“Seattle Post-Intelligencer Will Shut Down Paper, Go Online Only”

“Detroit newspapers to end daily home delivery”

More and more I am seeing articles predicting the demise of news paper as we know it. With internet and devices such as Kindle, Sony reader what is the future of news paper business? Newspapers such as NYT, Washington Post have spoilt their readers by offering the www version for free. They probably cannot start charging now, and even if they did, how would that be? Would someone who is used to getting it for free be willing to pay, and if so how much? And how many papers would a customer be willing to subscribe? I do no think online ads are sufficient to keep funding these papers.

Even if the news paper print version becomes a stripped down version of what it is now, how will they survive and what will the business model be? Will it be pay-as-you-go and micro transactions – perhaps 5 cents for each article purchased? What is an optimum value for an article? How much would you be willing to pay?

What are the other value-adds that a paper would have to provide to entice customers? Would newspapers under a conglomerate combine to offer subscription – such as all of Murdoch’s publications for $20.00 a month? SF chronicle has reduced its staff of reporters and even some of the ones retained do not have a space in the print version. They maintain a blog and to add additional value, they have taken to twitter like real-time blogging during sporting events.

I understand the article is U.S/Euro centric in that this is more of an issue where internet access is easily available to a majority of the population. Just like cell phones, would there be a leap-frogging of this business model in countries like India and China? Do you anticipate these readers becoming cheap enough for it to become affordable in emerging countries? Or will readers on cell phones become sophisticated enough? Perhaps, news papers will tie-up with carriers to make data available via such devices?

Please do provide your thoughts on this topic.  Also, if have you tried devices such as Kindle, Sony reader etc., do share your experience.

I did try and read a chapter via the kindle app in my iPhone. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to upload a book/chapter from the amazon website into my iPhone. Even the reading experience was good – no obtrusive buttons or icons; just shows the black text against clear white background. Do not know if I will ever get a kindle, but will certainly use the iPhone to read a few things here and there.

]]> http://www.sastwingees.org/2009/03/26/future-of-news-paper/feed/ 15 http://www.sastwingees.org/2009/01/19/american-politics-and-religion/ http://www.sastwingees.org/2009/01/19/american-politics-and-religion/#comments Mon, 19 Jan 2009 02:32:01 +0000 Ganesh Vaideeswaran http://www.sastwingees.org/?p=1091 American politics and religion

Barak Hussein Obama will be sworn in as America’s 44th president on the 20th of January 2009. There has been some unneeded controversy around his middle name ‘Hussein’ and if he will take oath using his full name including ‘Hussein’. And I am glad he took the dignified route of using his full name.

This incident made me think about the place and importance of religion in American democracy and politics. The current religious affiliations of members of the senate and house of representative show that they are all of a Christian denomination or practice Judaism. That’s it – No other religion!!.

America has achieved an important milestone by crossing the racial divide with Obama’s election. What about religious divide? When will America be ready to accept a Muslim or a Buddhist or an atheist as their leader – even as a senator or house representative? What is it going to take for Americans to mentally break-through this religious shackle?

And why are they not ready yet? And why has India been able to accept and elect leaders of various religions? Example – George Fernandez – a Christian elected multiple times and of course the current Prime Minister who is a Sikh (though one can argue that Sikh is just another derivative of Hinduism). We have had many non-elected Muslim leaders such as Dr. Abdul Kalaam as well.

Here is one theory – India, at various times has been ruled by Islamic rulers and has been colonized by Christianity affiliated countries such as England, France and Portugal. So, historically and culturally, we have been accustomed to being ruled by non-hindu leaders.

Or are we politically more mature as a country when it comes to politics? I highly doubt this. We would still blindly vote for anyone with ‘Gandhi’ or ‘Nehru’ as a surname.

As glad as I am about the religious tolerance that India has shown in politics, I am hoping that this is not just a surface level attitude but a deeper level understanding of politics and governance. Given that we have seen goondas and shady elements elected, I am afraid it is the former.

(Sidebar1: If Martin Luther King Jr. was alive today, he might have perhaps modified his “I have a dream” speech to include religion as well and here is my version – I have a dream that my daughter will one day live in a nation where she will not be judged by the color of her skin or the religion of her choice but by the content of her character.)

(Sidebar2: Of course, there has been no non-Christian American president yet. I do know that Mayor Bloomberg is a Jew. Could Mr. Jindal have become the governor of Louisiana if he had maintained his identity as a Hindu? Bobby Jindal claims that his conversion to Christianity was an intellectual process and the words in the bible “jumped out to him” and he felt as though they were just written for him. The cynic in me thinks that the dynamics of American politics made the words jump out to a savvy Bobby Jindal. )

Ganesh

Condolences to all those who lost their dear ones in the Mumbai tragedy.

Thanks and Kudos to the commandos, policemen, hotel staff and others who fought the terrorists to save innocent lives. Special salute to the policemen, NSG and ATS forces who lost their lives fighting for their country. The country is proud of you.

Centered around this tragic event, here are my hopes for India for the year 2009 –

1. World community recognizes India as a country that can fight against and survive such dastardly acts and will continue to do business with us. I am certainly heartened by some of the interviews with the survivors, particularly foreigners. One of them urged countries and companies to do business with India lest we give into these terrorists. Another one, a tourist, insisted that she will continue her tour of India. Such spirit needs to permeate across the world community.
2. Every India becomes more aware of terrorism and considers it their civil duty to thwart it. Become more aware of what is happening in the community and in the surroundings. Do not just rely on the government to provide security and fight this menace. It has to start at grass roots and community level.
3. India continues the policy of non-negotiation with the terrorists
4. Pakistan government takes serious steps to eradicate rogue elements (Dawood Ibrahim for example) and terrorist’s camp in Pakistan. (Do not construe this as a statement of assumption regarding Pakistan’s involvement in this tragedy.)
5. The Muslim minority condemns the attack vehemently and goes beyond to rid itself of radical elements
6. The Hindu majority sympathizes with the state of Muslim minority. A few bad apples are giving the whole community a black spot.
7. Our intelligence continues to improve and prevent such attacks rather than just react to such events
8. Politicians do not take advantage of the situation and will act as leaders of the nation rather than leaders of their party
9. India goes onto become stronger – financially, culturally and as a society.

In US, CNN dedicated almost a day and a half to cover the tragedy. I was particularly impressed with Mallika Kapur and Sarah Sidner’s reporting. There was an unfortunate incident where Sarah Sidner was accosted by a mob, but the way she handled the mob was appreciable. Goes to show the danger these reporters sometimes face to give us the story.

I wish the government had done a better job of dispersing information. At various times, we got information that the siege has ended only to see it continue and that was extremely disappointing.

Some of the sites I visited to get latest information included IndianExpress, TimesofIndia, NDTV, CNN, rediff etc. Of these, NDTV surprised me with their reasonably upto date information. Hindu was extremely disappointing.

Coincidentally, I happened to watch the hindi movie – “A Wednesday” around the time of this tragedy. This is a movie based on terrorism and how it affects the psyche of a common man. Naseeruddin Shah was his usual brilliant self. The climax was certainly surprising. As much as I could not agree with the message of the movie, I could not help but empathize with it. Do watch it if you get a chance.

Ganesh

Recently read an excellent article on Time about what patriotism means in America – both from Republican and Liberal point of view.

As per the author, for the conservatives, patriotism is not a choice and it is like love for your family – you inherit it and do not question it. Conservatives talk a lot about America’s past and its greatness. For them, you wear it both figuratively and literally. Irrespective of the sins of its past, America is still above any other nation. And here lies the risk of degenerating patriotism into jingoism.

For liberals, it is not about the past, but more about the present and future. It is about working to make America a great nation – continue to strive to bridge the gap between the existing reality and the ideals that is the foundation for this great nation. And the author states – ” Liberals may love America in part because it aspires to certain ideals, but if they love it only because it aspires to those ideals, then what they really love is the ideals, not America.” And hence the conundrum – if liberals love America for its ideals, why would they not have the same love for other countries that is founded on similar principles? And what should one do when these ideals collide with America’s interest?

The author also discusses what patriotism means to immigrants given that it does not gel with conservative point that patriotism is inherited. Conservatives, expect the immigrants to imbibe the ideals of the nation as well as past traditions. Spurning the culture of the adopted nation is construed as being disloyal to the adopted country.

What truly impressed me were the final few paragraphs of the article and the author’s conclusions on what it means to be patriotic and how to reconcile the differences between these differing views held by liberals and conservatives.

I could not help but strongly agree with the following statements by the author –

“Patriotism should be proud but not blind, critical yet loving“.

“To some degree, patriotism must mean loving your country for the same reason you love your family: simply because it is yours.”

And these apply to a country like India and Indians too. I am tired of folks talking about how great a country India is because of its past and continuing to be blind to its current problems. At the same time, I am also aghast at folks who forget India’s past and only talk about its present day problems. We can be proud of our past, critical of the mistakes we have made, learn from it and strive to make it a great country for us and our children. And we still love it just because it is ours!!.

Ganesh

]]> http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/07/07/what-is-patriotism/feed/ 34 http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/05/08/do-you-want-to-ning/ http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/05/08/do-you-want-to-ning/#comments Thu, 08 May 2008 17:56:47 +0000 Ganesh Vaideeswaran http://www.sastwingees.org/2008/05/08/do-you-want-to-ning/ Do you want to Ning?

I am thinking of creating a network in Ning (kind of our own little Facebook) and invite folks who typically visit and post on this blog and hence I believe at least have some common interest.

I would also be extending the invite to “Sast Wingees” – a bunch of us who spent a lot of our time together (I did not say study) in BITS Pilani.

If you are interested in such a network please send your reply to ganeshv@gmail.com. Of course, if you have a better tool/idea or think this to be a waste of time, please add your comments in this blog.

If I see reasonable interest, I will set it up and send an invite to interested parties.

Ganesh