Life without exclusives

It was on NDTV Profit during the Monday late evening gone by. An interview show with Shankar Sharma, VC and director – strategic affairs, First Global about the economic trends, share market, which sector is doing what and which companies one should invest in and so on. While surfing the channels I got hooked to CNBC TV18 where the same person was being interviewed. It is not uncommon these days to see a same person being interviewed twice uttering the same thing, well almost, for the same set of audience but for different channels. I checked and found that both channels were sensible enough not to flash “exclusive” which has now become a very “common” thing for a journalist has to live with and die for.

This brings me to recall one of my friend’s incident who reports for The Economic Times. One day that friend of mine got a story. She filed it diligently. And it appeared in the next day edition. After that she had a bad time because the same story was carried by its competitor Business Standard. She was asked how come BS got that!!?? She was clueless.

My friend’s point was - in an interaction case, if the company wishes to dole out info to each and every media house, they are entitled to do so. What can one do as a journalist? If PR craves for mileage through col cms, we journos crave for exclusivity. The friend was told to ask that person to give ET only exclusives. That’s it.

I recall myself telling to so many people whom I meet to offer me with exclusive info each time there is a scope for one. Interestingly, it really becomes difficult to keep track of that person thereafter. This also highlights how difficult the life has become of a journalist. You are constantly under scanner. As a print media person, life seems to be revolving around deadlines, word counts, meetings, PR relations and incessant phone calls. Not to mention, in that very structure of survival, we have to ensure there is individuality as a reporter through the exclusivity of information I provide to my readers.

The trouble is ---- there is no end to it. Every week approach with a new set of challenges (that is actually the life of professionals irrespective of job profiles they are up to). I remember my dear friend Anshuman Gunjan Dutta, who was covering Aarushi murder case for a daily over a month, was so exhausted that he even dreamt Aarushi’s murder! He regretted later that he couldn’t visualise the murderer, otherwise he would have solved the case before CBI. Poor guy, I must say.

But that is the reality. Every now and then, the professional life takes over the personal one. We talk work; think about it even when with family, friends, etc. Even sadder part is that people from all walks of life expect a reporter to know each and every thing. My defense: I’m human and I’m learning, and therefore I am bound to err…

A lop side of being in reporting profession is the fight to retain the very freedom of a reporter; work with an individualistic thought process, knowledge and understanding of the subject. Every person has an opinion of what we write, how we do so and so on… as most of the time we are supposed to fill a story with needless word counts, covering those people who don’t make sense of what they talk of and also, keep our professional acquaintances in good books. Yet, in the same breathe I would also add that there is nothing to boast about the quality of work we deliver, which is expected to be delivered on time taking account of all the disruptions we go through. Add to that the obligation of a journalist to retain a healthy relationship with the source constantly, which by no means is an easy job in the world. The silver lining though is that we do make good friends in that course, even if that counts a few.

My social friends often ask me, “Where are you? Aisa bhi kya busy ho life mein. Hum bhi to kaam karte hai, yaar!” I really find myself with loss of words and genuine reasoning. I guess the life of my industry peers is quite same. While a reporter should ideally become an individual through his or her work, we would find more exclusive reporters without individual (read personal) lifestyle.

Our job is after us all the time, irrespective where we are and with whom. The immediate suggestion would be time management, which I agree to. But time hi to manage nahi hota yaaron. I am swinging between exclusivity to individuality, where both are mutually exclusive to each other. I wish to move towards the latter, later.