Hopefully, people still want knowledge

By Judith Whetstine

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This column was to be a discussion of SourceMedia Group's (Gazette parent company's) online news products and readers' online comments. A recent trip to India, the world's largest democracy, changed my direction.

The trip was a reminder that news provided through an independent and free press remains fundamental to any democracy.

A small group of us were driving through rural agricultural villages in Bihar, the poorest state in India. We were visiting sacred Buddhism sites with Cedar Rapids native Ed Bastian, a Buddhism scholar and founder of the Spiritual Paths Institute.

Along the road were small “businesses” selling items such as food, cooking pans and fabric. These shops were three-sided, dirt-floor huts near the road and under trees. Sometimes there was fabric hanging from a thatched roof to partially cover the front entrance. A table or two held the items for sale. There was neither electricity nor running water to the shops.

The joy in these scenes came from seeing these business people sitting in wooden chairs outside their shops reading newspapers. The image is testimony, even in the humblest of circumstances, to the thirst for knowledge.

One must respect the motivation and the culture that results in small business folks reading newspapers outside of their huts.

The Indian government is implementing significant infrastructure projects. Once these rural areas have the electrical infrastructure and people have the means to acquire a computer or smart phone, they will access the news via digital products like ours.

There is similarity even in the news content of their digital products such as politics, scandal, sports, opinions and business. Indian regional and national newspapers such as Calcutta's Telegraph and The Statesman offer products like SourceMedia Group's e-edition, online and mobile applications. (They also carry comics such as Garfield and Blondie.)

Let's hope that the motivation to seek information and knowledge like those “small business” folks in rural Bihar still exists in our culture.