Teaching journalism

you have no idea how much i appreciate you writing this article. i`m a self taught, very young and very new journalist and your article has been in a wierd way, very encouraging. i`ll post in detail later.

thank you.

Weighing Scales--
it`s pretty cool!

Harish,

Always a pleasure reading you. Even this time, despite the disconsolate tenor.

As someone who has recently been `trained` in the ostensible science of teaching, I can relate well to your lament on the loss of idealism and compassion in what used to be, essentially, `social services`. I too see how skills and playing it by numbers and `management principles` have come to supplant the fire in the belly that inspired and drove one without the need for competition.

Thanks for sharing this.
PM

rozaiba,

IN fact I have felt that many in Metyropolitan India at least, are taking up journalism because its one of the options with MBA niowadays. Three years in the field, and you earn a kind of packet that a GM would earn in nationalised bank, or even an IPS/IAS, the topmost jobs in the civil services here, earns in about 15 years of service. And that too after clearing one of the toughest exams in the country.

The media industry is growing faster than hell lot of others in INdia that is. And, the promise of instant glamour, is attracting youngsters. Plus, the advantage of having to have nothing bigger than an average or even below afverage degree lowers the entry barrier.

The clincher is that it is a job that pays dividend if you are a precosciously confident youngster. Cocky, too, perhaps. Such yoiungsters move up fast, because they make their mistakes early, and being young learn qickly. Confidence and quick learning, is perhaps the best combination for young turks in any area, but in television, especially it is extremely rewarding.

t,

What the Toronto columnist said is a fairly regular thing among journalists. Trashing ``trade practices of a particular professional field, and transposing ``ethics`` onto it, is not qite right, methinks. You see, what she says there is merely that she`ll, and does advocate, use all the tricks in the book to get her story. Which is quite different from ``publishing`` a story which you know to be false, or publishing a ``plug,`` wilful character assassination, or partisanship in reporting stories...are the issues that should be defended if her contention is that ``there is no ethics in journalism.``

Supporting, ``all means fair and foul`` route to a story is merely a form of saying everybody does it, I do it, and I do not think anybody who does NOT do it to be anyhting other than a wimp, or is a plain liar. Frankly, I think the onlty point here is that journalists, being the ``esteemed`` lot in some perceptions, tend to use all the dirty tricks to get their story. That is not not fair only in an utopian sort of way, but I believe that such ways, when used, also tread a legally slippery line. You can either marvel at the journalistic success of the reporter, or the continued escape from legitimate legal actions many in society tend NOT to exercise. Of course, many are NIOT in a position to, especially in India, but perhaps in your part of the world...journalists are taking greater risks with the laws too.

Besides, integrity of the individual is very different issue from starting a career with idealism. I stick to only advocating starting...like you have pointed out...wears off. And, journalism does seek a degree of idealism...if u call it that...in setting things right...at te start...than say a job in teaching blind students...where integrity and sincerity is enough at the start...I do not know...a social conscience....you are getting my drift.

ironman,

Idealism...as i use it in this piece...is really a feel for chipping away at whatever is wrong in society/community/etc. Journalists are the only lobbyists for a society/community that do not get non-proportional benefit from a society purged of a certain evil, perhaps. Say if a reporter files stories about how such a vast region has so many children in so and so age group, and have no school If his reports get a school fort that region, he is not going to be made the principal...or his child is NOT going to get preferential treatment...etc...

I do not know if I have answered the question?

HN





















Supporting

harish:

idealism like the child in us should be nurtured and nourished...failure in individuals to do so leads to an early demise...barely susceptible but fatal in the end...lack of idealism in an individual is often the cause of zombie like existence;)

...check out these two columns...


``Journalists can be such creeps. I am one and know this to be true.

They (we) will steal into your life and steal your life. Insinuating ourselves, ingratiating ourselves, making false declarations of trustworthiness — all with a sense of reportorial entitlement that implicitly excuses deceit and duplicity and betrayal.

The story`s the thing, the scoop`s<.i> the thing, the bestseller true-crime novel`s the thing.

That`s why I do not fuss much about journalistic ethics, a subject best left to navel-gazing J-school academics and media scrutineers. I have no ethics, but I`ve never claimed otherwise. The best one can strive for, I think, is journalistic integrity.

Integrity, by my reckoning, comes from within; ethics is imposed from without.
A reporter is a moral grifter.``

This quote is from Rosie Dimanno a Toronto Star columnist i used to know.

... i think she believes in what she has written...

...i think ethics, morality and integrity have become so interwoven it is hard to separate and tread on them individually...and rosie being a mistress of words...is just creating a safe illusion for her craft...an oft time necessary but sad justification...and yest she is an idealist of sorts...just like my friend from the same paper..haroon siddiqui discussing the arar case ( the one dost mittar wrote about)

check out his Arar Column and his other columns

...while you have made a case for not letting idealism die out....in the end...sadly...in most cases it does flicker out...extinguished by prudence, caution, survival instincts, lack of courage, resolve...but where it remains lighted it shines like a beacon of hope...and if you have succeeded in keepting it aflame in even one student all the pain would be worth it:)

rgds,

t

Harish:

I have found this trait of wanting to win - with or without the passion and `idealism` for the said field of study and profession- in the business schools as well. I`m sure many of my peers will succeed but I personally find it quite draining as one so often finds one regurgitating, imitating etc. in the absence of any `idealism`.

Farzana,

Thank you for sharing those messy days of becoming a journalist. I was in Times School of Journalism, and we had a monster for our prof, we boys at a East Delhi hostel shared some seven English and several Hindi papers, and were expected to read, and lo behold READ, all of these. If you asked some students about a political man in news, they`ll say ``I do not know. I am Not inerested in politics``

Funny, books are hardly about read. In fact, I forced them to read some smattering of all, a short story anthology of manto, Huntington, P Sainath, etc for projects. I was rewarded when at least three/four of them called back saying they got into better courses, or got a job, because they were asked questions on those very books.

The colleges hardly help. Since my class was small, i ventured to be adventurous. I arranged for two girls to go to Nagpur, 19 hrs from Mumbai, over three days, and do different stories. I told them, after Nagpur they had to split to their two different destinations to do stories on their own. Two of the best stories were on Anandvan`s self-sufficient economic model. Anandwan, for the uninitiated is the huge colony for leprosy patients set up by Baba Amte. The other girl did a story on his son Dr Prakash Amte, on the edge of a jungle where he kept keeping the animals the tribals brought him, till he had an actual zoo...including some real rare species.

The girl at that place saw something memorable. Prakash entered a cage where he had his pet lion, asked her to extend her handkerschief, and the Lion immediately tore it up, leaving Prakash himself inside the cage absolutely safe!

I had insisted the girls should travel by ST buses, and second class fare. They were most thrilled, but by then the college clamped down on the project leaving the rest of the class crestfallen.

Talk about Institutions! Bah!

That was a mean test you administered on that student. Had he not been opened to the theoretical possibility of losing marks, he might have had a very interesting take!

Thanks

Durman.tk

Thank you for responding. Also a lot of good reading will help make a good writer. The thing really is the same: patience, fortitude, and practice.

Harish,

Idealism is a complicated subject I agree. But looking at it very very simply...what exactly is an ideal? Obviously we are not talking about having an ideal body or becoming an ideal husband or father. Those are just ambitions which we sometimes confuse as idealism.

So what is an ideal?

The very word brings a sense of striving...a friction...something to be overcome...does it not?

The actual and the ideal.

- - - - -

You say something interesting: ``...IN fact, most do not profit from idealism, unless you mean intangibles like personal satisfaction/contentment etc....``


Why should someone pursue or abide by something from which NO profit is derived??? Can you think of something in your own life as an example?

`Satisfaction` and `contentment` arise from comparison...elementary psychology :)

Very Interesting article......I always myself wanted to right articles...to reflect on what i feel, in what i see around me......Karachi, a huge hive of multisubstance lifestyles and personas...., gives u a lot to wonder........i even ended up writing an article (infact i even submitted on Chowk, title ``Hope`` (not published yet though).......as u asked ur class, if a similar question is asked to me....i might say the same, i would love to be a writer. But i guess it takes more then Adjectived words and a lot more clear perspective of reality....to be a good writer

Harish:
This is all so true. Except that I got my computer in 2000, so in our days one had to read books and books, which was the best part. I like the way you are going about your teaching assignment. My experience with Mass Media studies was honestly not worth it. Journalism class was about writing out notes, read in a dull drone by someone who worked in television! And this was one of those topnotch colleges. The other subject was taken by a woman who was a social activist, but spent all her time not trying to help us hone our skills, but how to work on galleys. I submitted an interview once for an assignment, about an ordinary soldier, and she promptly reprimanded me for “using style”. “Let it come in time,” she said. I told her my time had come. I cannot figure out why the institutes feel they need to have ‘names’ when those people may be great at their job but not at teaching and certainly not at the reality of real journalism. Agreed, all originality need not be good, but it starts us on the path of finding new roads. I spent most of my time in the library or doodling on sheets of paper. And that is what I continue doing...I did get some foothold in the field; the lady who taught me edited some voluminous tome about something she had no direct contact with...all she must have done was used the blue pencil and snuffed out a fine turn of phrase.

[I however feel I could not transmit the very instinct of journalism. The need, even passion, to set things right, to want to bring the bad guys to book, to want to do things for the underdog. Simply, to develop a social conscience.]

A sensitive thought and, believe me, if you have ever brought this up in class, it will show up someday in their work, though it may not be apparent now. It isn`t merely about idealism, but about the hard facts around us. We are not dreaming it up...their existence around us is nightmarish. To notice it does not require any `ism`, only sharp eyes and some vision.

[I sagely told them it was particularly imperative when they begin their innings in the field. And that, eventually they`ll all end up like all good journalists do, smoking, drinking, and boasting, besides reaching home late and never seeing the sun rise.]

Heheh...I must have been a particularly bad one...no smoking, no drinking (ok, boasting, but about such wonderful abstinence!), reached home a bit late for dinner and never saw the sun rise because I wear blinkers...

PS: A student from Xavier’s wanted to do a paper on my columns (I suppose it was one of those PMS days;)…I told him that if he wanted to get good marks, he had better choose somebody else. Because I know how these things function. Theek kiya na?

Ironman,

Thank you.

I did not understand it totally. Idealism equals to ``imitating others`` for some returns...makes it out to be another profitable transaction. IN fact, most do not profit from idealism, unless you mean intangibles like personal satisfaction/contentment etc. However, I did not think thats what you meant, did you?

Veeresh,

Since you often in that part of maharashtra, I`ll tell you a story that will shock you mildly. This is about 1996-97. I did a story on a Rs 700 cr scam about how cooperative finance bodies in Kolhapure mainly, but also Sangli and Satara methinks, loaned out money to people who were controlling the co-ops. Most then were in the hands of local Congressmen.

Since there is a need to fill names and forms, and perhaps even a ceiling to the loans, they hit upon one of the most hilarious ideas ever. They issued fake loans to themselves, and since their names could only handle these many loans, they started fishing for new names. I swear you`ll not believe it, but in the Income Tax office in Pune, I saw the entire records of loans from these small coops, and my eyes popped out. The coops had issued loans to Kapil Dev, Mohammed Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar, Ravi Shastri.

That scam I reported on CNBC Asia, then called ABNi, owned then again, by Dow Jones. Not a ripple. And, like you said, the story i did was availbale in the streets of Kolhapure for years together!

Feroz,

I seem to harbour a mild apprehension whenever I promote idealism. I tell them, especially young students, to have an affair with it in the begining of their careers at least. They can marry more rewarding, and better endowed ideas...later. All of them are ready with the ``Wooly Head`` poster to stick to the back of anyone who remotely sounds like promoting ``ideals.``

AnNy,

Some news filtered through, and then better news that you`ll filter through to our neck of the woods (Should i use infiltrate here for marital training!), and then the trail went cold. Whats news...mails to you bounce right back!

Rozaiba,

:)

HN

Ironman,

Thank you.

I did not understand it totally. Idealism equals to ``imitating others`` for some returns...makes it out to be another profitable transaction. IN fact, most do not profit from idealism, unless you mean intangibles like personal satisfaction/contentment etc. However, I did not think thats what you meant, did you?

Veeresh,

Since you often in that part of maharashtra, I`ll tell you a story that will shock you mildly. This is about 1996-97. I did a story on a Rs 700 cr scam about how cooperative finance bodies in Kolhapure mainly, but also Sangli and Satara methinks, loaned out money to people who were controlling the co-ops. Most then were in the hands of local Congressmen.

Since there is a need to fill names and forms, and perhaps even a ceiling to the loans, they hit upon one of the most hilarious ideas ever. They issued fake loans to themselves, and since their names could only handle these many loans, they started fishing for new names. I swear you`ll not believe it, but in the Income Tax office in Pune, I saw the entire records of loans from these small coops, and my eyes popped out. The coops had issued loans to Kapil Dev, Mohammed Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar, Ravi Shastri.

That scam I reported on CNBC Asia, then called ABNi, owned then again, by Dow Jones. Not a ripple. And, like you said, the story i did was availbale in the streets of Kolhapure for years together!

Feroz,

I seem to harbour a mild apprehension whenever I promote idealism. I tell them, especially young students, to have an affair with it in the begining of their careers at least. They can marry more rewarding, and better endowed ideas...later. All of them are ready with the ``Wooly Head`` poster to stick to the back of anyone who remotely sounds like promoting ``ideals.``

AnNy,

Some news filtered through, and then better news that you`ll filter through to our neck of the woods (Should i use infiltrate here for marital training!), and then the trail went cold. Whats news...mails to you bounce right back!

Rozaiba,

:)

HN

re: Harish

Very interesting. This is a common theme and it is also quite visible in Pakistan. The whole logic is Machiavellian and as long as you are successful, the means which got you to the ``top of the pyramid`` will be justified.

Your article was indeed sobering in the sense of the truth it stated.

Ciao

harry ol boy,
why, are you missing from my life?

Very interesting and true, Harish, thank you.

While poverty need not be one of the attributes, cynicism should, right? I find that missing in everday media in India. An example is the recent stamp-paper scam which is not recent but has been emerging and vanishing regularly in the Pune-Nashik area for the past 3-4 years. Ask any taxi driver, and he will tell you how closely it is linked to the countefeit currency scam, but does any media draw the news?

Interesting read Harish.

Idealism is all about imitating others...in return for some reward. About suppressing or ignoring your gut responses...which is the only reality.