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| Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels |
News reporting is synonymous with information collection from the field. The greatest names in journalism have been field reporters. Some of the biggest stories broken by the media has been possible after painstaking efforts taken by reporters to get information from the field.
Unfortunately, with the progress in information technology, many reporters have become lazy and reduced field visits to collect their data. This is a very unhealthy trend. Earlier a large number of reporters relied on “telephonic interviews”. Once the reporters developed their contacts, they would prefer doing their stories by taking information over phone. Such stories often lacked the depth a news report demands.
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| Author: Sashwat Gupta Ray |
Nowadays I see reporters directly developing stories by copying social media posts. They have stopped making the efforts to visit the sources in person. Nor are they taking efforts to confirm the information. The result is lot of fake information gets published in the form of news. Also, like telephonic reporting, this trend of social media-based reporting does not add value to a report.
There are multiple advantages of going to the field and meeting your sources in person, especially when you are working on a sensitive subject like COVID-19 deaths shattering lives, mental health issues due to job losses etc. Not only does a reporter gather first-hand information, it makes the story more authentic and has lot of depth in it. This helps in the establishing an emotional connect with the readers/viewers. This makes the story saleable. Ultimately the story has to be saleable. Unless it connects with the audience they won’t be subscribing to your medium. This will be a commercial loss.
Moreover, one tends to get additional information when one goes to the field, which otherwise a reporter won’t be knowing. This could be either related to the particular story or act as a cue for a follow-up story. In both the cases the reporter has lot to gain as the quality of work is enhanced. Ultimately quality is the sole criteria for succeeding in worksphere. Quality is achieved only when there is value addition.
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| The author (extreme left) seen with former President of India, late Dr APJ Abdul Kalam at the passing out parade ceremony of National Defence Academy in Pune. |
In my 20 years of journalism career, I have worked as sub-editor, reporter and eventually rose through the ranks to become Editor. That has been possible only because of the quality work I had given throughout my career. I have won multiple journalism awards as reporter. However, I was most satisfied when I received two Excellence in Reporting award as Editor. I went to the field to do stories even though I was an Editor and field reporting was not my work mandate. But I did it because I wanted to give quality content to my readers. It is this endeavour that fetched me wide recognition.
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| Author receiving Best Health Story award from former Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis for excellence in Science Reporting |
If you want similar recognition for your work, it is important that quality is not compromised. Quality will be attained only when as a reporter you make it a point to spend more time on the field than at your office desk. Come hail, come storm, the reporter has to be in the field. There is no substitute to field reporting for a true journalist. There are no short-cuts to success.
Author:
Sashwat Gupta Ray
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