Media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s, and his family’s, adventures and victories in the field of journalism have won him admirers and critics. His detractors claim that he has trashed serious/traditional journalism. But journalism is neither static, nor a charitable activity. It has become a highly competitive business.
It would be unfair to single out media owners for blame. The editors too must be held accountable for the present mess. Murdoch recently “tore into the ‘doom and gloomers’ predicting the demise of newspapers, but admitted this involved ‘moving beyond dead trees’,” reports The Independent.
“This comes at a time when media groups have come under severe pressure, closing titles and slashing jobs, in the wake of the global credit crunch.
“Mr Murdoch, whose global media empire owns titles including The Wall Street Journal as well as The Times and The Sun, conceded that it was a ‘challenging’ time for the sector, as traditional sources of revenue dry up and competition increases.
“Mr Murdoch issued a rallying cry to the industry, saying: ‘I believe that newspapers will reach new heights. In the 21st century, people are hungrier for information than ever before. And they have more sources of information than ever before’. As readers become swamped by the fierce competition, they ‘want what they’ve always wanted: a source they can trust. This has always been the role of great newspapers in the past.”
Murdock took a potshot at the editors when he said that the future of newspapers “has a relevance far beyond the feverish, sometimes insecure collections of egos and energy that is the journalistic profession”. More here…
I have always believed that real/best journalism thrives only when there is intrinsic trust between the media owners and the journalists. The ego/power struggle between the two has created a sort of crisis.
Editors need to be sensitive to the needs of the owners without sacrificing basic journalistic values. And the media owners should stop treating their editors as mere domestic help or handmaidens. Apart from trust the two must also respect the other’s professional status/needs.
An AP file photograph of the legendary media baron Rupert Murdoch and his wife, Wendi Deng.
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.