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Kathmandu Sunday February 25, 2001 Falgun 14, 2057.
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Thrills and ills of
journalism
By Meena Kaini
KATHMANDU, It’s been almost two years
since I started journalism and during these two years I have met people from all walks of
life. Some people have been impressed and fascinated with the profession that I have
chosen while others have questioned why I chose journalism of all the things.
But most of the times I have encountered
people who give me those sceptical looks that most often say, "journalists...they
know absolutely nothing about most of the subjects that they write about."
And I did agree with their looks and question
for the simple reason that I was not too knowledgeable about a lot of things that I was
reporting on or writing about. It was a veteran journalist who once told us (myself and
other reporters), "a journalist is a person who, notwithstanding the ignorance about
a lot of topics, can write at least 300 words about it in half-an-hour," which saved
me from the feeling of being too ignorant or uninformed.
During this period what I have noticed is
what a colleague’s American professor once told him about how people say they should
not trust politicians, lawyers and journalists. Even then everybody needs them one time or
another like a necessary evil.
A head of a UN agency recently had this
complaint - that their press releases have not been well received and did not get as much
coverage in the papers as they should have. And the person had this brilliant idea:
"We should organise a press conference where we give all the information to the
pressmen and lunch, " and here the latter -"lunch" got the special
emphasis!
It is common practice to put the press
conference followed by cocktail dinner in bold text on invitations hoping to lure more
journalists into covering their events. Even organisers plan their program around noon or
evening to accommodate the magic of food and drinks.
There have been numerous instances where I
have felt that the perception towards journalists has been very erroneous and very sadly
misinterpreted.
In another incident, I went to attend a press
conference organised by an association of Public Bus Entrepreneurs. They kept us waiting
in front of the office gate for quite some time making us wonder where the conference was
being held.
Finally, a group of organisers said that it
would be held somewhere outside and led the way. We reached a dinghy eatery outside their
office. When asked why the conference was being held in the roadside pub, one of the
organisers quipped, "Food is not allowed inside the office building."
This left me and some of other journalists
aghast. It was as if food comes above everything else when it comes to journalists.
There is yet another sad part. After the
conferences and coverage, there comes another complaint: that the news is not being
carried as it should have been or the essence of the news is misunderstood.
I have heard a producer of a famous American
show say that people are unhappy not because journalists slant the news but because it is
not slanted "their way".
What I have seen through my experiences is
that the "sad" perceptions towards the journalists are not just an outcome of
the people’s "mis-understandings". Journalists too have given reasons that
give way to such perception.
Here’s why. I was participant in a
regional conference for three-days. The organisers had invited all the leading pressmen
from almost all the papers, and to their utter dismay, the coverage was "not
enough". By the end of the third day when there was this "cocktail party",
all the "big-bosses" of the papers had gathered.
It was not just for the "imported
drinks" they were there for but also to rub shoulders with the famous and
not-so-famous influential people. And these people, though they claim to be independent of
any political alignment, are not free from bias. It is mostly evident from their writing
and actions that they support one party or just one faction of a party waiting to snatch
power.
But despite journalism’s
"ill-reputation ", long and odd working hours, inadequate pay, demand for
"no display of emotions", every day is a new day for journalists and everyday a
"learning day" for the simple reason that it teaches to cover and un-cover
everything.
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