This blog is primarily for media aspirants as well as young journalists. My aim is to provide links to articles that will enhance their understanding of the media and help them to improve their writing skills, broaden their horizons, and expand their worldview. My hope is that The Reading Room will also help them to become good media professionals.
Manipur: Floating islands, navigating a "phumdi", a tribute to the fallen, mythical dragons, a live concert... click here.
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Assam: Rhinos, rustic chic, the world's biggest river island, traditional dances, tribal culture, a dinner cruise on the mighty Brahmaputra... click here.
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Meghalaya: Living Root Bridge, Asia's cleanest village, the wettest place on earth, Mawsmai Cave... click here.
How important is the grit factor? Grit, defined as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, isn't something you are born with. It can be learned. Here's how:
Hindustan Times is shutting down its Kolkata edition as well as its editions in Ranchi, Bhopal, and Indore. Details here.
One of the reasons could be a decline in circulation followed by a decrease in ad revenue.
Young people (including media students, some of whom get as much as Rs.5,000 a month as pocket money) refuse to pay as little as four or five rupees to buy a newspaper. Could this be the reason for a decline in circulation?
I urge you to consider what would happen if newspapers and magazines all over the country were to suffer the fate of HT's Kolkata, Ranchi, Bhopal, and Indore editions.
If newspapers die, what would happen to allied media fields? What would happen to, say, PR and advertising?
What would happen to journalism?
Do use your imagination to consider what would happen to your career in the future.
And please think about buying at least one newspaper every day. And persuade your friends to do so too.
Best wishes,
RP
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UPDATE (January 17, 2017)
Death of a newspaper: Read this piece on The Hoot, which describes how HT's Bhopal edition was "slowly stifled before it was shut down earlier this week" —A requiem for the Hindustan Times, Bhopal.
UPDATE (January 19, 2017)
There is already blood on the floor of one of the last bastions of print media in the world. Major national dailies are shutting editions, laying off staff, slashing costs, and freezing expansions and investments. Smaller papers have been doing this for the last five years. Worse is to come if taxes are raised under the GST regime, if the damaging two-month impact of demonetisation persists in this quarter and the next, and if the government does not at least part-discontinue the wage board.
Here is the three-word intro Sam Borden wrote for a golf story in The New York Times:
It was in.
To understand why it is a great intro, you will need to read a little bit more. But don't take my word for it. Instead let a master, the man I consider my journalism guru, Roy Peter Clark, guide you through the story's spectacular structure. Here is Clark's post: Want a lesson in focusing your writing? Read this hole-in-one lead. PS: Marvel too at the nut graf in the original news report — again, just three words.
Learn more about Roy Peter Clark: The power of writing. Commits students can also borrow from our library three wonderful books written by Clark: Help! for Writers, How to Write Short, and The Glamour of Grammar.
On New Year's Eve, Roy Peter Clark retired from Poynter, a legendary journalism institute. His first piece since retirement was published six days later: 40 things I learned about the writing craft in 40 years. There are so many great points on the list, these three especially:
8. Tools not rules: We could think of writing as carpentry, learning how to use a set of tools. Rules were all about what is right and what is wrong. Tools are all about cause and effect, what we build for the audience. 9. Reports vs. stories: Reading scholar Louise Rosenblatt described a distinction I adapted to journalism: that reports were crafted to convey information — pointing you there. Stories were about vicarious experience, a form of transportation — putting you there. 19. Emphatic word order: The journalist with news judgment decides what is most interesting or most important. That judgment can be conveyed in word order, placing the key words at the beginning or end. Not “The Queen is dead, my lord.” But “The Queen, my lord, is dead.”
We are (mostly) happy to help people who are less fortunate than we are, provided it doesn't cost us too much in terms of time, effort, and money. So how do you account for people who go out of their way to provide succour to those in need, no matter what it costs them in terms of time, effort, and money? That was the subject of a fascinating Bookworm podcast discussion between host Michael Silverblatt and New Yorker staff writer Larissa MacFarquhar, which I was privileged to listen to recently.
I was so impressed I not only ordered MacFarquhar's book, which focuses on what she calls "effective altruism"; I also urged my students to listen to the interview and submit their impressions in a short article afterwards. "There is no word limit," I told them, "but there are two conditions: You must use your imagination and you must make it interesting to read." Out of the 30 or so submissions, I found Shreya Roy's write-up to be exceptional, so here it is for your reading pleasure:
LIFE IN THEIR SHOES Life. What is this life we are living? Have you ever taken a minute out of your life to think about life? By that I mean taking the time out of your busy schedule to think about the lives of others out there and not your own.
SHREYA ROY
Just one minute. That’s all it takes. Unfortunately we all know the answer to that question. We don’t! And why would we want to think about other people’s lives anyway. We are so busy struggling with our own we never think about what others are going through in life. We complain over and over again. Unfortunately, life isn’t a bed of roses. There is just one word to define us individuals. Selfish. Yes, that’s right. We are selfish human beings. All we think about is ‘I’ rather than ‘you’. We always see life from our own perspective rather than someone else’s. Take a moment to think about what it would be to like to live the life of someone who has never seen her own mother or father. How would her life be different from that of yours? Does she even get 1% of the love that you get? What are her feelings? What goes through her mind every second of the day? Put yourself in her shoes for once. Fortunately (and unfortunately for some of us), there are certain people in this life who care more about others than about themselves. They care about being effective irrespective of what others think of them. They are extremists in their own way of life and would go to any extent to help the needy, give them the love they deserve. These especially good Samaritans are the focus of Larissa MacFarquhar's first book, Strangers Drowning: Grappling with Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Overpowering Urge to Help.
Strangers Drowning talks about many different kinds of people who have committed themselves to helping others in an extreme way. It’s more to do with "effective altruism", which is so rare to find these days. And it is these altruists who make a difference in this world. They see things from a different perspective. Why? Because that is what gives them a reason to live. To serve society this way. They feel if they can have the means to buy branded clothes, why can’t they use the same amount of money to save a life? Precisely why MacFarquhar has included in her book the story of an American couple who adopt two children in distress. But then they think: If they can change two lives, why not four? Or ten? They adopt 20. But how do they weigh the needs of unknown children in distress against the needs of the children they already have? It is interesting that MacFarquhar would never put herself in the category of the people she is writing about. She doesn’t believe in being an altruist herself, precisely why, she says, she became a writer. The fact that she put herself out there to find out more about what drives such people itself is praiseworthy. Not only does MacFarquhar put herself in their shoes but she also tries to explain what true effective altruism is all about. Strangers Drowning showcases a world of strangers drowning in need and the different ways by which these do-gooders help to make their world a better place. Moreover, is it right to care for strangers even at the expense of those we are closest to? Strangers Drowning challenges us to think about what we value most, and why. --- Now that you have read Shreya's well-articulated thoughts on the podcast interview, surely you will want to listen in on that absorbing conversation between Michael Silverblatt and Larissa MacFarquhar? Yes? Just head on over to the Bookworm website — click here.
To learn more about the gifted host ofBookworm, read this interview. You can also learn what things to avoid when conducting an interview.
And to learn more about Larissa MacFarquhar, check out this interview in The Guardian.
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ALSO READ:
Back in May last year, Shreya Roy had written a post for The Commits Chronicle about why she was glad she was joining Commits. Read her piece here.
Last evening I spotted a typo in a caption for a picture accompanying a story on the Reuters website. So I scrolled down to the "Corrections" tab and wrote this message:
Rd Prabhu, Oct 12, 10:02 PM SGT:
The Amazon Echo, a voice-controlled virtual assistant, is seen at it's product launch for Britain and Germany in London, Britain, September 14, 2016. REUTER/Peter Hobson
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That is the caption for a photograph accompanying a Reuters story about Amazon's new music service. "...it's product launch"? That should be "...its product launch".
Shortly afterwards I received this automated response:
Dr. Navpreet Sahsi, an emergency room physician from Toronto, on his daily rounds in an MSF camp in South Sudan. Dr. Nav, as he is known, features prominently in the podcast discussed below. Photo courtesy: NPR/David Gilkey
But what does it take to volunteer for a mission with one of the world's leading humanitarian organisations? And how will we, siting in the comfort of our homes, know what it means to be an MSF doctor if we didn't have journalists who risk their lives too by travelling to these dangerous areas to report on the work being done there by these amazing, brave, big-hearted men and women? If you want to know more, and I'm sure you do, click on this link: Embedded for Five Days and Five Nights with Doctors Without Borders.
When you get to the page, click on the "play" icon to listen to the podcast.
When listening to the podcast, pay attention to the journalistic values — how similar is this podcast to a news feature in a newspaper?
Also pay attention to the following:
1. Pronunciation
2. Voice modulation
3. Use of music
4. Use of silences
This is a great example of "radio journalism".
Also, it's a great example of a human interest story.
Who else but journalists can bring us such stories?
NPR is a wonderful source of some gripping podcasts, as is Longform. Here are some of my favourites:
...but there are not many people out there who are capable of doing so. Lisa Lepki of Ragan Communications understands that and she wants to help. So she has compiled a list of six common problems to fix "before your editor gets out the red pen":
Afterwards, download this free white paper, "10 ways to improve your writing today".
"Whether you're composing a press release, a blog post, a script, or executive talking points, these techniques," Ragan claims, "will enhance your communication." Get the white paper here.
Yes, you will be judged on whether you are punctual, whether you arrive in time for class, for a date, for a meeting. But did you know you will also be judged on how you treat waiters? And where you look when you drink out of a cup?
Business Insider India has helpfully made a list of eight small things we do that people use to judge us. Here's the list:
1. Your handshake
2. Whether you show up on time
3. How you treat restaurant staff
4. Where you look when you drink out of a cup
5. Whether you bite your nails
6. Your handwriting
7. How often you check your phone
8. Whether you make eye contact
You can read this topical feature in its entirety here.
What makes a journalism professor tick? This short video perhaps provides the answer:
This profile was produced by Commitscions Shristi Thapliyal, Shreesha Ghosh, Meghana Khare, Dona Dey, Soumya Matham, Sneha Rudra, and Sudeshna Bardhan (Class of 2017).
"...we all require devotion to something more than ourselves for our lives to be endurable. Without it, we have only our desires to guide us, and they are fleeting, capricious, and insatiable. They provide, ultimately, only torment."
~ Harvard philosopher Josiah Royce, quoted in a fascinating book I bought for myself recently, Atul Gawande's Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
Want to know more about the book? Check out this review.
There are many young people out there who are sure to benefit from reading this first-person piece:
"So much of life is dictated by what others will think of us. In fact, we spend more time wondering what people will think rather than trying to accomplish things that will get them thinking about us in the first place."
Watch this clip from my days as the host of a TV show on TMG Enter, the technology channel launched by the company I joined back in 1999 in Bangalore.
Keep in mind that I have done a fair amount of research to be able to ask my guest relevant questions about a topic I am not an expert on. He is the expert. I am also listening to the answers so that I can ask follow-up questions.
Keep in mind, too, that this chat is meant for an audience comprising technology enthusiasts and people from the tech industry.
I hope watching this video will give Audiovisual Communication students some insight into how they can prepare for and produce their own chat programme for their TV news shows.
"You may say you’re not a writer. But if you have a job that requires communicating with others, you are. If you keep a to-do list, that’s writing. If you draft a project plan, report, or meeting agenda, that’s writing. And, if you’re like most writers, you want to be more skilled at using your words."
Poorvi Kothari (Class of 2014) wrote this piece for The Commits Chronicle in June 2016:
Before I joined Commits I had no idea that a role like media planning even existed. But thanks to our classes with Mala Ma’am (Malavika Harita, CEO of Saatchi Focus), I not only learnt a lot about advertising but I also got introduced to some great roles, like those of media planners.
And that’s the beauty of Commits. You can come in without even knowing what you want to do or what you are capable of, but one thing is for sure, you’ll leave with a vision, direction, and goal in life.
POORVI AT HER DESK AT THE GROUPM OFFICE IN BENGALURU.
So what exactly is media planning? When I say I work as a media planner, people usually get a little excited and ask, oh, so you are in the TV industry? To which I politely say no. Then they jump to the next possibility: Oh, so then you are a journalist? To which I again say no. As I start explaining how the advertising world works, they become impatient and ask, oh, so you make ads? I say no, I just plan them. By then, even though they haven’t understood what “plan” means in this context they give up and say, oh, okay, that sounds good.
So, yes, “media planner” is not a profession that everyone gets right away, like “journalist” or “copywriter”. Let me, therefore, try to put it in simple terms: Imagine a mind-blowing advertisement that never reaches its target audience. What good is the ad then? Media planners ensure that a brand’s ad is served up to the right audience. We are like distributors.
After an ad is created, media planners think of the best ways to reach out to the brand’s target audience (be it print, TV, radio, or digital). This involves a lot of statistical analysis as well as number-crunching. Media budgets are huge, typically in crores of rupees. Using this money to effectively reach out to a million consumers in the target audience is a big challenge.
I could go on about everything that happens in media planning, or at work, or at client meetings where we are grilled for explanations about why we are spending this much on a particular medium/channel/programme/website/newspaper, etc., or what the rationale is behind a particular strategy. We are talking big bucks here so, often, we play the role of lawyers, accountants, strategists, and investment bankers.
POORVI WITH HER TEAM MEMBER, COMMITSCION REYA DUTTA (CLASS OF 2015).
To sum up, media planning is the business side of advertising. It is not all about numbers, though. To me, media planning is a good mix of creativity and ingenuity combined with a knack for identifying key insights about what we refer to as media consumption. What I really love is how beautifully numbers can tell us stories, and the best part is when you are trying to sell a story and your job becomes so much easier because you can do so on the back of some powerful data.
Creative agencies feel proud when their TV commercials are seen on air, but for us it’s satisfying when people say, Hey, did you see that ad? It’s all over the place, man! That’s when I know, okay, I did a decent job there.
Here are three ads whose media plans were prepared by Poorvi and her team:
Strangely, hardly anyone I know has even heard of this revolutionary podcast, even though it was first aired nearly two years ago. I got wind of it last year and I was hooked immediately because, with every episode ending with a cliffhanger, Serial is very much a "TRUE CRIME" THRILLER. But it is also journalism; radio; research. Voice modulation; the usage of background music. It showcases the art of interviewing. And it gives us an insight into the importance of script-writing. Believe me, everything about Serial is FASCINATING. For media students, especially those who have chosen Audiovisual Communication, this is an invaluable tool — it will help them better understand their chosen field. Get your fix here. And read up on the impact of Serial: Podcasting’s First Breakout Hit, Sets Stage for More. UPDATE (June 30, 2016): From The New York Times, "Adnan Syed, of Serial Podcast, Gets a Retrial in Murder Case".
Season Two of Serial kicked off in December last year. But while Season One will be of interest to a general audience, Season Two, in my view, will appeal only to an American audience. Of course, you can make up your mind after you read co-producer and host Sarah Koenig's Welcome Note.
The phenomenal success of Serial has led to a boom in podcast-production. The number of apps that enable you to search for and listen to podcasts has also increased exponentially. Here are my posts about my favourite podcasts:
Such as "I am no good." Or "No one likes me." Or worse.
Even if you don't, here's an NPR podcast that delves into the secret history of thoughts while giving us two real stories that begin in pretty dark fashion. Both, however (especially the second one), end on such a joyous note you will get a kick out of listening to them.
Of course, ultimately, this is a great piece of (audio) journalism.
To listen to "The Secret History of Thoughts" on the "Invisibilia" podcast, click here and scroll down to the episode. If you want to download it, click on the "ellipsis button" and choose "Download". You can also subscribe to "Invisibilia" on the Podcast Addict app, which is my favourite app for listening to podcasts while I'm driving to and from work.
I have more than 20 years' experience (1981 to 2003) as a journalist in India and Dubai, specializing in selecting and editing news reports and features. From 2003 to 2019, I taught journalism and writing skills to master’s students at Commits, a media college in Bangalore.
I joined Cactus Communications ("Serving Science Worldwide") as a copyediting freelancer on October 1, 2019. From the very beginning, I have enjoyed the challenge of working on a new assignment each day. I like to think of every article as a daily crossword puzzle that I need to solve by examining the clues closely. And, finally, when I submit the article that I have tended, I like to think, with love and care, I feel deeply satisfied.
