User:Saxennitin/sandbox

Journalism and its interpretation in the Indian society

Lots of interpretations keep pouring in on the definition of journalism and fingers are being pointed at its eroding standards, one can authoritatively say that the title of the James Bond film of 70s, ‘Live and Let Die’, finely connects with the Indian media in which journalism lives and its standards die. I doubt whether the flock of journalists responsible for the falling standards in journalism will ever be held to account.

The definition of journalism is getting fuzzier branching into an over expansive arena and taking multiple forms. The roots of it, however, cling on to its original version, though modified a bit, that it is the relay-tower of what is happening in the world through an expression of words, written or talked, within a set of guidelines and spread across to people through the different media of newspaper, radio, television, online on international networking..

But a simpler way to put it is what I keep telling my students: Journalism is a powerful branch of communication. That’s it.

The people who are paid salaries to narrate the events, honestly and accurately, are called journalists (staffers) whose designations are further categorized in accordance with the duties they perform in the major two areas – reporting/input section and editorial desk/output. I read it somewhere on an e-book that journalism is an art and not science because judgments determine what to write and how to write and not formulas and this is the reason why you will never find two journalists writing in the same language. It holds true for the students who take the examinations and write their answers. If even two sentences are the same, they must have cheated and are guilty of plagiarism which in India is hardly taken seriously. This is another matter that most of the journalism schools in England are very strict about plagiarism and any student found guilty of it may find his way out of the course.

All student-journalists should take up the profession in the spirit of a new discovery of good journalism and rejuvenate its ebbing ethics when you step out in the real world of news media. For, on you, lies the responsibility of bringing back the glorious journalism that once it was. Journalism is not a short-term feel-good fling, it is a profession in which you are investing a major part of your life and I am sure, you would keep it clean.

It is difficult to single out any individual for lowering the standards of journalism because the professional deterioration is a collective handiwork of the news media persons, both in print and broadcast, along with the continual interference by the marketing department. Instead of giving voice to the public, the Indian national media has become more like a vanity press.

The most adventurous journalist in the reputed newspapers and television news channels move about as the ‘his majesty/her majesty’. They can topple the government, they have an access to the high and mighty and can liaison only too well, first for themselves and then their own management. They are the ‘untouchables’ by their own colleagues and are seated too high for the common man to approach them. They can do all other things but the stories, good stories.

He/she knows the best way to conduct the interview which may subtly boost the image of the interviewee and in return he/she gets his/her wanted prize. This is the prevalent form of journalism which does not adhere to the conventional definition found in the dictionaries.

Journalism is both nice and nasty. Nice as an occupation; nice for those willing to be the eyes and ears of the masses; nice for those who love writing and nice for those who can analyise. Nasty for those who think of climbing up the ladder of fame by hobnobbing; nasty for those who will blackmail; nasty for those who ride an ego and bully around in the name of the profession; nasty for them who cheat with reality; nasty for them who misrepresent truth. Because one day, they tend to get exposed and find themselves jobless.

Standards in journalism are continually lowering and the immediate need is to emphasize more on what journalism should be and not lecture on what journalism is. Journalism-teaching institutes should stress more on ethical and objective journalism and help in producing a better breed of scribes. Make them practice more rather than strapping them with the theories.

The profession has added multi layers on it. Let’s see if we can peel them off one by one.

Journalism is sensation

Forget the tabloids that were once notorious for upsizing the sleazy contents, the mainstream newspapers are doing the same. A thrilling local story is given a four-column space on page 1 with a detailed account on the turn page while a more important story on Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, got just two columns.

Journalism is propaganda

Self-propaganda has become almost an obsession with the news media, both newspapers and TV news channels. Newspapers have started calling follow-up of their exclusive as ‘Impact’. Television news channel gives a recap of what it had ‘reported’ or ‘predicted’ and pans the story to present the latest/updated developments.

A prominent national daily blew its own trumpet immediately in the second line of its lead story on Delhi Chief Minister’s government bringing in losses to the exchequer as stated in the CAG- Comptroller and Audit General - report by saying that ‘much of it had already been reported’ by it.

Journalism is interpretation

Delhi government was criticized for alleged financial irregularities during the pre run of Commonwealth Games as stated in the 744-paged CAG report which was tabled in Parliament in August 2011. This was news. But if a newspaper says that ‘CAG’s indictment of the Dikshit government have undercut the veteran chief minister’s principal strength: her reputation for efficiency and integrity. These two factors were the reason why she survived the challenges of tough elections, powerful rebels as well as sullenness of the leadership over her unilateral ways.’ This remark is an interpretation.

At every birth anniversary of Nehru-Gandhi clan – Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi – all English language dailies, Hindi dailies and some regional newspapers insert huge advertisements (mostly government departments, ministries) talking about the sunshine that was spread by the trio and how the posterity has benefited.

Sheer wastage of money, one would say and vociferously denounce such a publicity blitz running into crores of rupees. But another journalist may interpret it as a platform to commemorate the memory of the dead leaders who are not otherwise remembered by the younger generation.

A leader writer may look at it yet more differently as a manipulative ploy by the monopolistic attitude of Congress party to prop up only a set of their leaders, selfishly played up, to influence the younger lot into believing that the trio only is responsible for governing the country and not other prime ministers like Lal Bahadur Shastri or Narsimha Rao or Atal Behari Vajpayee or Charan Singh. Who has heard the name of Gulzari Lal Nanda, the two- time stop-gap prime minister?

Journalism is wicked

Veteran journalist Vir Sangvi, had left writing a column in MINT (a sister publication of Hindustan Times) when he found his piece to have been tampered with. He had a valid point. He said that he will not write for a publication that censored its columnists and denied them the right to free speech while writing long, impassioned pieces about the freedom to criticize others from the Prime Minister downwards. All of us exhibited double standards to some degree. But MINT‘s hypocrisy took his breath away.

But if the column is deeply entwined in a scathing attack on an individual ( earlier a friend) who has  difference of opinion on certain political issues, what should the paper do. Retain it and let the column go without any editing. Then it will be wicked journalism.

Renowned writer Khushwant Singh humiliated  jurno  Arun Shourie in his column ‘Malice Towards One and All’ in Hindustan Times of August 7, 2011. Any writing/comment that digresses in its narration to a personal remark must be construed as mischievous and a red rag on the other. Before the readers’ eye-balls pop out in malice towards the columnist, the editorial scissor should crinch-crunch. Khushwant proposed to goodbye to writing that column in October 2011 but continued thereafter for long.

Journalism is information

If you are in a hole, stop digging. This English proverb is a reverse of what a journalist does. If he/she is in a hole, he/she digs more and more to stumble over some interesting information that needs to be shared with many more.

Frogs were never in the news though they are facing a high risk of extinction. Frogs just keep popping out of fables or fascinate the very young when they wriggle in water. That’s it.

Not long ago, India’s western ghats became the hot spot for hidden biodiversity and researchers found six new species of frogs. This information could have been made more reachable to more people if newspapers and television news channels had accommodated it. But they did not except for the newspaper, The Hindu, because it does not affect people directly.

The information remained restricted to an international journal on animal taxonomy, ecology and zoo-geography, Biosystamatica.

If saving tigers can be a national campaign why should the frogs be sidelined? Just because they are not termed as national animal, or they are too little a species to attract attention, they should be written off. Should we not tag ourselves as mean-journalists who report only that which sells – crime, politics, sex and fashion.

That the journalists covering Supreme Court will have to have a law degree was a salvo by the apex court for the scribes to get accreditation which could be withdrawn at any point of time without assigning any reason is an example of seriousness of the legal luminaries who want accuracy in reporting the court proceedings.

It is fun to find new English languge words creeping into the dictionary which speaks silently how the language paces with the changing trends in the society. Affulenza, burkini, baggravation and many other words have just come in and shortly will be seen in the later editions of the English language dictionaries. Daycation and dramedy are the two words that I find almost abnoxious. Something which the purist English conversationalists will shudder to use in their daily talks too. Daycation is one day trip or a one day vacation. But I thought that a day out was more like a picnic or a day school trip or maybe just a day out. To top it is ‘greycation’ which means you go on a vacation with elders to cut down your own expenses – meaning that will foot a major part of the joint bill. Or you can stay put in home and call it staycation. The big umbrellas of costa coffee or café coffee day are now going to be called jumbrella derived from the two words Jumbo and Umbrella. Drama having comedy is now called a dramedy. I would call it funny. But as far as Burkini is concerned, that is a nice word which has been coined for the one piece ‘bikini’ mainly for use by women of the muslim countries, an offspring of Burqa and Bikini.

The Indian politicians who have no age for retirement are nevertiree. President Barack Obama is known as a quintastic, being over fifty and still sexy looking and fashionable, after he won the Presidentship for the second time. Bagrravation is someone piqued by a worry on not getting his baggage at the airport while others on the same flight have got theirs. Affluenza is a disease among the rich who have all the money to spend and they keep spending or’wasting’ as we may like to say, on things which are not very essential for them to possess. Freemale is quite a misnomer. It means that a woman who prefers to stay single because she could do anything she wants at any time. But freemale looks it goes for males too.

Journalism is factual

The bulk of what you read in newspapers/magazines or watch on television is factual. The only disturbing factor is the slant given to a statement or tilting the image of a person to look good/bad.

A TV news channel did a story on the houses and memorials of martyrs Chandershekar Azad, Asaf Ullah Khan and Sukhdev lying in dilipadated conditions and exposed the government’s non-committal posture of its promise to up keep the buildings.

The report of the speech of the Indian prime minister from the ramparts of Red Fort on every Independence Day is factual. Even the number of soldiers killed in an ambush, or a air force plane crash are factual. The casualties in a bomb blast are truly reported. The news is by far factual.

Journalism is an eye-opener

The eye-opener for most urban Indians is the morning bed tea. For a few oldies, the chirping of the birds is the eye-opener and for readers/viewers, it is the information that reveals something that is subsequently a surprise too – it is an eye-opener at any point of time.

Will it not be an eye-opener if you come to know that the song ‘Aae Mere Watan Ke Logon’ is not a pure patriotic song but a satire cajoling the Indians to commemorate the soldiers who laid down their lives defending the country from the enemy forces?

Sung in 1963 by Lata Mangeshkar in the memory of soldiers who died in the Indo-China war, the song is written by Pradeep and its music composed by C. Ramachandra. It has become into a signature song at any national day or an event that relates to India.

If you study its wordings, you will be able to trace the satirical tone directed towards the people who have forgotten the unsung heroes responsible for guarding our borders. When the lyricist/poet asks the countrymen to ‘fill in some tears’ in the eyes, the message is clear that you are celebrating the freedom without shedding a single tear for those who, in fact, brought it for you.

The first para of the song begs the nation to remember, even if little, the martyrs while hoisting the tricolour. The second canto is more aggressive and satirical.

ऐ मेरे वतन् के लोगो! तुम खूब लगा लो नारा ! ये शुभदिन है हम सबका! लहरा लो तिरंगा प्यारा पर मत भूलो सीमा पर! वीरों ने है प्राण गँवाए! कुछ याद उन्हें भी कर लो -२! जो लौट के घर न आए -२

ऐ मेरे वतन के लोगो! ज़रा आँख में भरलो पानी! जो शहीद हुए हैं उनकी! ज़रा याद करो क़ुरबानी |प| जब घायल हुआ हिमालय! खतरे में पड़ी आज़ादी! जब तक थी साँस लड़े वो! फिर अपनी लाश बिछादी संगीन पे धर कर माथा! सो गये अमर बलिदानी! जो शहीद हुए हैं उनकी! ज़रा याद करो क़ुरबानी |१|

ऐ मेरे वतन् के लोगो! तुम खूब लगा लो नारा ! ये शुभदिन है हम सबका! लहरा लो तिरंगा प्यारा पर मत भूलो सीमा पर! वीरों ने है प्राण गँवाए! कुछ याद उन्हें भी कर लो -२! जो लौट के घर न आए -२

Take the example of a research by British journalist Gerrard William who in his book, ‘Grey Wolf: The Escape of Adolf Hitler’, co-authored by Simon Dunstan, claims that the Nazi leader died in Argentina after he was secretly flown out of Germany in April 1945. He had raised his two daughters during his 17-year-long stay in the country.

Gerrard also rubbishes the long-standing theory that Hitler died in a bunker in his homeland and also claims that the ‘Hitler’s’ skull fragments held by Russians were actually that of a woman.

Journalism is speed

A television news channel journalist needs no steroids for grabbing the bites faster than his rival channel. He has speed in his blood. It is a good trait to reach the spot quickly and transmit the story live faster but maintaining its accuracy is much more important than speed. The initial run of an important event is basically a headlined prelude which reaches you first and fast. Almost all news channels across the country have the same skeleton content. It is only after the first thirty minutes that you start getting more relevant info.

It is difficult to be first and fast. But if you can, the news channel does have an upper edge but the presentation of news is the ultimate litmus test. Indian audience prefers reliable information to less and unauthenticated one.

Journalism is blackmailing

This is an art that is never taught in the classroom but is learnt by crafty journalists who nurture it as their signature tune to play it life-long, perhaps. ‘I want more’. ‘I want more’ are the three most dangerous words when it is absorbed by a scribe to seek anything other than information/news.

We have seen many times in small towns in India how local journalists (not all) go on an arm-twisting spree of businessmen, government officials to seek favours both in cash and kind.

‘I was chatting with a Senior Superintendent of Police at  Muzzafarpur in Uttar Pradesh  in mid-nineties when I spotted  four two-wheelers with no number plates parked in his office compound. I presumed that they had been rightly impounded but was shocked to know that the vehicles belonged to the local journalists. Vehicles without number plates was a cue to the law enforcing agencies that these belonged to the members of the Press Corps and deserved no ticket. The SSP turned a blind eye to the set-up because he admitted that any action on them would result in more nuisance.’

A renowned journalist who is reported to be running a sprawling blackmail journalism empire in Coastal Karnataka has been in and out of jail several times but is going great guns. He has a clout that prevents him to be booked permanently. Similar cases have been reported from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh too. Writing on this aspect is painful so the less said is better.

Veteran journalist Dileep Padgaonkar has rightly pointed out that journalism has today become a murky business, bursting with intrigue, blackmail, and fixers. Much of what passes for investigative journalism, is a leak or a plant given by a bureaucrat, politician or businessman in order to spite someone’. Rarely, in the press, do we turn the spotlight on ourselves.

Journalism is misleading

I would like to reproduce an extract from Firstpost.com by Nyantara Kilachand, which says: …… an Indian newspaper ran pictures from the GQ Best Dressed Men Awards. They wrote a small blurb, listed out all the big name celebs and socialites who attended. The only thing they neglected to mention was GQ. Instead the event was referred to opaquely as a “men’s magazine award”.

Much like Voldemort, who Harry Potter fans will know “must not be named”. Other Indian media sources cannot at any time ever be acknowledged in a newspaper. As a result we get stories like this: “Katrina Kaif was voted the ‘sexiest women in the world’ for the third time by an international magazine.” It’s only when you reach the last paragraph that you get Kaif herself referring to the magazine, FHM, directly.

Tabloids tend to do this the most often, but you’ll find mainstream “reputed” dailies aggregating significant breaking news stories from other media sources, both national and international, without ever crediting the original source. This is possibly not surprising given the frequency with which the media here plagiarize and lift stories, but still, it raises the question: do these media outlets actually believe this to be good journalistic practice?

A few years ago there was a rumour taking rounds— possibly untrue of course — that one of the country’s biggest national dailies had forbidden any mention of Yahoo and other tech companies that had their own email portal. The reason given was that the Indian media company was about to enter the space themselves and didn’t want to give undue publicity to the competition. Even if the story was spurious, it wasn’t entirely incredulous. In short, if something like that did happen here, you’d more likely believe it than not. Act like it doesn’t exist, and then well, it won’t.

Which comes back to the point, why the reluctance to give credit where credit’s due? Perhaps acknowledging that other media sources exist is tantamount to admitting they have, gasp, competition? Does it make them lesser journalists to admit they’re covering stories from other media sources? Is it that they think their readers won’t possibly notice that quietly slipped in “a US magazine” or a “British news channel” and mistakenly assume it for original content? Or is it because like plagiarism, which is rampant and unchecked, bad journalistic practices are so firmly embedded in big media houses here that newbies who enter the newsroom right out of college actually think it’s the right thing to do?

Journalism is odd

A news item in the Economic Times of August 23, 2011, narrated the ‘agony’ of both Indian and foreign journalists over the dirty loos while covering the Anna Hazare’s fast at Ramlila grounds in New Delhi.

The news also reported about the journalists who were spending over 12 hours at the venue for a wide and updated coverage for their TV news channels but oddly did not mention any name of the Indian journalists who expressed a kind of ‘sickness’ over the coverage that was becoming too monotonous but named a US based freelancer William Malony who was busy making a documentary on the hunger strike by the 74-year-old anti-corruption crusader.

It quoted a German journalist Michale Nauman from ARD news channel who said: "I know that you people have a problem but it does not mean that you will go on a hunger strike. In Germany, people put pressure on government by assembling in large numbers but they don't go for hunger strikes." Is it not odd that the Economic Times did not mention the name of the Indian journalists who, I believe, expressed the ‘agonies’ that come with the profession particularly at an assignment like this. Why were their names not given looks slightly odd?

Journalism is churnalism

For a fortnight from August 16, 2011 onwards, the entire media coverage was directed at Anna Hazare who had laid siege at Ramlila grounds in New Delhi. Hard news and soft news both gripped the maddening crowd in India.

Thanks to the media which was churned out stories by tons converted the anti-corruption unrest into a mass movement. The crowd swelled in thousands at the New Delhi venue with no figures of actual supporters. It became into a ‘tamasha’ (drama). The alert crowd would start drumming and sloganeering for the TV news channels crew as and when required.

It became a rendezvous for the tipplers; an unrestricted ground for motorcycle stunts on the roads of Delhi; it was a feast for the beggars and urchins and a safe haven for the bottom-pinchers.

None had seen even a copy of the voluminous Jan Lok Pal and most did not know how it would help in ‘eradicating’ corruption despite the Anna contingent lecturing on the contents of the Bill. Anna kept on with his hunger strike while his team-mates kept hopping from one place to another meeting ministers and welcoming the celebrities called for infusing the much desired pep in the otherwise boring atmosphere.

Anna Hazare had become a hero in public eye. The youth vowed to emulate his ideals. National and International media talked about him. The book fair in Delhi in August-September organized by the National Book Trust found Anna’s book having more buyers. He was hot, he was marketable, he was a symbol of anti-corruption tirade. But by October end a year later, cracks opened up in Team Anna and one of his lieutant Arvind Kejriwal announced the formation of a political party and went on trotting the Indian capital to get his piece of publicity.

In a great escape from responsible journalism, the media forgot to play up the ‘great dare devil’ job of a 26-year-old army officer, Lt Navdeep Singh, who laid down his life battling a dozen terrorists trying to infiltrate the Line of Control (LoC), on August 25, in the Gurez sector of Jammu and Kashmir. Instead the news was buried in the inside pages without any respectable space that this real hero deserved. The television news channels crawler spoke about this ‘great’ officer. The newly commissioned officer was killed by a terrorist bullet.

But an afterthought by the Times of India devoted the first lead on its Delhi edition of August 28, 2011  on page 19 headlined ‘ Lt Navdeep’s last encounter’.

Journalism is show business.

Newspapers are trying vainly to compete with the tv news channels by redesigning, refurbishing them with new content to keep their cash registers ringing. A journalist is a person who is hired by big media houses and is often seen on television is the new definition. There is no subject or lecture on what good journalism is. Neither have the subject module-setters included this topic nor have the journalism-tutors talking about it seriously. Not only this, there is no mechanism to track bad journalism in this country.

Sometimes good journalism is when newspapers decide to ask the readers to give a headline and it actually publishes it soaring high the spirits of the reader and binding his loyalty with his newspaper. At times, good journalism is when readers feel that their problems are being addressed.

Similarly, New York Times was patted in abundance by the liquor barons when it decided to amend the spelling of ‘whiskey’ by dropping the letter ‘e’ which the liquor manufacturers were finding it redundant. But for the tippler, the spelling hardly matters; it is the consumption that interest him more.

What makes good journalism?

A question that has become louder by the day but the answer is vaguely as black as night. Actually, good-journalism is a point of view, it is a perspective-related issue. The question sparks off debates and discussions but never leads to a comprehensive answer.

Journalists have long been deciding on news/stories selection but it is time that they should decide on the quality of the news and its positioning. Have the journalists ever delved on the subject of what actually the readers want? They are being fed on stories, news that the journalists want them to give.

Do any of us identify with the news? Hardly, we read it and discuss its merits and demerits. And that’s it. It is a personalized idea of an editor, the owner and the journalists of what the readers want and what they need to want. I have yet to see any genuine survey of what actually readers want to read in a newspaper or watch on television.

We have been, from time immemorial, reading political news and sometimes a big local news on page one along with a bunch of seasonal news on page one. We have never questioned why the sports pages always come at the end of the newspaper when we have been globally claiming that sports has become part of us. Organising the the Formula 1 motor-race in October 2011, amplifies how India is getting deep into sports too.

Why should the cabinet reshuffle be put as the first lead on the front page. I know for sure that it does not effect the people at large. Can’t it be positioned as the second lead or at the bottom of the page. But nobody does it. For the readers are too coward to voice it. They take it in their stride. To follow what we are made to follow. Readers are blind but the nation is not. For journalists, a cabinet reshuffle may be big news but for a common man it is not. Yes, a new policy that may benefit the public is undoubtedly a bigger news than a cabinet reshuffle.

Big news is what politicians and celebrities say. It has to be published. Why? If an actor says that the government should not ban alcohol sale to people less than 21, it is printed. The actor is trying to woo the youth to his side. Is it not a marketing gimmick to initiate the youngsters to see him more in movies? Or does he know what will happen to youth who take to bottle in the younger days?

In India, we do not actually know when to say stop to our drinking binge. So drinking in public (with an age limit) is a deterrent. Does the young actor know all this? No but a journalist does know the repercussions so his duty is to weigh the sweeping remarks on its news-value content. The remark is in the interest of the readers or it is just of interest to the readers because it came out of the mouth of the celebrity. It is simple to then judge its positioning and its length. Very simple. Journalists know this but pose ignorant. Such journalists do not fit in the category of a responsible journalist.

Press conference by politicians and celebrities is a pseudo event and a good journalist should be skeptical about it. He/she just wants to make a statement or deny an allegation. It is not news but a routine reaction on certain issues. Yes, if a police commissioner is holding a press conference to brief the newspersons on some big arrests, it does make sense to cover it. But I find that reporters/special correspondents swarm the venues of press briefings by celebs and polticians and call it a hot bed for news.

Take the story ‘Vanishing water sends people packing’ which narrated the tale of over 2500 inhabitants of a village in Kabrai tehsil of Mahoba, 250 kilometers off Lucknow, the state capital of Uttar Pradesh, who abandoned their homes as there was hardly any water left for drinking or washing. Not only this, the news item said that seven districts in the State were constantly under drought conditions for the past seven years.

Is this story not a front page material? Or we still have to see a political story or the PMs face every morning in the first leads. What is more important is to highlight the agony of a place facing water crisis and the inadequate Central grant. After all, they are part of the electorate, part of our country who need all the aid. Waterless-upsets are more painful than a body cancer. But then who decides.

Think of what journalism should be and what it is today.

When the celebrated painter M.F. Husain died in June 2011, four English dailies of repute – Hindustan Times, the Times of India, The Hindu and the Indian Express – made the news its banner headline on page 1, but the Pioneer (Delhi edition) decided to position the news item at the bottom on the front page while the Statesman restricted it placing it on the right hand flush. The Asian Age made it the first lead giving it four columns on the front page. Mail Today bordered the item black with a creative headline ‘Hounded in life, honoured in Death’.

There was no uniformity among the newspapers as far as the positioning of the news item was concerned. It was not a case of a divided news sense but an assertion to be different and was also the first noticeable sound of a clarion call that each newspaper had its own individualistic personality. Are we going to mourn the celebrities only and not shed a tear for the unsung common soldiers of the civil society that lead a partial life in a country that prides itself in calling the next super power.

A Mumbai-based scribe is shot dead and it becomes a page 1 news item (first lead) on Sunday Times, the Hindustan Times (Delhi edition). If the two examples are dissected, one is clueless as to what yardstick did a news room head take to make the items the first lead in their respective newspapers.

MF Husain was a world renowned celebrity. Agreed. He was ousted from India. Agreed. He was hounded by a section of fanatics. Agreed. He was a pillar in the world of painting. Agreed. He merited space and good positioning. Agreed.

With a consensus on many points, granting a decent coverage on the front page was well deserved. What about the Mumbai-based journalist? Did he deserve the first lead in Delhi editions? Had he won some laurels? Was he well-known outside the world of journalism in Mumbai? If he deserved the first lead why did Hindustan Times (Delhi edition) not carry a follow up the next day? The Times of India (Delhi edition) did carry an item successively.

One (M.F. Husain) was a celebrity and the other was a journalist. Both yielded a certain amount of influence and power and thus became page one leads. Well, we have to believe this that ‘celebs’ promoted and propelled by media are prone to get more space.

Another example is that of spiritual teacher (Baba) Ramdev who hogged world wide ‘publicity’ during his fast in Delhi in May-June 2011 and kept himself in the news for a fortnight. A train of politicians kept hopping in and out of closets trying to placate him and later urging him to break the fast. It may be recalled that he was fasting to pressurize the government to declare the money stacked in Switzerland foreign banks as national asset.

But none in the media or the Congress leaders thought of covering the fast unto death of another spiritual person who actually died. It was only Hindustan Times (Delhi edition) of June 14, 2011, which mentioned about the spiritual activist saying ‘Swami Nigamanand, whose fast against quarrying in the river Ganga could not generate the same publicity as Baba Ramdev’s stir, died after an ordeal of 115 days. The swami, 36, was on a fast from February 19 to April 30, when he was admitted to hospital. Thereafter, forced feeding kept him alive till June 13.’

Both were fasting on an issue but one was deprived of any coverage. Why? Because journalists are the ones who make us read what they want us to read and they are the ones who tell us how much we should read. And of course they are the ones who decide where it should be placed. While Ramdev was news for front page, Swami Nagamanand could only position himself as the fourth among the ‘short stories’ on page 10 of HT.

Daily News and Analysis (DNA) reported online quoting a Congress spokesman that Nigamananda was being treated in the same hospital in which Ramdev was admitted. The state government has all the information but it did not pay attention to the former," the Congress leader said, adding that everybody should express his or her views against "such insensitivity". The 36-year-old seer of Haridwar-based Matri Sadan Ashram was demanding shifting of Himalayan stone crusher from Kumbh mela area.

The political parties were the only beneficiaries – they got another issue for a mudslinging match.

Count how many stories have come from official sources and how many from reporters’ own efforts and assess their quality and importance. The result is dismayal.

Why or whether? Please hammer this point well between your two ears. It will give you confidence to confirm your doubts on certain issues. Pretend that you know more than you actually do and sometimes it does wonders. I have put this statement to application many times successfully.

I remember I had a habit of calling up the dog squad in the early morning when I was on crime beat. I would ‘pose’ as SI on the telephone “ SI Sharma bol raha hoon, DCP (HQ) ke ghar se. . . . . Saab puch rahein kutte kahan kahan gaye hai.” On getting a response that the dogs have gone to, say, Amedkar nagar in South Delhi, I would get my first clue. A murder at Ambedkar nagar. Dog squad is always dispatched to a murder scene. Then I would ring up the Ambedkar Nagar police station and ask the duty officer to tell me the details of the murder that has taken place under his police station because the DCP (HQ) wants it. I would get the relevant details and this way I got most of the stories for MID-DAY without having to move out of my office. They were all latest and exclusives at that point of the time. Many of them would find mention in the police handout that came in the evening to newspaper offices. Nowadays, it is through emails.

Had I rung up a police station and identified myself as a journalist, I may not have got any story at all. It is basically how you strategize and get the desired results. Why can’t I get a better story than my rival newspaper? Whether I have an upper edge over other crime reporters? These two questions drove me to plan a fresh strategy every time to get a good story.

No comment. It indicates that one is hiding. This is a ploy used more by politicians when they are cornered to part with information that is sought by a reporter. And they say, no comment. The connotation is very clear. The politician is deliberately trying to conceal some information.

Good journalism – it echoes in the society for long

It is an effective information provider and has a tremendous capacity to shape the agenda of public debate like what we saw during the formation of the Lokpal Bill in 2011; destabilize the governments  (the Congress debacle in 1977 elections as a result of its imposition of emergency in 1975); and at times can cause discomfort to individuals (from Jagmohan Mundhra (scam in late 50s);  Union Ministers A Raja (2G scam in 2011) and  Suresh Kalmadi (Commonwealth Games scam 2010).

India is still fledgling when it comes to display the good acts of journalists who risk their lives in digging out truth. They are just given awards or their stories ‘inspire’ a few films. I would remind you of Ashwini Sarin who drifted into  oblivion without his name ever being heard by the student journalist in the modern times. His story on how Indian women being sold off after he ‘purchased’ a tribal girl blew the lid on the government’s false claim that it was not done. Later his story was turned into a film, ‘Kamla’.

In United Kingdom, a play ‘On The Record’ was staged narrating  the stories of six independent journalists who tried to tell the truth in threatening conditions. Maybe this was the best tribute to tell about scribes who do wonderful job which, through this art form, will resound for long.

I shan’t shudder to call it an industry that has the capability to produce accurate, up to date information on events which are considered to be important and interesting to its readers. Journalism is a part of the public life. It is almost a consumers’ most lovable commodity – a fuel for the information hungry nation. It is actual and real dramatized sometimes in the print medium to enliven the pep in the story.

The bad journalism- it thrills but kills the basic tenets

With the advent of news channels in India, journalism is anything but short of telling tales. It has been heavily ficitionalised. The contents on the various news channels are almost similar and the choice is between the presentation and not between content.

The reason, after a lot of observation and research, is that Indians are still not news hungry. They are gossip hungry, entertainment hungry, local news hungry. News becomes important to them only for few minutes or hours if it gives them the thrills – and mind you, this comes only through crime and sex stories.

In one of the prominent Hindi news channels, the 30 short news stories that are flashed almost daily contain 75 per cent on crime and sex.

The Times of India opted for devouring one-third of page 3 (local page) to write a racy and thrilling account of a school kid’s kidnapping. The importance of the news was just about 400 words and was not overplayed by the Hindustan Times of the same date.

Another example of bad journalism is lifting stories word by word or at times rewriting them but not giving any credit to the original source. Earlier, in the 70s and 80s, tabloids were notorious for plagiarizing the international stories but now the mainstream newspapers are doing the same.

Ugly journalism

It was always known in the journalistic circles but the public was unaware. Now the readers know about the paid stories, the slants in the stories and how journalists can be purchased. Sports journalism is not divine either.

From a peon to a prime minister to a president of our country is handicapped to control the hood of ugly journalism from rising up. It will be interesting to read a piece as extracted from the news archives by Sans Serif, a news portal on the web:-

Is excellent journalism bad business?

A provocative question, coming minutes after 24 journalists were applauded receiving the second Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards in July 2007, was the subject of a debate held after the awards ceremony. And as a panel of editors and publishers tried to come up with their answers, President A P J Abdul Kalam, who was in the audience, leaned across the stage, half-sitting on it, and asked his own question: “You will all have to ask each other if the media can be a partner in nation-building and can promote value systems,” Kalam said. “The media has to promote economic development and reduce the number of people living below the poverty line. You have to become a media for one billion people.” That, in essence, was what the debate was about: aspirations versus reality, the tyranny of the TRP versus integrity and ethics in journalism, excellence versus populism. And the consensus after a gripping hour was: there are forces at work that undermine good journalism but these forces aren’t larger than life, these can and need to be harnessed so that a news media organisation today remains committed to public trust and credibility, two of its strongest values. And while “excellent journalism” doesn’t have to mean “ponderous talking-down journalism,” it is more relevant than ever.

Telephone Journalism (Please also see mobile journalism)

This is the most unfortunate type of journalism that is permeating the entire media. The students are somehow allergic to moving about for stories rather and prefer the mobiles or landline.

A student journalist from a popular university in north India once told me that none of her batch mates in the MA, Department of Journalism, were willing to go out to the spot for a project. They would rather sit at home and complete the project. This was the in thing. Most of the students were not interested in taking pains to go to the spot and get a first hand report. But in some of the colleges in the National capital were on the contrary. They would urge me to send them outside for practicals. It was a contrast but arm-chair reporting has dented the new breed of scribes.

You just have to pick up the telephone and interview a few people, talk to another set of people and your story is complete. Less of story and more of bombastic words. But then, this is not journalism at all. But who cares.

Anything in the name of journalism, please

It is a big blow to the women readers to find that one of the prominent magazines, Femina, which decorated their drawing rooms, has come out with a very crass advertisement on its relaunch, showing a girl having marked crosses over her face and body which she wants to be caressed and kissed. Her spouse acts as per the directions. The next morning she is away (she is a working woman in all probability) and her hubby finds a note when he wakes up asking him to tidy up. Carrying out her orders, he puts everything in place and finds the magazine, Femina. The ad ends. Now what the hell did he do with the magazine, nobody knows. It is the new style of Indian women, as shown in the ad, who can make the husband dance on her finger tips. What a suggestion, Sir Ji, oops sorry, Madam Ji.

Journalism discriminates

Look beyond the predictable mainstream newspapers. You will find hordes of journalists who have waged a more terrible war on the faulty administrative machinery and exposed corruption. But the Indian government has not yet made any effort to evaluate the works of such journalists. The local block development officers, the field officers all can help compiling the works of these unsung ‘wanderers’. Maybe most of them will not be trained in the profession but their writings are from the heart and communicate straight to the people. They are the masters of their craft, the masters of their conscience.

Scribes of the non mainstream journalism are taken more as vagabonds and are usually kept out of the rolodex of major breakfast chats with the prime minister or important press trips.

A small time journalist producing his own tabloid or a 4-page newspaper for several years in a town will never climb into the category of an active journalist. He is also looked down by journalists of prominent newspapers and magazine though they will not miss a chance to ‘get’ information from him or take him along for local support.

It is in this profession only that many staffers other than editorials are not classified as a journalist. The definition of a journalist is vague and is becoming more hazy these days. Every employee working for a newspaper cannot be called a journalist but only those working in the editorial department have the privilege.

It was only after 1980 that proof-readers in a media organization fell in the category of a journalist. Earlier, they were not called journalists. Nowadays, the proof-reading section is redundant and sub-editors/copy holders spell check the stories. With user-friendly softwares like Quark and In-Design, producing a newspaper has become easier.

We are with the rich

I was a little surprised to find the Times of India of June 23, 2011 devoting three fourths of its page no. 17,  on film actor Shiney Ahuja’s case  and his wife’s view point along with  Times View (the mini editorial) commenting that judicial delay has disrupted the actor’s professional life. The entire story seemed to have been ‘planted’ or was it the case of a ‘paid story’. Well, giving so much space to a person who has had not much of a following as an actor too did raise eye brows. But then is it good journalism or was it an extension of the fact that money, sex are in fashion. And Shiney belonged to the combined category.

The Times of India (Delhi edition) story of how sacked Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Chief Suresh Kalmadi was having a ‘tea session’ with the Tihar jail superintendent despite being an under trial prisoner (UTP) was an eye opener. It only highlighted that powerful people have tremendous clout whether in or outside jail. It is not a punishment for them but a picnic.

Both the cases of Shiney Ahuja and Suresh Kalmadi point out to the corrupt society we live in and the powers that be responsible for bringing in order coolly raise their hands up and look the other way.

The story of milk vendor Muniyamma who was given a reward of Rs 10 lakh for helping the police in entering a house from a trap door to nab in 2000 has only received Rs 60,000 of the money in two decades. Did any journalist tried blowing up the story to wake up the authorities at the inordinate delay. But with Shiney Ahuja, they championed his cause. Why? Because media is with the rich and beautiful.

Avoid talking real

Ya, that’s the style. Follow the trends. Do not go against the big fish in the market. See what happened to the film F.A.L.T.U (Hindi feature film) released in 2011. It had raised an issue of admissions in colleges particularly those who have not been able to secure a good percentage. The film had no big names and was touted as a springboard for the son of a well known producer. The film did not attract good reviews and nothing great was written about it and as a consequence the film got written off in a short time from public memory. The admission-problem has become gigantic with each passing day and no solutions are in sight.

Who cares writing about the moneyless puppeteers, the frustrated postman, the scared petrol attendant, the gullible little school children crossing the road, the ever humiliated rag pickers, the non entity traffic cop on the traffic signal intersection or the ever waiting disabled wanting to climb a bus or go to a loo.

While Anna Hazare endorsed the new product ‘India against Corruption’ little known Irom Sharmila, of Manipur fasting for the last 11 years surfaced as a condiment to the main dish only. While Anna hogged the entire attention of the media, Sharmila could manage a few lines only. She was demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Manipur.

Called the 'Iron lady of Manipur', the 37-year-old Sharmila also urged Prime Minister to treat her like Hazare. "It's (Anna Hazare's movement) somewhat artificial, how can we eradicate corruption? In my case I am a simple woman who wants to reform society. I have no idea about social activists or social workers," she told a TV news channel.

Are popular faces on TV news channels better journalists

This is the new belief among the journalist-students and the people in large. It is good to know Barkha Dutt but it is almost a sin not to know Aman Sethi. Well, Barkha pops on TV news channel moderating, initiating a discussion and we the people recognize her. She provokes the panelists to further a discussion on an issue, puts in some thrill, attempts to bring the some facial emotions and loves to talk a bit more than is required. Her knowledge on the subject is refurbished by the staffers (researchers) who pump her with all input on the subject.

But Aman Sethi does a bit more. Silently. He is not a known face nor has acquired a celebrity status. Does his work not merit celebrations? It does. It does much more than the glamorous faces.

A political or a social issue becomes a subject for discussion only after it has appeared in the newspapers or gone on air on a tv news channel. Somebody like Aman Sethi or Vinay Thakur have sweated it out first. So a discussion turns out to be a dissection on a subject with different hues and shades and that’s it. But the big boss remains people like Aman Sethi who set the stage rolling.

Don’t question the biggies, its candy journalism

If you remember when the car of the journalist-turned-media advisor to the Prime Minister Harish Khare was stolen, all TV news channels turned it into a big news claiming that the laptop and mobile,  stolen along, may contain sensitive information which, if it went into wrong hands, would be a cause for embarrassment (for whom).

There was only word that fitted the best for the media adviser – careless. And the juvenile guys caught by the police as the main suspect seemed to be taken with a pinch of salt. But no TV journalist raised this point.

LIVE INDIA, a TV news channel, was showing the daily astrology predictions and the astrologer would now and then chant the name of Sai Baba of Shirdi  giving an impression that the show was somewhat dedicated to the Sai Baba. It was a sure case of encashing a popular name to gain loyalty of the devotees holding faith in Sai Baba.

INDIA TV, in its news telecast at 8 in the morning of June 29, 2011 (20 stories without a break), termed ‘buzuurg’ (English equivalent is elder) to a 52-year old lady in one its item. Simply saying 52-year-old lady would have been sufficient. Over 60 years in age fall under the ‘senior citizen’ category. Small errors mean a lot.

Accuracy in journalism

The most powerful ingredient in journalism is accuracy that tastes well for both the journalist and the newspaper/tv news channels/magazines. You must have seen many times written ‘30 feared dead in a train accident/bomb blast/in a building collapse’. This expression communicates that the official figures are awaited and this is an assessment either by the reporter/correspondent or by a cop on the spot or a railway official. There is no confirmation of the number of the dead. One should wait for the official version before filing the story. In case, the reporter is sure of his facts and believes the number of the dead is, say 20, and has verified it physically from the morgue or the hospital and in some cases, he/she has counted the corpses as well, he may go with his figures but with caution and add a line saying that official figures are awaited.

Journalism is misleading

I would like to reproduce an extract from Firstpost.com by Nyantara Kilachand, which says: A few days ago an Indian newspaper ran pictures from the GQ Best Dressed Men Awards. They wrote a small blurb, listed out all the big name celebs and socialites who attended. The only thing they neglected to mention was GQ. Instead the event was referred to opaquely as a “men’s magazine award”.

Which speaks to a golden unspoken rule of the Indian media world. Much like Voldemort, who Harry Potter fans will know “must not be named” other Indian media sources cannot at any time ever be acknowledged in a newspaper. As a result we get stories like this: “Katrina Kaif was voted the ‘sexiest women in the world’ for the third time by an international magazine.” It’s only when you reach the last paragraph that you get Kaif herself referring to the magazine, FHM, directly.

Tabloids tend to do this the most often, but you’ll find mainstream “reputed” dailies aggregating significant breaking news stories from other media sources, both national and international, without ever crediting the original source. This is possibly not surprising given the frequency with which the media here plagiarise and lift stories, but still, it raises the question: do these media outlets actually believe this to be good journalistic practice?

A few years ago there was a rumour floating around— possibly untrue of course — that one of the country’s biggest national dailies had forbidden any mention of Yahoo! and other tech companies that had their own email portal. The reason? Because the Indian media company was about to enter the space themselves and didn’t want to give undue publicity to the competition. Even if the story was spurious, it wasn’t entirely incredulous. In short, if something like that did happen here, you’d more likely believe it than not. Act like it doesn’t exist, and then well, it won’t.

Which comes back to the point, why the reluctance to give credit where credit’s due? Perhaps acknowledging that other media sources exist is tantamount to admitting they have, gasp, competition? Does it make them lesser journalists to admit they’re covering stories from other media sources? Is it that they think their readers won’t possibly notice that quietly slipped in “a US magazine” or a “British news channel” and mistakenly assume it for original content? Or is it because like plagiarism, which is rampant and unchecked, bad journalistic practices are so firmly embedded in big media houses here that newbies who enter the newsroom right out of college actually think it’s the right thing to do?

Sting journalism I have always believed that sting journalism needs a redefinition. It is actually a tender but important branch of investigative journalism for collating evidences which, eventually, become the most potent weapon to prove a major point in one’s story and serve as a self-protection shield if the scribe/newspaper is dragged to the court by the affected party. Many of you may remember that in April 2011, a teenage girl had video recorded a ‘paani puri’ man urinating in puffed balls (better known as gol gappas in north India) and serving to customers at Chowpatty beach in Mumbai. This was widely shown on the national network news channel which prompted the police to take action against him. Without the ‘sting operation’ believing such a thing was impossible. The paani puri man would never dare to say that he wants a ban on such kind of sting operations or it was an intrusion into his privacy. He is too lowly a person to even dream of possessing a low esteem also. His shameful act is a health hazard to his victims. When the bold and bald, the powerful and pampered or high-ups and haughty get into the vortex of sting operations, a voice surfaces from somewhere that such operations must be banned. Tarun Tejpal, editor-in-chief, Tehalka, once said in his keynote at a function in Bangalore in 2006 that he was opposed to the Parliament’s proposal to regulate sting journalism and suggested that it should be self-regulatory for the journalists. I subscribe to his thoughts because collecting evidence, I think, is the right of a professional if not the birthright of a human being. Even Delhi police had ‘hidden cameras’ mounted in the room of a suspect, an IPS officer alleged to be the mastermind in getting a journalist murdered, to prove that he was not subjected to physical torture during his interrogation sometime in 2007. He was let off on benefit of doubt by the Delhi High Court later in 2011. It was also a sting operation.

Ambush journalism This is the trend in  television journalism and has not yet come up to disastrous measures in India as it is  in United States and some parts of Europe. The basic element in ambush journalism is surprise, which, many TV journalists believe, can take its subject off guard and he/she may utter something that he/she may be otherwise keen to conceal. Basically, a TV crew lies hidden (in its van a few metres away from the location) waiting for its prey and pounces on it as the subject emerges to get their much coveted byte. Well, if the subject bites back or barks the crew out, it is another matter. In print medium, the traces of ambush journalism, explicit at many times, is but a shameful act. A reporter takes an appointment with a Industry Minister and during the course of the meeting, presses him for personal favours. Or at times, during the State Assembly or Parliament session, the scribe relays a chit to a politician seeking some recommendation for a job of a close confidante. Digression from the agreed subject and raking up a controversial issue/personal questions during an interview also amounts to ambush journalism which is also termed as unethical journalism. Convergence journalism Simply said, it is a give and take relationship between two media tycoons or among a section of ownerships for sharing content. Not only this even the advertisements coming on television channels, both news and entertainment, are matching the timings to stop  the tv watchers who switch to other channels to dodge the ad-spots. Most of the journalism-students are given an overall view of the news media which includes television, radio, web news portals etc so that they have an idea of what the ‘new’ media is which was earlier restricted to newspaper, television and radio. Janet Kolodzy has given a superb description on convergence journalism in her book ‘Convergence Journalism: writing and reporting across the media’. She says that journalism of future will involve all sorts of media: old and new, niche and mass, the personal and global. It will involve story telling in every combination of words, pictures, and sound. And it will be propelled by not only journalists but by news audiences that is already apparent today. Convergence in journalism means multi tasking. A journalist can do it all. He can be a reporter, an anchor, a feature writer, sub his own copies, and later moderate a discussion. Only one person desired to do a job of ten. Pedestrian journalism This is particularly visible in news items that thrill more rather than pointing out the horrifying act of the predator. Sex related crime stories are filled with thrills laced with juicy descriptions. The TV news channels bait the commoners with such items. Sunshine journalism It is long that we have had a shower of sunshine journalism. Good positive stories talking about the goodness of people. Stories of how servants have saved their masters from a bunch of dacoits who entered the house from backdoor or good policeman who escorted a scared girl who was unable to find an auto at an unearthly hour when her car broke down mid way to her house. She was coming from her office after her night shift in a seven star hotel. Gone are the days when newspapers carried positive stories on how government was concerned on the safety of the road users (read bicyclists) for whom a separate lane was constructed. Today, road users are mainly the car-drivers. Where is the positive side of India? Nobody seems to be bothered reporting on it. They say that the negative side of a political leader or the grey shades in the society sell more and is mathematically more appealing. The attitudinal change in readers is on the low. The media is playing to the galleries and is in mood to vibrate the intellectual sensors of people. A story on a disabled man saving a girl from drowning in a well in Rajasthan’s Pratapgarh district  was hidden on the inside pages. Had it been in 1980s, it would have grabbed page 1 as an anchor story. hat even the newspapers Gotcha Journalism In recent times the victim of ‘gotcha journalism’ was Rahul Gandhi when a part of his address at Bhubaneswar was taken out and given a twist by the press, both print and broadcast. It claimed that by saying that terrorism is something that it is impossible to stop he had signaled to nation that such more blasts may occur. GOTCHA YOU, RAHUL. The press bloated. The Opposition in Indian Parliament attacked Rahul for being so irresponsible and leaving the nation to fend and defend on it own. All opposition went in chorus slamming the statement. Day and night the tv channels showed the ‘doctored’ statement of the waiting-in prime minister and the public had its round of debates. But soon the media cowardice got exposed. Rahul had pointed out that 99 per cent of such possible strikes in the country had been neutralised due to vigilance and intelligence efforts. One or two attacks will get through, he had remarked adding that ‘we must try to stop 100 per cent of attacks. It is something we will fight and defeat’. “We have improved by leaps and bounds. But terrorism is something that it is impossible to stop such attacks all the time,”, he had said. Another incident of gotcha journalism was when Pakistan Foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar had come to India and was depicted as a fashion icon. The Indian press focused more on her physical appearance describing her Birkin bag and the South Sea pearls and other accessories. ‘Look, we have got you, what others could not. We are different. We tread where others can’t. We have the eye for details’, the Press thought. On landing at her home ground questions were hurled at her by Pakistani Press that coverage in India press was more on her fashion style to which she reacted angrily and told that the Pakistan Press should not do such acts. Such was the focus that even the Wall Street Journal too carried a story on the Indian media’s reporting of Ms. Khar’s fashion style. “From her blue tunic pants ensemble to her Roberto Cavalli shades, everything grabbed Indian eyeballs, with media coverage of her accessories practically overshadowing the India-Pakistan dialogue...,” the WSJ said.

Gutter Journalism There was a time when some magazines were satiating the vulgar taste of a section of people. I remember Confidential Adviser, published by Harbhanjan Singh, who once told me that Indians wanted to read all about sex but were afraid to admit that they love reading it more than anything else.

Confidential Adviser was badly printed on sheets of newsprint and had lots of pictures, often smudged, of girls in bikinis and crass poses. It had a readership. It was available at the stands hidden behind the other variety and film magazines.

Then in 90s came Fantasy and Debonair. Fantasy had a glamorised outlook and well printed pictures of sexy-looking girls with voluptious figures. Men went crazy over the magazine. Debonair had good contents and few pictures. India was opening up. It had actually followed the gutter journalism to its hilt. It carried items on the private lives of celebs and topics that the touched the sexualities of the sexes. Debonair was a class magazine that did not go vulgar at any time.

Anybody who wanted to scan these semi-nudes, they knew where to find them. So gutter journalism thrived in the bedrooms and never came to the drawing rooms.

But now, the entry of gutter journalism into the mainstream journalism has found its permanent place in household drawing rooms. You can’t help but reading it, though it may be embarrassing for a few moments when surrounded by home-elders.

Agriculture journalism I don’t know about others but I looked like a babbling idiot while covering the agricultural seminar or walking through the corridors of the Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University in Hissar. Half the info went over my head and the other half remained meaningless to me. So I used to insist on a hand-out from the authorities in cases like this. I wondered then, why I could not gain even functional knowledge in certain areas. I remember an agricultural expert journalist Surinder Sharma (perhaps this was his name and he was working for Times of India group then) to whom I used to fall back on. No institute has made any arrangements to call an agricultural expert to give tips to the journalist-students who feel handicapped in asking questions on subject of agricultural engineering or veterinary sciences thereby restricting their writings to shallow expressions.

Citizen journalism After the rage of DJs, VJs it is now the CJs- citizen journalists. Internet has given the voice to the common man in urban cities in India. Indians, I would say without qualms, are good at talking and in the last few years, they have been talking without a halt and loudly think that they have become citizen journalists. We are seeing millions of people talking about issues, debating on certain aspects and using all sort of languages from dignified to unparliamentary and crass. The Home Ministry has chalked out a strategy to weed out such abnoxious writings by monitoring the social networking sites and news portals. Bhan Sahu, a tribal woman of 36 years, took the Internet seriously and the role of a citizen journalist passionately. She exposed the swindling of money at the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) job sites at Rajnandangao in Chattisgarh. Her report was picked up by the Hindu and as a result, labour working at different job sites in Chattisgarh under the MGNREGA scheme were paid their wages. This lady who is studied upto 8th standard was trained by GNet Swara, a new audio-based citizen journalism service, and India Unheard, a community news service launched by Video Volunteers, as a citizen journalist and was provided work. Today, her regular reports from the grassroots are giving a voice to poor tribals and oppressed women in the state. Citizen journalism has caught on swiftly but factually speaking it is only a way to express one’s thoughts/reactions/comments on issues. But the new coinage of the word has given it some kind of dignity. But most of the blogs and comments on the Internet are worth not only reading but assessing the quality of the mindset/mood swings of the people.

Recently Sourav Roy had submitted his comment on January 30, 2010 on a site Sankalp India Foundation which is reproduced below:-

“I was recently watching an interview of Aamir Khan on Aaj Tak. The journalist interviewing him was asking him ridiculous questions like which actresses you want to work with, etc; pouring much unnecessary masala into it. Aamir Khan was giving well thought answers- that made sense. There was a clear distinction between the intellectual levels of Aamir Khan and this journalist, who was making a mockery out of himself. I asked myself- “Is this the state of Indian media today, or am I a part of the minority that hates such things on television? Are my countrymen watching THIS!!” O come on, let’s cheat No matter how much the authorities may wax eloquent of the awareness campaigns, most Indians still are ignorant of many things. It is high time that the government should conduct short term courses in the subject tackling the car insurances, larceny.

Half of our lives are lived off on trust. You don’t require money but just trust. You consult a doctor and the moment you pop in some medicines that he had prescribed, you feel that you would get better. This is the trust that you form. You buy your groceries from the friendly neighborhood shop and trust is developed. You know that you will not be cheated and the goods, if not fresh and upto the mark, will not be palmed off to you.

Similarly, with big brands, you have a relationship of trust. And the world of market keeps expanding with consumers and manufacturers building a long lasting trust. And the journalist who hunts around for stories of bigger virtue, at times, surpasses the smaller issues that could fetch him not awards of repute but praises of common man who have been saved from being cheated.

In what can be called a bizarre incident of breach of trust, Britiannia that has been selling Bourbon biscuits came out with a marketing strategy based on the city folks’ delayed and low consumer-alert. A 45 gram packet of biscuits was priced at Rs 5 while the party pack was priced at Rs 22. The big middle class people have the habit to buy the bigger pack on the assumption that it would be cheaper and in many cases, they are right. But the party pack of Bourbon of Rs 22 weighed 169 grams. Arithmetically done, four packets of Rs 5 each had a total weight of 180 grams while one party packet of Rs 22 weighed 169 grams. This meant that a buyer was getting 11 grams less of the product even while he gave Rs 2 extra. But why were these party packets being picked up. For our city buyer does not want to read and has reposed so much faith in the big brands that they shudder to think that they can be cheated. Well, we are.

Would it not be good for reporters to go in for such stories. It serves the consumers and makes him aware not of his rights only but initiates his brain machine to read. In many of the medicines particularly the ointments, a cyclinderical paper containing the do and don’ts is well augmented. Some of the ointments can lead to rashes, itching and even heart attacks. Now only, if they read it or a reporter did a story on such things so that the people got into the habit of reading the accompaniments.

There are instructions from the electronic manufacturers telling you to read its manual and similarly, a note can be added on products that need their instructions to be read. Except for a weekly column by Pushpa Girmaji who is an old hand at doing human interest stories, the consumer awareness is not taken seriously by the Indian Press. No wonder that we get cheated every now and then.

There was a report about five years ago that TRAI had been given an assurance by the mobile service providers that they would only charge for the duration of the time and stop the slab system of one minute. But they never did. And kept on fleecing the public.

Buffet Journalism

It is buffet journalism these days. (Don’t crucify me for coining a new word because journalists are notorious for ‘inventing’ words). There is a sumptuous spread of newspapers and magazines devoted to all kind of subjects from gardening to interior decorations, from refrigeration to fashion, from leather industry to packaging industry. Whatever you want to know, there is a journal on the subject. And if by chance you do not find one easily, the net is available 24 hours.

Same is the case with TV news channels. Pay a fixed rate and choose the favourites laid out on the screen info.

Buffet journalism is the result of information explosion that we have seen in the last over two decades. In our debut days, we had to rely on materiel from libraries and researching on the subject meant lot of days. So good investigative stories, feature writing did take more time than the hard news.

The new era of journalism has spread its wings enormously making it difficult to sustain the ethics of journalism upright. Wish we all could uphold the righteous journalism but unfortunately, we can’t do it. This is the truth. And journalism is all about truth. And the truth is slightly diluted. We have to live with it unless the young and budding journalists turn the tide other way round.

Facebook journalism

I don’t know whether it is right or wrong to head this item under ‘facebook journalism’. It cannot be called journalism. But yes, facebook is a treasure trove for journalists all over the world. They message almost anyone and search for people based on location, college, employer and interests, it’s a great platform for finding sources. Can you beat it, it has a 755 million social networking sites. The journalists’ love for facebook made it launch Journalist Pages in April 2011 and finding a overwhelming response, it started a advice site for them. The story of Promodini Pradhan’s story on the bias in the newspaper reportage could be clicked by millions on the net. A PUCL activist, Ms Pradhan wrote:

In a series of encounters in the first two weeks of 2011, over 15 people, allegedly Maoists, were killed in police firing in Odisha. Except a couple of them, all the people killed were reported to be Adivasis. Ten of them were women, one a minor girl.

During the same period, a leopard was beaten to death by the people of a locality near the capital city, Bhubaneswar.

Both the killings got front-page prominence in the Bhubaneswar editions of all dailies in English as well as language dailies. However, there was a marked difference in the way the media as a whole covered the killing of the leopard and that of the Adivasis. While reporting of the killing of the leopard was marked by professionalism as well as an overflow of sympathy for the victim and anger at the barbarity of the people who killed it whereas, the reporting of the killings of the Adivasis was marked by a sense of jubilation and praise for the killers. The victims, mere in numbers like 2, 1, 5, 9 and 2, just added up each time to the reports of “a successful encounter” kept coming in quick successions.

Let’s see in some detail, first the coverage of the killing of the leopard, although the encounter killings preceded this incident.

A leopard was killed by people in a locality near the capital city. The leopard had strayed into the locality from the nearby forest. Reportedly, it attacked two men from the village and the villagers in their attempt to rescue the men beat the leopard to death. This version that the leopard attacked first is contested by some. According to them, the leopard was hiding behind a bush and the villagers provoked it to come out. And, when it had no choice but to come out, it attacked two men and the angry villagers killed it.

The story made headlines in the local TV channels and was on the front pages of the newspapers. One English newspaper had its headline: “Straying leopard lynched by city mob”. Most headlines had the key words “Beaten to Death”. Some papers and channels asked, “Who is beast – man or tiger?” While reporting the circumstances that led to the killing of the animal, almost all newspapers and the electronic media asked all the relevant questions. These include: Who attacked first – the leopard or the villagers? Did the villagers inform the authorities concerned before pouncing upon the leopard? Did the wildlife rescue team reach on time? And when the team came; were they well-equipped to catch the big cat alive? And even if the rescue team were late by 15 or 20 minutes shouldn’t the villagers have waited patiently? How could the villagers be so insensitive as to kill an innocent leopard?

Mobile Journalism

Mobile Journalism popularly shortened to MoJo is the latest participatory news gathering device in the new digital age. In India, it has not taken off but if we go by several accounts in the world, it has been a handy tool with the journalists world wide. The 2004 South-East Asian tsunami, the 2005 London transport bombings, the execution of Saddam Hussein in late 2006….in all these cases, professional news coverage initially drew heavily on the resources gathered via mobile phone by eye-witnesses to those events.

As years mount, we will see that journalism is advocacy, it is participatory, it is blue jeaned, it is antique and what not. With time, the hues of journalism-definition will keep modifying but will remain to be the most shameless mirror of the society.