WHO reads the newspaper columns like mine?

I haven’t the faintest idea really. Writing must be one of the loneliest jobs on earth. You stare at the computer monitor, and try to imagine an audience out there, waiting with bated breath for your entertaining words of wisdom. In actual fact, you never know who reads your stuff!

But the columns are an important part of the op-ed section of any newspapers in any country with a long tradition in journalism. This is one of the few jobs that are not open for application, but is offered only upon invitation by the newspaper editor.

Hard news is the staple fare of the media industry. Everyday, we wake up with a natural hunger for the who, what, where, why, how and when of the latest events that go on around our world. As the principle tool for our mass media of communication, the newspapers satisfy our needs perfectly.

In this age of digital electronics, there is a growing fear among newspapermen that the broadsheet will soon become extinct, since people will increasingly turn to the TV and the Internet for news and information. The audio-visual media is always faster and more captivating then the one-dimensional paper media.

My personal preference is still with the newspapers though. You can bring a newspaper anywhere, and while away an hour or two going through the various sections. You can reread any story you like, or even cut it out and include in a scrapbook, as all columnists are advised to do.

Hard news may be the currency of journalism, but commentaries and column articles give flesh and blood to the stories of the day. Columnists and commentators are usually individuals who can contribute their knowledge and experience by offering their subjective interpretations to the current affairs going on in the country.

They are the ones deeply steeped in the way of life in their society. They see the facts, and can draw out the nuances of life in various shades that hard news reports can never do. They also put the stories in a living social context. Their job is like peeling an onion, layer by layer, until you get to the pungent core at the end.

Naturally, columns and commentaries will not be read by the mass readers; they are more likely to be followed closely by a small band of very literate opinion makers. In that sense, columnists can be influential out of proportion of their number of readers.

In the United Kingdom, the most distinguished columnist was Hugo Young who wrote for the Guardian. When he died on September 22, 2003, even the British Prime Minister then Tony Blair paid him personal tribute.

I used to read every one of his weekly column on the Guardian online. He was always measured, balanced, penetrating, and it was said by overseas students in England that if you wanted to get to know life in the UK, you had to read Hugo Young.

The accolades that poured on him during his funeral service painted him as a journalist of the highest order, “A beacon of enlightenment in what can seem like a tarnished world”, “A lifelong defender of truth and decency”, and “He set the bar in quality, moral authority, and genuine influence.” He was indeed all that.

Another authoritative columnist at the UK Guardian is Karen Armstrong.

She is a former nun who shot to fame with her book A History of God. Her lifelong concern has been drawing comparison between the major religions, to demonstrate their similarity in their common emphasis on compassion. She contributed to the Guardian but irregularly, but when she does, it is an event.

Over at the New York Times, Paul Krugman — who won the Nobel Prize for economics — has been a regular columnist there for years. I do not always understand his writing on economics, even if he clearly tries to discuss American and world economic issues in layman’s terms.

Just imagine the prestige of the newspaper when you have a Nobel Laureate on your panel of columnists. Of course, they are well paid there, unlike in Malaysia.

The other NY Times columnist I like is Maureen Dowd. She has an acerbic and irreverent style of writing when commenting on very powerful American politicians, giving them ridiculous nicknames. In 1999, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her series of columns on Monica Lewinsky.

Like Paul Krugman, Maureen Dowd also published a couple of books that became best-sellers. The huge publishing industry in the US can make good writers and columnists rich!

A few months ago, a reader in Kuching approached me and offered to publish my series of column articles in The Borneo Post into a book. I declined with thanks. Sarawak is not all that literate in English, and Sarawakians do not read voluminous books full of words. I simply hate the idea of my book collecting dust on the shelf in some obscure bookstore somewhere.

Malaysia is also vastly different from the UK or the US. Independent journalism is well nigh impossible to practise, and we all have to exercise a certain amount of self-censorship. We writers know the problem; one small mistake and the whole newspaper can be closed down, as has happened to the good old Sarawak Tribune.

At the same time, we are also journalists of sort, and have to abide by our professional code of ethics, of bearing witness to history, of sticking to facts and never spreading falsehood, of giving equal space and time to both sides always, of never infringing upon the privacy of others, of defending press freedom by all available means, and of being fair and accurate all the time.

The greatest sin of a columnist is either being boring or petty. A good newspaper editor will give his columnists great leeway to write whatever comes to his head. With that kind of freedom, comes a great deal of responsibility.

Other reporters and journalists are seldom given such a huge page to fill up with their words. Some columnists think that all they have to do is to fill the blank space with their purely subjective thoughts, on things that go on around them.

Column articles and commentaries are indeed personal perspectives of our current world, but ideally they should be that sort of subjective perspective that includes and accommodates as much of the objective world as possible. Being subjective does not mean being prejudiced, or being obsessed with one’s ego.

Above all, columnists have a long literary tradition to maintain. Since time memorial, people have always been puzzled by what goes on around them, and they always need those old wise men and women to help them analyse the consequences and the implication of their current events, in their village, or in the republic. The work of the commentator is never done.

What we contribute to is the making of what Jorgen Habermas calls a ‘public sphere’, an imaginary arena for the different narratives of various citizens to find a platform for airing. The print media provides such a platform for informed opinions of various shades and hues to be presented to the reading public, to entertain their fancy, to inform them of new ideas, and to stimulate debate, if possible.

I was delighted when the Borneo Post decided to open up an OP-Ed section on their Sunday paper, and accepted their invitation for me to write this column gladly. Despite the small writing fee, it is still a new intellectual sky for me and my fellow columnists to cultivate this virgin land in Sarawak, for the enjoyment of discerning Sarawakians.

Another section in The Borneo Post that needs opening up is the letters section. I know it is contentious ground, but it can also be fertile ground for healthy debate among citizens. All it needs is tight editing and close monitoring.

The Nobel winning international organisation the Amnesty International was born following a letter to the editor published in the Observer in 1961!

A newspaper is not just a business to make money. It is also a public instrument for doing great good, not least of which is to further the intellectual, social and moral progress of the community it serves.

(The writer can be reached at bapakmiki@yahoo.com)