Literary pages have either completely disappeared from most newspapers today or are limited to mere formality. Writers are made to feel ‘favoured’ by publishing their works, but are not given respectable remuneration. Now, some owners are pretending to respect writers by making award schemes, whereas the basic need is the value of labour and a place for literature. Writing is not a hobby; it is hard work, which requires wages and respect. Give awards later, first give the writer his wages – this will be the biggest respect.
Once, the literary pages of newspapers were called the soul of the country. There was not just news there, but a shared heritage of thought, wisdom, and sensitivity breathed there. But today, when we flip through the newspaper, there is news, advertisements, speeches by politicians, but the literary side of poetry, stories, essays, reviews, and ideology is missing.
It is a great irony that the media, which goes around carrying the flag of ‘freedom of the press’ and ‘freedom of expression’ has marginalized its most important part – literature and writers. Literary pages have been quietly removed from newspapers, and even those that are left are just a formality.
There are writers left, but who will print them?
Even today, thousands of writers, poets, essayists, and thinkers in India want to share their thoughts with society. But where do they find space? If you send a literary article to a newspaper, you will either get the reply ‘The editor is busy’ or there is no reply at all. If you get a reply, you don’t know whether it is a rejection or just a formality. And even if it gets published, then the honorarium? That is like asking for an insult! Many newspapers publish regular content from writers without paying a single penny. And in some places, there is a system which can be called a model of writer exploitation – “Be happy after getting published, don’t raise the question of money.”
There will be no honorarium for writers, but the owners will give awards!
Now listen to the latest drama – some media organizations are now planning to give ‘awards to writers’. Wow! First, you get the writers to write articles for free, then you consider publishing them as a ‘favour’, and now you are killing self-respect by luring them with awards. The tradition of awards is indeed old in literature. But when these awards start coming from those hands that consider writers as objects of use, not creative labourers, then questions are bound to arise. Should the award come from that organisation that considers even paying an honorarium as a burden?
‘Literary page’ is now just a formality
The literary columns that are left in the newspapers have also become the centers of clubbing, factionalism, and politics of personal relations. Only some special names are printed again and again. It is as if there is no entry for new writers. In the name of honorarium, you call after a month, send an email, and even then… “Your payment is in process”. Once, columns like ‘Dharmayug’, ‘Saptahik Hindustan’, ‘Kadambini’, and ‘Navbharat Times’ were the voice of literature. Today, some institutions have become allergic to the word ‘literature’ itself.
Wordsmiths are also workers, not just those with microphones
In journalism, cameramen, reporters, anchors, and designers all get salaries. But writers are still considered ‘creatures of the air’ – they only need the satisfaction of respect, not money. This thinking is indicative of deep insensitivity.
A writer is not an amateur artist; he creates with the soil of time, labour, study, and sensitivity. His writing gives direction to society, awakens public consciousness. Then why be stingy in paying him wages?
Do you want journalism to run without ideas?
Today’s newspaper is becoming a medium of nexus between corporations and power. But the people who read newspapers do not want only incidents, scandals, and politics – they want perspectives that force them to think. And this work can be done only through literature and ideology. If there is no literature, the newspaper will become just a ‘garbage house of information’.
Think about it – if the literature that gives direction to society is made to disappear, then you are only creating a graveyard of ideas in the crowd of information.
Respect is given when the price of labour is given
If you are saying to the author, “We will honour you”,
So first, ensure that you are paying him on time, not distorting his work without editing it, and not using it as a mere filler. The first form of respect is the value of labour. The rest of the awards, trophies, certificates, and platforms – all come later.
An appeal: Know the value of the word
newspapers, which cannot pay wages to their workers.
They do not have the moral right to organize events in the name of literature. If you are a writer, stop submitting your works without remuneration. Raise the question on open platforms as to where the place is for literature. And those institutions which give you only the “joy of getting published”, ask them – is this the respect of a writer?
The backbone of media is not just breaking news.
The soul of the media is those ideas that make society aware. And these ideas come from the pens of writers, poets, thinkers, and essayists. If you stop respecting their pens,
Then one day, that same pen will expose your advertisement-based newspapers.
