Time for Introspection Hasn't Come a Day Too Soon

A JOURNAL OF THE PRESS INSTITUTE OF INDIA JULYJanuary-March - SEPTEMBER 2011 2012 VOLUMEVolume 3 ISSUE 4 Issue 3 1 RS. Rs 50 50 TimeIn a worldfor introspection buoyed by hasn’t TRP ratingscome a day and too trivia, soon QUALITY JOURNALISM IS THE CASUALT Y Responsible journalism in the age of the Internet UN Women: Promises to keep Your last line of defence n Indian TV has played a role in inspiring girls n People can change things: Aruna Roy Indian TV news must develop a sense of The complex dynamics of rural Measuring n Rural women take to journalism, redefine lives n Right to Education: Media’s role scepticism communication readability n Media must push for witness protection measures n When Calcutta was the cradle of journalism Assam: Where justice has eluded journalists Bringing humour to features Book reviews FROM THE EDITOR Raise the bar on ‘quality of journalism’ ress Council of India chairman Justice Markandey Katju has literally shaken up everybody in the media world in India with his forthright comments, most of Pwhich have not been to the liking of members of the Fourth Estate. Strong protests were registered by senior journalists, the Indian Newspaper Society and the Editors Guild of India to some of his remarks, including his “poor opinion of the media” and his other take: “majority of media people are of poor intellectual level with no idea of economic theory or political science, philosophy, literature.” “Brilliant”, “bold” and “maverick” are some of the words being used to describe him. Whatever it is, Justice Katju has quite a pedigree – his father was a judge of the Allahabad High Court and his grandfather was a leading lawyer who had participated in the Freedom Movement. Justice Katju himself has had a two-decade-long impressive innings in the judiciary, known for disposing cases speedily. Certainly, comments made by a person with such credentials cannot be taken lightly. There is no doubt that today print and television are focused more on ‘entertaining’ rather than on ‘informing’ or educating’ the reader. Where are the feel-good real- life stories, stories of people who are fighting the odds at the grassroots and turning achievers? Also, in the mad scramble for news and bytes, ‘checking’, ‘condensing’ and ‘clarifying’ have taken a back seat. How many young reporters today thoroughly know the subject they are covering, or even make an honest attempt to understand it? How many have the patience for legwork and the desire to put in hard hours of work to get to the bottom of a story, rather than ‘Googling’ up information or using the mobile phone to network and put together a hastily written piece? Perhaps it is symbolic of the times we live in, when we do not even have time to talk or socialise with our own family members. A reporter needn’t be exceptionally intelligent, but surely he or she must have more than a passing interest and a worldview of things. So, is Justice Katju completely wrong in saying what he did? May be it was his manner of saying it all – too blunt for anybody’s liking. But his comments cannot be rubbished and buried under the carpet. A.J. Philip and veteran B.G Verghese bring perspective to some of the pertinent issues that have been raised by Justice Katju. Had the journalistic fraternity accepted the message and not attacked the messenger, it would have done the profession good, says Philip. Verghese makes the distinction between newspapers and the audio-visual media and, like Philip, feels that the status of editors has eroded considerably, reduced as they have been in some cases to “being brand managers, high level public relations men or ‘editorial advisers’”. While pushing the case for public service broadcasting, which according to Verghese can set standards and act as a benchmark, he backs Justice Katju’s view, saying “the competition for readers, listeners and viewers in order to grab advertising has led to a dumbing down of content with sensationalism, trivialisation, titillation and, sometimes, local or national chauvinism crowding out more serious and worthwhile content.” However, it’s really Ammu Joseph’s article, backed by candid opinions from Ranjona Banerjee and S. Muthiah, pieces by M.B. Lal and Suvabrata Ganguly, and a view from the Northeast as well (Nava Thakuria’s) that has provided muscle to this issue, especially while looking at the quality of journalism on offer today – language, style or substance. Joseph gets to the crux – to journalism education – and says youngsters today have good opportunities to train or apprentice. So, why is there no appreciable improvement in the quality of journalism? Accuracy, fairness and balance have taken a beating. Facts are often randomly selected for inclusion, the main points made at an event are missing, January-March 2012 VIDURA 1 facts are rarely presented with the context necessary for a reader to make sense of them, direct quotes attributed to speakers are often not correct and sometimes even attributed to the wrong speaker. Joseph offers suggestions: précis writing, listening attentively, taking notes, doing background research. The other worrying aspect she points out is the fall in the standard of English used (other languages, too). The same is the case with editing skills. Joseph also writes about the issue of media ethics and says few journalism schools have specific courses on the subject. She urges media schools to help journalism students understand their future role in society. Banerjee agrees that there is a serious problem with the depth of knowledge and awareness apparent in young journalists today. She adds that increasing corporatisation of media houses has meant HR departments rather than editors choose employees. She feels it is better if universities concentrate on post-graduate courses in journalism. At the end of the day, the ‘nose for news’ is instinctive and cannot be acquired, she says. To be successful in this you need to be asking questions all the time and for those questions to be meaningful there has to be background knowledge, says another veteran, S. Muthiah. And that knowledge is what is missing, or thought unimportant, nowadays, he adds. Creating frenzy by appealing to the emotions, not the mind; ignoring reality and any search for uncomfortable truth ... that is the media of today, he stresses. Octogenarian Lal recalls his days as a reporter, covering every beat, reporting public speeches, interviewing people, and how two pages of every mainline newspaper was reserved for Parliament sessions and every debate covered. Referring to the AMRI Hospital fire accident tragedy in Kolkata, Ganguly says mainline media needs to be more responsive to the concerns of the common man; it must play more effectively its role as a harbinger of social change. And while reporting on a condolence meeting for a veteran Assamese journalist, Thakuria opens out the world of media in that state, a world many of us might not even know exists. It is particularly distressing to know that Assamese newspapers are loosing people’s trust. Yet another pertinent point was made at a recent seminar on new media in a Kolkata college, by Ravindra Kumar: “…if you are looking for accurate news, well-edited copy, well-produced newspapers, articulate television channels which give you a multiplicity of opinions and then ask you to choose, if you do not wish propaganda to masquerade as news, then you must appreciate that there is a cost involved to effective news gathering, in having a reporter check, double-check and cross-check his facts…” Pamela Philipose draws out Aruna Roy on the RTI Act, the Jan Lok Pal Bill and a host of other issues. Roy is for participation and dialogue, and simple solutions emerge only when a problem is understood in its entirety, she says. We always tend to decry television in one way or another, but it must be said that fighting the pressures of 24/7 coverage is not easy. Sakuntala Narasimhan harks back to the days of Doordarshan and also provides examples of the present, showing the positive impact television has had on women, particularly in the area of sport. Another feel-good story is Shoma Chatterji’s piece about six women in an Andhra Pradesh village taking to journalism, bringing out a magazine and changing their lives as well as of others. However, U. Vasuki brings us back to harsh reality, with her essay on how crime against women and children in India have risen in recent years and how ghastly crimes come into the open and FIRs are registered only when women’s organisations and human rights groups intervene. She says media houses must have a policy about the way gender issues are published/portrayed. Mrinal Chatterjee has begun researching and writing a series on the history of regional language journalism in India and we get to the beginnings – in Bengal and Calcutta. To supplement it, we have C.V. Narasimha Reddi’s piece on the man who started it all – James Augustus Hicky. Here’s wishing all of you a Very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year. Sashi Nair [email protected] 2 VIDURA January-March 2012 January-March 2012 It’s the message, don’t shoot the messenger A.J. Philip 04 Perils of untrammelled freedom of expression B.G. Verghese 08 What is worth teaching? Ammu Joseph 11 It’s the ‘hidden fear’ that needs to be addressed Ranjona Banerji 16 To the know-all media, the reader’s stupid S. Muthiah 18 A time when reporting meant something else M.B. Lal 20 ‘If it’s honest news, objective views… go for it’ Sashi Nair 22 ‘Editors are giving way to marketing departments’ Vice President of India M.

Load more