Why do journalists in India not write books?
Seema Singh -
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 3:29 PM
Well, I am not asking this (for, to some extent, I know why) but the versatile historian and sociologist Ramachandra Guha is.
Last Friday, at the Bangalore launch of the book The Long Revolution-The birth and growth of India's IT Industry by Dinesh C Sharma, science editor at Mail Today, Guha spoke passionately (as he always does) about the conspicuous absence of books by journalists, particularly beat reporters.
And he has put money (and energy, his as well as Nandan Nilekani's) where his words are. As one of the two managing trustees of New India Foundation which gives book-writing grants to scholars and journalists, he is trying to inspire journalists to take up book writing. (I haven't read Dinesh's book yet but you can read about it at this blogpost.)
Why don't you folks write? ------------------- Pix: Hemant Mishra
Guha has a point; or maybe two. India has fascinating stories, and we journos do an awful job of telling them. Journalists in India (excluding political editors/writers), hardly write books, whereas in many other countries, particularly in the US, book contracts are sought and given more liberally. In fact, I have seen writers clinching book contracts soon after they have published a series of news reports or features in their newspapers or magazines.
I think the absence of series or long-form writing in Indian media is one reason why journalists don't think of books. With hardly any training and on-the-job experience of writing well-researched long narratives, they are stuck in the 350-500-word-news cycle.
In fact while Guha thought aloud about the reasons that day, Sadagopan found it a good opportunity to give back to his "journo friends" his little piece of mind (of course sugar-coated) on how they rush from one soundbite to another, not even remembering their own previous reports, and often tossing the context and facts to the wind.
Needless to say I was squirming in the plastic chair at Crossword (at least I haven't done that kind of journalism in a long, long time) and so were some others but then receiving such comments is part of the profession.
But next time I meet Guha I'll ask him, even if journalists get grants from organizations like NIF, will they get their job if they go back after a year of book writing leave? Shouldn't NIF also educate editors (or top managers at publications) that letting journalists work on books is a long-term investment which will give them handsome payback?
In fact, curious how Dinesh managed to write such a well-researched book while working at Mail Today, I asked him the secret and the alacrity with which he said: "Oh...I had finished my work before joining Mail Today in late 2007", said it all!