(Aqsa Junejo)
Once a senior political correspondent called me up and told me how good a reporter I was. I, of course, felt flattered. My senior lectured me on the habit of fact and cross checking the story before filing it. He also advised me not to follow syndicates and make my own way and let others follow me. I thanked him for his time and precious pieces of advice.
The next day, the same senior called me up again and shared an important story of a high profile meeting at the Chief Secretary Office, Sindh Secretariat and asked me to file it without any hesitation. Have you filed the story already Sir? I asked. “I will, but I wanted to give you some good break”, he responded. Sir, thanks, but how can I file your story? I asked out of confusion. “Listen, I have been covering Sindh Government for past twenty years and there has never been an incident when my story is bounced. If you don’t trust your seniors, I fear, you won’t go far”, he sounded a bit offended.
Story was about Anti-Corruption department’s raid at a government office, sealing the record and taking suspected person for corruption into custody. All I had to do was to reconfirm it, which I did. The story proved to be wrong. Upon telling very respected senior about no such meeting taking place, on which he hung up.
So readers, sharing the story in no way suggested that all seniors are the same but crosscheck what you are being fed and told. Nobody can file any story out of respect for seniors. Unfortunately, from last two years, I have noticed our new entrants into the field blindly following and filing the stories shared on WhatsApp groups by the syndicates, I have witnessed them copying the same and, unfortunately, being aired on the TV too.
One example was a story of casualties in Jinnah Hospital during severe heat wave crisis. A reporter shared the casualties number as 09 on a specific day and health reporters without taking the pain of calling up hospital to confirm, filed it. Later, we found out that the number of casualties was just 01. Examples might just go on.
Unfortunately in the TV newsrooms, because of hassle, little or no ethical reporting techniques are being taught to new entrants who have little or no interest in doing at least some back ground research or fact checking. It is proving to be very harmful for TV medium.
TV is pretty attractive medium and who doesn’t want to be on the TV and become celebrity over night? It feels super good when people are eager enough to take selfies with you to post on Facebook or Instagram. What we fail to realise is, with great power comes great responsibility and getting a few seconds of airtime in itself is a big responsibility. Unfortunately, TV channels in Pakistan are not producing quality broadcast reporters which will ultimately prove to be lethal for the medium. Mic holders are being produced who are taught to report from the spot, that’s it.
Youngsters are made superstars in the newsroom if they just manage to get hold of CM Sindh or any high profile personality for that matter, no matter how silliest of the qquestion he/she asks. The biggest criterion is to get through the personality.
It is about time it be taken seriously; else we will only produce TV reporters who will consider themselves superstars by just being on TV no matter how shallow the reporting may be. If we let youngsters work hard to get to the screen, only then they will take it seriously. Hire trainees, train them and let them do some ground work before getting on screen. Else, the future of the electronic media news reporting looks nothing but bleak.