement [ led by Bhembre and Pundalik Naik]and oHERALDo achieve? 8.25% government primary schools in Konkani and 6 schools run by other managements! Some success to claim. We do not even have our OFFICIAL GAZETTE in the OFFICIAL LANGUAGE. Even 18 years after the Official Language Act,1987, Konkani is a PEPSI: nothing OFFICIAL about it!!! > > As someone working there in the heat of the "agitation", I felt then as > I feel now that it was a lot of hot air, misplaced chauvinism and all > that has resulted in frustration and unfulfilled promises. Few might the > details of how the "agitation" was used for selfish purposes by its > leading lights. I know at least one senior who was arguing for a raise > in salary on the basis that the newspaper had "brought 75,000 people to > the Azad Maidan" (or words to that effect). M: That is the gospel truth. Like it was. Like it is ...and will continue to be. Self before Selflessness. > > I couldn't agree more with Bhembre's view that "Herald... should not try > to be a 'national' paper, in the sense that it should not ignore local > news and run away from issues of local interest". He has an apt example > when he says, "As a reader, I do not expect any local newspaper to > ignore the controversial VCD product by the Government, and devote its > columns to discuss films like Lagaan or Swades..." Well put. M: How could the oHERALDo write about the VCD while its owner was burying the mangroves [ protected trees by legislation in Goa] in Santacruz to illegally reclaim wetlands right near the new NH-4A bypass? Would Adv. Uday Bhembre talk to the managements of institutions in Margao[ yay Damodar High School] to shift to the Konkani medium of instruction as has been done by Loyola High School or Fatima Convent? The human race knows about self-preservation.The crow that can be baited to open its beak , loses the piece of cheese. The fox that never had the cheese, cannot lose it. > > Bhembre says, "Herald should improve its Sunday magazine". Does the > Sunday magazine still exist? It seems to have been given a quiet burial > some months ago, or at least reduced to a shadow of its former self. M: Perhaps , Adv. Bhembre is referring to the 'Advertising Supplement' that masquerades as a 'Magazine.' > > Bhembre also adds that the Sunday magazine should "discuss books > published in Goa especially in Konkani". Why Konkani? Because a lobby > has hijacked a language and turned it into a barely-read one, which has > no takers in its own language? It is quite a comment on the failure of > the language protagonists that they need reviews of Konkani books in an > English-language newspaper. M: For a person who spits venom on Konkani in Roman script [ Romi lipi], it is ridiculous to demand that books in Antruzi Konkani in Devanagari script be reviewed in English that is exclusively written in Roman script[ except by Std.V students who sometimes write English in Devanagri due to familiarity with the phonetics] > > Bhembre also adds: "There is a perception in a section of > the Goan population that Herald looks towards a particular > community as a constituency. This perception needs to > be dispelled." > This is a debatable proposition. In a Goa where every paper is seen as a > mouthpiece (or largely read by) one community or caste group or lobby > (even the BJP has its own organ now!), the Herald gets consistently > blamed as being a newspaper read mainly by the Catholics. M: This is chauvinism turned into chavanism; either be pro-Hindu or neutral. Should other community mouthpieces be neutral or be neutered? > Which it is. But what's wrong with that? > This is not a crime! Anyone running a paper will try to echo the views > and concerns of his basic readership constituency. > Unfortunately, the Herald gets put on the defensive, even while nobody > even seems to notice that papers like the GT also show signs of wanting > to cut into the "Catholic readership" market. M: Sujay Gupta has positioned the Sakal's Gomantak TIMES differently from Promod Khandeparkar's GOMANTAK TIMES...the affiliation with the MAHARASHTRAVADI Gomantak is a thing of the past even though the ownership of the newspaper has actually crossed the Norther border!! If that Gomantak TIMES can become GOAN TIMES [ for there is already a 'Goa Times' in Marathi!], the trickle of Catholic readership will become a tide. That is the essence of a Hindu bride changing her name when changing her identity at marriage. > > What *is* wrong, I think, is to polarise readers of one community > against the other, and to lead readers into believing that the 'other' > are evil enemies out to destroy you. Many papers in Goa -- sometimes > Herald too in the past -- have adopted such an approach, which is not > just very unfortunate but also dangerous to the future of Goa. M: Polarising is always done by vested interests, either political or commercial. Newspapers do have commercial interests. > JOE D'SOUZA, one of the preferred columnist of the Herald currently, has > another piece titled 'A tribute to the voice of Goa'. > > He calls the Herald (actually O Heraldo, the shrunken O's at > either end were a typographical trick intended to continue > getting newsprint quotas in the days of the license-permit > raj) a "predominantly Portuguese daily" started in 1900. > Predominantly? I thought it was wholly Portuguese ... Those weren't days > days of multiculturalism anyway. Or am I wrong? M: Absolutely a fully Portuguese newspaper till the mid 1970s when it unsuceesfully tried several bi-lingual experiments, before hanging the fig leaf and shifting completely to English...as we should do in our primary schools for our medium of instruction. > > But the bloomer in Joe's piece is that he mistakes A.C.Fernandes, the > man who went in for the shifting of Herald from being a > Portuguese-language daily to an English-language one, with AC's father, > J.D.Fernandes. > For Dr Joe to get it wrong, not once but twice, is understandable. For a > newspaper to forget its own history is -- and that too, going just 22 > years back -- is surprising. This is the problem with a lack of > 'insider' understanding of issues, an issue we have been debating on the > Goajourno mailing list recently. See http://puggy.symonds.net/pipermail/goajourno/2005-October/002367.html M: Dr.Joe is known for getting his facts wrong. Why criticise him when he has been consistent with his reputation? > > What is also more noteworthy is the piece also erases the role played by > Rajan Narayan in the Herald. There's no mention of this name. It's like > the case of Leon Trotsky, who was wiped out of photographs when he fell > out of favour with revolutionaries in Russia. M: Perhaps, Rajan Narayan would like to repeat the words of Cardinal Wolseley when he was being assasinated by the henchmen of King Henry VIII [who had decided to get himself a new wife] " Had I but served God with half the zeal with which I served my King, He would not have turned me over to my enemies." Serving men has its imponderables. > > On a related point, in the early days of the Herald (maybe the first > year or two), Rajan Narayan actually named the entire team that brought > out the paper in his anniversary edit. Right down to proof-readers and > peons! But over the years, this was forgotten as the then-editor took on > a larger-than-life image himself, and the Herald-is-Rajan, > Rajan-is-Herald era began. M: There is no saint without a Past and no sinner without a Future. The roles can also be reversed. > > Dr Joe claims that "Herald alone was the voice, which > proclaimed (sic) about the extensive damage done > by unscientific mining and haphazard urbanisation > taking place in Goa". > Joe would also like to believe that it was his and Norman Dantas' work > in the Herald (I have great respect for Norman's work generally) that > resulted in a House Committee to look into the Nylon 6,6 DuPont issue. > Actually, a high level of industrial rivalry (don't forget the Nylon 6 > link to the Ambanis and others) was more responsible in one of the few > successful environmental protests in Goa. Believing otherwise would be > an exercise in self-delusion. M: Every cockrel may believe that the Sun rises to see it crow. So does Dr.Joe. Self-delusion in him is an art form...state-of-the-art! > Joe also credits the Herald with standing up to the BJP when it was in > power and Goa was facing the "manipulation of the press". I think the GT > played a much more significant role. That too, even when the Parrikar > regime seemed almost-invincible, not only in early-2005, by which time > its fall was imminent. M: Absolutely. G.TIMES gave the BJP a run for its money, photographs and all. Rajan narayan's Goan Observer has remained rabidly anti-Parritler from the word GO! [incidentally, its initials.] oHERALDo has turned anti-BJP after it lost power. Is there any value in beating a dead horse? > Just a few thoughts. Your comments are welcome. FN I have put in my comments. Their welcome will obviously not be universal. Viva Goa, Miguel