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Showing posts with the label Journalism

No Love Lost?

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This is for my students who are learning to analyse and write film reviews. I came across an article in The Times of India online edition about box office collection of two films released on Independence Day - 'Satyamev Jayate and 'Gold'. I have copied a paragraph here for reference: John Abraham's film clashed at the box office with Akshay Kumar's 'Gold' but there is no love lost here . Speaking about the clash in a previous interview, John told PTI, "Akshay is an actor in 'Gold', and I am an actor in 'Satyamev Jayate'. It's a producer's decision on both sides. So I have no say in that at all. As far as competing with Akshay is concerned, I want to make it clear that he is my senior in the industry." Pay attention to 'but there is no love lost here'. I was surprised by the use of the idiom, because I haven't come across any article that show any animosity between John Abraham and Akshay Kumar, and no

The Pandit and the Boatman - Theory and practical knowledge

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I suppose everyone knows about this story of the Pandit and the Boatman from Kashmiri folklore. No? Well, here it is... Once a Pandit hired a boat to cross a river. Bored, he asked the boatman whether he had read the Upanishads. When the boatman replied in negative, the Pandit said that he had wasted his life. With every such question, the Pandit kept saying how the boatman had wasted his life. Suddenly, the boatman asked the Pandit if he knew swimming. The Pandit replied that he had read all the books about swimming. The boatman replied, "Then you better put what you read into practice because the boat is sinking!" The river water had risen and it was raining heavily by now. Needless to say, the Pandit started drowning. The boatman said, "You have wasted all your life by just reading about swimming. You should have also practiced." (Image Source: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jc8XyK2bPgI/hqdefault.jpg) Though theoretical knowledge is immensely valuable, it i

Is convergence killing journalism as we know it?

The word convergence originates from mathematics and science. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines convergence as the merging of distinct technologies, industries, or devices into a unified whole. The concept of convergence was first popularised by Ithiel de Sola Pool in his landmark 1983 book, "The Technologies of Freedom,". Pool described what he called "the convergence of modes:" "The explanation for the current convergence between historically separated modes of communication lies in the ability of digital electronics. Conversation, theater, news and text are all increasingly delivered electronically ... [E]lectronic technology is bringing all modes of communications into one grand system." The two most important convergent technologies today are the computer and the mobile phones. With increased processor speeds and larger storage spaces, the computer has become the most powerful technologically convergent gadget. Text, voice, pictures, video, fax a