What is your background and how did u become a journalist?
Well, I am a global child. Have had the privilege of traveling the world since my father was in the Indian Foreign Service. I was born in London and had the opportunity to grow up in countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia and USA. About how I became a journalist, well I was never planning on becoming one. I am an MBA by qualification but the love for the medium and the quest for the daily chaos of our social fabric prompted me to become a journalist. I love every minute of it.
Was it tough to make it as a journalist after your trained to become a business professional?
Answer – Actually no. The basics taught in business management are true for life and other areas as well. Their applicability pervades all spheres. As a management student you learned to manage the daily drumming and have a cost in mind about it. In journalism, the management bit remains the same and it is about keeping up to date about daily affairs and putting things into perspective when you go on air. And having a management degree lets you see the business side of things too.
How is journalism being perceived today? Is the new generation as much in tune as you were?
The modalities of journalism still stay the same. You have to unearth and unravel the layers off a subject till you get to the core. But the interesting thing is that with social media, it has become so reactive and interactive. Information and misinformation is available on twitter and facebook and ‘whatsapp’ journalism is much popular. But the test of a true journalist is still the same; separating the chaff from the grain and differentiating between the pertinent and the inconsequential.
What is your message to the journalists of tomorrow? How can they impact without compromising their ethics?
The standards of journalism change every day. There is social, political and financial pressure on most journalists to look at things a certain way. That has killed the neutrality of the profession and a lot of media houses today are battling with this issue. My advice to budding journalists is to stick to their ethics and just focus on the stories that will have a positive impact. The active word here is impact and that is what has to be kept in mind.
The Elections in India are a big deal? How are you planning to go through them?
Well, the elections in the largest democracy in the world are here and country will witness an extravaganza that will yield the true nature of a free country. For journalists this is the biggest opportunity to explore their beloved nation and take the audience through the beauty of this complex process. Every state has its own idiosyncrasy and that is the beauty of the whole process.