A Reporter Is A Private Eye

Thoudam Imomacha Singh *

MHA officials attempt to snatch camera from HL Reporter on November 12 2014 :: Pix - HL

Reporting for a newspaper or a periodical cannot be performed with professional commitment as a journalist. Therefore, a reporter is always a responsible person acting as a private-eye. In the news gathering operation, the reporter plays a unique role and he is in fact, the backbone of the "News Establishment".

The "Publishing House" of a newspaper is sometimes called an "Empire". The example that instantly comes to the mind of the author is the then "Express Empire" of Ram Nath Goenka (RN Goenka), the owner of the Indian Express and a newspaper titan.

Goenka challenged the virulent "Emergency" during the dark days of Indira Gandhi's rule. Aftermath the fight, Indira Gandhi was dethroned, the "Express" remained unscathed. This shows, the media was and is never afraid of the high and mighty.

A reporter has to possess the quality of all-round ability pertaining to his profession. He must be able to handle any kind of story, an expert to dig up new information, labourious and most importantly he must be proficient in analytical skills.

A reporter must be able to deal with the following:
1) the information in his hand that can arouse interest in readers,
2) understanding the mini-clues may lead to important news,
3) understanding of numerous titbits concerning an episode and
4) also knowing other related pieces of information related to the theme of news.

The sense of eagerness in a reporter gives him a lot of scope to learn the intricacies of news-making and also it makes him mentally alert. In this respect, a lazy reporter is always at the disadvantaged situation. Reporters must possess civility to accept snubs in their own stride. These are always the part and parcel of their job.

Something very important for a reporter is his physical presence is a must at the scene of an event. Second-hand reporting is a taboo. However, now, we have to understand the change in situation and accept it too. It is only due to the advent of high technology, TV cameras can provide live pictures into one's drawing-room and reporting can also be done from one's abode.

An episode reported in the Hueiyen Lanpao (English) edition of November 13 last arouses the psyche of the author in knowing that there are daring reporters in Manipur's media world, where local or central forces are always in wait to go berserk under the umbrella of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA).

At the conclusion of the scoop, the name of the person related to the episode has been revealed. The agile reporter of the Esteemed Daily, Mutum Rameshchandra, perhaps has made up his mind to do the digging up of an information whether the rider of the black limousine with a red beacon on itself belongs to the tribe of government classified VVIP/VIP genre.

The young reporter's mission was to verify the constitutional entitlement of the insignia to an important government official since such legitimate entitlements are often violated due to some high-handed officials in the state. For the reporting of the episode connected with the pending identity and designation of a government of India official (MHA), Rameshchandra had to take a snap of the motorcar in question.

In doing his job, Rakeshchandra being a legitimate reporting functionary of an esteemed newspaper had never gone beyond the ethics of "Lakshman Rekha" of the Fourth E'state. He was the man to put the questions at the moment of the occurrence, but the scenario was otherwise.

What is important regarding this episode is that the newspaper reporter makes a round of the Imphal city for a big catch worthy of sensational media highlights, whereas he met an argumentative personage belonging to MHA.

The most interesting thing in his escapade was that he was firm to have done his job straight with a practical sense of mind and also with ample sense of restraint at that hour when tension heightened the atmosphere. His commonsense dictated him to inform his Newspaper's Editor of the development.

Even when there was a minatory signal of his arrest, the reporter did not fail to bring the situation to the notice of the Vice-President of All Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU). The important media functionary turned himself up to sense the event. A compromise followed. But, whether the officer in entitled a Red Beacon or not is a question unanswered till now.

In the end of the write-up, the author quotes the view of an American journalist: "Bureaucrats in general feel that talking to reporters is unlikely to do them any good and to the contrary very likely to do them some harm. They can get into trouble and have problems if they put their foot wrong. But they do not appreciate properly the other side of the coin."