"ONE YEAR ON, THE MANY LESSONS I HAVE LEARNT AS A REPORTER"

TAPASYA MITRA MAZUMDER (Class of 2013) has just completed a year as a reporter with Bangalore Mirror. Here she tells us what she learnt during the course of her journey:

I am not here to tell you about the many methods you can use to write good stories; you have RP Sir for that. :-)

Instead, I am going to highlight the many lessons I learnt in the course of my journey and the mistakes I made, from which I hope you will be able to learn.

TAPASYA AT HER DESK AT BANGALORE MIRROR.

My chemistry teacher in school had once told us that fools learn from their own mistakes while the wise ones learn from other people’s mistakes. Well, I have been both foolish and wise in the past one year. In the course of gathering more than 250 bylines (including more than 30 Page 1 stories), I have learnt that they do not define my success. I consider myself successful because I have evolved for the better since I graduated from Commits and completed one whole year in my profession.

Remember one very important thing: You have to figure out how you are going to survive in this profession. It will take no time for the management to chuck you out if you are an underperformer. People have bad days at work. I have had bad weeks, and sometimes bad months. For me, it was a challenge to go about doing city-based stories without knowing the local language. On top of that, I do not have a beat, a specific area or subject to cover. But I turned that around to do stories from every beat, and so far I have written on education, science, technology, health, crime, and youth issues. I have also highlighted some very important issues that have gone on to become national stories.

Stories can jump at you from anywhere, so always be on the lookout. My first cover story with Bangalore Mirror was published four days after I joined and I got it from Facebook.

As RP Sir has always stressed, social media networks are often a good news source and I have produced stories based on what I read on Facebook, web feeds, WhatsApp messages, adverts on the back of autorickshaws, circulars posted on national websites, and even from comments on the micro-sites of some educational institutions.

THIS STORY BY TAPASYA, WHICH WAS PUBLISHED ON PAGE 1, WAS RECEIVED WARMLY.

But at this point I should warn you that it is not a good idea to warm the seat of your chair by “Facebooking” all day; go out in the field instead.

Which brings me to my next point: networking.

I get a kick from going out in the field and meeting people. It is the best part about my job, but I make sure they remember me too once the event we are attending is over. So I give everyone my card when I am attending, say, industrial conferences. One day I got a call from a person I had met at one such conference. He had called to tell me about a story and the next day the paper carried my article on Page 1.

But you have to be able to sift the grain from the chaff to know which items can be developed into newspaper articles and which ones are simply not worth pursuing. Initially, I would run to my boss for every small story I could grab but my effort would often get spiked. Over time, though, I learnt to distinguish between what readers would find interesting and relevant and useful and what they would ignore.

It is also very important to mention here that you need to know how to pitch a story to your boss. I have learnt now to highlight only what’s necessary and also point out sometimes what section of the paper it would be suitable for.

Now that you have pitched your story, learn to defend it. If you think it is a good one, make all-out efforts to persuade your bosses to see what you see in it. Don’t be disheartened if your idea is rejected; sooner or later you will learn why it wouldn’t have worked. I have sometimes fought heated and emotional battles with my boss over my story idea, but most times wit and tact will do.

TAPASYA WITH HER BANGALORE MIRROR COLLEAGUES (FROM LEFT) HM CHAITANYA SWAMY, PRAKRUTI PK, SRIDHAR VIVAN, AND SHAMAYITA CHAKROBORTY.

I have a habit of writing lengthy pieces (as RP Sir will confirm) but the news desk staff, who edit my stories, have not complained. Their reasoning is that it is better to trim a long piece than try to chase the reporter for more information. I try to give them comprehensive stories that need to be adjusted for length.

I also never take the subs for granted by giving them shoddy copy which they will have to spend hours editing. Their job is to check the facts, not straighten out your poor grammar all the time. Have respect for what they do.

I want to add here that no journalism school, however high its standards, can replicate a newsroom nor can it provide the experience you need to survive in a profession that requires interacting every day with people, both colleagues and outsiders, so here I would like to roll out a few points.

Working in an office with almost 50 people and being the junior-most staff member, as I am, it is impossible to avoid getting involved in office politics or in so-called healthy banter. But know your limits and, without seeming too aloof, keep a safe distance from controversy. For example, if two senior colleagues are pulling each other’s legs in a sarcastic manner, it would be a good idea to quietly disappear from the scene.

Don’t ever involve colleagues in your personal life unless you trust them absolutely. The consequences of that can be dangerous.

At all times, watch your back because if you don’t, there will be no one to catch you when you fall.

P.S. Before I started writing this piece, I put together some points on a sticky note. That is a good practice to institute. Try it out yourself.

TAPASYA SAYS SOMEBODY ADDED THIS ARTICLE TO A WIKIPEDIA ENTRY ON CYBERCHONDRIA SO NOW "EVERY TIME YOU GOOGLE MY NAME, THIS ONE SHOWS UP".

• Two years ago, Tapasya travelled to Dubai to work as an intern with Gulf News. Read about her experience here: "DUBAI DIARY: COVERING HOT EVENTS, DISCOVERING COOL STUFF".

For only Rs.154, enhance your reporting and writing skills

This past week I have been reading Everything You Wanted To Know about Freelance Journalism (But Didn't Know Whom To Ask). And as I came to the end of each well-written, information-rich, filled-to-the-brim-with-practical-advice chapter, I would think, "What a wonderful book this is for all my students who are working as print journalists."

Sure, the title seems to indicate that this book is only useful for freelance writers, but, really, what Kavitha Rao and Charukesi Ramadurai have done is produced a brilliant "ideas" book for anyone working as a journalist, freelance or otherwise.

For instance, there is a chapter titled "How Do You Write a Feature?". Rao and Ramadurai pack more helpful material into 38 pages than many other Indian authors of similar works manage to put together in a whole book. We get not only excellent advice on how to write features but also relevant examples from their own articles that have been published in national and international publications, with detailed explanations of why their approach and style succeeded.

In another chapter, "What Is a Pitch? And Why Is it Important?", we learn how to pitch our stories to our editors, an essential skill for reporters (and, of course, freelance writers). And in "What Makes a Great Interview?", Rao and Ramadurai provide an extremely useful Interviewing 101 guide.

For serious journalists, especially for those who are starting out and also for those who are a few years old in the business, each of these chapters alone is worth the price of the book.

There are another dozen chapters that are as enlightening as the three I have chosen to highlight above. Each chapter is virtually bursting with ideas — ideas for stories, ideas in terms of structure and style, ideas that will help you thrive as a reporter or feature writer or columnist. (Even subs will be able to pick up some good tips from this book.)

I consider myself an experienced journalist but I have learnt so much from Everything You Wanted To Know about Freelance Journalism that I wish I had got my hands on it when I was starting out. I would have been much better at what I was doing.

This is unquestionably the best book of its kind and I have no hesitation in recommending it highly. Place an order for it on Amazon... today. (The cover price is Rs.250. When I was looking to purchase a copy for the college library, I found it selling on Amazon for Rs.175. The price on Amazon today is Rs.154.)

• Interestingly, both authors are based in Bangalore. Their contact details are available on their respective websites: Kavitha Rao, Charukesi Ramadurai. 

• If I have one quibble about the book, it concerns the cover. What were the publishers (Westland) thinking when they decided to go with a typewriter, for heaven's sake, as the cover image?

How Shammi Kapoor saved the life of a Time journalist

BOBBY GHOSH

Bobby Ghosh, the deputy international editor of Time and former Baghdad bureau chief, writes in the magazine that he was never much of a Shammi Kapoor fan: "I found his over-the-top acting style a little too much to take. But I quickly found that the best way to break the ice with people I met in Iraq was to ask if they remembered 'Shaami Kaboor', which is how they pronounced his name."

Then came an incident in the summer of 2003. "I was reporting from a small village west of Baghdad, known to be a stronghold of Saddam loyalists who were fighting against U.S. troops," writes Ghosh.

He continues:

My translator and I were taking a chance that as a person of brown skin, my presence would not rouse any special suspicions. Things were going well for a while: My translator thought it best to introduce me as an 'a journalist from India,' which was, in the narrowest definition, true. People spoke candidly about their love of Saddam and hatred for the U.S.

We were taken to meet the "Colonel," a 50-something man with an impressive moustache who was in charge of the village's fighters. He was a little more reserved that the others, and answered my questions warily. After the few moments, he asked me, in English, "Who do you work for?"

Reflexively, I replied, "TIME Magazine."

He frowned. "Times, of London?" he asked.

"No, TIME, al-Amreekiyya," I replied.

Immediately, he picked up his AK-47 and pointed it to my forehead. "You American?" he shouted.

"I'm from India," I said.

"No, you're American," he said again. "You will die."

What happened next? And how does Shammi Kapoor figure in this story? Read "How a Late Bollywood Icon Saved This Correspondent's Life".

• UPDATE (October 2, 2013): Bobby Ghosh is now Time's international editor. Another change at the magazine: Nancy Gibbs has just taken over as the managing editor. Read "Woman on top. About Time, some would say".

How wait-and-watch policy paid off for Bangalore Mirror journalist

S. Kushala, the intrepid Bangalore Mirror journalist, writes in Monday's edition:

When we were tipped off about a retired judge making his own way to take an illegal turn on M G Road towards Rest House Crescent Road, we brushed it off as a prank. But since our khabri is a reliable one, we thought of checking it out for ourselves. We were told that a unique “ribbon cutting” ceremony takes place almost every morning on MG Road.

Two photographers and this correspondent stationed themselves strategically at the entrance of Rest House Crescent Road on MG Road last week, between 8-9.30 am. We could not believe our eyes when on Saturday, the incident actually happened.

And what happened became an exclusive Page One story (see below) for the newspaper that prides itself on breaking news:

THE STORY THAT GRABBED BANGALOREANS' ATTENTION ON MONDAY.

AREN'T THOSE HEADLINES BRILLIANT?

Read the full story here (Monday, July 4, Pages 1 and 2).

Incidentally, even as I am writing this, S. Kushala is at Commits addressing the new students, talking to them about the joys of journalism, and discussing this very story with them.

Turning dross (from a press release) into gold (news that readers will want to read)

What happens when a news report based on a press release and using sentences from the press release does not acknowledge the source? And, worse, the reporter actually takes a byline for it?

This was the subject of my Reading Room post yesterday: "Have you heard of 'churnalism'?"

That post was inspired by a press release (I have copied it below) that had a lot of useful information about IJNet, a website for journalists and would-be journalists but, as is the case with most press releases, it was not an interesting read. Nor was it an easy read.

How could I turn it into a news item? Or write about IJNet on The Reading Room? The thought process involved in the rewriting may give you an insight into how the dross from a press release can be turned into gold: news that readers will want to read.

Here is the press release:

International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), is a non-profit, professional organization headquartered in the U.S. ICFJ runs a website, the International Journalists’ Network -- http://ijnet.org/ which offers many resources of interest to young as well as mid-career journalists.

India is fortunate to have had good journalism institutes and outstanding journalists who have helped shape a media that’s largely independent of both government and business. Still, with new challenges like digital media, the definition and skills of journalism continue to evolve. This is where IJNet could help meet a need, helping young and mid-career journalists to continue their professional education by staying in touch with their peers worldwide and tracking new trends.

While you would want to explore this website yourself, we thought we should draw your attention to a few highlights announced on the site:
    *Innovative news projects in digital journalism funded by Google
    *Courses on mobile reporting from cellphones; also courses on development and diversity issues and journalism for social change.
    *Internship programs that enable journalists to work at US media organizations
    *Fellowships in investigative journalism at the University of California and Berkeley School of Journalism
    *Blogs and other competitions on global energy issues
    *Live chats with prize-winning journalists

More recently, the website offered a Census of India photography contest. Sometimes the site also offers travel grants to international seminars of special interest to journalists.

Other features of the website include:
    *Journalism resources and news: Where you can find information on everything from basic reporting to healthcare journalism to new media
    *Community content: Where you can easily upload your own valuable resources to share with the world
    *Specialized blogs written by IJNet editors
    *Discussion groups on hot topics: Where you can sound off on issues that matter to you!

Discussion posts cover topics like “Should news sites be held responsible for user comments?”, “Should journalists help investigate crimes?”, “To what degree should journalists protect privacy?” and the ethics and issues involving Wikileaks. These are issues being debated also in India and our journalists could share their own views and approaches with the rest of the world.

The site also has a bank of articles on multimedia and digital journalism and videos on disaster reporting, maintaining a healthy broadcast voice (for broadcast journalists), and using Google maps in online stories.

As I wrote above, there is a lot of useful information here but the sentence construction, the choice of words — the very structure of the press release — soon had my eyes glazing over. And I began feeling disconnected.

What to do?

I needed to study the website first in order to think of something interesting to replace that turgid intro, so I clicked on the link provided in the press release. Voila! I found my news peg right there on the website: a reference to "churnalism". And this is what I came up with for an opener in the post I published yesterday:

Sometimes newspapers base a news report on a press release. Nothing wrong with that when the newspaper makes the source clear to readers by including this line (or a variant) at the appropriate place in the report: "...according to a company press release."

But what happens when a news report based on a press release and using sentences from the press release does not acknowledge the source? And, worse, the reporter actually takes a byline for it? (This happened to me once — a press release I sent out to Bangalore newspapers on behalf of Commits was reproduced almost verbatim in The Hindu with the reporter attaching her name at the end.)

That is called "churnalism". Also known as "cut-and-paste journalism".

It's only in the fifth paragraph of my post that I introduced IJNet.

But I believe that Poynter is also an excellent website for journalism resources, so keeping my student audience in mind, I included this line at the end of that fifth paragraph:

Along with Poynter, IJNet is the go-to site for anyone serious about a career in journalism.

Then, having introduced "churnalism", I returned to it. I explained the term by quoting an example from IJNet and then concluded the post by expounding on the lessons to be learnt from this particular episode of "churnalism".

At the end, since I was writing a blog post and not a full-fledged news item, I attributed the "source" of this press release. (Let me make it clear here that Commitscion Shruti Upadhyay only forwarded it to me.)

I would like to believe that what I have written (read the post in its entirety here) is more interesting to read than the press release.

Also, if a PR professional had sent the press release to me with the intention of getting some publicity for IJNet, he or she would have no reason to quibble.

Now this is what I call a win-win situation. Do you agree?

Have you heard of "churnalism"?

Sometimes newspapers base a news report on a press release. Nothing wrong with that when the newspaper makes the source clear to readers by including this line (or a variant) at the appropriate place in the report: "...according to a company press release."

But what happens when a news report based on a press release and using sentences from the press release does not acknowledge the source? And, worse, the reporter actually takes a byline for it? (This happened to me once — a press release I sent out to Bangalore newspapers on behalf of Commits was reproduced almost verbatim in The Hindu with the reporter attaching her name at the end.)

That is called "churnalism". Also known as "cut-and-paste journalism".

Or, if you prefer a more refined phrase, you engage in "churnalism" when you rework news articles from press releases.

I first came across this term on the International Journalists' Network, or IJNet. The website offers a slew of resources for journalists, both newcomers and veterans, including tips on reporting and editing, and news of scholarships and job opportunities. Along with Poynter, IJNet is the go-to site for anyone serious about a career in journalism.

Now, back to "churnalism". In a recent post on IJNet, Dana Liebelson has profiled the website that exposes cases of "churnalism". Liebelson followed up by contacting a reporter whose story in The Guardian on a supermarket chain "had 1,479 characters overlapping with the press release".

Liebelson writes:

The circumstances under which she says it was written will sound familiar to many staff reporters.

“It was a company announcement, it was new and unexpected so we wrote a straight news story like everyone else,” [Julia] Kollewe told IJNet via email. “Also bear in mind that it was a Sunday for Monday story so there were fewer opportunities for original reporting. There was one reporter (me) who wrote everything that day. You can rest assured that not all stories are like that.”

So what are the lessons to be learnt from this particular episode of "churnalism"? One, do not pass off a press release as your own work. Two, there will be work pressure tempting you to pass off a press release as your own work — figure out how you are going to deal with it. It may not be easy but it's not that difficult, either.

• Thank you, Shruti Upadhyay (Class of 2005), account manager with Edelman India, for the IJNet tip-off.
• Also read: Turning dross (from a press release) into gold (news that readers will want to read)

How journalism guru Roy Peter Clark helped to turn a classified ad into a heartwarming newspaper story

"Bird — Cockatiel, grey with white face. St. Pete Beach area. Whistles at toes!  Heartbroken. [Phone number]..."

This was the classified ad that senior journalist and columnist Roy Peter Clark of Poynter Online saw in Florida's St. Petersburg Times (now renamed Tampa Bay Times). But why was Clark looking at the classifieds in the first place? And how did this ad then become a news story?

First, the answer to the first question: Clark is writing a new book titled Help! For Writers. "The book will list 25 of the most common writing problems, with 10 suggested solutions for each," he writes on his Poynter blog. "The problem in question was 'I am out of story ideas.' "

Clark continues:

...what better place to find [stories] than in the news.

Begin with the small stories, the ones that play inside the paper. Look for announcements of events you might write about. Scour the classified ads, in the paper and online.

He says he realised then that he needed a real-life example and he rushed downstairs to grab a copy of that day's St. Petersburg Times.

And now comes the story about the story:

Then I wrote: "It took exactly 30 seconds to find the telephone number of a person who lives on the beach and is heartbroken because her cockatiel — who whistles at toes — is missing. So what are you waiting for? Get to work. Dial that number."

A little later it occurred to me that the bird story deserved more than a mention in a book that might not be published for more than a year. So I sent a message to editor Kelley Benham at the Times. I had confidence that Kelley, who once wrote an epic story about a rogue rooster named Rockadoodle Two, would give it a good look. Not only did we have a lost bird and a heartbroken owner, but the bird apparently had a foot fetish.

Kelley messaged me back that reporter Stephanie Hayes was "all over" the story. And she was, producing a piece that got good play in the paper, and told the sad tale of an old man living on St. Pete Beach, whose beloved bird, named Shadow for its gray feathers, had flown away.

All novice reporters and aspiring journalists and college students working on the editorial desk of their newspaper should read Clark's post to learn what happened next. And to learn how to originate and develop local stories. Because that is the big challenge, isn't it? How do you find stories every day? And how do you write them so that they are good enough for your publication?

Read Roy Peter Clark's post in its entirety: "Need a Story Idea? Check Lost and Found". And then read Clark's superlative column on how to tighten up your writing.

• For some practical tips on finding stories, read "100 places to shop for stories", by Gregg McLachlan, on the News College website.

• And also check out this Reading Room post: "Point your mouse to Poynter" (Poynter Online claims it has "everything you need to be a better journalist". I believe it.).

• Photo courtesy:  St. Petersburg Times/ TampaBay.com

The 1 a.m. call that led to a scoop

Bangalore Mirror has been publishing some hard-hitting stories on its front page for some time now. Yesterday it took the police to task for unlawfully keeping a law student in custody (October 23, Page 1) for 16 hours and not even informing his frantic family about his whereabouts.

Today, October 24, it has headlined, with telling photographs, the case of a family traumatised by a drunk BBMP official who went on a rampage at 1 a.m. Of special interest here to media students is the first-person account by the reporter, Manasi Paresh Kumar. Here is the intro:

I WAS JUST TURNING in for the night at around 1.30 when my phone began ringing. Wondering who it could be at that hour, I was taken aback to see it was Dinesh Kumar, the president of the RWA in Panduranganagar. I had met the elderly gentleman a couple of days ago with regard to the story about Vijay Patil’s harassment and demolition orders. Though I was expecting bad news, the fear in Kumar’s voice was unnerving. “Patil has come with a demolition team and vehicles to (Parameshwar) Bhat’s house. He has hit him and is now threatening to go for the house. What do we do?” was his shaky query. Assuring Kumar that I was on my way, I reached the place in just under 15 minutes along with our photojournalist P Muthu.

When you're a reporter you have to be prepared to be rung by your sources at all odd hours. In Manasi's case, the phone call that came as she was about to go to bed gave her a Page One exclusive. Which is more important for her than the fact that she was up all night, as she relates in her first-person account, and only got to return home at 6 a.m.

Read her account in its entirety here: "OUR REPORTER WAS THERE WHEN IT ALL HAPPENED".

The king of the sting

That would be Mazher Mahmood whose latest expose has blown the lid off the so-called "spot-fixing" scandal involving Pakistan's cricketers. Who is Mazher Mahmmod? There's a bio on Wikipedia, the most interesting fact in it being the enigmatic nature of the man on account of his job profile:

Mahmood works secretively, rarely going into the News International offices. Written into Mahmood's contract is a clause stating that his photograph will never be published in the newspaper. If he features in photos that accompany his stories, his face is always concealed and a silhouette is used next to his byline.

And here's another interesting tidbit from that bio:

News Of The World claims he has brought 234 criminals to justice. He often poses as a sheikh in order to gain his target's trust, and is also known as the "Fake sheikh." In September 2008, he wrote a book titled Confessions of a Fake Sheik: The King Of The Sting Reveals All, published by Harper Collins.

Wouldn't we just love to get hold of a copy of that book? We would get to learn how an undercover reporter gets information that translates into a worldwide scoop. We would also get an insight into an aspect of journalism — sting operations — that, in the wrong hands, can have many unpleasant ramifications.

In the meantime, we can only watch this particular sting operation unfold before our eyes (check out the four-minute video) and marvel at the chutzpah of the reporter and the advances in technology that made it possible for News of the World to make headlines around the world this week.

• UPDATE (July 20, 1011): What really prompted Rupert Murdoch to shut down a 168-year-old newspaper? Read about it here: "The end of the News of the World".

A Pulitzer Prize in 2010... and a Gannett Award in 2011

Sanjay Bhatt, who's a staff writer with The Seattle Times in Washington State in the US, was a speaker at the Commits seminar 'Expressions 2005' in Bangalore. (He also happens to be my nephew.) On Monday, Sanjay and his colleagues at the paper won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News coverage. Here he gives us a detailed account of how that coverage was put together:

It began at 8:15 a.m. on Sunday, November 29, last year. A felon walked into a small town coffeehouse and assassinated four police officers sitting at a table. He then disappeared, with dogs, police, and the media on his trail. He surfaced hours later in a quiet Seattle neighborhood where, just weeks earlier, another police officer had been killed by an assassin. Everyone was on edge.

The Seattle Times newsroom mobilised and responded with unprecedented speed to this deadliest attack on law enforcement in state history: We were the first news outlet to report the name of the suspect, Maurice Clemmons, and the first to report that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee had granted clemency years earlier to Clemmons, freeing him from prison.

We quickly produced in-depth profiles of the four deceased officers, who collectively left behind nine children. We used social media like Twitter, Google Wave, and Dipity to enrich our coverage and reach a wider audience. And we kept digging up scoops every hour and every day because of the deep expertise and sourcing of our reporting staff, eventually leading to a comprehensive profile of the killer and his tangled family ties.

Earlier this week, The Seattle Times received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News coverage. You can read all about it here.

There were many, many people who made our coverage so distinctive. So many people, in fact, that it's why the Pulitzer was actually awarded to no single individual but to the entire staff, including editors, researchers, web producers, photographers, video producers, graphic designers, page designers, copy editors, and company managers. We're lucky to work at a "newspaper" that has evolved into a multi-platform, cutting-edge news organisation.

Like others, I played a supporting role: In the cold pre-dawn air, I posted dispatches from the scene where police had surrounded a Seattle house in which they believed Clemmons was hiding. I constructed the Clemmons family tree from interviews and other people's notes. I made lots of phone calls, many fruitless, to Clemmons family members. Some of those calls eventually led to some in-depth interviews, which added context and nuance to our profile of Maurice Clemmons.

You'll notice on that page this important note to readers:

HOW THIS STORY WAS REPORTED AND WRITTEN
The story was reported by staff writers Ken Armstrong; Sanjay Bhatt; Nicole Brodeur; Jack Broom; Charles Brown; Jim Brunner; Mike Carter in Marianna and Little Rock, Ark.; Christine Clarridge; Sara Jean Green; Susan Kelleher; Jonathan Martin; Justin Mayo; Steve Miletich; Maureen O'Hagan; Nick Perry; Eric Pryne; Jennifer Sullivan; Craig Welch; Christine Willmsen; and news researchers Gene Balk, David Turim and Miyoko Wolf. Armstrong and O'Hagan were the lead writers.

Like so many newspapers, The Seattle Times was on the brink of bankruptcy and closure last year. Morale has been low. The Pulitzer really validates what we've been doing to create a print-online news company that serves the community with distinction.

JUBILANT JOURNALISTS

Seattle Times newsroom staffers celebrate after receiving news that

the paper had won a Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News.

The Pulitzer is The Times' eighth. (Photo courtesy: The Seattle Times)

• To read an earlier post about Sanjay Bhatt's work for The Seattle Times, go here.

• UPDATE/June 15, 2011: Sanjay has won another award. He has been selected as the 2011 winner of the Gannett Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism. The Seattle Times submitted an enterprise story and a data visualisation Sanjay put together on the failure by the nation's biggest banks to honour their agreements with Treasury to modify eligible homeowner loans. This award comes with a $5,000 prize.

• UPDATE/February 21, 2012: Watch an interview with Sanjay Bhatt on Seattle's local TV news channel here.