By Ranjona Banerji
The year changed and according to what I read in various newspapers, the 21st century has now come of age. That is, 2018 is the year of majority. 2018 can now vote, drive, maybe get married, definitely not drink alcohol, officially run away from home and probably start to argue with its parents. For some more freedoms which come from age, I guess the century has to wait till 2021, where it still will not be allowed to drink in some states and if Nitish Kumar has his way, not legally not ever. When the century reaches 2030 it will have its first real existential crisis. By 2040, we’ll be told that 40 is the new 20 and by that time, luckily, I will be in that place where I do not have to track this any more.
For the years that I worked in newspapers and magazines, we did stuff like this and felt quite proud about it. Tried to look for themes and pegs and ideas to connect with some significant event. Sadly, they don’t always work. For me, they didn’t work this time either. It was interesting to read grown
-ups writing to their 18-year-old selves with advice and ideas, but it was also more than a bit contrived. Am guessing that since 2019 has no real significance in human terms, we will be spared this next year.
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New Year hangovers can spread far and wide. Were papers full of how to avoid them, deal with M​ them and so on? Missed that part completely. Although lack of fact-checking may have been one symptom of a heavy head. The Prime minister claimed, for instance, in his New Year edition of Mann ki Baat that India had made life easier for Muslim women going on Haj by removing the need for them to have a male escort. On social media, people claim that the rule was changed in Saudi Arabia in 2013 and has nothing to do with India at all. So, should someone anyone in any newspaper anywhere in India have not checked if the PM’s statement was true or not? After all, this is not the first time this has happened…Though to be fair to the
​Prime ​Minister, this is not the first time the media has not bothered to check his or his government’s claims either.
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In case anyone still had any doubts that social media does rule the world, one tweet about possible plans to withdraw aid to Pakistan from Donald Trump and there was hysterics everywhere. Indian news channels and non-news channels of course were first to jump on to it and India’s foreign policy was decided right there on prime time. Why not after all? If the US President can run the world on Twitter and the Indian Prime Minister can claim credit for other governments’ actions on radio, then why can’t non-news channels have their say? Be fair.
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In all the countdowns and reminisces and maturity clauses, ABC (Australia that is) had an excellent, funny, factual, irreverent, honest countdown show for 2017. If only… Okay one mustn’t build expectations like this. Our news and non-news channels are creating policy, solving murders, inciting murder and so on.
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Here’s to a New Year filled with the same rubbish as the old one. Admittedly, in a more mature 2018-ish manner of course.
​Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She is also Consulting Editor, MxMIndia. The views here are her own