Being a Journalist

Being a Journalist 

By Himanshu Arora

‘I never wanted to be a journalist but God has chosen me’ these words of Mrs. Nona Wallia, a senior reporter of Times of India always strikes me. In today’s world, journalists are no longer confined to just reporting the news; they are making it as well. Since the advent of television, news reporters have become more courageous about reporting the news than ever before. Having gone from the Viet Nam war, when television coverage was scarce, to now, when we have on going reporting from many war zones and dangerous areas.

It is only because of the efforts of these brave journalists’ questions like when how and where is answered. What’s wrong when the reporters, coming through to us by television or by newspaper became personalities and celebrities on their own? The world appreciates the people who risk lives to report the truth of world and regional news, and welcome them in to their homes each day and such becoming their role model. A generation that has left us became the voices of truth for many of us. Huntley and Brinkley, Walter Cronkite and Roger Mudd are just some of the noted journalistic broadcasters of their time. They were there when the reporting was difficult, like after President Kennedy was shot to the explosion of the Challenger. We came to respect them.

The life of a journalist is always busy like bee and also hard as walnut. No one but a journalist can know the scenes behind the curtain. The day starts before the dawn and ends after midnight. 24x7 ready to serve but still receive wrath whether it be a recent harassment of a reporter of ETV or kidnap of GK’s senior correspondent Majid Hyderi by some unknown men in uniform. Journalists are treated badly not only in Kashmir but also in the worlds most developed nations like US. Mr. Daniel Pearl, an American reporter was kidnapped and killed in the Middle East last year, Jill Carroll, another reporter currently being held in the Middle East and newly recognized CNN reporter Anderson Cooper have made the news themselves. As far as I am concerned I too had faced stalking by unknown people many a times. But that’s usual and it hardly matters.

“Why do journalists risk their lives to report the news? No one is making them go. They are going in search of stories, and they are becoming war casualties themselves. Is it really necessary to go to such an extreme just to get the news?” a common thought of a common man.

For the guys like me; who had opted journalism as career, the answer is yes. We (journalists) are drawn to it as reporting is our only love. We understand the importance of clear communication and accurate information. Putting our lives on the line is a personal and philosophical commitment for us. We endure the risks so that all of us can understand and see things that we could not do otherwise.

Journalists have stepped to the forefront of our world. They influence what we know about on many different levels. For some, they have become heroes themselves. They are courageous and committed enough to bring the world news each day. They stand for freedom of the press and freedom of speech. They shape opinions of masses of people. Those are people who deserve respect and regard as the outstanding patriots that they are. I remember when I was young my Sunday was not Sunday without ‘Sunday Salad’ (a column from an English daily) and its writer my inspiration.

When Ashwin Ahuja, a columnist for the Denaik Jagran, asked how many people read a newspaper every day, a third of the audience present raised their hands. But when the question was, “How many people watch THE NEWS?” almost every hand reached for the sky.

It’s clear that the way news is prioritized, packaged, selected, and digested has changed. Budgets are shrinking, traditional coverage thinning, and the crowd of online voices growing ever louder. This media evolution has become especially pronounced during the current presidential campaign — which, with a viable African-American contender and a strong female candidate, is poised to make history, drawing even greater interest from journalists and the public alike.

To my question, whether the changes in the Press were akin to Darwinism. Ashwin agreed, suggesting that bloggers, with their dynamic, off-the-leash approach, had already infected mainstream media. He wondered whether in years past The Times of India or the Tehelka would have published an article such as last week’s front-page story suggesting an improper relationship between Republican presidential candidate John McCain and a female lobbyist, a piece that media-watchers criticized as weakly sourced. “We’re coming into designer media. You can choose only to get the news that you want to hear. You never have to be bothered by the other side. Reporting is expensive. It costs a tremendous amount of money to have a bureau in gulf. But it doesn’t cost any money to sit at home in your pajamas whaling on somebody. It’s easy to criticize then to do practically” However that the media is in the midst of a revolution.

“We’re running as fast as we can to catch up, to understand [new media], to harness it in a way that takes advantage of the excitement and immediacy,”, “but that also brings the responsible editorial professionalism that all of us represent and despair of a little bit not being in this new media.”

Author can be reached at himanshu.arora2611@gmail.com