Online Journalism in India

Today, I'll deviate a little bit from my blog-theme to discuss about online journalism in India. The growth and spread of the internet has made it possible to disseminate information to the remotest corners of the country. Online journalism in India is the fastest growing media sector in the country. Online journalism provides instant and readily accessible news to millions of internet users in India.

The number of internet users in the country is forever on the rise. The hunger for news, information and knowledge has shown a remarkable rise in India. There are plenty of Indian portals that offer international, national and local news to internet users in the country. Some of the popular news websites that net savvy Indians visit, are listed below.

1) Rediff
2) Sify
3) Samachar
4) Headlines India

The 4 websites that have been mentioned above, are not an offshoot of any television or print media brands. They exist primarily as an online entity. Samachar and Headlinesindia function purely as a news portal, whereas sify and rediff have several other interest areas.

The major television news channels and newspaper houses in India have significant online presence. They continue to attract most of the online traffic in India. Some of the newspaper houses and television news channels that own popular portals on the internet are listed below.

The Times of India
The Hindu
The Tribune
Hindustan Times
NDTV
The Indian Express

There are millions and millions of people in India who are yet to discover the wonders of the internet. They are still dependent on newspapers, television channels and radio stations to listen to the latest happenings from around the world. In another 3-5 years time, online journalism will become much larger in terms of reach, operations and business prospects.

I am not aware of any institutes in India that teach "online journalism". But some of the prestigious journalism institutes in the country do have modules that deal with the topic of online journalism.

Most of the Indian professionals who work as online journalists usually hail from a print or television media background. A graduate degree in English, Journalism or Mass Communication could prove to be an added advantage for candidates aspiring to be an online journalist in India.

Nitty gritties of Reporting

Journalism Lectures, Day 9 and 10

2 lecture hours on Reporting and I already feel enlightened! A quick glance at my notebook and I am ready to add one more post to my blog.

The topics that have been touched upon in the last 2 days have been mentioned below.

Day 9: Introduction writing, it's relevance to the "Inverted Pyramid" style of writing, different forms of introduction writing and the structure of a newspaper report.

Day 10:Role of simplicity, sentences, paragraphs, sources of a reporter and litigations.

On Day 9, the "Inverted Pyramid" style of writing was discussed in great details. A newspaper report must include the most important points of a story in the introduction itself. Apart from grabbing the attention of a reader, mentioning the important points of a story in the first paragraph, serves another critical function.

When an editor decides to chop off a few lines from a story filed by the reporter, the person begins his/her way up from the bottom! The last few paragraphs are assumed to be the least important and the editor is unlikely to show any mercy when he has deadlines to meet.

So, there he goes snip, snip, snip- working his way through the report. "The editor has murdered my story", is a common complaint made by most of the reporters when they see their "mutilated story" in next day's newspaper.

More to come later...

Finally, a lecture on Editing?

Journalism Lectures, Day-8

Finally, I attended a lecture on the topic of Editing! The lecturer has been working with "The Statesman" for more than 30 years now! Started off his career with the newspaper in the capacity of a sub-editor.

Like most of the other lecturers at the institute, he's tremendously energetic. Anyone belonging to the Indian Media has to be full of energy and vibrancy, though not necessarily intelligent and well informed.;-)(There! I blew my chances of getting an internship! LoL)

On a more serious note, the class room lectures on Journalism are so different from what I have gone through doing my school and college days. There's so much to learn and enjoy. A real pity that I have to rush off to work, right after the lecture hours end. Don't get much time to interact with my classmates and lecturers at the institute.

The lecturer for today, talked about "newsworthiness". He provided a not- too-dissimilar version of "what is News" from what the lecturer on Reporting had provided.

A classmate was disgruntled with the state of affairs of the Indian Media. She talked about principles, ethics and morals associated with the noble profession of journalism.

"Why does the Abhi-Ash wedding appear on the front page of a national daily?", she inquired.

"Because, that's what the Indian readers wanted to read about! That's what they were keenly interested in, at that point in time", answered the lecturer.

But my classmate wasn't convinced. "Then the Print Media is all about popularism and making lots of money. A business, not a mission." she argued.

"Times have changed and we must learn to adapt to the changing circumstances.", the lecturer continued.

"Yes, times have changed. But at what cost?", the girl grumbled.

"We'll discuss how to balance the principles, ethics and morals side of journalism with the business aspect of it, in my next class", the lecturer assured us and took his leave.

I rushed off too; was getting late for work!

Newspaper Management

Journalism Lectures, Day-7

Another lecture hour, this time in Newspaper Management . This is one lecturer who has not yet informed us about his professional background. Or maybe, I missed that part! But he's very serious about the task of imparting knowledge to his students and has, very clearly, conveyed what he expects from us. I am thoroughly impressed with his professionalism!

So what did he lecture us on? Well, he talked about the definition of Management, Levels of Management and Functions of Management and explained its relevance in the context of a newspaper syndicate.

Definition of Management: "Management is a unique combination of art and science to get the things done by someone else, for the accomplishment of organizational goals."

He has explained and repeated the definition of Management so many times, that I don't think I'll ever forget his version of the same.

Levels of Management: Upper, Middle and Lower

If I understood correctly, in terms of a newspaper house, the levels of management would be:

Upper management- Owner and Chief-editor
Middle management- Sub-editors
Lower management- Reporters

Functions of Management:

1) Planning; (P)
2) Organizing; (O)
3) Directing; (D)
4) Staffing; (S)
5) Co-ordinating; (C)
6) Reporting; (R)
7) Controlling; (C)
8) Budgeting. (B)

I used "PODS-CRCB" to recollect the Functions of Management.

Tomorrow another day, another lecturer and more to follow on learning journalism .

Get the spelling right !!

Journalism Lectures, Day-6

Another lecture hour on Writing. Today, I felt like a dork. My 14 years of schooling and 3 years of college life came to nought, when I realized that I couldn't spell certain words correctly or with confidence. How embarrassing!

Ah, I got the spelling right! Yes, the word that troubled me was, "embarrassment". I had earlier spelt it with a single "r". Harassment was a word that I got right, but wasn't confident about!

Continuing on the differences between Journalistic Writing and Creative Writing- In Creative Writing "willing suspension of disbelief" is possible; but that's an impossibility as far as newspaper writing is concerned.

Someone who liked the Harry Potter series, is unlikely to accept a report on a Quidditch match in the sports column of his favourite newspaper! It just can't be true! Yes, newspaper reports have to be believable and logical.

Origin of the term "Soap Opera"

The origin of the term, "Soap Opera", can be traced back to the period when television serials were produced by soap manufacturers.

Another interesting observation- Journalistic Writing is Instant Literature. What appears in today's newspaper is unlikely to have any value the next day. News is the most perishable item in the world!

So what does it take to be a good writer?

1) Be an avid reader; it helps in increasing vocabulary, improve on your grammar, develop style, and increase knowledge base.
2) Lots of hard work and commitment.
3) Faith in one's writing capabilities.

And of course, get the spelling RIGHT !!!