The Hindu Business Line : It's all in the name

During the coverage of the World Press Photo award, this journalist experienced first-hand how sometimes cardinal rules of journalism are thrown to the winds.

It was 3.30 a.m. when the cell-phone glowed "private number". Arko, my husband and a photojournalist with Reuters, had won the World Press Photo (2004) award for his picture of the woman mourning her relative killed by the fury of the tsunami. As we soaked in the news, interview requests, largely from the Western media, poured in. The Indian media gradually warmed up to the news that an Indian had beaten 70,000 global entries.

But, the moment of pride for me personally ended up an eye-opener professionally. A reporter myself, I had to scurry for cover as I watched inaccurate quotes, factual errors and sloppy homework punctuate the local coverage of the award. "What is this VPP award?" asked one reporter. "It is not VPP, but WPP, World Press Photo... No, it is not Kudalur, it is Cuddalore, in Tamil Nadu!" I heard Arko explain to this reporter.

But why am I surprised? The same newspaper swapped the bylines of photographers during the coverage of the Gujarat riots in 2002. The picture of Qutubuddin Ansari pleading with folded hands during the riots was carried alongside a picture of a relaxed-looking Ansari, after the riots. Ansari's first picture, which went on to become a symbol of the Gujarat carnage, was shot by Arko and the post-riot picture was photographed by his Reuters colleague, a foreigner. The daily, however, carried these two pictures, interchanging the bylines. A rejoinder was carried the next day.

But why did the sub-editor make such an error? Indians don't take good pictures? Or was it that the sub-editor couldn't care about accuracy?

One Indian magazine, in its year-ender, carried a full-page picture of Ansari with the byline `Ashok Datta'! An "unputdownable" paper from Kolkata misquoted Arko and wrongly attributed comments to the World Press jury, who at that point in time, neither Arko nor the reporter had met!

But even this did not prepare us for what was to come next. Accompanying this feature a highlighted box said the World Press Award came with a cash award of Rs One crore! The actual amount is about Rs 5 lakh. Now we fear a visit from the taxman or worse, from Mumbai's famed extortionists!

I have often wondered why people don't like journalists — well, I know now. I watched helplessly as quotes were not carried verbatim. Quite often, they were paraphrased by the reporter and yet, placed within quotes. The gospels of journalism — "check, double check and re-check" — had been consigned to the dustbin, it seemed.

And as a result, in the aftermath of the World Press coverage, Arko Datta got re-christened several times. Datta became Dutta. A television channel, attempting some bonhomie, even called him Datto. The BBC World Radio reporter took pains to understand how the name is pronounced and subsequently referred to him, correctly, as Orko (though spelt Arko) Datta.

Little details do make a world of difference in accurate reporting. But will standards for reporting get eroded further as more newspapers crowd the market? The view through the looking glass is worrisome.

Classical journalism and its holy grail of accuracy — sensitivity and homework — seem to be getting replaced by a different religion. Instant, if I may dare say, even gimmicky journalism. Maybe journalism is changing. Maybe some years down the line it will cease to be the passionate profession I wanted to be part of. May be not.

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