September 2001: Nine years back, a bright sunny day had just begun for most of the people in New York City, when a plane crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Within seconds the twin towers, icons of power and prestige of United States were buried to ashes. More than 6000 people were injured; approximately 2900 innocent lives were lost while the survivors went into trauma. It took months for US to come to terms to that fact that it had been targeted by the Al Qaida, the terrorist outfit led by Osama Bin laden. “9/11” changed the world history forever. 

September 2008: The bulls-bears and stags at the Wall street were at peace, completely oblivious of the approaching catastrophe. Came September and the stock market came crashing down, way below the depleted water table levels. Once again, panic was the word of the hour. The rich became poor, the poor became worse! 

The man on the New York street who once flaunted that all his four children were investment bankers in the big ticket wall-street listed banks like Lehman brothers and Morgan Stanley was now bankrupt due to insolvency of the billion dollar companies. 

Terms like Recession, bankruptcy, bailouts became a talk of the town. The Economic Depression took millions of people into a state of perpetual blues.

 “When America sneezes, the world catches cold”. It did not take long for this anonymous infection to spread and the world grew tense due to this sudden unpleasant development; a beautiful oxymoron.

September 2010: We are approaching the second anniversary of the Lehman bankruptcy which inaugurated the notorious financial tsunami, yet the time is not ripe to comment, with certainty on the depth of this Economic Depression. Though the BP oil gas tragedy hit the Gulf of Mexico in June this year, every one has obvious fears as to what the month of September 2010 has in store! 

By and large, such catastrophes, whether natural or human bring with them enormous losses to wealth and health.

The purpose behind quoting these unnatural disasters is to suggest that disasters are not essentially heartbreaking, especially if you are a journalist! Whenever things fall out of place, they get a reason to celebrate. Not that they are fundamentally sadistic in their outlook and approach, but that is what the profession demands. Be it 9/11 or the Economic Tsunami of 2008, these were marked by loss of jobs and reduced Money incomes. In economic jargon, this meant low purchasing power, diminished market demand which automatically implies huge losses! Interestingly, the demand for News and Newspapers accelerated at an increasing rate. The employed-the unemployed, the haves and the have-nots, the students and their parents almost everyone banked upon these reports to get an idea of what is happening and what is expected! 

No matter what happens, where it happens and what is amount of risk involved, the NEWS is delivered at your door steps and your T.V. Screens. 

Thus this fortunate lot of professionals never runs out of work!

So long as there is misery and injustice in this society, so long as the economies continue to crash and collapse, so long as the floods and Tsunamis continue to rock our coasts the journalists don’t need to fear pink slips. 

Author: Divya Malhotra, GoBangalore