Publish and be damned
So here it is—yet another issue of the Tibetan Review, and with this our good deed for the month done. It won’t be long before the Tibetan Bulletin from Dharamsala similarly fulfils its obligation. As does News Tibet from New York, and Tibet News Review from London, and Rangzen and its numerous offshoots from the Tibetan Youth Congress—not to mention other bulletins, newsletter and magazines form various societies and friendship groups connected with Tibetans. Pretty good going for a mere 100,000 refugees in less than 30 years, isn’t it??
Or is it?
Most of these publications are in English and bulk of the copies are distributed in the largest part of the English-speaking world—North America. So when I had the opportunity of visiting the United States for seven months as an Alfred Friendly Press Fello, I expected to run into hundreds of Americans who had no contact with this journal but who may have become knowledgeable about Tibet from other sources. And indeed I met lots and lots of people who claimed interest in Tibet. But can they be termed knowledgeable ? As they say over there, no way.
Most such people have developed their interest in Tibet after reading James Hilton’s Lost Horizon or other works of fiction by Lobsang Rampa. They know that the Dalai Lama is the “god-king” of Tibet. The more deligent newspaper readers opine that the situation in the country is improving. It seems that the information repeatedly churned out by the above-mentioned publications only circulate among themselves and their faithful, regular readers. Their achievement in reaching beyond the already confirmed “friends of Tibet”, and probably those who get paid for scouring them, is minute.
Once you realise this, it doesn’t take long to see what has gone wrong. In most cases the aim of putting out these publications seem to be just that—putting them out. Not much effort has gone into finding out whether they are read by people who are not already familiar with the subject. The editors do not seem to worry much about whether the presentation is intellible and attractive enough to sustain interest of casual readers.
Anyone can keep an impressive mailing list, put a few pages of written material together and imagine oneself to be publish a newspaper. What counts is actual readership and demand for that publication. Sending unsolicited copies to kings and captains does not mean anything if most of them end up in wastepaper baskets. However, such thoughts seem to be far from the minds of our would-be press barons. Regular feedback from other members of the mutual appreciation society is considered enough intitiative to stay in business.
So here it is—yet another issue of the Tibetan Review, and with this our good deed for the month done. It won’t be long before the Tibetan Bulletin from Dharamsala similarly fulfils its obligation. As does News Tibet from New York, and Tibet News Review from London, and Rangzen and its numerous offshoots from the Tibetan Youth Congress—not to mention other bulletins, newsletter and magazines form various societies and friendship groups connected with Tibetans. Pretty good going for a mere 100,000 refugees in less than 30 years, isn’t it??
Or is it?
Most of these publications are in English and bulk of the copies are distributed in the largest part of the English-speaking world—North America. So when I had the opportunity of visiting the United States for seven months as an Alfred Friendly Press Fello, I expected to run into hundreds of Americans who had no contact with this journal but who may have become knowledgeable about Tibet from other sources. And indeed I met lots and lots of people who claimed interest in Tibet. But can they be termed knowledgeable ? As they say over there, no way.
Most such people have developed their interest in Tibet after reading James Hilton’s Lost Horizon or other works of fiction by Lobsang Rampa. They know that the Dalai Lama is the “god-king” of Tibet. The more deligent newspaper readers opine that the situation in the country is improving. It seems that the information repeatedly churned out by the above-mentioned publications only circulate among themselves and their faithful, regular readers. Their achievement in reaching beyond the already confirmed “friends of Tibet”, and probably those who get paid for scouring them, is minute.
Once you realise this, it doesn’t take long to see what has gone wrong. In most cases the aim of putting out these publications seem to be just that—putting them out. Not much effort has gone into finding out whether they are read by people who are not already familiar with the subject. The editors do not seem to worry much about whether the presentation is intellible and attractive enough to sustain interest of casual readers.
Anyone can keep an impressive mailing list, put a few pages of written material together and imagine oneself to be publish a newspaper. What counts is actual readership and demand for that publication. Sending unsolicited copies to kings and captains does not mean anything if most of them end up in wastepaper baskets. However, such thoughts seem to be far from the minds of our would-be press barons. Regular feedback from other members of the mutual appreciation society is considered enough intitiative to stay in business.
posted by editorla at
9:06 PM
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