Practising Journalism: Values, Constraints, Implications

Practising Journalism Practising Journalism Values, Constraints, Implications Editor Nalini Rajan SAGE Publications New Delhi Thousand Oaks London Copyright Nalini Rajan, 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. First published in 2005 by Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd B-42, Panchsheel Enclave New Delhi 110 017 www.indiasage.com Sage Publications Inc 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 Sage Publications Ltd 1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP Published by Tejeshwar Singh for Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd, phototypeset in 10/12 Century Schoolbook by Prism Graphix, and printed at Chaman Enterprises, New Delhi. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Practising journalism: values, constraints, implications/editor, Nalini Rajan. p. cm. Includes index. 1. Journalism—India. 2. Journalistic ethics—India. I. Rajan, Nalini, 1954PN5374.P73 079′.54—dc22 2005 2005015653 ISBN: 0–7619–3378–6 (Hb) 0–7619–3379–4 (Pb) 81–7829–521–0 (India-Hb) 81–7829–522–9 (India-Pb) Sage Production Team: Sarita Vellani, Shinjini Chatterjee, Jeevan Nair and Santosh Rawat Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction Nalini Rajan vii viii 1 Part I: The Core Values 1. Flourishing Papers, Floundering Craft: The Press and the Law B.R.P. Bhaskar 2. Defining the Principles of Ethical Journalism N. Ram 3. Prabhat Khabar: An Experiment in Journalism Harivansh 4. Investigative Journalism: Those Who Expose Us Dilip D’Souza 5. Publicising the Private: The Right to Privacy against Media Intrusion Mukund Padmanabhan 6. The Untold Story of Television Coverage Valerie Kaye 19 37 46 63 72 81 Part II: Specialisation within the Craft 7. The Greening of India’s Scribes Darryl D’Monte 8. Engendering the Public Sphere Pamela Philipose 9. Gender, Identity and the Tamil Popular Press V. Geetha 10. Sports Journalism: Going Against the Grain Nirmal Shekar 89 103 115 125 vi Practising Journalism 11. Agriculture: The Missing Dimension Devinder Sharma 12. Urban Reporting: Citizens and ‘Others’ Kalpana Sharma 134 148 Part III: The Constraints of Practice 13. Porous Legalities and the Dilemmas of Contemporary Media Lawrence Liang 14. Covering Caste: Visible Dalit, Invisible Brahmin S. Anand 15. The Relevance of the Urdu-language Media M.H. Lakdawala 16. Iron Veils: Reporting Sub-conventional Warfare in India Praveen Swami 17. Embedded Journalists: Lessons from the Iraq War Shyam Tekwani 18. Mainstream Indian Media: 1990s and After Bindu Bhaskar 19. The Importance of Being Earnest As Well As Entertaining Robert Brown 155 172 198 207 220 231 242 Part IV: Implications for the Future 20. The Public Sphere of Print Journalism Robin Jeffrey 21. Alternative Spaces in the Broadcast Media S. Gautham 22. Censorship ké Peeché Kya Hai? K.P. Jayasankar and Anjali Monteiro 23. News in the Age of Instant Communication Mahalakshmi Jayaram 24. Te