Trusting the newspaper in times of misinformation

Nothing in this world is absolutely right or absolutely wrong. Yet, misinformed minds tend to be disproportionately right about trivial issues and terribly wrong in matters that matter the most. Today, when we are dependent on social media for connectivity, it has also turned out to be a platform for misinformation in the form of free floating theories about almost everything.

Such is the day-long psychedelic onrush of WhatsApp messages on subjects ranging from approaching asteroids; talismanic therapies, nature cures and short cuts to instant salvation that one is left utterly confused. It has become difficult to segregate fact from fallacy and sift sense from nonsense. The disembodied messages and videos originating from unknown sources keep doing the rounds of credulous WhatsApp circuits like headless chickens.

As a teacher, I have always reposed greater trust in the good old printed word. Sources of information and knowledge like books, journals and newspapers have helped me in forming my opinion about the world, mainly because the source of origin in the form of the writer or author is known and the information is based on facts.

However, in the immediate aftermath of the Covid-19 outbreak, a sizeable section of my social media savvy friends and well-wishers began advising me to discontinue my subscription of the newspaper for some time as it could act as a carrier for the virus. The warning, both literally and figuratively, was like a storm in the tea cup. Literally, because the morning tea without the newspaper would be insipid; and figuratively because the warning appeared to be as much of a kerfuffle as the commotion in a tea cup would be.

I responded to every such piece of unsolicited advice with a jovial lighthearted retort, “Well, I have been reading almost everything about the progress of the virus all over the world and I have yet to come across a story where a person fell sick as a consequence of reading the newspaper.”

It’s another matter that the agonising stories of the suffering of the common people due to starvation and unemployment, truthfully reported by the newspaper were sufficient to make a person sick. Besides, there were articles in the newspaper itself which reassured me that reading the dailies was safe because of the sterility of ink and paper processes and because the virus died quickly on porous surface unlike glossy surfaces.

I also noticed that the people who constantly advised me to exercise caution with the newspaper did not give two hoots when they brought home loads of snacks packed in glossy wrappers.

It’s also common to come across people who can be seen making ornamental use of face masks, casually pushing them over their noses to consume street food, smoke or to talk to others.

For me, the relevance of the newspaper has only increased in these Covid times as it has acted as a bulwark in fending off farfetched and sensational stories about secret labs, chemical warfare, alarmist and premature theories of community transmission or the ultimate scandal that the spread of the virus is a ploy of wealthy capitalists to sell sanitisers and masks. I have continued reading the newspaper all these days as I want to be right about things that matter the most.

THE RELEVANCE OF THE NEWSPAPER HAS ONLY INCREASED IN COVID TIMES AS IT HAS ACTED AS A BULWARK IN FENDING OFF FARFETCHED STORIES