In Part 4, I explained what it
means to deal with the “Paapi pet ka sawal hein…” issue. After all, journalists
and PR pros are humans too. They have to survive. Before I go further let
me also tell you about the unsung heroes of #journalism. Whom do we call media?
Generally, the perception among the general public is that media consists of
reporters like the guys who write reports, the #anchors who come in front of the
camera, the boys and girls whose voices you get to hear on the radio, etc. Yes,
they are part of the #media.
But people who edit our reports, people who make the pages in print media
whether they are working in magazines, journals or #newspapers, people
who take pictures and videos, boys and girls who proofread our reports or edit
our videos, they all form part of the media. They are the unsung heroes, nobody
knows about them. They clean our copy, edit our videos and make us sound and
look like heroes.
They are always doing the laundry.
Their work is confined to their computers, their eyes glued to the screens.
They never get to go on junkets, they never get to meet PR persons, they never
get a #Diwali
gift from any organisation or #PRperson.
They are the least corrupt because they don’t get a chance to get corrupt. A
reporter would have written pathetically or an anchor or video journalist would
have spoken like loose cannon, but it’s the back-end journalists who do a lot
of hard work. They are the unsung heroes of journalism.
The #reporter who writes, who is in front
of the camera, whose voice you get to hear, well he or she is the glam doll in
the world of journalism. Literally! The world knows about them, loves them,
hates them, follows them,… whatever. And this journalist is the one who
literally walks with the devil. He is wooed, he is bribed, he is tempted, he is
pampered, and so much so, almost every reporter ends up selling his or her
soul. So was it always like this?
Several decades ago, sending a
reporter, especially a business reporter, on a junket or a sponsored trip
outside the city or country was the prerogative of the Editor or the #BusinessEditor. I
remember when I was covering the auto beat in the #IndianExpress,
among others I got an invite to Italy. The invitation was from Fiat as they
were bringing the Fiat Uno car into India. My editor Mr HK Dua said ‘No’ to the
invitation and told me “I cannot spare you for this trip”. I was devastated.
A little later I got another invite
from Fiat again as they were taking journalists to Paris because they were
planning to bring in the Peugeot car. Again Mr Dua did not send me and I was
crestfallen! Coming from an Editor who himself was globetrotting and going on
junkets, I felt cheated!
TO BE CONTINUED...