Outlook’s latest issue, ‘All is Well’, takes you through a series of satirical pieces that stretch themselves to find the bloom in the gloom, taking pertinent jibes at the ‘happy news industry’ which, abdicating all the tenets of responsible journalism, foregrounds the status quo. So if only cheer, celebration, and joy matter in news, then we’ll provide all that and more—with a small twist.
In this issue, we have imagined newsrooms and places that do not yet exist. Or perhaps they do. This 'not-yet', as writer Neil Gaiman says, is made up of three phrases.
Animal Farm to The Hunger Games, passages from dystopian novels over the years
This is an ode to the writers who imagined and chronicled events in not-yet places, the ones who faced the dystopia in their heads. This is inspired by the many speculative fiction books that predict apocalyptic times
...so the edit meeting continues—brainstorming story ideas on free housing, free toilets, free gas, free water, free education, free bus, free power, free data, free cookers, free TVs, free cycles and free lunch. Freedom after all means to be free from these everyday niggles.
Chamar had brought good news for sure, there had not been any bad news in recent times in any case, but what good news was it? Or how big? Curious journalists herded in front of the editor’s room. The people of the nation were already free. What new freedom had he, or all, got?
Somewhere in the heart of the heartland, a man was lynched, because he ate a potato. The nation erupted in protest.
This movie doesn’t just have its heart in the right place; it’s so beautiful that it has more than one heart
Colourful dry leaves covering your way to the ‘Magic Bullet Paradise’—a renowned nursery in the heart of the city—symbolise the new ‘new’.
The ‘Beautification and Upgradation Drive’ was one of the earliest directives by the Corporation aimed at altering the visual characteristics of Goa-aah, to transform the state’s landscape to picture-postcard beauty.
The NewsClick raids send a very important message of crumbling press freedom in the country
Press freedom has long come under question in the current national politics of India. Several of them are behind the bars while others have been slapped with various charges including the draconian UAPA.
The recently-released caste data has already created political ripples in Bihar. But the real tectonic shift will happen when the socio-economic data is released
The question of the credibility of the INDIA alliance will arise if there is an absence of consensus on core issues.
We knew from growing up in the pre-liberalisation era that re-purposing things was a way of life. Hand-me-downs were normal. We even overwrote the songs on old cassettes with the new ones.
