Way towards sound journalism

Recently I had an opportunity to share Reuter’s guidelines on sourcing with my journalism professor Kiran Thakur. He put those guidelines along with a small comment of mine on his blog.

That post later led to a small debate with participation from senior journalist Mahesh Vijapurkar. Vijapurkar insisted on clarity and responsibility while writing news. I pointed out some good practices being adopted by newspapers, especially mint.

Now, this latest post by mint editor Raju Narisetti tells us how ET too has decided to stick to “fundamentals of sound journalism”.

I have a mix reaction though, and a couple of questions:

1. Whether it is possible for mainstream media to hold on to such practices (formal or written reply from concerned parties before releasing the story), especially when everybody in India do not have access to email and fax ?.

2. As we see ET editor Rahul Joshi emphasizing on: “give at least 24 hours to a company to respond”, another question pops up: If mainstream newspapers too follow this, arn't they denying readers their right to know and to know at the earliest ?.

I am not really sure which way to go.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

My experiance tells me that when it comes to written reply, affected parties take much time and gets their reply written from someone who is extreamly good in playing with the words. Obviously, It dilutes the story because if the person who is suppose to answer or react on the issue gets it done by someone else, the very purpose of digging truth gets subvert.

Stories without quotes are no no. But editors should be flexible allowing stories with quotes obtained even on phone calls.

Also, quotes, especially written with much time, can complicate the issue, as in conditions when concerned person find himself cornered, he tries to divert the attention and then you have no option other than to publish his comment.

Anonymous said...

Journalism in India is changing. Be it a result of plagiarism of west, the cause is good and so are the results. So no whinning.