Youth and Newspaper readership an opinion and debate

I was at a seminar yesterday in Gampaha of the Distributors and Agents of the Newspapers of a leading publisher and amongst many topics discussed was one that is timely and worthy of discussion. It is important that to continue either increasing circulation or expanding, there must be increases in readership by young people, an age group that is perceived not to read newspapers.

Whilst I do not fall into the youth category, I nevertheless read the English dailies on the Internet, the main paper I read being emailed to me at around 6.30am. I then go through the Sinhala papers in the office as soon as I get there.

In the discussion, the general consensus was that the papers are not purchased by the young, though in some households certain sections of the paper are read by the youth. They nevertheless when they get on line, do not read the papers opting instead for the gossip websites giving the latest on this actress or that and what fracas they got into so as to be up to date on these matters.

It was pointed out by some that many young people are actually quite aimless, easily being influenced by the drug and alcohol culture out of peer pressure and the papers editors were asked to include sections of interest for youth as none exist at present. Remember that it is the Sinhala papers we talk about, circulation of English papers is miniscule. There is an overload of politics and politically related topics that young people are just not interested in. So it is important to survey what it is they would like to see and cater to this need. Only then can the papers expect some sort of growth in this dwindling market. The epitaph of newspaper circulation has been written and the readership in the US is in decline since the advent of the Internet revolution, unless they can be transferred there.

We can still transfer the readership of the papers to the Net in easily readable form, be it on the smart phone or the tablet. Internet readership makes more sense if they can convince the advertisers, the bread and butter of the paper, that their ads are seen on line when we log into the paper. With the cost of newsprint exceeding the cost of the paper, the latter observation is very important to the paper itself if it is to continue to show increasing ad revenue in a time of declining circulation, showing that people opt to read the papers on line. It is also ecologically sound.

Once the need to be informed is believed by youth, it is easier to use electronic newspaper readership to continue to gain numbers, rather than fight circulation. This however is little comfort to the Agents who do not benefit from the Internet!

Politics Sri Lanka Style – Can we ever change it?

What came first the chicken or the egg? Who came first the politician or the Sri Lankan elector/electorate/voter/dependent?

I may be stating the obvious to my Sri Lankan readers, but to those who are not aware, the Sri Lankan electorate EXPECTS the following from a politician, if they ever even hope to give their vote to him or in very rare occasion to her.

1 Supply their toilet facilities

2 Supply roofing sheets

3 Supply the electrical connection to the home

4 Give a loan to help them over a tough period

5 Visit all manner of relatives if they are in the hospital

6 Attend the funeral of even a distant relative

7 Get their child into a school of their choice

8 Pave the road to their home

9 Provide a job to their husband and then the children!

10 At least a Bank or Government job is most preferred

11 Intervene when arrested for drunk driving or other driving offence

12 Put an advertisement in the paper to publicize their vocation

13 Provide items for a shop she just opened as part of self employment

14 Sign the marriage register as a Godforsaken early auspicious time

15 Pay cost of a grandchild going to Singapore for a gymnastic competition

16 Speak to a Foreign employment agent about getting a job overseas

What a relief, at least today there was no request by a mother for him to marry her daughter as the politician is single and eminently eligible.

The above were just a few personal requests, some by supposedly die hard party supporters over the last 24 hours (we have no proof that at the polling booth they did in fact cast their secret ballot for the party! Let alone the individual)

I will note the community related requests in a later blog entry. A few months on the job and I could provide a list of at least 1000 different requests.

All these requests above are from a politician in the opposition, who will himself have to suck up to the government politicians to get some of these done for the constituents, who in turn will want the favor returned when he is in Government.

How can we brake this cycle of dependency? Can we make people understand they must take responsibility for their lives, and not go running to a politician when their husband slaps her in the face, hoping he can solve the domestic dispute too.

REMEMBER PROVIDING SOME OR ALL OF THESE DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE VOTE, IN FACT VOTES CAN BE LOST BY THOSE NOT RECEIVING THE GOODIES BEING JEALOUS OF THOSE WHO DID.

The importance of being able to satisfy those in high and low places

The day in the office is unpredictable from the morning. Even before I sat at my desk, the boss called, saying he had to attend a press briefing on the proposed bill on the expropriation of private property. The government was trying to quietly pass it with unseemly haste. He would comr to the office, prior to going for the briefing at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, at 30 Sir Marcus Fernando, Mawatha. I quickly gathered details, along with a copy of the hastily prepared bill. Briefing notes were made along with the newspaper cuttings from relevant papers.

Once in the office, we discussed which aspect he would speak on. One speaker was expert on economic consequences as it relates to withdrawal of foreign investment from SL, the other would talk about legal aspects due his expertise and the boss would talk about the political ramifications. It will be possible for anyone who is out of favor with the rulers, to have his property or business nationalized, at any time akin to the 1970s Mrs B govt. It was felt that the public should be made aware of the grave consequences to the industrious citizens of the land, which would sap any degree of entrepreneurship if the bill in its current form were to pass.

Once Boss departed for the media briefing we got down to the normal order, beginning with the mail. Later in the evening the highlights of his speech were broadcast on Sirasa TV and the following day’s papers, Mirror, Divaina, Rivira, and Lankadeepa carried the event in detail, which we extract and file.

The usual requests for help and assistance are put on one side for evaluation, and today we had an urgent request from a Pradeshiya Sabha member for financial aid to a grandchild of a party worker, who is a gymnist who had to raise her own funds for travel and subsistence to represent the country in Singapore. In typical fashion, no explanation accompanied the faxed request, and I had therefore first to speak to the sender and then to the mother of the child before I prepared a note along with the request for the biss to determine an appropriate contribution.

We also had a letterheaded handwritten (in quite illegible handwriting) request by a principal of a primary school in the constituency, for 5 copies of a daily paper to be provided free for 21 students in the school presumably at the senior most level. We discussed the suitability of this and determined that it is unlikely that students that age would read or even be persuaded to read the daily paper, and this request was unreasonable in light of the circumstances. It would be more than likely that the teachers’ common room would benefit from this more than the students, and we will have no control over their use or abuse! I had to draft the letter of regret.

There were a host of people who came into the office to meet the MP, who were told to wait until the press briefing ended, after which he returned and attended to their requests, such as employment for a daughter of a former staffer.

We then had an employee of the Boss's family company drop into the office with a CD for us to give our ad for a sports souvenir to send kids between 15 and 17 to Chennai for a football competition. We had previously agreed to purchase a one page ad to help with the fundraising.

We then discussed the draft of a speech to be given on a future date, along with our legal secretary, which was typed in Sinhala and we decided to amend some of the particulars to give it more of a contemporary flavor bearing in mind recent developments, so that the message can be understood by the audience to which it would be presented.

I then went to lunch with the boss and discussed the schedule for the rest of the week till Sunday, and checked with the Coordinating Secretary of the District on the time to be present for the first function on Sunday. It must be noted that much of a politician’s constituency work happens during the weekends when people are able to be present at various gatherings.

I then went through the papers, something I usually try to do first thing and highlight all the sections that need to be cut and filed for future use. It was then that I noted that in the last page in the life section of the Mirror, by crutches were visible in the photo with my nemesis Rauf Hakeem who was being handed the first day cover of the Dudley Senanayake stamp. I was seated two away but only my tie was visible in the shot. These were the photos of the event that took place a few weeks prior, along with those of the reception held post the lecture.

I sent a staffer earlier to Sri Kotha, the party HQ to get some information we needed for our work, some data on names, addresses. When he came empty handed, I had to insist that we get the information from them by the following day.

I then sent the staffer with a letter to the editor of the leading Sinhala paper, which my boss had emailed me. It was a request from the MP directly affected by the aforementioned appropriation of property bill. His sugar factory was also in the schedule to be taken over and looked like a revenge move against a businessman of the opposition. We requested that this be inserted in today’s paper which it was.

Truth about Employment – Misconceptions arising from warped thinking

I work for a Member of Parliament from the Opposition. We have a District, Electorate and Colombo office. We have an impossible workload, which we have to manage as efficiently as possible with the limited resources available to us. There are no special perks enjoyed by us and have no lavish allocations that even lowly Government appointees to Quangos enjoy. So when Parliament permitted us to add a member of staff designated as a Research Assistant, purely from the ranks of the Unemployed Graduates, we put a large display advertisement in the Sunday Newspapers. Surprisingly we only received 70 CVs of which only 30 were from unemployed graduates, the population we could select from.

The amount set by parliament to be paid for this position was Rs15,000. This was not mentioned in the advertisement. A suitable person who is up to the task would no doubt obtain a relevant supplement from the MP depending on ability and competence. We found that 3 seemed worthy of interview. 2 females and a male. One already got a job in between. Another called back declining the opportunity for interview, with no specified reasons and the third had close ties to the Govt.

If this advertisement was placed in the US, from a Member of Congress,(the ad did not mention the political affiliation of the MP) it would have generated over 1,500 applications, of people wishing to gain experience and many would work for no pay, just knowing that this experience would be invaluable for their future employment. The fact that reading this ad that specified being an unemployed graduate as the only requirement with other competencies being preferable, as well as a description of the expected variety of tasks that the job entailed, did not garner a greater response indicates the mindset of the job seeker.

I presume that many unemployed graduates are truly unemployable. They are awaiting state sector teaching appointments for which they are not suitable either. A truly dynamic person will not be unemployed at all. This example indicates that helping that category find a job, is just an exercise in futility, and the Govt. misguided in believing they ought to be assisted. They need to be taken back to school to give them training on how to get a job if they truly want one, as the mindset from our education system does not prepare a person to think rationally.

The significance of experience over qualification is lost on youth. Further the importance of initial sacrifice for future gain is not understood, where those seeking their first job are concerned about only income. Anyone wishing to earn a lot of money running seminars called “how find employment” here is your chance.

The fate of the “Divi Neguma” beneficiaries – A case of ‘I told you so’

http://kalpanakaranna.blogspot.com/2011/03/did-you-see-500-dimo-battas-on-galle.html In March I wrote in my other blog asking my readers to think about the absurdity of the Government in encouraging people into poverty and bankruptcy by enabling them to obtain a vehicle, which no earthly economic evaluation could prove worthwhile, surely making paupers out of self respecting people, completely misleading them for personal gain only of those responsible.

Many of you will see the ads by Tata for those Battas, which falsely show how people purchasing them are now very successful self employed businessmen. We see them parked on pavements, where my previously successful thambili seller used to hawk the natural satisfaction for thirst, and who were evicted for illegally occupying the pavement. They were replaced instead by the Batta. They sell anything from cool drinks to sandwiches or packets of eatables.

Sheer greed is all that led the chiefs of ‘Divi Neguma’ to get people sucked into a program they could never recover from. The commissions earned on the sale of these 1,500 vehicles is already pocketed, (Rs150M) but the people who signed the lease with no money down, cannot make the monthly payment! People’s Bank which was forced to break all rules of lending, are left wondering what to do. If they repossess the vehicles, there will be a huge outcry of people being made redundant and bankrupt. If they are non performing leases, they are a loss to the new People’s Leasing Company, which is getting a listing this week.

It is this kind of idiotic program that people in govt. who have no idea of how self employment works, that is wrong. When a business plan is done, and one goes to a bank for a loan or lease. They evaluate the likelihood of its success. That is why people are asked to put some money down, say at least Rs150,000 before taking a lease for the balance. This reduces the risk to the bank, as the borrower has already invested and is likely to make an extra effort. Further, his monthly payment is lower. When the whole thing is financed out of borrowing, with no commitment on the part of the lessee, and there is no proper evaluation if the lessee is able to run a business that makes sufficient to pay the monthly dues, then even before a cent is lent one knows it is a non performer! The government forced this on the bank.

I distinctly remember when I was making this point 7 months ago, when they commenced the program, many friends I discussed it with were wholly in support of the government in that it provided new employment opportunities to people. When my educated friends are stupid, how can one explain this point to the less educated.

I hope this is a lesson to all that Pied Piper sure is leading his followers to the lake to drown(in this case drown in debt and become bankrupt)