“Meaningful journalism…..?”, the dirty look by an industry veteran was enough to intimidate a budding journalist in me. However, in the early `90s I could not read anything other than cynicism in the statement. The quest for getting an entry into journalism and earning the byline was so tempting that I failed to understand what really he wanted to convey. A couple of years later, on my first job as a city reporter the editor sounded more curt and straight when he suggested me to better forget about what all crap has been taught in the post graduation course of journalism. It was the love for bylines, strange fascination to see my name published, that yet again forced me to fall in line.
Over the next few years this byline syndrome drove me too far to even think of any real objective behind being the practitioner of journalism. Now as a communication consultant, the same question has yet again surfaced while talking to journalism students with whom I recently interacted as a guest faculty. The world may have changed over these years, and television may have stormed the media business, but what has not changed is the fact that it is the same old byline around which life of a journalist revolves. Television journalists too are a crazy lot for PTC (piece to camera) and Exclusive and even camera persons never fail to remind for mentioning their credit in the story.
It is not that I have now started detesting bylines, nor am I against given byline to a news story. I don’t actually mind even if the story headline says that “A girl has been raped in broad day light” and follows it up with “By Staff Reporter”. At times this credit to the beat journalist may confuse the average readers as to whether it was the staff reporter who had raped the girl. The idea here is to understand the state of mind where byline rules so supreme that we don’t really care for ethics, journalistic or humane. The cut throat competition among media houses and the rat race among the journalists have only deteriorated the objectives for which journalism ought to be practiced.
It seems we are not in the business to defend the cause of the victim but to victimize the one even further, be it a rape victim or someone who just lost the entire family in a blast. The lure of the byline and its by-product, thanks to the new breed of television journalism, “Exclusive” & “Breaking News” as the say, is so tempting that we fail to see there is a life beyond the credit line of the story too. It seems the entire journalistic objective is to persuade and manipulate the victim to narrate the suffering, and in the process relive the agony yet again.
It is not that journalists who are driven by this byline syndrome do gain something personally out of this “me first & me fast” syndrome. Of course, there are a few smart operators who make a fortune for themselves, but for most of the byline hungry lot it is actually love for the profession that drives them far and further. I know a whole bunch of journalists whose families have suffered due to their main bread winner being too involved in a profession where the only reward has been byline, with only a meager salary of course.
I wonder whether they can channelise this passion for something more meaningful. After all, whose interests are they serving if in the name of being ahead of other media and getting exclusives, the love for the profession too takes a back seat. But then that is a state of mind, which defies any rational explanation for even the best of the Freudians. Is there any way out? Can there be any avenue for meaningful journalism? May be yes, only if these dedicated journalists do get a media platform which is truly free, frank and fearless and not bound by editorial policy that is dictated by the advertising revenue.
In my opinion, only advocacy and activism journalism is the answer….and that too with a media platform that is not bound by editorial or marketing constraints. We need a media vehicle where there is no rat race for “me first & me fast” and where byline comes with your contribution to the cause, not by mere story filing. With these objectives TRACK2MEDIA is very soon launching www.indianewsstreet.com.
The news portal is being established to address major emerging issues and concerns, and welcome citizens’ advocacy and activism as well to coordinate and monitor progress in shaping the policies. The partnership would not merely be intellectual (championing the cause through advocacy) but also numeric (a large pool of activists to have a share in policy making). We look forward to actions that are substantive and not merely symbolic. Hopefully, we will make some of the media friends understand the fact that there is a life, and more meaningful life, beyond the bylines.
5 comments:
I agree. Don't have better words to express.
It is not always that journalists who do the cut throat stories for their bylines. Most often they are forced to do stories with lack of sensitivity, by their marketing driven editorial big heads and CEOs. This is the case in majority of newspapers, lot of 20 somethings graduate from Journalism schools with all the ideals thought to them. But taste with reality brings bitterness. I have seen journalists protest against stories they have been asked to do, only to end up with nothing... Nobody writes about journalists being harassed or fired in India, they only write about techies, actors and barack obama!.. Independent media is need of the hour..
my 0.02$
Nishant
First of all congratulations to your initiative. Hope this serves the causes you have raised in your write-up. Yes, Nishant, I understand your pain as well. Is'nt it hillarious to see the frustration of a journalist, the journalist class known to be above the masses and quite counscious about its rights and bla bla....
Well, the answer to the above is that all ventures should not be privatised or say Privatasiation is not the only solution for development or for that matter addressing any of the societal, politico, economical solutions. In fact, the whole of India has got so mesmerised by privatisation that the only way out for them is ..Privatisation kar do...sab theek ho jayega. Are bhaiya, why do not you understand if privatisation happens, the objectives of the organisations changes, the management starts working in the interest of the vested stakeholders (who had invested money) and rest of the stakeholders are gone for a toss. Privatisation ka one objective hai profitaisation aur kuch nahi and that too at any cost..haan you would say, they too have social agendas...of course, but once you have investors coming on board they want returns and you want your bylines which in fact makes you more and more visible and valuable....yes it is bubble, actually you are doing all crap reporting and no meaningful journalism. BY the time you realise what you have been doing? the bubble has taken you so high, that retrospecting does not takes place...and you are shocked.
Its happening everywhere...the new wave in the development sector is that microfinance alone can bring the poor out of poverty, but actually nothing happend to the poor, of course people like Vikram Akula (havard educated) came, created a social hoopla, the foolish media made him the poster boy of microfinance (actually it should have been Vijay Mahajan who founded Basix) and finally this guy sells his stakes to Venture Capitalists and makes cool billions. And then you have the latest issue of Forbes India with the cover photo of Vikram Akula saying that the got carried away by VCs and could not do much for the community. F*** U! this guy played with the investments of poor people and gets a sponsered article in Forbes India that he has always been for social cause and Forbes journalists proudly publishes it...So bhaiya Paisa ke aage aache bheetar chal jate hain to journaliston ka kya kehna...
Hi,
I am Nidhi ... a post graduate in Jounalism and Mass Communication from the Faculty of Jounalism and Communication (FJC), M.S.University, Vadodara, Gujarat. I have graduated in journalism in July this year and am now working as a documentation officer in an NGO. You can visit my blog www.68pagesofmylife.blogspot.com
I share your sentiments on having a life beyond bylines. I did some freelancing work and then pursued my internship with The Indian Express, Ahmedabad Bureau as a part of their editorial department. I must admit then when I joined the course in journalism, I had fancy ideas about doing this, doing that...changing things around me...a lot of idealism that students usually have. But I was told that when you are on the field, you have to unlearn a lot of things that you so dealy clinged on to while studying. Pretty much the same thing happened with me during my intership. Being an intern was really tough because I was left on my own to discover the murky world of journalism. For the first time, I realised how stories are conveniently twisted, edited and the whole essence and purpose behind it changes. In the end, you really can't figure out whether it was your story or not. The comment about privitization is correct. Everything today has become so market driven. So do we really want journalism to be the same? As a trainee and intern, I was really after bylines and the thrill was to see my name being printed with a story. On some occasions, when it did not happen I was disappointed. It was a kind of a race. To prove myself...even for trainees and interns it is about bylines only. Advertising revenue, editorial restrictions...there can be other reasons too. I think we should examine the other reasons as well which have contributed to the overall decline of journalism in the country. I would be happy to share my views and would keep reading your blog.
I totally agree. To say that there is a decline in the quality of journalism in the recent past would be stating the obvious. Most of the time, we don't have anything original to say. The importance of bylines is exaggerated and I have been victim of byline obsession in the past like any other new journalist. One has to realise that good work is more satisfying than counting bylines.
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