Developing journalism as an institution

writes Nilratan Halder | Published: February 26, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

One of the early journalistic lessons offered to students and new entrants in the profession concerns news. How to know what news is? Academics offer a common example rather than teach a precept and this is, 'when a dog bites a man, it is no news but when a man bites a dog, it is news'. This is meant to drive the message home in an oversimplified manner. To go by this criterion, one may have to wait for the entire life without coming across a piece of such news.
The inherent message in the sentence is that it is nothing uncommon for a dog to bite a man. So it hardly makes news. Journalists with a keen sense of news will obviously differ with this simplistic definition of news. Depending on the circumstances, such a canine aggression will not only make news but also shed light on the man-animal relations. Ask people in the Western societies about stray dogs or those pet but let loose to roam about freely in villages and towns, the matter will be incomprehensible to them.
Dogs are the most trusted company for man. People spend liberally on their pets. Dogs certainly feature on top of the list. In lands of contractions like Bangladesh too, the super rich spend as much on a dog a month as can be enough for scores of poor families' yearly expenditure. Now supposing if such a pet mauls one of the members of its master's family, will it make news or not? Even if a mad dog in a village attacks several people and still it cannot be captured or killed, will it not make news? Then again, if dog bites kill the only son or daughter of a family it too will make news.
Anything of human interest is news or subject of comments or analysis. It is exactly here, the problem arises. News is simply the plain reporting of facts. But not all the practitioners of news reporting either know where to draw the line. Even when they are aware of their limitations, they would refuse to restrain themselves within the lakhsman rekha (a line drawn by Ramayana-famed Lakhsman for his sister-in-law Seeta). Sensationalisation is one extreme and comments are made when a reporter has no business to do so. Comment is definitely not free for reporters. Some media outlets here have developed the habit of offering opinions, views and comments when their prime job is simply stating the facts.
If a man bites a dog, it is more than news. An incident like this immediately warrants explanation of the situation in which someone was compelled to sink his or her teeth into a canine. Most likely, the person would better be subjected to a psychological examination. It surely is bizarre news. Instead of making interested in such an incident, it will set one thinking about the mental health of the person involved.
Appearances can be deceptive, though. A professional journalist's task is to delve deep into an incident before coming out with a story. It is at this point, the tag line attached to journalism, 'literature in a hurry' can spoil the party. Authenticity of news demands verification, checks and cross-checks. Particularly where sensitive issues or public interests are concerned, the breaking of the news can make the reporter either a hero or zero.Â Â
A whole lot of issues are kept off limit to the media. Classified news items are shelved in for ages before their declassification at a time when such incidents can only satisfy the urge of new generations to know those as part of history.
What transpires then is that there is an overriding need for developing journalism as an institution. Here is a profession that must earn its self-respect by virtue of its honesty and commitment to truth. The task of institution building depends on the honesty and integrity of the practitioners. Dedication to the profession has to be total and singular.
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