Writing for the National Desk: an Observation from the New Age Habiba Afrin Student ID: 15103033 Department of English and Humanities BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh August 2015 Writing for the National Desk: an Observation from the New Age A Report Submitted to The Department of English and Humanities Of BRAC University By Habiba Afrin Student ID: 15103033 In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For The Degree of Bachelor of Arts in English August, 2015 Acknowledgement At first, I would like to express my gratitude towards people without whom it would not be possible for me to write this report. I would like to be grateful to my supervisor Nawshaba Ahmed for constantly providing me with advice and help as a teacher as well as an adviser from the very beginning to the end. I would also like to thank my New Age supervisor, Farid Ahmed, deputy editor, who had given me the chance to work as an intern at one of the leading newspapers of our country. I would like to thank my second supervisor at New Age, Abu Shyem Akhund, senior sub-editor, who had taught me the techniques and rules of news reporting and editing, without his help it would not be possible for me to make my journey successful. Also, I would like to thank each member of the Central Desk (national) of New Age. Last but not the least I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my parents for always being there for me and supported me whenever I needed. Table of Content Content Page Number Abstract Chapter One 1.1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………...1-4 Chapter Two 2.1 Looking at the Beginning of Bangladeshi Newspapers……………………………………..5-7 2.2 A Brief History of the New Age……………………………………………………………..7-10 Chapter Three 3.1 Approach to Report Writing……………………………………………………………...11-13 3.2 Working at the National Desk …….……………………………………………..………14-17 Chapter Four 4.1 Editing News……………………………………………………………………………..18-19 4.2 My Experiences ………….……………………………………………………………....20-21 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………22 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………………23-24 Appendix ……………………………………………………………………………………25-36 Abstract As a part of my B.A Honours in English, with a concentration in Media and Cultural Studies, I undertook an internship at the New Age, a renowned Bangladeshi English Newspaper. I joined in the Department of Central Desk (national) of New Age as an intern on 18th January 2015 and worked for three months till 18th April 2015. My internship required me to work in both the reporting and editing sections. During this internship period, I learnt different phases of news reporting and presentation before they are sent for the final circulation. So, this internship report will present my experience of working and learning under the guidance of the journalist team of the New Age. It will also share a few problems that I had faced during my internship regarding the transition from student life to the professional world which may help the future interns. This paper is divided into four major chapters. Chapter One will briefly introduce my internship process and progress and the working atmosphere of the New Age. Chapter Two will look at the history of press and newspapers in Bangladesh and will also glance at the journey of New Age in becoming one of the leading English Newspapers of our country. Chapter Three will encapsulate the phases of my learning at the New Age. It will talk about the process of journalistic writing such as writing reports and stories from raw news as it is done in the New Age. Chapter Four will account the second phase of the internship which was on editing and formatting news. I have interposed my personal experiences and moments with these accounts of professional training too. The last section of this report contains the Conclusion, Works Citation, and Appendix. Altogether this internship paper will bring out the stimulating journey that I have taken with the New Age. Afrin 1 Chapter One 1.1 Introduction To accomplish my undergraduate degree I was required to take the internship to my related field. Since I am a student of in English and my major concentration is Media and Cultural Studies, I was required to undertake an internship in a related field. I have always been interested in writing and wanted to take journalism as my career. Keeping with my concentration and personal interest I looked for internship opportunity in any visual and print media organization which will benefit both my interest and my future. I was lucky to be chosen to do my internship at the New Age, one of the leading English Newspapers of Bangladesh. I was also selected for internship at the Boishakhi television but because of my interest in Newspaper industry I chose the internship at the New Age. I started working as an intern on 18th January, 2015 and finished my internship on 18th April, 2015. It was a three months internship. This was a rewarding journey for me as it gave the opportunity of observing news reporting and editing mechanism very closely. Besides, it was a great chance for me to apply my academic knowledge in more efficient way. Journalism is a thrilling and adventurous profession. It requires hard work, keen eye of observation and critical thinking ability. A journalist is a person who researches, collects, investigates, and writes news or other current information. A journalist articulates his thoughts and idea, spread information and experiences to the mass people. To put together information and its interpretative value together a journalist must possess all these qualities. Also, it’s challenging and risky at times which I find fascinating. In fact my motivation behind going for media in honors was to be associated with journalistic work at some point. We receive Afrin 2 information on the world, state and society around us through newspapers which is essential for maintaining communal alliance, enforcement of law and order and governance in modern, democratic societies. Moving from the state to the individual, newspaper is equally required. Life in Postmodern era is radically different than any other previous time. Having knowledge and opinion about local and global affairs is more vital now. As newspapers cover news of every aspect of our life- art, life style, sports, trade and commerce, politics and economics at national and international level, it helps the individual to connect to his/ her society. My interest in writing was a major reason behind my choice of my concentration in Media in Honours and my subsequent interest in internship in newspapers. As my interest was to do my internship in newspaper offices I dropped my CV to the New Age office. I was called for an interview after a few days. The Deputy Editor, Farid Ahmed took my interview and confirmed my internship at New Age. It was a breakthrough for me as it offered me what I had long been waiting for. The working environment of New Age is very congenial and welcoming to the young interns. At the beginning I was a little worried about working with experienced and proficient professionals. After all, there is a big difference between the student life and the professional world. I thought I would make a lot of mistakes and will not be able to make an impression. But as it turned out, though my colleagues were experienced and very busy yet they were very welcoming and supportive. New Age has a good record and reputation of nurturing young minds and leading them to a better prospect. All of my colleagues were very helpful. I was so touched to see how they would often take time out from their busy schedule to check on me and ask me if I needed something. They helped me in learning different things related to working in a newspaper daily. They were all very patient and sympathetic. Afrin 3 The office environment of New Age is very warm and friendly and the working policies are also very proper. Also, there was no sign of sexual harassment there. I did not see anyone teasing or humiliating any female colleague. Working hours are flexible. The senior editors do not intimidate or publicly harass any new stuff for making mistakes. What I noticed is that they politely make others to understand and rectify their mistakes. Often they provide for the interns to seat with the senior colleagues and learn through observation. The New Age is really a good place for to observe and learn. Naturally, at New Age all the colleagues respect every single person working there, including a support boy. Their professionalism does not come in their way of being polite to others. Here I am tempted to mention one small experience at New Age which I still cherish. One of my senior colleagues at work called me ‘pichchi journalist’, meaning the little journalist which was a gesture of love and care given to me. It was a great opportunity for me to learn new things about professional writing and journalism. New Age gave me the first chance to observe how a newspaper actually works. I found that it takes a lot of effort to put news in front of the readers. As Kalbag also said, “The rationale: all journalists are expected to be investigative, to probe, question, discover, research, authenticate, evaluate, perceive, assess, determine, double-check, source, demystify, uncover, and confirm—in short, to investigate every report they write” (187). I found it to be very true. I wanted to learn as much as possible from this experience and was very fortunate that I received the chance to work in the Central Desk (national) of New Age. This desk has two sections- reporting and editing.