Our Biggest Challenge
A young media professional looks at the future of media and attempts to figure out solutions.
Starting of as a young media professional can be intimidating. All through Journalism school you are reminded of your responsibilities as a journalist and how the power of the pen which is entrusted in you, should be judiciously used. As a student last year in one of the most reputed Journalism schools in the country I learnt what a journalist should do and should not do. I intently listened to the tales our professors, who were media professionals themselves, narrated. And I realized almost everyone was unhappy with the state of affairs in the media today. Everyone pointed out the numerous faults that they saw in Newspapers and Magazines that they subscribed to. It is true that content quality could have diminished in some of the established newspapers of the country since their inception but not everything is wrong with the media. In fact many things are much better than what they earlier were. For example Journalist’s salaries.
In my opinion the ultimate judgment on a newspaper is passed by the readers. We as media professionals have every right to be critical of our work and engage in self evaluation but a newspaper is dependent on circulation of the end of the day. And if readers have no complaints about what is dished out to them then there is very little that we as media persons can do. If a vast majority in this country decide to read The Times of India for whatever it is then we as journalists have to find some other way to see how the issues we have with content in such a paper can be sorted out. I have heard many people complain about The Times of India but if you ask them whether they would like to shift to any other publication their answer is a prompt “no”. And if you asked them why they would continue to read The Times of India in spite of the complaints they had, they either said that they were too used to it or did not have an answer.
Thus I realized that we as journalists cannot determine what is the remedy for the problems we see in publications. I know I am too young to comment on what is wrong or right but the truth is that in spite of what we have to say the circulation of papers like The Times of India is increasing. And this has been the trend for the last few years. While pursuing my diploma in journalism and mass communication I had to do a research project on newspapers in Mumbai. I chose three English dailies for this purpose. And I found out that there was an attempt to sell more newspapers by manipulating content. This leads me to ask the question- Is the aggressive marketing policies adopted by publications right? I do not know the answer to this question but what instantly comes to mind is that today every industry functions in a competitive atmosphere and if entrepreneurs do not push a product aggressively then the chances of that product surviving is vey little. Hence it becomes necessary for newspapers to market themselves and often editorial support is engaged for this purpose. This becomes a moral issue with most journalists. But then today a media professional earns a salary that is comparable with any other industry and his money comes from the profits that publications make. And to ensure that these profits keep coming in, an aggressive marketing strategy has to be maintained. The point to which editorial support can be called for to assist in these strategies is a decision editors have to make and as future editors this seems to be one of the most challenging jobs for people like me. We cannot rule out the fact that, for newspapers to pay the kind of salaries they pay nowadays, circulation and revenue in turn has to increase. The challenge is to fit this into a plan whereby the business need of media organizations like newspapers are addressed without comprising on the principles that traditional journalism professes. And as young media professionals we are looking to find solutions to the challenges we face.
My second observation as a beginner in his industry is that we seem to have taken the view that objectivity and impartiality have to be sacrificed for marketing and selling a newspaper well. I believe that we can find a meeting point for these two different yet critical concerns of a newspaper. A newspaper cannot afford to be partial and unfair. At the same time it has to sell and make money for it to survive and continue to provide impartial, objective news to its readers. So we cannot ignore one at the cost of the other. Therefore for future editors we have to ensure that a newspaper dos a good job in bringing news to its readers and post profits. In the future the marketing and editorial teams have to work together without invading each other’s space. That according to me is our biggest challenge as members of the journalistic fraternity.
I am optimistic about the future. I believe the kind of exposure we as media students got really helped us in knowing our craft. We are story tellers at the end of the day. But the matter does not end here. Our stories have to sell also. We are equipped with the knowledge and understanding to handle this issue. Its time we put that knowledge into practice and made a difference to our profession. We have the skills to do so. And I am sure that things are not as gloomy as they are made out to be. The institution of the press has survived great storms in the past and this hardly a challenge when compared to those times. So we are in fact headed for a better and brighter future.
A young media professional looks at the future of media and attempts to figure out solutions.
Starting of as a young media professional can be intimidating. All through Journalism school you are reminded of your responsibilities as a journalist and how the power of the pen which is entrusted in you, should be judiciously used. As a student last year in one of the most reputed Journalism schools in the country I learnt what a journalist should do and should not do. I intently listened to the tales our professors, who were media professionals themselves, narrated. And I realized almost everyone was unhappy with the state of affairs in the media today. Everyone pointed out the numerous faults that they saw in Newspapers and Magazines that they subscribed to. It is true that content quality could have diminished in some of the established newspapers of the country since their inception but not everything is wrong with the media. In fact many things are much better than what they earlier were. For example Journalist’s salaries.
In my opinion the ultimate judgment on a newspaper is passed by the readers. We as media professionals have every right to be critical of our work and engage in self evaluation but a newspaper is dependent on circulation of the end of the day. And if readers have no complaints about what is dished out to them then there is very little that we as media persons can do. If a vast majority in this country decide to read The Times of India for whatever it is then we as journalists have to find some other way to see how the issues we have with content in such a paper can be sorted out. I have heard many people complain about The Times of India but if you ask them whether they would like to shift to any other publication their answer is a prompt “no”. And if you asked them why they would continue to read The Times of India in spite of the complaints they had, they either said that they were too used to it or did not have an answer.
Thus I realized that we as journalists cannot determine what is the remedy for the problems we see in publications. I know I am too young to comment on what is wrong or right but the truth is that in spite of what we have to say the circulation of papers like The Times of India is increasing. And this has been the trend for the last few years. While pursuing my diploma in journalism and mass communication I had to do a research project on newspapers in Mumbai. I chose three English dailies for this purpose. And I found out that there was an attempt to sell more newspapers by manipulating content. This leads me to ask the question- Is the aggressive marketing policies adopted by publications right? I do not know the answer to this question but what instantly comes to mind is that today every industry functions in a competitive atmosphere and if entrepreneurs do not push a product aggressively then the chances of that product surviving is vey little. Hence it becomes necessary for newspapers to market themselves and often editorial support is engaged for this purpose. This becomes a moral issue with most journalists. But then today a media professional earns a salary that is comparable with any other industry and his money comes from the profits that publications make. And to ensure that these profits keep coming in, an aggressive marketing strategy has to be maintained. The point to which editorial support can be called for to assist in these strategies is a decision editors have to make and as future editors this seems to be one of the most challenging jobs for people like me. We cannot rule out the fact that, for newspapers to pay the kind of salaries they pay nowadays, circulation and revenue in turn has to increase. The challenge is to fit this into a plan whereby the business need of media organizations like newspapers are addressed without comprising on the principles that traditional journalism professes. And as young media professionals we are looking to find solutions to the challenges we face.
My second observation as a beginner in his industry is that we seem to have taken the view that objectivity and impartiality have to be sacrificed for marketing and selling a newspaper well. I believe that we can find a meeting point for these two different yet critical concerns of a newspaper. A newspaper cannot afford to be partial and unfair. At the same time it has to sell and make money for it to survive and continue to provide impartial, objective news to its readers. So we cannot ignore one at the cost of the other. Therefore for future editors we have to ensure that a newspaper dos a good job in bringing news to its readers and post profits. In the future the marketing and editorial teams have to work together without invading each other’s space. That according to me is our biggest challenge as members of the journalistic fraternity.
I am optimistic about the future. I believe the kind of exposure we as media students got really helped us in knowing our craft. We are story tellers at the end of the day. But the matter does not end here. Our stories have to sell also. We are equipped with the knowledge and understanding to handle this issue. Its time we put that knowledge into practice and made a difference to our profession. We have the skills to do so. And I am sure that things are not as gloomy as they are made out to be. The institution of the press has survived great storms in the past and this hardly a challenge when compared to those times. So we are in fact headed for a better and brighter future.
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