By Nitin Seshadri
We live today in an environment where we are saturated with news from multifarious sources. Conventional methods of news dissemination including newspapers are experiencing a steady decline in their circulation in many countries as customers are increasingly opting for the instant gratification in the form of “24 x 7” news channels, internet and other web-based content.
Although we are constantly exposed to news on a wide variety of subjects ranging from politics, sports, cinema, business and the like, one area of news coverage which cannot be supplanted with these “new age” media is unquestionably local community coverage.
A neighbourhood identity is an integral part of each one of us. While the happenings in far off Delhi or the shenanigans of politics in the Vidhana Soudha may interest us, there is within every one of us a desire to know what is happening much nearer home. What are the interesting events that are happening in my area? Where can I find a good restaurant with a cuisine to my taste? And perhaps most fundamental — “What is happening which will improve the quality of life in my neighbourhood? Are my roads going to be re-surfaced? How is garbage processing in my locality going to be handled? What are my local elected officials doing to justify the mandate which we have given them? Answers to every one of these questions are fundamental to our daily well-being and the only avenue we have to give us answers to these questions is the locality newspaper.
Therefore, when I hear that a new community newspaper is being launched in Bangalore, I can only say that it is way overdue. May “City Kemp” scale new heights in coverage of community events and news and be the first newspaper we turn to before we are forced to drown in the relentless scandals and downbeat news that seem to be the staple of the mainline press nowadays!
