Are We Forgetting the Basic Rules Here?

A JOURNAL OF THE PRESS INSTITUTE OF INDIA ISSN 0042-5303 January-March 2016 Volume 8 Issue 1 Rs 50 Are we forgetting the CONTENTS • Do you get the reports that matter to you? / Sakuntala Narasimhan basic rules here? • Our right to write / Annapurna Sinha and Kanchan K. Malik The first 20 months of the BJP-led government at the Centre has • A publication with a shown us a media more interestingly divided than perhaps the difference / Sakuntala Ram Janmabhoomi movement revealed in the late 1980s, says Narasimhan Ranjona Banerji • Media monopoly and pluralism in India / Sarita Bose n the late 1980s, journalists were perceived as being what was colourfully called jholawallahs: that is, people of a leftist bent identifiable by the cloth • Is advertising eating into news space? / Ibags they carried around, like the Communists of Calcutta.Jholawallah. This J.V. Vil'anilam term is still used today in a derogatory sense but in fact it makes no sense in 2016. • Despite glass ceiling, Until the advent of television news, journalists were as a rule so badly paid women journalists make a mark / Ashish Kumar that the government had to set up commissions to ensure some bare minimum Dwivedy and Jyoti Prakash wage for newspaper employees. I can use my own case as an example. In my Mohapatra first job in journalism for a major magazine group, I had a monthly salary of • Do our farmers really Rs 2500 and an annual increment of Rs 75 for my grade. If I worked extremely matter? / Sakuntala hard, I was entitled to two increments. At the end of my five-year stint in the Narasimhan job, my salary had just about reached Rs 3000. The editor earned about Rs 15000, so margins were very small. All of us in • Raising the demand for public conveniences / those days could not really afford to buy more than a clothjhola (bag) and we all Vibhuti Patel greatly benefitted from the wage commissions, in my case the Bachawat Award. (Just as a counter example, an editor of a newspaper can earn an average of Rs • Fighting a pitched battle 60 lakh a year these days and much more in some cases. Of course, as a contrast, against child sexual abuse / Pushpa Achanta those in newspaper management earn in crores.) The reason for this rather boring walk into nostalgia land is only to emphasise • Looking for a breakthrough that much has changed in journalism since the liberalisation of the economy, to address sex selection / the advent of TV news and the arrival of the ‘career’ journalist. At a Rs 75 rise Amrita Nandy in salary a year, only a committed or mad person would choose journalism as • Are FTA channels now a career. It was not all good though. Such criminally low salaries meant that losing credibility? / Nava many did resort to blackmail and worse to survive. Corruption was perhaps Thakuria inevitable as also the truth of that old dictum that if you pay peanuts you will • A master of his craft / get monkeys. Shoma A. Chatterji Therefore, without an attempt to make excuses for the past or to pretend • Remembering Saeed that all was perfect in those days, what is it about journalism today that is so Jaffrey / Bappaditya frightening to some of us? That the editor of a financially daily, in charge of the Bandopadhyay (Continued on page 3) January-March 2016 VIDURA 1 FROM THE EDITOR Let’s be objective always and let facts speak for themselves Journalists may leave newspapers is a relatively new development. certainly not how to handle sensitive or magazines for varied reasons. Whatever be the form of ownership, issues. They do not even refer to Usually, the reasons trotted out it is clear that somebody has to own the style sheet. In the mad scramble are not being able to cope with a newspaper. Even a corporate for news and bytes, ‘checking’, work pressure or gaining a better entity is backed by a human mind. ‘condensing’ and ‘clarifying’ have opportunity, status-wise and So, owners are entitled to have taken a back seat. How many salary-wise. One young journalist opinions and a newspaper’s policy young reporters today thoroughly I bumped into a while ago said he is normally charted out by the know the subject they are covering, was wanting to quit because the owner(s). Editors and journalists are or even make an honest attempt to management of the newspaper expected to follow the policy and if understand it? The record of our he was working for had come for some reason they disagree or news media on accuracy even at under a cloud. I told him if he was are unhappy following such policy, the most basic level of journalism – happy with his work and as long they have the freedom to leave. reporting on a routine event – is not as the newspaper had a sizeable Generally, the owner does not very inspiring. readership there was really no interfere in the day-to-day running A lot of all that is manageable, reason for him to contemplate of a newspaper and the editor is but a mainstream news publisher quitting. But, of course, public given a free hand. There have of repeatedly driving only a highly perception plays a major role in course been numerous instances of subjective point of view and trying many of the things we do, even if pressure being brought to bear on to influence the opinion of readers or it has to do with a job. Even as a editors to change course or editors viewers by not presenting the other reader, for instance, being seen with being fired because they did not side of the story can be disastrous a particular newspaper matters at follow the policy laid down by the for journalism and all that it stands times. newspaper or ran an article or a for. The onus is on us to steady the In journalism classes, everybody series of articles to considerably ship before it is too late. talks about following good editorial upset the political dispensation. Here’s wishing all of you a Very practices, adhering to ethics, the However, what Ranjona Banerji Happy New Year! qualities a reporter should have, says (lead article) caught me by etc. There is not much focus on some surprise. According to her, Sashi Nair the ownership of a newspaper and an editor today can tweet about [email protected] how a newspaper needs to be run his preference for a political party well commercially for it to be a and some senior journalists and successful product. ‘Commercially’ columnists are setting themselves up doesn’t just mean the economics of as spokespersons and defenders of running something, it also means the ruling party or others. So, what adopting the latest technology about objectivity and ethics? What (printing presses and sundry), even is quite disturbing is that all this sourcing the right newsprint so that could set a dangerous precedent. the ink looks good on paper. The fact is (and Ranjona has Many of the newspapers in mentioned it as well), many of our India are family-owned, there are reporters and sub-editors, including very few that are run by trusts. those who work for top newspapers, Corporate ownership of the media do not know the rules enough and 2 VIDURA January-March 2016 (Continued from page 1) edit pages, can declare on Twitter put out false stories only to suit the Mixed signals were coming out that he “roots for the BJP” without party in power? What about editors of government. How would any feeling that he is compromising his who do not even bother to check the normal journalist or editor respond objectivity? That senior journalists authenticity of a story, as long as it to such a news story? and columnists have set themselves makes the party of their choice look Oddly, even those editors and up as spokespersons and defenders good? journalists who are usually very of the government and the ruling The attack on the Air Force Base anti-Pakistan and very cued in on party without any backward wave at Pathankot on the second day of defence matters, did not react quite to the ethics of their profession? 2016 is a case in point. Terrorists as expected. Some tried to deflect One may argue that this has been apparently from Pakistan entered a attention to rising crime figures in done before, that there are some secured facility and started shooting. Bihar. Others attempted to shift journalists who wear their political The Union Home Minister declared the focus to communal strife in alignments on their sleeves. Or the incident was over when it was Bengal. The first was a non-starter; that there are editors who bend still ongoing. The prime minister the second is an ongoing effort. But whichever way the wind blows. Or was giving speeches on Hindu without being facetious, is there that there are editors who are happy sages and the importance of yoga. anything more important than a to agree with whatever political He had just made a surprise visit terrorist attack on a defence base? view their bosses take. All these to Pakistan to eat birthday cake Is a rally in Bengal with no deaths three situations are true. But what with the Pakistan prime minister. and a few instances of arson and about journalists who deliberately The death count for India crept up. injury more important? Or is this a Illustration: Arun Ramkumar Illustration: January-March 2016 VIDURA 3 total dereliction of duty by sections discuss it within the newsroom and the post.

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