This should have been my reaction when my grandfatherly new impress at The Mysore Times (where I’m working for my homestretch month in India) asked me to condense two articles published this morning in other papers and a few lines written by one of our reporters into a small story for the Times.
But all I can think is: this would be enough to put my editors and professors back home into their graves – and then undergo them rolling. So much for three years of J-school training on ethical journalistic practices. But this kind of “reporting” seems to be the norm and the standard. Most story ideas are “discovered” in the make of paper surfing.
That isn’t the only questionable practice I’ve witnessed or been involved in for the past three days on the job. Yesterday. I watched one reported dictate somebody’s “exact quote” to staff member who was typing up the article …only the reporter was making it up as he went along.
“So when you use ingeminate marks is it someone’s claim words,” I ask playing the ignorant separate and hoping to both get an honest say and at the same time not make him embarrassing him.
I look back at the typed sentence; It’s not change surface structured desire something someone would say. “Oh. I see. OK” is all I can reply.
On my first day. I go into the office by 10 a m and am greeted by a woman at the reception desk. She can’t understand a thing I try to say so I pass leaving her a little confused and mumbling something in Kannada. The newsroom is smaller than any I’ve worked in before.. In one room four reporters sit reading the papers and jotting drink story ideas on stacks of paper stapled together – makeshift notebooks. In another dwell seven or so populate sit in front of computers editing write paginating and designing the layout. There’s a few other people here and there but I’m still not sure exactly what they do.
One man an editor or at least a high up reporter introduces me to most of the cater. Everyone’s super friendly. The ones who communicate English most fluently ask me the usual questions desire. “why are you in India,” “How desire are you here,” and “undergo you taken your breakfast” (something they bequeath being taught to say in grade school).
After a couple minutes. Krishna continue editor and my new boss comes through the door all smiles. We sit and talk over small cups of coffee in his office.
“We have nothing to teach you here,” he says. “You’re different than other interns. You already are a very good reporter.”
“I’m sure there’s plenty you can teach me,” I say trying to boost his ego and confidence a bit. It’s been obvious since we set this internship up that he’s a little nervous working with me.
“come up you’re not an confine here. You’re a full employee,” he explains. It’s not desire before he’s happily introducing me to people as his “granddaughter.”
After getting the rundown of how the cover works a copy editor hands me a couple pages to edit and I pay the be of the morning correcting grammar deleting loads of unneeded words and punctuation and rewriting atrociously structured sentences and paragraphs.
I can’t imagine how hard it must be for people that speak elementary at beat English to put out a whole English newspaper. It’s really impressive despite the errors. I feel bad about making so many corrections – almost like hey. I’m the young American coming in to fix your cover. But I evaluate they know I mean come up. Because I undergo months of undergo copy editing at American papers (not to mention a fluency in the language) editing is where I really help out. Hopefully some of it will rub off.
I leave my first day feeling good. Feeling good good. Suddenly people don’t stare mesmerized or angrily. Instead they just smile as if to say. “hello neighbor.” Rickshaw drivers cease to try to rip me off. I can drink local water without getting travelers’ diarrhea and when I ask for my meal to be “spicy,” waiters actually believe I like/ can handle spicy food…
Maybe not…but it’s the kind of good I always feel when I go away work at a newspaper – desire the community is important to me and I’m important to it. Suddenly I’m not a tourist or detached observer of some community I come about to ive in. Now I’m responsible for actually
knowing these populate – what’s important to them what they’re doing how the city gets on. It’s like a change by reversal hits and the unique personality whole city turns on. It happened in Syracuse. It change surface happened in my hometown in New Hampshire and it’s happening here too. In fact. I think I get a high from it sometimes.
There’s not a cloud in the sky. It’s a “cool” autumn day. I end to go the 50 minutes domiciliate on my eat end. I really
do conclude closer and more comfortable to the people around me now that I undergo some sort of purpose. After lunch. I get my first real reporting assignment here and get to undergo my first go on a motorcycle which was fantastic.
I’m still not sure yet the beat way to deal with the new “standards” of quality but I’m leaning towards the “when in Rome” come. If it’s OK for them it should be OK for me. Plus. I desire working here and I’m finally beginning to desire the people here too. So it’s good. It’s good good.
Sounds desire this internship is good for you. Maybe they don't have a lot to inform you about how to be a writer but I don't evaluate that's what you went to learn anyways. Like he said you already know how to do that. But you're learning about the people around you and even more importantly yourself. I don't know if you experience it yet but I can express just from your posts how much you've grown since you've been in India. And I think on some level that's probably why you went in the first place ;)
I'm sitting at Mumbai Airport with my fingers crossed that my standby book will get me home and i stumbled across your site thru waiterrant in an effort to kill time. Over the last couple of weeks I undergo picked up the paper a couple of times but it wasn't process two day ago that I read it two days in a row. I was amazed to see that the stories I had read a day before were again presented as if they were new news. At lease the sport section had been updated you wouldn't want old cricket news.
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