A blast here, a blast there.

What's with all the blasts happening in every nook of the country? It's almost become a game of guessing as to where and not when the next blast int he country will be. All this while, politicians mint their money and bureaucrats twiddle their thumbs and the public demands accountability from the police, whose own hands are tied up the bureaucrats and politicians.

What will help reduce the number of lives lost to the crazy will of a silly group bound together by doctored advice? First and foremost, a certain human regard for one another, a fraternity of humanity and then brotherhood. This does not mean we go and create a character like Peter Novak but rather learn to respect each other from the point of view of understanding, rather than aggressive misinformation squandering.

The authorities can make sure that a fast track justice system is created to finish off all bomb blast related cases. Waiting for a decade and ultimately letting the perpetrators walk away scot free can create a new breed of wannabe terrorists. But therein lies a schism. We must make sure that there is no introduction of draconian laws such as
POTA, which will only surve to defeat the very cause these courts would be formed for.

The most important thing for the public is to maintain calm, for the police is to find the culprits and for the intelligence authorities to be wise enough to know where the next blast in going to be. S difficult, but by no means, an impoosible task.

What remains to be seen is who's going to take up the cudgels now?

12 things journalists can do to help us recreate journalism

I was just browsing through the internet when I came across this bit of nugget.

I personally found the whole thing too consumerist and without focus lacking insight. Also, how the points will help be a better journalist are unclear. Just an example: A Nokia - N Series phone can be mastered by anyone. What's the link and relevance with being a better and neo-journalist with it?
What do you think?


Here are twelve things journalist can do to help us recreate journalism for the 21st Century.
Become a blogger. By this, I don’t necessarily mean “start a blog,” but that is never a bad idea. More importantly, become an avid blog reader. Blogs should be a daily routine for every dedicated journalist. They should read every blog related to their beats. They should read blogs about their own interests and hobbies. They should read blogs about their profession. To get blogging is to get how things have changed.
Become a producer. Pick up a digital recorder, a point-and-shoot camera or a video camera and start producing content beyond text. Do this as part of your job, fine, or do it on your personal time. The goal is to understand DIY. Post stuff on YouTube, Flickr or any number of other UGC sites.
Participate. As you read blogs, leave comments. If your newspaper.com has comments on stories, read the comments and add your own. Become known as somebody who converses on the Internet.
Build a web site. It will greatly expand your mind about how the web works if you go a bit beyond just setting up an account on Blogger or WordPress. Learn a little HTML. Better yet, learn some PHP, Cold Fusion, JavaScript or other web development language. You should own your own domain, anyway.
Become web literate. You should know what Flash is, and how it differs from AJAX. You should know the meaning of things like HTML, RSS, XML, IP, HTTP and FTP. You should understand at least how people use applications and tools to build web sites. You should know the potential and the limitations of each.
Use RSS. You need an RSS reader and lots of RSS feeds to consume. This will help you better grok distributed media.
Shop online. Part of your goal is to become immersed in the digital lifestyle. You will learn stuff about the digital life if you shop on Amazon, Ebay and other ecommerce sites. As you do, think about how these sites work and why they’re set up as they are.
Buy mobile devices. Get a video iPod. Get a smart phone (an iPhone, Treo, Helio Ocean or Nokia N-series are all good places to start). Learn about distributed, take-it with-you-anywhere content. Buy a laptop and tap into some free wi-fi while you’re out and about. Learn what digital life is like when you’re not shackled to a desktop machine.
Become an avid consumer of digital content. Watch videos on YouTube. Download video and audio podcasts (take them with you on your iPod). Visit the best newspaper sites in the world and watch what they’re doing. Turn on your TV less and your computer more.
Be a learner. Technology and culture is changing fast. You can’t keep up unless you’re dedicated to learning. I love this quote from Eric Hoffer because it is so appropriate to what our industry is going through now: “In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves beautifully equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”
Talk about what you’re learning with your co-workers. Be a change agent. Get other journalists excited about the new digital communication/media tools.
Finally, read Journalism 2.0 (PDF) by Mark Briggs. You’ll learn about the stuff covered above and how it is changing modern journalism. Brigg’s book is the best primer on the topic you will find.
Quality journalism, and the news organizations that finance it, needs individual journalists to become personally responsible for their own role in changing newsroom cultures and practices. The smartest publishers with the greatest strategic plans (even if they had bottomless buckets of cash to execute on all the best ideas) can’t save news organizations without the concerted support of individual journalists.
One last bit of advice: Don’t wait for a boss to tell you to become a learner and an explorer. Your job is just where you collect your paycheck. You career is what you do. Your boss isn’t responsible for your career. You are. Solely. Don’t wait on others to make changes. Start making changes now for your own benefit. It’s great if your employer benefits from your growth, but you will benefit more.