I find this weird. Journalists are expected to mirror the pulse of the society. The Fourth Estate has a hugely valuable role. Just a few years ago, most journalists did their role to perfection. I have interacted with millionaires and celebrities as well as beggars on the streets and cleaners. With newspapers becoming “brand products,” a trend set in motion by The Times of India, journalists also have changed. It took one full month for me to get a byline (Name) in The Times of India when I started my career in the 80s. Now, journos sitting in AC rooms and sporting three-piece suits talk on their cellphones and have their bylines flashed in bold letters. I hardly see journalists moving into the field and interacting with the masses. Of course, this should not be generalized as a few colleagues do sweat it hard out there, but their number has become negligible. Also, at a dinner meeting last night in Dubai where several prominent people from the Indian community were present, I saw many journalists shying away from interaction with others. How do shy-types make it to the print industry where the code word is interaction?
Rr/Oct 19, 2008
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2 comments:
Indians still shy to work away from office? :)
"Facing the press is more difficult than bathing a leper." -Mother Teresa, 1990
Hi.....what makes you feel that a shy individual is not bold.....and not a journalist....yes shyness is an attribute to manypersonalities ..who have made it big even in the world of great name and fame...take sunjay dutt for instance....but they still have observation skills which most journos have.....and the undaunted manner to plunge ahead into an interraction and seek what they want.....some maw to it quietly....unobtrusively....amost melding into the back ground....but they do and have to reach out to the other person come what may...and then..even a shy journo does get noticed and cannot excape being seen by all and sundry milling the place...And more significantly...reaching out....communicating....and getting across to the other person...required special skills....do be able to get on with such people....on a one is to one level..be they some one at the grass roots as in a cleaner as you said.. or a big honcho..it makes no difference...the skills may have to be varied with each set of circumstances but they are needed..and this is what makes a good journo...it doesn not matter if the journo is shy.....and wishes to be unnoticed or remain in the back ground.....and finally ..whiel presenting his or her report..so long as it can make an impact ....and say it all like it is....and delivered to be what it is...shyness....will not be there when it comes to the written word...fro any true journo....it may be there in the initial part of the process and ends there....
i have found that many of the real big journos...who have no qualms of speaking their guts out on any scenario.....are in reality very shy people......shyness..then doesn't matter at all....Saif Ali Khan may be shy...Sunjay Dutt..who can touch a chord in you with his simple desi dialogiues in Munna Bhai.....and have you in splits..with banter like 'usko vaat lagadho'.....is very shy....Shobha De...who is such a strong social commentator in person seems very shy.....and far more lezz vociferous and gentle in her TV interviews....much softer indeed.....Hari Prasad Chaurasia who i have met....is too shy for words.....these people are all those who bond through the mass media of one kind of ther other...yet they are all shy.....
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