Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes, whose next book is a journalistic report on drug trafficking and political corruption, has said he sees the press as the backbone of history, and fiction as the necessary contrast which gives meaning to the work of the press: “For fiction to be fiction, the press must be true. When novels…
Category Archives: Verbatim
‘How can you say it better in your own style?’
James Thurber, the legendary New Yorker writer-cartoonist, in a 1959 memo on editing: “Editing should be, especially in the case of old writers, a counseling rather than a collaborating task. The tendency of the writer-editor to collaborate is natural, but he should say to himself, “How can I help this writer to say it better…
‘The only award I want to win is from my readers’
It is routine to hear super-achievers claim that the ultimate stamp of approval of their achievement comes when they are recognised and rewarded by their peers and compatriots. Three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas L. Friedman, in a discussion with the editorial staff of the New Delhi-based Indian Express, strikes a…
‘Journalism is still the world’s best profession’
Columbian author and Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez in a conversation with students and journalists in Monterey, Mexico. “We enjoy it when we find a jewel (of a story), but suffer like dogs when we see language used badly… but it is still the best profession.” Photograph: courtesy AFP
Twenty20 : cricket :: Page 3 : journalism
Rajdeep Sardesai on CNN-IBN: “Twenty20 is to cricket what Page 3 is to journalism: fast, exciting, but also, often vacuous and titillating. Test cricket is a bit like the editorial page: serious, but at times, somnolent. If page three and page one can co-exist, why can’t 20-20 cricket live with the other forms of the…
‘Media can’t be in a state of permanent war’
“There is nothing called ‘fiercely independent’ or ‘tamely independent’. You are either independent or you are not independent. I don’t believe in media as a crusade. I believe media is for disseminating truth. That’s our job. It’s not our job to go into a permanent war with somebody. I am not interested in a permanent…
‘Even a newspaper of record is mortal’
For the first time in 64 years, Le Monde has not appeared this afternoon, as staff at the French paper of record protest the move to axe 130 jobs—two-thirds of them in editorial, one-third in administration. In 1995, the paper produced a 40-page edition with 220 staff, today, it brings out a 30-page edition with…
‘More like police briefings than news reports’
Mukul Kesavan in The Telegraph, Calcutta: “English language newspapers and news channels in India have much to be proud of: their determination to tell the truth and to document atrocity during the pogrom in Gujarat in 2002 was an outstanding example of how a free press can bear witness when the State fails its citizens.…
‘Journalism: mankind’s greatest achievement’
At a time when cynicism of the Indian media is growing, both within and without, Rupashree Nanda of CNN-IBN, the winner of the Chameli Devi Award for outstanding woman journalist of 2007, has delivered a rousing acceptance speech, in which she underlines the core values of what Gabriel Garcia Marquez called “God’s Chosen Profession”. “I…
‘It’s all about irreverence, not subservience’
Indian journalist Seema Mustafa on the genesis of her opposition to the India-US nuclear deal, which some speculate could have contributed to M.J. Akbar being eased out of his position as editor of The Asian Age: “It had to do with a certain commitment with which I joined the profession—a belief that journalism was powerful…
A fast, inswinging toe-crusher from a paceman
“There are a lot of newspapers I take seriously, but Friday Times is not one of them. It’s mind over matter. I don’t mind and they don’t matter.” —Pakistani cricketer turned politician Imran Khan in an interview with Karan Thapar
‘There’s no place for emotion in an anchor’s life’
The BBC anchor Nik Gowing in an interview with Krishnakumar P. of rediff.com: You were the one who brought the death of Princess Diana and you were on air for more than seven hours after the 9/11 attacks. Can you describe how you felt when you had to do it? I have likened it to…
‘A newspaper isn’t just about news, supplements’
Peter Wright, editor, Mail on Sunday: “Any editor who believes he can sell his newspaper entirely on news and that magazines, supplements, promotions and yes, CDs and DVDs, are simply embarrassments imposed on them by commercial management is not going to succeed. “Any editor who wants his paper still to be here in 2020 needs…
If you’re full of shit but want to make a living…
Matt Taibi, Rolling Stone political reporter: “If you have no real knowledge or skill set and you’re lazy and full of shit but you want to make a decent wage, then journalism’s not a bad career option. “The great thing about it is that you don’t need to know anything. I mean this whole notion…
The world’s oldest, most fearless journalist
“I tape, therefore I am. I tape, therefore they are. Who are they, these etceteras of history, hardly worth a footnote? Who are they of whom the bards have seldom sung?” Studs Terkel, blacklisted, wiretapped, censored but still fighting fit. Read the full story here: What a fearless journalist looks like
‘Chhuncho mere haath gondho korte chaina’
The first target of a military coup is said to be a television station. The first thought of a democratically elected leader is a newspaper. West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, facing mounting criticism of his handling of the Nandigram issue, has come down on the Bengali daily Bartaman for its “provocative reports”. He has…
Stephen Colbert on the media. And so can you.
A “lamprey that latches onto a subject and just sucks and sucks and sucks until your brain and your soul is as dry as a crouton.” Stephen Colbert on the press, quoted in Vanity Fair
’21st century media is an amoral being’
Sagarika Ghose in the Hindustan Times “The blame immediately shifts to the media—both print and electronic. It’s the media that’s responsible. The media do not show floods. The media do not show poverty. The media sensationalise blasts. The media are luring politicians to become trapped into a hall of mirrors where reality doesn’t matter. “Is…
‘We, the abominable dregs of planet earth…’
“The lowest depth to which people can sink before god is defined by the word ‘journalist.’ If I were a father and had a daughter who was seduced I should despair over her; I would hope for her salvation. But if I had a son who became a journalist and continued to be one for…
‘The best experience in life is life experience’
Former Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee received the 2007 Columbia Journalism Award last week, and told the graduating students: “The most important thing for a journalist to have, in my view, is life experience. Your [journalism] degree will do you some good, of course—why else would you have come. But what will do you more…
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