Can India’s Handwritten Newspaper Save The Dead Tree Press?
CAN Utkarsh Tripathi save the old media from the technological onslaught with his handwritten newspaper, the weekly Jagriti?
Young Tripathi, of the Brij Bihari Sahai Inter College in Allahabad, Utkarsh, India, forgoes the Murdoch model and works as vendor, reporter, editor and publisher.
He tells us:
“I know, you would like to know how I publish the newspaper. First I prepare a handwritten copy of Jagriti and later take out copies at a photocopy shop in my locality… It’s simple.”
Utkarsh’s dad Hari Prasad explains the paper’s raison d’être:
“More than a year ago, he read an article on Indo-China relations in a Hindi daily. I don’t know what came into his mind… After reading the article, he came to me and asked me to suggest a way he could serve the country.
“At that time I wasn’t sure how serious he was about the question… I said that joining the defence services was one of the best options to serve the country… To this, he said that he wanted to start serving the society from his school life itself. I then suggested why not work like a journalist and make people aware of their rights.”
The boy adds:
“I try to cover social issues pertaining to environment, female foeticide and others in the editorial section, and also information about public welfare schemes and important government policies for the betterment of the poor or children.”
The editor tells us:
“I spend some time daily on researching topics and gathering public utility information from sources like magazines, news dailies and the internet. On Sunday I get more time to work on my project and make pictorial representations that could go along with the articles.”
Can this way of putting paper together save the world from press releases and heated debate over fonts. In next week’s magazine supplement, the rival local newspaper debates: capitals or joined up?
Posted: 4th, January 2011 | In: Strange But True Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
