Ravia Gupta
Heard or read about them sometime this year–The Heat Is So Unbearable In Odisha That A Man Tries To Fry An Egg On The Street And It Gets Fried! Chicken tries to cross road – taken into police custody! Wine drinking deity of Ujjain! Driverless car in Delhi, which then turned out to be a fake story and much more such strange incidents that were forced to be in news by some of the reputed news agencies and TV channels. Wonder who is the “creative brain” suggesting and who is the “budding artist” writing or for that matter “well-informed” reader reading them?
There is no doubt that Journalism has expanded exponentially to include all life activities of today’s world. Besides, it is no longer limited to imparting knowledge or spreading general awareness of civic life or for that matter scribbling editorials on topics of current interest.
Besides being a watchdog, agenda-setter and a peace-maker, media personnel in a multi-cultural society like India has a tremendous task of also conducting a social audit before attempting to suggest or write a news story.
Birth of any story starts with an idea. How are ideas generated then? Is it an individual activity or the outcome of teamwork? The views may vary, but for all writers, the ideation or the idea stage is invariably the most challenging, and at the same time the most rewarding.
Putting it theoretically correct, according to Bovee and Arens (1989), “It is the long, tedious, difficult task of assembling all the pertinent information, analyzing the problem and searching for some verbal or visual concept of how to communicate what needs to be said.”
Picture this fiction– A teacher (Not sure with a journalism or non-journalism background) in discussion with students on how to churn story ideas:
Teacher: So students what do you understand by an idea?
Students: Sir, you mean the fastest, anytime, anywhere cellular network provider?
Teacher: No! the one that you need to be able to write your news stories?
Students: Sir, you mean Internet?
Teacher: No! the one that you notice all the time, helps in opening up your minds, makes you think, if unanswered…troubles you at times and if expressed well could be interesting for you and several others.
Students: Sir, are you talking about WhatsApp on Smartphones?
Teacher: Now, you really need to think out-of-the-box?
Students: Sir, shall we then post it on Facebook or Quora?
Teacher: Ok forget it! Let’s try something ‘new’. What did you observe since morning?
One student: Sir, I observed hawker had dropped the newspaper in the morning but no one picked it up?
Teacher: What! Did you try to pick it up then?
Student: No Sir, I was getting late for the college?
Another student: Sir, I saw mom fighting again with milkman for bringing poor quality milk.
Teacher: So, what did you do?
Student: Mom told me not to bother, she would deal with it!
One very observant student: Sir, there was an accident on the road this morning?
Teacher: How and where did that happen? Did you stop to see?
Student: No sir, I was listening to music and also the traffic was diverted.
Meanwhile, the bell rings….
Teacher (sigh of relief): Ok. Wish I had more time, never mind will continue the class tomorrow on the same topic, come with more such observations.
If such could be the case of present and future “thinktank” then how would ideas be ever generated or shaped in a society which is so departmental especially when everyone starts to “enjoy” this compartmental life? Of course, living with technology, it’s no big deal to write stories, especially when everyone has an easy access to tools. But then how will the perspective come into play. Of course, there are a number of methods by which a “BIG IDEA” could be born, and it all depends on from which window one is looking at the world; whether one is seeing the world with many problems, many solutions or a few problems and fewer solutions.
Analysts approach idea generation differently. They call it an analytical way of thinking and a creative way of thinking. So, if you see through the prism of analytical thinking then there are logical, unique or a few answers to many problems within and outside the system, but if one approaches it creatively then one can surely imagine innumerable possibilities and answers or ideas to a few problems that surround us daily and that’s what perhaps is the need-of-the-hour for media– to stop for a while before “breaking” it further and just “think”……well, not just think, but think differently for a moment!
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