IBN « Amritha Alladi

At The Hindu/At IBN: What do we owe our sources?

April 2, 2009 at 8:00 am | Posted in At work | 1 Comment
Tags: Chennai. The Hindu, IBN, internship diary, journalism ethics

On Monday, I received a call from someone whom, I am ashamed to say, I had completely forgotten about. Her voice was pleading on the phone: “Amritha, what happened? I have no electricity, the heat is unbearable, and I have nowhere to go. Please, let my story be heard by someone.” My heart sank. This woman did have a place to go, but she was stubbornly subjecting herself to this kind of torture and was asking me to do something about it.

When I was at IBN, I had filed a story on an elderly woman, who refused to leave a tent she had set up in West Tambaram, until the government gave back the land on which she had established a school and her home. The problem was that she didn’t have a patta (legal document) for the land, so officials demolished the school and home, leaving her only rubble and remnants of a playground.

I had filed the story my last week at IBN, packaged it, and sent it off to Delhi, with the hopes that it would be played during the subsequent weekend show. I guess it didn’t get played. And now 74-year-old Muthammal Das has called me to have her story heard so she can get justice.

But to be honest, Muthammal is not impoverished or homeless. The government took back land for which she didn’t have proper documentation, and because of her previous jobs, she receives a government pension monthly. Her son in Bangalore and her daughters in the U.S. have invited her to come stay with them, and in the meantime they have been sending her money as well. She refuses. So sure, that makes a great story, but not the kind that Muthammal wants told to the
world.

Yet, I’m ambivalent, because when I spoke to her in February, she said she would stay under the yellow tarp until her death… and she claimed to give herself until April. Today is April 2, the clock is ticking, and Muthammal is, at her will, sitting in excruciating heat with no electricity, limited water, and no sanitation, waiting for the government to grant her documented land to rebuild her home and school to teach the local village children.

As journalists, we’re told it’s our job to give people a voice, but we’re also told to be objective. If I were to give Muthammal a voice, she’d continue to tell me she is the victim in this ordeal. If I were to come back to the newsroom and be objective, I’d have to mention Muthammal’s other options (very appealing options), which she refuses to take.

I’ve decided to write the story, to get it off my own conscience. If it’s a voice she wants, then Muthammal can have it. But, I’d be failing in my duty as a journalist if I didn’t fully describe her circumstance though. So I’ll do my part, and leave it up to the editors (and ultimately the government) to decide.

He comes bearing gifts for a nation-Jai Ho!

February 26, 2009 at 5:45 pm | Posted in Seen and Scene | Leave a comment
Tags: A.R. Rahman, IBN, internship diary, Oscar, Slumdog Millionaire

I thought they were going to kill him. As I was pushed toward the gate of his house and a Headlines Today microphone jammed into my face, I thought they were going to kill the two-time Oscar winner.

I was standing outside A.R. Rahman’s house at 2 a.m. along with a mob of media persons, musicians, and crazy fans. Drums echoed beats of Jai Ho and the crowd moshed in response as we all waited excitedly for the maestro to return home from L.A.

I only have two days left at my internship so the bureau chief had asked me earlier yesterday afternoon if I would be interested being “part of the coverage” of Rahman’s return home to Chennai. I was thrilled and I agreed immediately.

Around midnight we set off for Rahman’s house. When I got there the first thing I noticed was that the crowd consisted primarily of men. I walked up closer to where the action was and heard music blaring from the speakers: Jai Ho….over and over again of course. At this point it was just a matter of waiting around until Rahman arrived outside his gate, to be greeted by welcome-home party. His flight wasn’t even supposed to land until 1:15. So we waited….

My hair stuck flat to my head from the sweat and my kurta top was already drenched with moisture. We were all standing one next to the other with no room to move, with the reporters and police officers closest to the gate.

By the sudden surge of excitement–movement, camera flashes and crescendo of music and drum roll, I could tell that Rahman’s SUV must have pulled up. And after that it all turned surreal….

Hands went everywhere. The Headlines Today microphone rammed into my mouth and immediately I tasted salt on my throbbing lip. I was jolted toward and through the gate with such a force that suddenly, I didn’t care anymore about whose hands felt where, but only that I somehow got out of the crowd uninjured, or at the very least, alive.

And then my eye caught him. He was wearing a black sports coat–I think–and was being pushed, pushed from all sides with such pressure that I thought he would crumble under the weight of everyone huddling around him. His lips were tightly shut but in a half smile, as if to say, “Well, yep, I guess I’m definitely back in India.” But what struck me is that he wasn’t angry. He didn’t yell back at anyone to stop pushing. He didn’t threaten to have anyone arrested. He didn’t shoo away the one-track-minded reporters who kept snapping away shots and protruding mics in his face. He literally just ploughed through the crowd to the safety of his home, where, still, reporters followed him regardless (including my very own bureau chief). And then all I could think of was how Rahman had just traveled from the other side of the world, two Oscars in hand, and was not even given the chance to just come home and sleep peacefully. For a moment, I actually felt sorry for him.

Twenty minutes later, my bureau chief stumbled out of Rahman’s house saying he got the first interview. But we couldn’t head back to the office to edit the tape, lest we get killed by the mob of rabid fans still outside the gate. So we waited some more…

Finally, at around 3:30, Rahman himself braved the throng to step JUST outside his gate to say he was humbled by the warm welcome and that he would still be there for anyone to visit him at another time. With that, he bade everyone good night and told them to please go home. What a guy, I thought. Although he had won two Oscars in L.A., he had come back to Chennai as the same humble Rahman we all know and love.

Around 4 a.m. my bureau chief and I got back into the car to finally call it a night. I was worn. My bureau chief turned his head to the back seat:

“So, now you got a taste of Indian journalism, eh? Good. Now you know what we deal with all the time,” he said.

All I could reply with was, “Yes sir, I can now say I definitely got a feel for what journalism is in India.”

At IBN: excerpts from my internship diary

February 6, 2009 at 12:17 pm | Posted in At work | Leave a comment
Tags: cancer, cure, Cyberknife, IBN, internship diary, treatment, tumor

Today we joined the features reporter to a press conference at Apollo hospital. The hospital has just procured Cyberknife technology which will help it treat cancer with unrivaled precision and efficiency.

Although the press conference dragged on for too long, I was definitely impressed with the Cyberknife device. The non-invasive robotic machine uses smaller, high-dose radiation beams to literally “paint” a tumor with radiation. There’s no anesthesia, scalpel or recovery time involved. Doctors sad it would allow a patient to come in during his or her lunch break for a session (less than one hour) and leave the same day. With just 4 or 5 sessions, even the hardest tumors in the spine, pancreas, brain, lungs, and prostate can be treated without damaging healthy tissue.

A cancer treatment this easy, effective, and comfortable for the patient? It sounds like magic, but it really made me marvel at all that technology has to offer in the field of medicine, and how far we’ve come.

At IBN: excerpts from my internship diary

February 6, 2009 at 4:31 am | Posted in At work | Leave a comment
Tags: human rights, IBN, internship diary, lesbian helpine

I had brunch and headed out from my house at around 10:30 yesterday. I started to get nervous because I knew the features reporter had scheduled the lesbian helpline shoot for around 11 or 11:30, and I didn’t want her to leave the office without me (nervousness). But when I called her from the car she said she was already out shooting. “Oh no!” I thought (shit! I missed it). “How could she leave without me?” (anger) But then she told me she was at some other shoot (relief) so I felt better …..until I realized that meant she’d be coming back too late and would probably have to cancel or postpone my lesbian helpline shoot. (now disappointment). And yes, I felt all of these emotions within the span of two whole minutes.

I got to the office and there were several computers available. I starting surfing the web for ideas and came up with a few good ones. The news reporter came out of her cubicle and said she was going to get some reactions from people on the street about the state-wide strike (which basically no one followed, so businesses were still up and running anyway).

We went to City Center and found a few people, asking them how the strike was affecting them. Everyone said the same thing– it didn’t feel like a strike at all and that life was normal. Walking out on the street it seemed like any other day. We got back to the office and the features reporter still wasn’t back yet. I started to get worried that my story about the lesbian helpline wouldn’t happen.

Around 1:45 one of the other interns was hungry so we went into the break room. She is more of a quiet type, but lunch today was nice because I really got a chance to talk to her and I realized how sweet she was. She told me about how it’s been hard staying in the hostel because she doesn’t speak Tamil properly, and even her English is only ok. It’s why she’s also reluctant to speak in office. She can obviously write just fine. In the hostel, she says “she is the Queen” when it comes to English, because everyone else speaks Tamil.

The features reporter came back! She had her lunch and told me the lesbian helpline shoot had been moved to 3:00. Phew.

At 2:30 we headed out. It was kind of a long drive and I let my mind wander and eyelids droop until suddenly we arrived and a gay man greeted us with a very effeminate wave of his hand.

When we got there we spoke first to the president of the Indian Community Welfare Organization. We got some shots of one of the volunteers answering the telephone and to a lesbian caller. After this there was only one lesbian willing to be interviewed. We went out to a park nearby and took some shots of her sitting on a park bench with another woman (actually a commercial sex worker…not a lesbian ) and walking,etc. I talked to the sex worker for a bit. I didn’t get her name for obvious reasons. She was really sweet, must have been in her forties or fifties. But she was actually Telegu, so she had an accent when she spoke Tamil and told us how people can always tell she’s not from here. That must be why she didn’t laugh when I spoke Tamil back — and at the end of the day, that was great feeling.

The story got filed the next day. View the story and spot here.

Viewer discretion advised

January 22, 2009 at 3:01 am | Posted in At work, Seen and Scene | Leave a comment
Tags: IBN, internship, sensationalism

I’m at my wit’s end. What makes news?? As an intern, my primary task at IBN is to come up with story ideas. It sounds simple enough, especially because this is what my job also included when I was working at AM850. The only problem is, here, in Chennai, what constitutes news for the large English national channel is different than what constitutes news in little ole’ Gator town. In Gainesville, everything was news. For IBN, nothing is news.

But what concerns me are the stories that are given up and the ones which are picked up for the sake of headlines and competition. In J-school, we learn about the battle between Hearst and Pulitzer’s competing publications during the era of yellow journalism. That was then, I thought. But now I see that scandal, violence, conflict–these are what sell even today.

Yesterday, the Dalai Lama was in Chennai. Knowing that no one is our office was covering it yet, I called up one of the reporters and asked her if I could do the story. World leader. In chennai. Speaking at Madras University. Again, this is something I would expect would scream “story” in the eyes of any news organization. But she told me it wasn’t worth covering.

What?? A major world leader, proponent of peace, visits India, not even two months after the Mumbai attacks and it isn’t worth covering?

I later asked one of the other girls working why this wouldn’t be newsworthy. Her response: “Well if there was violence going on in Tibet or something, that would be a great story.” Ahh ok. Now I understood better. Just the other day I heard our bureau chief turn down another reporter’s story idea about property thefts asking, “Is there any murder linked to these property thefts? If not, it’s not a story. I need a recent murder.” So we’re looking for blood and guts, the rated-R stuff. Gotcha.

This realization of what makes news and what doesn’t has somewhat discouraged me. At a time when I’m thinking about my graduate school options because job prospects are limited, such episodes only deter me from journalism. I chose it because journalism is fun, you have to know a little bit about everything, you meet extraordinary people, you can write about your interesting experiences, and you do something different every single day. It isn’t your average 9-5 cublicle work. I know there are catastrophes, murders, kidnappings, and natural disasters to report, but it depresses me to know that these are the stories news organizations seek out at the expense of lighter, equally newsworthy topics. Sensationalism isn’t why I chose this field.

They say internships not only pad your resume and give you practical experience, but they give you some insight into what you may like to do in the future. Well, if these little instances are indicative of what to expect at the larger bureaus of other major news networks in the U.S., then I know for a fact that it’s not where my interests lie.

At IBN: excerpts from my internship diary

January 12, 2009 at 3:37 pm | Posted in At work | 1 Comment
Tags: IBN, internship diary, Slumdog Millionaire

I spent about an hour just looking through the various newspaper the office gets, reading up on Chennai news, trends, etc. Then the entertainment reporter came in and said she was off to a shoot, to get a reaction from percussionist Sivamani and rapper Blaaze because Rahman had won 4 Golden Globe awards for his work in Slumdog Millionaire. At first when she said it she said, “Yeah, I may also get blase’’” and I thought she meant the WORD blase’ so I wondered: “Why would she get bored, indifferent, casual about her job?” and then later she told me Blaaze’ wasn’t a word, but the name a of a person, a rapper.

So we drove over to the Taj Connemara hotel. It was gorgeous. It took a few minutes to arrange a shooting location that was both pretty, had good lighting for camera and that didn’t have a lot of people around, because I think this drum player didn’t really want too much attention. He finally came out carrying a wooden box with a hole in it. I didn’t understand what it was until we started rolling and he started drumming his fingers on it making music. He made up a little jingle sort of thing, congratulating AR Rahman on his Golden Globe award. We asked him a few questions about what it was like to work on Slumdog Millionnaire’s soundtrack with Rahman. yada yada. He was really easy going and that always makes it so much easier to interview someone.

From there we went to an apartment complex. It would like any ole’ Indian anybody would leave there. We went up to the third floor where the rapper Blaaze’ was staying. Again, we asked him the same kind of questions.

He was dressed like a rapper. I’m talking, major BLING BLING. He had on the baggiest chaddis (shorts), a sweatshirt. a cap….and yet, he was wearing kumkum on his forehead like a traditional Hindu. He had his family there, his two little kids running around, photos of Hindu gods and goddesses all over the house, the smell of traditional south Indian food wafting through….everything was so normal, and meanwhile there was this guy looking like an American rapper free styling for the camera. It was crazy. I was struck by the stark contrast.

The icing on the cake: Blaaze told us he would soon be working on an album to popularize the Thirrukurral verses. He said the weight of the words written by poet Thiruvalvar, although written as early as the second century B.C., are still relevant today.

The bling-bling, baggy shorts rapper plans to popularize (don’t worry, not desecrate) the Thirrukurral. I walked out of there speechless.

A culture steeped in timeless respect for the divine– now that’s what I love about India.

At IBN: excerpts from my internship diary

January 8, 2009 at 4:31 am | Posted in At work | Leave a comment
Tags: Carlos Moya, Chennai Open, IBN, internship diary, tennis

*tweet* Awesome. So my day just got better:

Tennis player Carlos Moya is going to talk to some kids at a youth tennis tournament this afternoon and I’m going to be covering it.

At IBN: excerpts from my internship diary

January 6, 2009 at 4:29 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Tags: IBN, internship diary, newsroom, story ideas

The political news reporter had apparently already set off an a shoot early this morning around 7 or 8, so I guess I missed her. But the CNBC correspondent, was in the office. Basically, she spent most of today teaching me and the other interns how things work and what we should be doing and how to do it. It started when I handed her a list of about 10-11 story ideas I had with descriptions. She said they were good ideas, but she emphasized the need for a hard news peg of national relevance. After I handed her my list, she went through and explained to us, point by point, why some ideas could and work and why others wouldn’t. Finally, I concluded that these were ideas with which I could follow through:

1) PMK party in Tamil Nadu is pushing for prohibition laws. So, what will this mean for liquor stores and liquor store owners? What will be the implications for the state since liqor IS taxed heavily? How much money will they lose and how do they plan to make up the money lost in taxes?…etc. Basically, the economic impact if prohibition were to go through. Will probably also get a reaction from the Tamil Nadu Trade Market Coproration about how liquor salesmen feel etc. What they’re doing to stop the law from being implemented

2) South Indian actress Namitha came up as like the number 9th actress Googled. and she’s well…hefty. Meanwhile north Indian actress Katrina placed 6th. So what is it about south Indian culture/perception that makes the heavier women more attractive, cuz it obviously wouldnt fly in the north.

3) recession and jobs: what are the 5 safest jobs right now? Are students changing their career choices because of the recession? which are the 5 least safe job right now? Many people are cutting corners and tightening their budget…but who’s still safe and actually making money during this recession?

She also showed us some of her previous work to give us an example of the kind of information we should be looking for, the kind of clips we need to shoot, and the kinds of bites to pull, etc.

At IBN: excerpts from my internship diary

January 4, 2009 at 4:28 am | Posted in At work | Leave a comment
Tags: Chennai Open, IBN, internship diary, Leander Paes, tennis

Apparently there’s a Chennai Open that’s been going on for 14 years. It’s the first tournament of the year, always, right before the Australian Open, so it brings in some European and Asian players (rarely any Americans…). The morning press conference was about heightened security at the tennis match in the aftermath of 26/11. I was a bit surprised they held a press conference for this content, because it seemed like information that could have been distributed through a press release. I don’t know why they had a press conference for it.

The second part of the press conference was a drawing to select the players in each round of play. Some of the tennis players were actually present to talk about their expectations for the outcome fo the tounament, including noted Indian tennis player Leander Paes. That’s when I remembered, sometimes there are perks to a job in journalism, and that’s what makes it fun….

At IBN: excerpts from my internship diary

January 3, 2009 at 3:54 am | Posted in At work | Leave a comment
Tags: IBN, internship diary, Medha Patkar, newsroom, protest

The office is smaller than the AM850 newsroom. When you enter there is a little sitting (reception?) room. From this room you can enter four other rooms. To the left is a “studio” The next door, going clockwise, is the editing room. It’s the smallest I believe. The next room to the right is the editorial room, the only room I stepped in today besides the bathroom, and then to the very right is the marketing room. The editorial room has four computer cubicles

I was told a few days ago to come in around 10:30/11ish. My mom wanted to drop me off at 10 because it was my first day, and she wanted me to reach the office before Rahu Kalam.

That first day, I tagged along with the political news reporter, who was scheduled to report on a protest by some residents in four counties (comparable to counties) by the airport. These locals were protesting the construction of a second airport runway, saying it would infringe on their property and would cause some other hazards such as flooding, etc.

It was a peaceful protest, just people just speaking about why they shouldn’t build the runway and how it would be detrimental to sustainable efforts in the region, etc.

Social activist Medha Patkar showed up to speak about sustainability and green initiatives. She argued against the runway construction, illuminating its detrimental effects to the lives of local people.