It is Working!

by Aarcee

April 8, 2006

When some months back the PD 'Readers Write' column had a 'meltdown', I had expressed the wish that the editorial control should be "constant and invisible". Since Reader's Write came back online in its new avatar, I have found that the editor has indeed implemented the much needed "constant and invisible" editorial control. Yes, some of my articles did not make it. I knew even while I sent them in that they might not make it, but I sent them anyways. I was curious to see if they got intercepted. I am very happy to report that, yes, they did. They ended up expressing my views to the editor. If I had worn the Editor shoes, I wouldn't have published them either. He has a news site to run and we all should be mindful of this fact and not allow a dropped article to ruffle our feathers.

At this time I have two comments to make on this issue:

First, while the new editorial policy seems to filter our controversial articles that might 'tread on toes', some reader's reactions make it through which take the author's intent out of perspective and are written to cater to the hidden agendas of the writer. For instance, an article intended to caution NRI's about the scams that they face, immediately was twisted and a 'deshbhakti' spin was given to it! An attempt to gag the author who was only giving a few tips to warn visitors about a few scams is unfortunate. I was told by a friend of mine that, attracted by the recent economic upswing, a lot of Nigerian scam artists have moved their operations to India. Now, should a warning about this be 'off limits' because of the 'deshbhakti' agenda? It is like keeping a cancer tumor from being excised because it grows out of one's own body! If someone visits America, people here warn them not to wander off into the bad neighbourhoods and if you are in New York, then you ought to carry some money so that, if you get mugged, the crook does not get angry and kill you! These are precautions must be communicated. It does not make the person giving the advice a traitor. While I urge the readers to think hard before wrting reactions, I also urge the editor to throw out reaction which are irrelevant and talk about 'Imli' if the article is about 'Aam'

Second, and finally, I just want to state that I miss articles from good writers like Kumod Jha, Anil Pandey and many others who seem to have disappeared. Guys, if you are out there, please do write in. Good articles are always nice to read. It takes the mix of the mastery of language, the rationality of thought, humor, reflectiveness and an intellectual bent to write good articles. Many of you had this rare mix. Please pull your keyboards closer to you, put your thinking caps on, and tap away a few good article. The new editorial policy is practical. I do not think it will stymie anyone's creativity - if that's a fear that's keeping you from writing your articles.

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