23 years, 5001 issues: the BURSA newspaper

The story of the BURSA newspaper can be told in two ways.

The first would be the usual: I created the newspaper, in 1990, as a publication of free classifieds, I worked on it, I developed it, turning it into a financial daily, and after 23 years of uninterrupted appearance (which it celebrated on August 10th), I succeeded in turning it into an influential publication in our mass-media, as a voice which is not affiliated with any political or economic interest group, which today has reached 5001 issues.

But the second one would be the true one.

One August night, in 1990, I heard a whisper: "Call me BURSA!" and that's what I did, without any notion of what lay in store for me.

The whisper came back: "Charge for the classifieds!"

I thought to myself "That's amazing! That's never been done before."

I did as I was told.

Another whisper: "Make me appear twice a week!"

OK.

"Three times a week!"

"Man you sure are laying it on thick!", I said, but I listened to it.

"Put in some stock market content!".

That really knocked me down - "I don't know anything about the stock market, there's nothing in the dictionary!"

"Ask around! Do something! Can't you see I lack content?!"

The whispers never stopped.

This newspaper exploited me horribly, it had me running around all day long, it swallowed my holidays, it put my family life on hold and squeezed everything out of me.

It made me a slave.

The whispers became urges, and then orders.

When the stock exchange began its operations, it gave me an order: "Put me out four times a week!"

"You're insane, there isn't one publication anywhere in the world published four times a week! It's against any theory!"

It gave me an arrogant response: "Do as I tell you and stop being stupid! You think you can afford to have five issues a week?!"

In 1997, it grabbed by ear: "Now you can afford to put out five issues a week, get to work!"

I couldn't hide anything from it.

It had sprawled out over my desk, in two colors - red and black -, it was blinking proud of itself and it had constant demands.

After it became a daily, it was getting too big for its boots - "I want pages in polychromy!", it snapped at me.

I was barely keeping up with its demands.

And then came the final straw: "I want to be independent!"

I got angry: "But you are! I've never put you down on your knees before anybody! Did I ever whore you out with the rest of the press?! You have any idea of the boatloads of money I missed out on by not doing so?!"

"Have you no shame?!", it yelled, "I want to be independent FROM YOU!"

I went silent.

I couldn't believe it.

After everything I had done for it, it was now acting like a backstabber.

In my journalists' contracts, I included clauses that would ensure their freedom of expression, even against myself, and I told it: "Gotcha now!"

It raised one eyebrow: "All you've done is comply with the Constitution!", and it didn't even thank me.

Yes, it has a limitless ego.

I've never seen anything like it.

It's ego isn't just as big the Universe, it's expanding.

It started out with 300 dollars in its pocket, on August 10th, 1990 and now, 23 years later it is criticizing sthe Eurozone.

It is saying the world is over.

It is saying that the only way to deal with the crisis is to imagine another system.