IF the Kaila! newspaper was a human being, a headstone somewhere in our public cemeteries would now have “Wednesday, January 29, 2004” as its proverbial ‘called to rest’ date.
Yes! It’s official, Kaila! has closed after 20 sterling years of informing the Fiji public.
The Kaila! newspaper was launched on September 24, 2004, initially as a standalone newspaper targeting the 13-18-year-old demographic. Then it became an inserted publication.
It won numerous awards from 2006 to 2017 at the PANPA Awards, now known as the News Media Awards, which attracted entries from Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific region and Asia.
As soon as the news of Kaila!’s demise became known to Fiji, parents, readers and fans of this newspaper joined in trumpeting a requiem tune and bidding farewell to the 20-year-old newspaper.
Rodney Clarence Raj of Labasa wrote a letter to the editor saying Kaila! made brighter his teenage years.
“Pasting song lyrics, wrestlers and stars’ pictures into a scrapbook was my common morning ritual. At just 50 cents a copy, it was worth every cent,” he said.
“While there must be valid reasons for its closure, it feels like the end of a beloved teenage TV series that carried so many childhood memories.”
Narayan Reddy of the Sugar City said the closure of Kaila! was a ‘sad’ story.
Regular writer and The Fiji Times contributor, Rajnesh Ishwar Lingam’s tone was more dramatic.
“Disappointing, frustrating, shocking and sad” were words he used to describe how he felt.
Mr Lingam was in his second year of teaching at Savusavu Secondary School when the Kaila! newspaper was first published in 2004 and sold at 50 cents a copy.
“I vividly remember how students walked in town with a copy of the paper. It became attached to their hearts, and they looked forward to Wednesday to grab a copy,” he said.
“The newspaper unveiled many heroes, shared success stories and shed light on activities carried out in schools.”
But beneath the closure of the newspaper is a grimmer story — the death of reading.
The exit of the Kaila! newspaper signals a new phase in Fiji’s history, perhaps world history too; one which had taken root many years ago when the digital world emerged as a world power and the internet took over our lives.
The internet has its origins in the US, dating back to the Cold War of the 1960s.
It was devised as a way of sharing information. Computers in the ’60s were big and cumbersome. To use it one had to travel to where a computer was physically located. It was not until 1983 when the internet was officially born, allowing a global system of interconnected computer networks.
This opened a world of possibilities, both good and bad.
The internet enhanced communication, quality of life, boosted learning opportunities and speedy access to information.
It also caused a host of problems like cyber bullying and breaches, identity thefts, changed the way we socialise, blurred the lines between reality and fiction, spread hatred and misinformation, and shortened our attention span.
Experts say due to the overwhelming availability of information and the plethora of info sources on the internet the attention span of the average human has become less.
As a consequence, people nowadays have an attention span of less than a minute, meaning every minute we require a change to inspire us and if there is no such change we get bored and give up.
One of those things that require careful concentration and a long attention span, which the internet and its latest apps have managed to destroy was our ability to read with purpose. I don’t mean reading a caption or a headline, which takes one or two seconds, but reading a book, or at least a few pages.
This has affected the level of literacy among students, and adults, in Fiji.
In August last year, the Fijian Teachers Union said some primary students entering secondary school still did not know how to read.
“To all primary school teachers, complaints are coming from secondary school teachers that some students are still unable to read,” said FTA general secretary Paula Manumanunitoga.
“It is embarrassing. You should tell your FTA members to work harder to improve literacy. This is what we discussed when we met with the minister.”
On top that problem, Fiji’s education system, once the standard bearer of Pacific learning, has been struggling to reinvent itself.
Politicians say this was the result of years of social discontent brought on by misguided political ideology.
“The problems occurred from the earliest years of education, building up from primary to secondary through to tertiary institutions, which then churned out graduates often criticised for their inability to meet employer demands,” The Fiji Times reported on January 18, 2025.
But working harder to improve literacy would mean swimming against the currents of change.
The death of many newspapers around the world over the past decade has been pinned not so much on people’s inability to buy but the inability to read a sizeable and detailed newspaper story.
People have favoured accessing information that is shorter and available in easily digestible formats, now available through the internet and social media apps.
Likewise, our students and young people’s reading habits and attitudes have been altered and the Kaila! newspaper has simply been a victim of this gigantic wave of change.
But there is still hope. I think.
Somehow, every now and then, you hear stories of teachers and politicians trying to resurrect and rekindle the public’s interest in reading. Our schools still have libraries and some people still belong to book clubs. This newspaper is still behind moves that encourage citizens to read. These show there may be still some hope. Or maybe audiobooks or ebooks are the way to go!
Until we meet on this same page same time next week, stay blessed, stay healthy and stay safe.
