JOURNALISM, as is the case with every sphere of life, has come a long way. These days a big number of television channels are disseminating (read: breaking) news on a regular, nonstop basis, keeping people informed on virtually everything that they believe is worth reporting.

Some of us are of the opinion (and it’s not a verdict) that the journalists from the print media still have the liberty of getting poetic if they like to be eloquent about things that are otherwise deemed unimportant. Take the example of zoo reporting. The kind of details with which newspaper writers file their stories, even in this age of the visual medium, sets them apart from the rest of the lot. And this is part of a long tradition.

On Nov 21, 1966 this newspaper published an interesting item. It was about water containers in the monkey cages of the zoo that had gone dry the day before. It read: thirsty monkeys were up to all sorts of tricks to get water in the hottest hour of the day. The two wanedroos –– natives of South India –– upon seeing their water tank empty, constantly tried to stretch their arms to get water from adjoining cages which had a small amount of stagnant water in dirty tanks. The Mona monkeys (from Nigeria) would attract visitors’ attentions with a somersault or two and then would run to empty containers with a sad look. Isn’t that a cute little story, albeit with a tinge of sadness?

But the one thing that stands out from the report is that half a century back, the media, despite limited reach and resources, presented stories keeping them reader-friendly. Here’s another instance. The issue of family planning has never been an easy one to project in our society. In the past, governments used to make strenuous efforts to drive this point home by being careful so that the matter was not misconstrued. On Nov 22, it was announced that a baby show had been included in an 18-day extensive family planning educational programme for the residents of the New Karachi Township. The pilot project, beginning in a week’s time, would be rounded off ‘by way of poetic persuasion’ in a mushaira. All the staff of the District Family Planning Board was asked to set up a camp in the area. The reason for doing the event at New Karachi was that the department concerned believed it needed the plan more than any other neighbourhood of the city.

Apart from the family planning campaign, the drive to eradicate an infectious disease from the city too was in full swing. On Nov 24, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation claimed that more than 6,000 people had been vaccinated against smallpox during the previous 48 hours.

Now here’s something which, despite taking place in the 1960s may have a contemporary ring to it. On Nov 26, Frank Henry Gibbins, aged 32 (from 6 Church Road Woodley Reading Berks, England) was arrested on Club Road for keeping an unlicensed 22-bore revolver and 99 cartridges. He came to the city in a microbus with his wife and two children, and stayed at the Bristol Hotel. He was trying to sell the revolver to raise money to go to New Zealand and had already sold the microbus. The police, after a tip-off, laid a trap where an inspector, Chaudhry Nazar Mohammad, acted as a customer and struck a deal with Gibbins. Subsequently, he was arrested. The Englishman told the police that he was only trying to get money to migrate to New Zealand. Intriguing!

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2016