There are few journalists whom I respect.
Most journalists sit in front of a camera and blabber.
Or, write inane opinions about everything.
They call it reporting and seek donations to maintain their fat salary.
Today, I want to tell you a story about a journalist.

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First, why I am telling this story?
The interest in journalism is dwindling among Mass Communication students.
Few students want to become journalists today.
Most are interested in Advertising or Public Relations.
I want more students to get inspired and be like this person.

I think it's because the "journalists" they see in front of them are not even bad examples.
Most of them are biased, self-loathing, woke or the communist types who are only interested in peddling an agenda instead of actual ground reporting.
They're just biased content creators.

You may or may not ideologically agree with the person. That's the last thing you should be looking at.
When it comes to reporting, this is how it should be done.
This is the method.
This is what will excite you & inspire you as journalists.
Without further ado, here's the story.

On November 25, 2013, one email among scores of them caught my eye.
It started with with few good words about my work. I was used to such praise as I used to receive scores of such mails everyday.
But the next part of the mail caught my eye. This is what it said. (See screenshot)

I tried looking up about the person on Google. Not much was available. The articles that were there didn't speak much.
The blog was amateur.
BUT the story was fascinating.
This person has actually written about a forgotten Punjabi star who is languishing in an old-age home.

I replied back and asked:
"You want me to post this story on my social media handles? Or reblog it on Wordpress? Kindly let me know."
The reply surprised me. The person wanted the story to be told and didn't even care about a credit as an author.
Here's the reply (see screenshot)

This person has met this forgotten Punjabi star.
The journalist has researched about him, listened to his problems and has produced a comprehensive long-form piece.
Looking at it, I murmured in my head, "this is old school! I do not think this person will last in our profession!"

I asked for a photo to go with the piece. The journalist seemed a little hesitant. But that was the format of blog.
When the photo arrived, I decided to re-check. The photo was of a high school student!
The person confirmed that the photo is genuine.
Okay then! Here is the photo.

The blog wasn't a national superhit but received lots of hits from Punjab, Haryana, Canada, USA etc.
This is an edited version. The original was longer.
Sadly, the original version is gone with the original blog which was curiously http://thewaterspirit.wordpress.com . https://bollywoodjournalist.com/2013/12/04/blame-it-on-satish-kaul/

I have been a journalist and team leader long enough to know that such people don't last in our profession.
They join with stars in their eyes and then leave with broken hearts. Some join Public Relations.
I thought Swati will be one of them.
Her next career moves told me so too.

My prediction was wrong.
Because, this one person lasted in the profession. She kept on batting on the pitch even as I retired hurt.
For years, she didn't get a chance to do the kind of reporting she always wanted to do. But she soldiered on. She kept on looking for opportunities

That opportunity came when she joined Swarajya.
The school-girl in the photo who used to do feature articles and slideshows grew up.
I started following her work closely. I followed her Twitter brawls too.
Swati has this passive-aggressive approach to her work which is an asset.

She has an impressive record. She doesn't need any promotion but I will still list some of her achievements.
She has forced a biased fact-checker to shut shop.
She writes about the issue of cattle thieves, illegal cow slaughter and fights the skewed narrative of "Love Jihad"

Today, she is far ahead of all of us. Her latest foray is into the anti-Hindu narrative of Bollywood which is superhit. It's called @GemsOfBollywood.
She and @SanjeevSanskrit has formed an organisation to help victims of "Love Jihad" when other wokes say such a thing don't exist!

I cannot talk about how she struggled as a journalist during her initial years because that's her story to tell.
But she was a misfit when she arrived on the scene.
She stuck on.
She didn't give up and she kept her heads up till her turn came.
Then she grabbed it with both hands.

I wanted to tell journalism students that this career is all about heartbreaks.
The moment you arrive on the scene, you start unlearning what you have been taught.
You get to know reporting is not unbiased and in fact, some organizations like it when you add your bias to it.

As a cub journalist, your honest inputs are junked.
A factual report is edited and made to look biased.
In the end, your report looks like somebody else's.
At other times, you are made to sit on a desk doing "content creation" which bores you to death. You start screaming inside.

After creating 5 slideshows on "why Taimur is the cutest" or writing "Top10 reasons why Brahmins should be cancelled", some newbies hurtle down a path of a self-gloating woke while others quietly leave the profession as there's neither job satisfaction nor a good salary

In college, we teach you to get both sides of a story.
But today, journalism is about telling one side of a story with your bias topped as garnish.
We tell you that reporting cannot be done without visiting the site or the subject.
Today, it's just about collecting Twitter posts.

That's exactly why Swati's story is important for aspiring journalists.
You need to wait for the opportunity. You cannot quit mid-way and say, "Sorry this is not me. I am not made out for this."
Your time will come.
You just need to believe in it.
You need to believe in yourself.

You cannot get disheartened when you see your bosses steal all the credit of your hardwork and deny you even the authorship of your articles.
That's pretty normal.
Bosses sip on coffee and conduct endless editorial meetings while you are made to toil afterwards.
That's normal too

It's because good people haven't stuck around and decided to quit the profession midway, journalism is filled with biased, woke, social media celebs who write one-sided narratives and then come to gloat on social media.
Today, journalism is filled with filth and armchair experts.

Today, we need good professionals. Unless that happens, the state of journalism in India will continue to slide into the dumps.
Woke activists masquerading as journalists will seize the opportunity to spin one-sided and biased opinions, in India as well as on international media.

I am yet to meet Swati Goel Sharma in real life.
Her story remains an exception.
I dream of a day when this story won't be an exclusive.
Let this story be of many others who chose to struggle despite not getting a good media platform or mentor.

Thanks for reading.
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