Media News Letter
GujaratGlobal

March 6, 2008
 Editor Talks..

Friends, this is the first issue of the media newsletter. This gives a broad outline of the content mix I have planned for the newsletter. Every activity has some reason or to put in today's trendy marketing terminology, a statement of vision. This too has. It is to provide a multidimensional platform for media. Sounds great! Simply put, it is to provide news of the happening world of media, to provide necessary tips to develop communication skills to those who are in the profession and those who are driven crazy about the media, particularly after seeing 24x7 news channels. At the same time, it is to become a kind of regular feed for those who use media to create their voice and image in public. To give them some kind of talking points to initiate talks when they make forays in the media.

So, what this newsletter is like. Every week, you can expect at least three main articles. One about trends and traditions of media, another focusing on a media personality or a programme or a publication. The third section learning zone is devoted to honing of communication skills. In this, first part will have something about communication skills. The second part will discuss reporting of some recent events. This will give idea of how the task could have been done better. No doubt, in this part you can also find stories that were outstanding.

For the appetite of gossip loving friends it has media masalaa and media round up.

There cant be anything better than one's own first hand experience. So go through the content to have your own views rather than being influenced by mine.

The content and approach of the newsletter can easily be a good content mix for a successful website. But I am starting a newsletter. Why? This is a new experiment in web 2.0 application where news of your interest lands in your mail box. Certainly web 2.0 is a great revolution which has turned interaction between people as global as the Internet itself. I want to keep that spirit of web 2.0 here also. For this I request you all to give your views about what is being written about in the news letter in expressions longer than , its good, its great or what shit.

Please do not stop here. Be the guest contributor, write for the newsletter. Just a word of caution. Please do not mind rejection of your content or its presentation. I am sure , like me, your teachers in journalism school must have told you to be ready for long waits for getting a good story and further be ready for the rejection slips. Do not mind this. Many world renowned writers had to face the rejection slip syndrome like Amitabh Bacchhan finding studio doors shut on his face for his anti-hero appearance.

In this issue, I have selected the issue of high mobility in the profession, a piece about Wing Commander Singha, pioneer of Defence reporting in Gujarat and what leading writer like George Orwell has said about goof writing.

I am sure that you will find content useful in one or the other way. For beginners, it is a good intro to media and for the seasoned journalists a refresher in today's context.

Wish you happy reading

with love

Yogesh Sharma

We welcome your feedback at [email protected]

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Media Masalaa

Times of India goes overboard for Modi
modi 

Recently, Modi visited Times office on the Ashram Road in Ahmedabad. The occasion was the first anniversary of the Gujarati Edition of the Economic Times. And Modi had to play the guest editor of Gujarati ET.

Despite his not so good relations with the Times of India journalists , Modi is the most sought after celebrity in the ET Gujarati. In fact, the Gujarati edition was launched by Modi.At that time he had quipped that how strange was the diametrically opposite behaviour of two boys of one group. Probably, it is the business acumen of the business paper ( paper of mahajans in plain Gujarati) to have good relations with the government(Shaashan) !

Modi was to be the guest of the ET only in the building which also has other publications, TOI and newly launched midloid Ahmedabad Mirror. The engagement diary at the Chief Minister's Office had 20-30 minutes for the function. But, Modi visited the office of the TOI also. He stayed in the premises for more than two hours.

Staff here is still reverberating with the visit of Modi. Senior journalist Himanshu Darji is happy that he successfully took the dictation of Modi's edit. A day after even TOI reported how its women staff was all for Modi.There was literal scramble for handshakes and photographs with Modi. The Chief Minister made sure that cameraman included all in the photographs by his remark that see that none is left out otherwise I (Modi) wii have to bear the brunt.

It was certainly a matter of great joy for Modi and his brand builders who are meticulously crafting his macho image ( desi bhaashaa me marad chaap).

What was surprising to all including Modi that Times had another set of photographs of Modi day after the report of his visit. What was the most striking  was the photograph of Resident Editor Bharat Desai along with Modi, in quite a pleasant
mood. Insiders say, that this made Bharat's phone ringing from the morning. People wanted to know if there was patch up between Bharat and Modi!

 It so happened that Bharat was on leave previous day. He had asked his staff to have some photographs of cheerful Modi since earlier photographs had shown Modi in quite a serious mood of editor. Boss not being in the office, the staff had its way and there was Modi and Bharat in cheerful mood.

A senior journalist of TOI quipped that Bharat should have a heavy dose of anti Modi stories to clear the picture.

 

Greetings!

This News Letter from the GujaratGlobal  brings to you the latest happening in the media particularly in Gujarat, whats hot and whats not , who's in and who's out , you want it and you get it here ! Its about people who craft voice and image of others.
 
Hello Friend Where Are You ??

If you happen to meet a journalist friend in Gujarat after couple of months, please do not ask him how are you? Just ask him where are you. There are all the chances that your friend may give you a new visiting card with new office address. And he would not mind boasting about the hefty pay packet he is getting.

Media scene has changed a lot in the last four years. The arrival of Divya Bhaskar in 2003 and new channels has sent employment  Index of media persons here sky rocketing. Whether you know a language or not, you should have either a tag of journalist or a professional qualification. You can easily get five digit salary. It may happen that from the day one you get a chance to saunter in the corridors of power in Gandhinagar.

 The upward movement of journalists got great boost with the arrival of Divya Bhaskar. Gujarat Samachar and other leading newspapers got a big jolt because of the exodus. ETV, TV9 and several other channels attracted quite young boys and girls. Three UK based weeklies developed Ahmedabad as their main office .

 

Recently, Times Launched its midloid Ahmedabad Mirror . It recruited 53 . Naturally all were from Ahmedabad. The management made it clear that knowledge of English is not must. Even if you do not know English, no problem. People who were slogging for Rs.5,000 a month have been recruited for Rs.25,000 a month. Without much knowledge of English. Middle level staff got a package of Rs six lakh plus a year.

This month Business standard launched it Gujarati edition. It recruited more than 20 journalists. Here the situation was different. Reporters were told that knowledge of Gujarati was not must. You can write in English. The management has others to translate in Gujarati. Not a bad idea. Even otherwise management has to have someone to translate English news in Gujarati.

These major developments have chain reaction. There are vacancies in other newspapers. They have to offer higher pay packets to attract staff. Never in the past, professional rivalry and cut throat competition among newspapers and others in media made Journalist the King !

So friend days of Jholawala patrakar are now laid to rest in the history. Now we have laptopwalas with plastic currency .

Do not worry. There are some more publications in the pipeline. So keep on asking where are you friend.

 
Wing Commander  Singha says good bye to Gujarat
singha

Wing Commander Tarun Kumar Singha is packing up for his new assignment. It is to head the NCC unit at the Benaras Hindu University. In the career of a man in uniform transfers are frequent and interaction with locals is rare. But, in the case of Singha it is a different story. He is the man who has brought defence journalism to Gujarat, the border state. To summarise his over four year stay in Gujarat, he is the man who did a lot to sensitize people and press of Gujarat to the world of Defence.

 

This chubby faced officer with a broad grin showed best of him as four in one PRO during his stay here.Whether it was his own Indian Air Force or Army, Navy and Coast Guard.Till his appointment as the Defence PRO in Gujarat, the first ever, defence assignments were mostly a privilege of Delhi based journalists. Even during the Kutch earthquake, planeload of Delhi based journalists were flown to Gujarat by the Defence for the reporting of its rescue and relief operation. 

 

It was during these four years that for the first time a contingent of local journalists was flown to the great air fire power show held at Pokharan. Media interaction with the pilots of Mig 21 and their families was a different kind of operation. It was to counter image problem of the aircraft which has got the dubious title of flying coffin.People of Gujarat saw magnificent show of Suryakiran in the Gujarat sky while the renowned Naval Orchestra offered some of its great compositions to the public. Naval band had its first show in Gujarat.

 

Series of mega recruitment camps gave exposure to the youth of Gujarat to the openings in the defence forces and thus increased the flow of Gujaratis in the defence forces.Certainly these are few among a number of initiatives of Singha.

 

In the true spirit of a warrior, he built Defence PRO office from a scratch.And made it a hot spot of activities. All from the word go in February 2003. Going out meeting journalists, creating a data base of information about media was a routine affair for several months. Jagadish Patadia of the Press Information Bureau played his adjutant in his assignments. Patadia stood for Defence whether Singha was here or on assignment outside.

 

An avid documentary maker, he has conceptualized, scripted and coordinated several documentaries on Defence.These include documentaries on Eastern, South Western and Southern Air Commands, Border Roads Organisation, Army Aviation in CI role, Helicopter Operations by IAF in Arunachal Pradesh and the Indian Coast Guard. He is the first ever PRO to have been sent overseas for a specialist PR assignment by the MOD to cover the Indo-UK bilateral air exercise, codenamed 'Indradhanush-07' in June-July 2007. A regular at scripting the commentary for the Republic Day Parade, he headed the PR team that wrote features and press releases of the Military World Games at Hyderabad in October 2007.

 

Wg Cdr Singha has been awarded commendations by the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South Western Air Command, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, Commander Coast Guard Region (West); and on 26 Jan 2006, he was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal for his distinguished service of a high order by the  President of India. He is the first PRO outside Delhi circuit to achieve the distinction.

In his own words, the most memorable event of his assignment was the coverage of the historic flight of  Dr. APJ Kalam's in Sukhoi-30 MKI  on June 8, 2006. 

One of his projects was to help lift sagging image of Mig 21 which won adjectives like flying coffin. Read its account

Media round up

Harit is the RE of the BS

 31 year old Harit Mehta has been promoted as the Resident Editor of the Business Standard Ahmedabad. His brief is to take care of both the BS English and the recently launched Gujarati edition of the BS. He had joined the BS in November as the Chief of Bureau when Kamlesh Trivedi left. The career graph of Harit is quite steep and scintillating. Post Graduate in English Harit started his career as stringer of the TOI in 1999 and was soon taken as a trainee. He got into main stream Times of India via page 3 window of Ahmedabad Times .

In one of the rare decision in the media, he went to Indian Express from the TOI. But, it was just for six months. He was back with the Times group when he joined ET in June 2005. And in almost two and half years he quit ET to join BS and now he is the RE. 

All this on the strength of his English and a inquisitive mind of reporter on two strong legs. Yes without any formal training of Journalism.

 

Anubhai Sheth expires  

Present generation of journalists might not have heard the name of Anubhai Sheth. He was among the prominent business reporters of Ahmedabad of yesteryear. He represented Financial Express, English for 40 years. Anubhai had worked for other publications of Gujarat also.He was living retired life and was bed ridden for long.

 

(Friends it is the irony of the situation that media reports about the world except itself. In this column we  wish to write about media persons and their career. Please send us information .)

 
Learning Zone

Mind your language 

 

Language is a tool of communication.But most of us tend to flaunt our vocabulary as a prized possession. In many cases we go for clumsy sentences, cliche and jargon which make our writings and other content expressions weak. This may sound simple, but this is probably the most difficult task we journalists face. We work against time. We have daily challenge of meeting deadlines. Competition stress drives us to short cuts like cut-paste. 

 

If you want to be understood, if you want your ideas to spread, using effective language must be your top priority.

In the modern world  this is hardly ever the case. In many instances, imprecise language is used intentionally to avoid taking a position and offending various demographics. No wonder it's hard to make sense of anything!

This is not a recent problem, and as George Orwell wrote in his 1946 essay, Politics and the English Language, the condition is curable. Try these 5 Rules of Orwell.

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

This sounds easy, but in practice is incredibly difficult. Phrases such as toe the line, ride roughshod over, stand shoulder to shoulder with, play into the hands of, an axe to grind, Achilles' heel, swan song, and hotbed come to mind quickly and feel comforting and melodic.

For this exact reason they must be avoided. Common phrases have become so comfortable that they create no emotional response. Take the time to invent fresh, powerful images.

What does expressions like inclusive growth or HDI mean. They just mean benefit of development to all. It's so simple.

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

Long words don't make you sound intelligent unless used skillfully. In the wrong situation they'll have the opposite effect, making you sound pretentious and arrogant. They're also less likely to be understood and more awkward to read. Faulkner criticised Hemingway for his limited word choice. Hemingway said, Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don't know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.

 

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. Accordingly, any words that don't contribute meaning to a passage dilute its power. Less is always better. Always.

4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.

This one is frequently broken, probably because many people don't know the difference between active and passive .  Here is an example that makes it clear:

The man was bitten by the dog. (passive)
The dog bit the man. (active).

The active is better because it's shorter and more forceful.

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of its equivalent in your language.

This is tricky because  writing now a days can be highly technical. If possible, remain accessible to the average reader. If your audience is highly specialized this is a judgment call. You don't want to drag on with unnecessary explanation, but try to help people understand what you're writing about. You want your ideas to spread right?

6. Break any of these rules sooner than saying anything outright barbarous.

This bonus rule is a catch all. Above all, be sure to use common sense.

These rules are easy to memorize but difficult to apply. The key is effort. Good writing matters, probably more than we think.

I hope you find these rules helpful including my bonus rule and through their application we're able to understand each other a little bit better. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to read Orwells original essay. It contains many helpful examples and is, of course, a pleasure to read.

 
Disastrous railway disaster reporting

 

Last month, 16 persons lost lives when they were run over by the Kutch Express near Surat. No doubt, their death was their creation. But the reporting of the tragedy of such a scale was a telling evidence of state of affairs in the media.  The driver and the Assistant driver of the train were suspended on the ground that they did not inform the authorities about the incident when they left for home at Surat. I read that the train was at 110kmph. I also read in a report that the lights of the engine provided vision for 500 mts only.

Accident took place around 10.30 in the night.Reporters had all the time till next day evening to dig out good stories. For that they could have got details from Surat itself.

No doubt, we have very high speed trains. Do they run at very high speed all the time? What about sharp turns and bridges? Is there any change in the speed?

Did the driver try to warn people moving on the bridge? What is the safe distance for applying emergency brakes? The accident took place on a bridge, do we have police at the bridges as they are soft targets of terrorists?

To what distance a driver can see? Friends, railways take special care to ensure proper vision of drivers and guards of trains. Extra care is taken about the staff of important trains.

The story raises some very vital questions about the working of railways. Any journalist with average background could have made national story if he had just moved round on the Surat station and the accident site keeping his eyes and ears open.

Lalu Prasad announced compensation of Rs five lakh after several days. Does it  not provide some masalaa for edit?

Friends reporting of railways is not just about black marketing of railway tickets or Lalu's announcements. With the movement and speed of trains increasing, passenger safety is becoming a complex subject. It is worth specialisation.

"Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes."
Mahatma Gandhi
 

With Love,
 
Yogesh Sharma
GujaratGobal.com