By Shahzada Irfan Ahmed
The News International
Lahore, Pakistan
Hosted by The Houston Chronicle

As I sit down to write this essay and think about what I have learnt during this fellowship, I am reminded of myriad experiences that I had in and outside my host newsroom. Though five months were not enough to try to master all that the American journalists carry in their toolkit, this time was sufficient to study the way journalism is done here and the journalistic practices worth emulating.

I was never over-ambitious and knew from the very beginning that it’s hard to fully replicate the working models of U.S. newsrooms in Pakistan. Because our newspapers are not that resourceful, and even if they are, the will to spend on the development of human resources and the improvement of the working environment is almost extinct.

It is not an exaggeration if I say the facilities available to a fresh reporter in the U.S. are still a distant dream for a typical Pakistani editor, nearing his or her retirement. Here I mean the facilities required for the performance of one’s professional duties and not one’s personal belongings.

I would quote just one example to explain how pathetic the situation in some cases is. A journalist from a national Urdu daily told me how his editor had rejected his application for the approval of his mobile phone allowance. He was asked to make friends with some officers in the civil secretariat and use their phones to stay connected to the office.

This poor guy can receive a missed call on his mobile from his office anytime, forcing him to abandon whatever he is doing, and run around to find a free calling facility. This way the editor and the reporter are both saving the organization some precious pennies.

The situation is not as bad everywhere, but there is no question that one can suggest to the bosses to share their funds with staffers to pay for their travel with dignitaries, lunches and dinners with their sources, and the purchase of reference books or research material.

I remember going to meet a city council member with a Houston Chronicle reporter for lunch. The venue was a popular restaurant known for its “mouth-watering” and “finger-lickin’-good” South Asian food. We had not even properly rested ourselves in our seats, or exchanged any niceties, when this reporter announced that he would foot the bill. The council member was adamant that he would pay for the food, but the reporter refused the offer and, politely, threatened to leave the place if he was not allowed to do that. Later, he told me that the newspaper pays all the work-related costs incurred by staffers for food, air-travel, lodging etc.

If I ask my bosses to adopt this practice, I am sure I’ll right away be referred to a psychiatrist for a mental checkup. Any Pakistani journalist asking for such provisions is insane, in the eyes of the bosses; there’s no doubt about that.

Therefore, I will focus on those values and traits of American journalism that can be adopted in my organization, without much dependence on the finance department. This doesn’t mean I’ll unlearn all other lessons learnt here; I’ll practice them in my personal capacity, and wait for the appropriate time to discuss them with the management. When you try to do too many things at the same time, you end up doing none of them.

To start with, I would like to see my reporters and editors get rid of their obsession with the worn-out and decayed inverted pyramid style of news writing. The newspaper content, however dull it was, would sell when there was no Internet or independent private TV channels. Now, the only way the print edition can survive is through innovation in reporting as well by writing style and value-addition to the content.

Today, news is no secret, and many times the readers have heard it before it reaches a reporter. If the print journalists simply provide the transcript of what TV channels are saying, no one would be interested in it. I have learnt in my host newsroom that the content should be catchy enough to attract readers and to get them hooked.

I have enjoyed reading Roy Peter Clark’s book on the 50 writing tools, which once mastered, can make your writing attractive to your readers. In my country people hardly buy books, other than those mentioned in their curricula. They read newspapers to learn the language, improve their general knowledge and even entertain themselves.

This means a good writer has an opportunity to develop his own brand and a band of loyal readers. Some of our Urdu columnists have tried this formula and succeeded. These “inspirational” columnists can play with words and touch the hearts of their readers with the imagery and metaphors they use. No wonder, they are among the most highly paid and sought after journalists in the country.

I will convince the editors to ask reporters to experiment with different styles of writing in their news reports. Writing Tools would be an excellent guide for them. The examples mentioned in the book explain well the difference the judicious use of these tools can make. I will also ask the reporters to complete exercises given at the end of every chapter.

A regular comparative analysis of the same news published in different national and international publications will be a regular feature of our editorial meetings. Good reports will be differentiated from bad, and the participants asked to give reasons to justify their decisions.

Another thing that I have learnt in my newsroom is that journalists must write primarily for their readers. I am not stating the obvious; my point is that many journalists write about big names only. They have no place for the ordinary people, to whom the readers relate more easily.

Journalism is rightly called “the first rough draft of history.” If journalists behave like court historians and only record the boastful accounts of rulers and the influential elite, the history written tomorrow will be devoid of its beauty. There would be no mention of the masses, their culture and lifestyle, real-life stories of sacrifice, resilience and righteousness, and other narratives that describe a society.

The problem with many Pakistani journalists is they think they can become big overnight, by rubbing shoulders with those in power. There are very few who focus their lens on the have-nots. I would convince my bosses to spare more space for stories about people and shrink the expansive political coverage.

I will also take up the matter of our web edition with the editors. It’s there, but the content is the same as in print - static and dormant. I hope they will listen to what I have to say, and approve the idea of making the website dynamic and interactive. I will try to explain it to them what wonders intelligent use of multimedia tools can do to a website.

So far they have neglected The News website for the fear of losing their subscribers, who buy their print editions. I would say it’s better to lose them to your own website than to BBC Online, Google News or some other.

An efficient, reliable and electronically searchable database is the prime need of my newspaper. We have an archives section, where it takes one ages to sift through the dust-coated files and find a newspaper clipping. Most of the times our reporters prefer to do the research afresh, rather than entering the dungeon-like record room.

I have studied the electronic archives and record-keeping systems of The Houston Chronicle thoroughly. I will convince the bosses to invest time and money in this direction. I know they will be reluctant at the start, but I hope the idea of selling the content, on demand, to non-staff researchers, policymakers, think-tanks and foreign journalists, etc. will force them to think otherwise.

I cannot predict any timeline, but I am sure it will be an ongoing process, and we, as a team, will value every moment of it and enjoy the smallest of the successes. Every milestone on our way will indicate that the destination is nearing, and give us a reason to celebrate.