By Jaideep Hardikar
The Daily News and Analysis
Nagpur, India
Hosted by the Sun-Sentinel

Keep the conversations going!

“Don’t tell; show it to me.”

My mentor at the Sun-Sentinel, Mr. Antonio Fins, has a way with writing and editing. His one little piece of advice to me, while editing one of my stories, is easily the most important lesson I’ve learned during six very eventful, enriching and absorbing months of this fellowship. Readers need to get a picture, he said, of what you are writing about.

I agreed. The final outcome of that story, honestly, was too good to be true. But this is just one of the many take-home lessons, some familiar, some new.

Frankly, some ideas are for my own practice. I don’t think these could be emulated in an Indian newsroom mainly due to vast differences in the working ethos. But I can share a few things with my organization, DNA, for a better output. Some ideas are workable.

To me, easier would be to share things with journalism students and young reporters in my home town than in my home newspaper, since I work as an outstation reporter. It will be over a period of time, through one-on-one discussions and workshops. I will be sharing my experience with my colleagues by posting on our intra-net the new ideas that I gathered here and also the tools with which to assimilate those skills.

I think I got a taste of almost every sphere of the American newsroom. I am more confident of myself as a journalist and an individual than I was when I arrived here. That’s the most important outcome for me of this program.

Barely a fortnight into the ninth-floor Sun-Sentinel newsroom on the Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, South Florida, a few of my new friends were packing up their desks. They’d just been laid off. The new newsroom is today not the same as it was when I arrived. How do you adjust to this somber mood; new challenges?

I grappled with it as did others. The sense of insecurity that prevailed – and it still does – among reporters in my host newsroom is similar to the one that persists in my home newspapers. I could draw some parallels and conclude our worlds are no different.

However, the first three weeks at the J-school in Columbia, Missouri, and the mid-term seminar at Poynter Institute were the hallmark. Not only for what we learned, but also the way the faculty dealt with the conceptual framework. We learned at both these institutions that online self-learning tools are readily available. I personally benefitted from a Poynter session on writing tools with Roy Peter Clark on the use of verbs.

Re-learning basics and assimilating new skills are the values of this sabbatical. This fellowship was an opportunity for me to explore new avenues, make new friends and build a worldview. First, journalists here follow strict discipline at work and are highly professional. From the highest level position to the new reporters, everybody follows their mandate without any compromise. They deliver on the deadline without compromising on quality. The hierarchical structure of the newsroom is for work; it doesn’t go beyond the office.

But reporters get answers in the U.S. newsroom, unlike the Indian newsrooms where an editor will not always reply to a reporter’s questions/queries.

I value the editor-reporter relationship, which, for some reasons, doesn’t exist in Indian newsrooms anymore. This aspect is important for high standards in journalism and credibility. Also, usually, the copy editors are the ones who have graduated from years of field reporting which is why they can easily pick fault-lines in stories.

This structure is admirable, but difficult to implement in Indian newspapers given the big gap in demand and supply of good journalists and salary structures.

Second: The Sun-Sentinel has a good research and archives department, easy to access online. You can find everything you need for a story. I am recommending this to my home newspaper. Investment in such a department is worth it. The depth that the U.S. newspapers get in their reports, I learned, is due to strong research back up.

Third: Writing with one’s readers in mind. Time and again, copy editors wrote back to me asking to clarify and simplify sentences. Old hawks in senior positions act as filters – they help you re-write stories; simplify complex sentences and re-check facts. What do you mean by this? Do we need to say this? Are you sure? -- Common questions at work. Quotes and attributions are sacrosanct. You can’t mess around with those. This is basic, but we most often overlook this. It’ll be my regular practice henceforth, something that I’ll strive for and advocate in my own journalistic circle. It has to become a habit.

Fourth: Frank discussions. I loved the practice of open ‘budget’ discussions at The Missourian, the campus newspaper of the J-School at Columbia. The Sun-Sentinel and other newspapers in the U.S. do not follow this practice, but they have their own ways to engage in frank discussions about a story. They follow a more formal way. Sometimes reporters meet with their editors or colleagues over lunch or coffee to discuss stories and find out ways to refine their ideas. The Sun-Sentinel also has a writers’ group.

Reporters and editors meet twice a month in a conference hall, eat good food and discuss old stories. The convener sends stories to be discussed with a note: good lead, strong endings or powerful narratives. Many other newspapers in the U.S. have similar internal groups. I am recommending one for DNA. As soon as I return, I will also be forming one in my home town inviting journalist friends from different newspapers for brainstorming sessions. It is a break from the routine and an opportunity to do something creative.

Fifth: Effective story-telling with multi-media. The Sun-Sentinel is leading an experiment of an integrated newsroom – print, online and television. While the print remains its main product, the newsroom now has a strong online content and a morning television show. Programs like sound-slides enhance the online story telling abilities. It’s a new skill that I learned hands-on working alongside a photojournalist at the Sun-Sentinel. It’s an effective tool that my home newspaper could think of adopting for its online edition.

Sixth: I got a new worldview. Though the Sun-Sentinel is a local newspaper, the fellowship program overall gave me an opportunity to gain a worldview. I could see and admire India and our culture in a much better way. I am sure it’s true with other fellows as well in the past, and will be so in the future. This is the best thing to have happened to me. There are many good things about Indian culture, food and society that we take for granted, but not necessarily admire. I return with a better understanding of India.

Seventh: Overcoming personal boundaries. The newsroom of the Sun-Sentinel tested me at every level, personally and professionally. I needed to take initiative every time – from making new friends to pitching a story idea. It wasn’t easy. But it made me confident. I could go on some adventures, discover a whole new world.

Eighth: To coach and be coached. The strong point of this program is that one pillar called the mentor. I had four mentors at Sun-Sentinel. I learned the importance of being a good mentee but also the significance of a good mentor. The idea is to share ideas.

Ninth: Getting to observe western society. This is an important geo-political and economic phase in the world. And April through September was a time full of action and activities. From the debate over allowing arms on campuses to health care reforms, this was the best period to be in the U.S. to understand the post-Bush era transitions.

Tenth: Making my opinion and view count. Working with the Sun-Sentinel editorial board was the best period of my fellowship. This was one time when I felt my views do count. But for that, I had to read and come prepared for the morning meetings. How do you make your views and opinion count in a newsroom? I observed and learned from my senior colleagues at the Sun-Sentinel some proven tricks of the trade. The point is to be able to think and express yourself. In that sense, I found my host newsroom more democratic and open to the diverse view points than an Indian newsroom. As we learned through this program from Columbia to Poynter: It’s about keeping the conversations going.