Sunday, June 22, 2003		Books

A useful handbook
D.S. Gupt

Soochna Pradyogiki Evam Patrakarita
by Ashok Malik. Haryana Sahitya Akademi, Panchkula. Pages 162. Rs. 100

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY has revolutionised journalism and the computer has emerged as a very handy editing and publishing tool. In fact, the survival of a journalist nowadays depends on how well he uses the computer. The author of the book, Ashok Malik, has done well to take up different aspects of newspaper making, from online editing to using the Internet, to explain the many uses of electronic equipment in the industry. It is a treatise that will be of great value to vernacular journalists.

The book has been divided into 10 chapters. In the first chapter, he has recalled the history of the growth of information technology. Malik has emphasised that with the advancement in IT, journalists can edit news sent by various news agencies online. Reporters can also send news directly from far-flung areas without any unnecessary waste of time. Text can be edited directly on the computer and pages with various maps and pictures can be composed and scanned. Electronic libraries can also be developed in newspaper offices. Whole newspaper pages can be sent across continents in a matter of minutes. This has been made possible by high-speed modems, fibre optic cables and satellite links. The latest web offset printing presses for newspapers are able to print at the rate of approximately one lakh copies per hour.

The author, in the second and third chapters, has elaborated on the latest functioning of this technology. Now a large number of fonts are readily available and one can digitally sign and encrypt messages by using digital IDs. Digitally signing the message assures recipients that the message is authentic. He says that photojournalists are using digital cameras widely these days and wet processing is a thing of the past. Word processors have made the job of reporters and the sub-editors easy. However, scripts of vernacular languages in India still do not have suitable keyboards.

The Internet has more than 6600 electronic English language editions of commercial newspapers and magazines. The number of online newspapers and magazines has gone up to 2500. This includes 22 Indian newspapers and 40 Indian magazines in English. He has stressed that the Internet is bound to emerge as a major source of news during the times to come though the established media will not be affected by it. He has quoted the example of the Anand Bazar Patrika which comes out from Kolkata with 16 pages, four of which are composed in Kolkata, eight in Mumbai and four in Delhi. All the 16 pages are then exchanged online and brought out simultaneously. Dainik Bhaskar, The Tribune, Amar Ujala, Dainik Jagran, Jansatta, Hindustan Times, Punjab Kesri, Telgu Varta, Urya Samaj, Indian Express and Statesman have also made such arrangements.

In the ninth and the tenth chapters of the book the author has, for the benefit of the students of mass communication, defined various terms used in the field of information technology which are especially relevant to the newspaper world.