Believe him, this is ‘Experiential Journalism’

“Experiential journalism” is a word that trips off the tongues of many Indian newspaper managers. Don’t just tell the story, bring alive the event “experientially” by becoming “a protagonist rather than a mere reporter”, they write in their jargon-filled memos to editors.

By this, the manager really means snap a few pictures of some havaldar taking a five-buck note rather than just write about how corrupt traffic constables are. Or get the sleazy conversations of some failed actor trying to taking a starlet to bed instead of just reporting the existence of a casting couch.

How’s “Waterboarding” for experiential journalism?

The aggressive torture technique being used by the United States to break down terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere has been reported ad nauseam by reporters, slammed by rights bodies, condmened by nations, and so on. But how does it really feel to be waterboarded?

Christopher Hitchens decided to find out first-hand. And reports his findings in the August issue of Vanity Fair.

Read the full story: Believe me, it’s torture

15 great ideas (or 15 trite ideas) for newspapers

Lee Abrams, the chief innovation officer of the Tribune newspapers in the United States, has a blog in which he lists the 15 ways to grow newspapers:

1) Compartmentalise: If grocery stores were organized like newspapers, you’d wear out your shoes looking for vegetables, as carrots would be in aisle 6, tomatoes in aisle 8, etc…

2) Don’t assume: If you have “a reporter who spent 4 years in Baghdad. Dodging bullets… the paper should have photos of the reporter with Iraqi kids… writing diaries. Don’t assume the reader knows.”

3) Be intelligent, not intellectual: Smart, not elite.

4) Brag about what you do: If you do an exclusive, tel the world. Not sensational, but a little swagger.

5) Liberate the designers: They are the ones that will package the information into greater engagement. Eye power.

5 (b) Liberate the photographers

7) Be consistent: Compelling writing, great graphics, every page, every day.

14) Make it easy: Newspapers have a habit of making things so hard to read absorb and engage in.

Read the full story: 15 points that will grow newspapers

Howard Owens: 15 trite ideas

Also read: 20 ways to kill a newspaper

India’s first manuscript assessment service is here

PRESS RELEASE: Itching to write a book? Don’t know if your manuscript is up to it? Don’t know how to polish it and get it print-ready?

If your answer is yes, yes and yes, respectively, then you might like to check out Writer’s Side, “India’s first professional manuscript assessment service” launched by Kanishka Gupta, formerly an editor with Platform and Siyahi.

Writer’s Side offers services like manuscript reading, critiqueing, and editing (ranging from proofreading to substantive editing) for both fiction and non-fiction. It also recommends manuscripts to scouts, literary agencies and publishing houses.

A team of nine “experienced and eclectic editors” assess the manuscripts and help shape them for publication. Writer’s Side is currently open to dealing with literary and commercial fiction, women’s writing, dark novels, children’s fiction, science fiction, business management books. It is also open to recommending books already published in India for foreign markets.

For more details, visit the website www.writersside.com, or contact kanishka500@gmail.com

Vinod Mehta: Seven rules for young journalists

Vinod Mehta, editor-in-chief of Outlook magazine, delivered the convocation address at the Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media (IIJNM) in Bangalore on 3 May 2008, and laid out the ground rules for the graduating Class of 2008.

1) Be a professional journalist: Have a sense of mission and be proud to say your a journo.

2) Don’t be an intellectual eunuch: don’t be biased but don’t be afraid of holding a point of view.

3) Learn to exercise control over your writing whether you are a print journalist or a television journalist.

4) Be a sceptic, not a cynic: Do not be afraid to question, but do not try to doubt everything.

5) Stay away from corruption: Refuse blandishments for money, for access, for sources.

6) Avoid politicians: Know them but don’t be friendly. Don’t become buddies with them.

7) Avoid PR and ad men: Meet them, intereact with them but don’t be at their beck and call.

All the memories, memorials, memorabilia

Newseum, the revamped 250,000-square foot light-filled monument to five centuries of journalistic self-glorification, opens in Washington DC this Friday, and Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post bungs in the glory of the story above the fold, calling it “dazzling, innovative and absorbing” but overpriced.

Three times the size of the earlier Newseum, the museum’s six floors packs papers, photos, videos, films, tablets, artefacts, exhibits, of the (chiefly American) heroes, villains and oddballs who made the news business.

Photograph: Sam Kittner/ Newseum

Read The Washington Post story

‘A question papers and TV must start asking’

George Monbiot in The Guardian, London:

“There is no nonsense so gross that it cannot be justified by the creation of jobs…. It is true that investment creates employment. But jobs are used to justify anything and everything. But the big question is asked very rarely in the press: how reliable are these promises? Whenever a new defence contract or superstore or road or airport is announced, newspapers and broadcasters repeat the employment figures without questioning them. They rarely return to the story to discover whether the claims were true.”

Read the full article: The numbers don’t add up

MUST READ: 10 rules keep a lawsuit away

Blogs, social networks and citizen media sites have created a myriad new avenues for citizen participation. But it’s not all ha-ha-hee-hee; the sword of lawsuits with scary damages hangs over journalists and citizen journalists. How can CJs protect themselves?

The Knight Citizen News Network lists ten rules for limiting legal risk, and gets Jeff Jarvis to make a video presentation:

1) Check your facts

2) Avoid virtual vendettas

3) Obey the law

4) Weigh promises

5) Reveal secrets selectively

6) Consider what you copy

7) Learn recording limits

Don’t abuse anonymity

9) Shun conflicts of interest

10) Seek legal advice

Read the full story and watch the video: Limiting legal risks

Link courtesy Nikhil Moro

How a world-class yoga photograph was shot

This breathtaking black-and-white photograph of yoga artistes from the yoga capital of the world (Mysore), shot by Tomasz Gudzowaty and Judit Berekai of Poland at an akhada in the religious capital of India (Benares), has just won the third prize in the World Press Photo Contest 2008 in the “Sports Features-Single Photo” category.

The intercontinental project was coordinated by freelance sports journalist C.K. Muralidharan who also plays cricket for Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), Mysore.

Here, he describes how the project came about; how the award-winning picture was shot at the “Sri Akkada Murchali Birbaba”; and how three artistes—artists, really—of the Maruthi Yoga Kendra (S. Suhas, K.V. Anantha Kumara and B.S. Nikhil) became a part of photography history.

***

By C.K. MURALIDHARAN

It is a matter of great joy and satisfaction that a picture shot with yoga artistes from Mysore in Benares has won one of the world’s most coveted photography awards. It is a tribute no doubt to the photographic artistry and work ethic of Tomasz Gudzowaty. But it is also a richly deserved salute to an ancient Indian art form on the international stage.

My association with Tomasz began in 2003 through the portal www.mysoresports.com launched by me and my friend Yashasvi Shankar (a former Mysore University and State shuttle badminton player now settled in USA). I had written about nadu kusti, the traditional wrestling style of Mysore and Tomasz evinced interest in photographing it.

In November 2005, with the help of L. Manjappa, the Mysore University wrestling coach, and Shankar Chakravarthy, the KSP wrestler who has won the Dasara Kanteerava title, we visited nearly 20 garadis. Tomasz chose six locations, returned the following month with his associate Judit Berekai, and shot around 5,000 black and white photos over three days with wrestlers from the University and the garadis in action.

The main sequence, shot at the Gopala Swamiawara garadi on Nala beedhi, won the third prize in the World Press Photo Contest 2006 in the sports features category. The wrestlers involved were Shankar Chakravarthy, Prahlad, Hemanth Kumar, Harish and Kumara. Manjula sound system of Sunnadakeri supported us with the light and generator back-up for the shooting.

I was sponsored by Tomasz’s company Yours Gallery to attend the award ceremony in Amsterdam. It was a great experience seeing a slice of Mysore being served up to a global audience. And it was even more touching to be mentioned by Tomasz and Judit in their acceptance speech.

My heart swelled with emotion that I could do something for Mysore’s wrestlers.

The award-winning picture became part of an exhibition that went to 24 different countries and it was also displayed in the UN headquarters in New York. During the Festival of India in France in 2006, a French company called Manison de la Photographie brought out a Photo Book called “Indianscope” which had the picture of Hemanth Kumar on the cover.

Once they came to know that their photographs had won international acclaim, the wrestlers were very happy and thankful to Tomasz and his team. In turn, Tomasz was kind enough to give some financial assistance to all the garadis he worked with, and to all the wrestlers too.

***

In December 2006, I floated an idea for a second project: Kalari Payattu, the traditional style of martial art practiced in Kerala. I and my BEML team-mate S. Ramachandra (who has a passion for photography) visited Kollam and took the pictures of kalari artistes in action in different locations and sent them to Tomasz.

Tomasz liked what he saw but wanted a different background.

He came to Kollam. With the guidance of the Kalari Gurukal Shivakumar, of CVN Kalari, we shot Kalari Payattu. The artistes were Shivakumar, John and Monichan. They demonstrated the flip, fighting with the sticks, balancing on the beam, summersault, fighting with sword, hanging upside down, and other forms of exercises. A series of 12 photos were wanted by Tomasz and shot accordingly.

The second day saw the kalari artistes perform on an artificially made bamboo wall and Tomasz captured them in action along with Judit. Around 3,000 black and white photographs were taken. From the fourth day, we shifted to the Lal Bahadur stadium, where action photographs of women boxers in the ring (both sparring and boxing), were taken. Different positions with different combinations of boxers were shot with the help of coach Chandralal the SAI boxing coach who won the Dronacharaya award in 2007.

At the stadium, we also had a extended session with the artificial boxing ring positioned outside and Tomasz shot from the top of a crane to get the picture from a good height. Kerala’s women boxers are the second best in the country after Manipur, with P.C. Lekha, the world boxing champion, amidst them. They were in-charge of coach Chandralal.

The photograph of C.V. Ashwathymol relaxing after her bout in the ring won the “Award for Excellence” in the Pictures of the Year contest conducted by the University of Missouri, USA. “The Story on Kalari” (12 photographs) also won the “Award for Excellence” in the Pictures of the Year contest.

***

Sometime last year, Tomasz suddenly contacted me and said he would like to do a photo feature on yoga. As he was doing a project in China, initially he wanted the location to be in China. He wanted me to find yoga artistes who could travel to China. So, I had in mind Jalendra Kumar of Maruthi Yoga Kendra in Mysore whom I had known for a long time.

As there were students of his in China, I thought it would be a wise move to get in touch with his wards so that they could help us in the project. He sent me photographs of yoga artistes in action and asked me to get the artists to do the same poses.

After I sent the photographs, Tomasz informed me that we could do the project in Benares and if the locations there did not suit his requirements, then we could hop over to Nepal.

I contacted Jalendra Kumar and apprised him of the situation. I asked him to select the best of his boys and arrange for a photo session. Myself and photographer Gopinath shot the yoga artists in action at JSS high school in Metagalli.

We shot pictures of Jalendra Kumar, Jagadish, K. Adarsh, K.V. Anantha Kumara, B.S. Nikhil, S. Rakesh, Komal Raj, Mahendra, Shivakumar Nayak, K. Raghu, S. Suhas and Suresh and sent them to Tomasz to check if this is what he was looking for.

He mailed back saying that he needed a minimum of 12 people and that they should travel immediately to Benares on November 4, 2007. He would join us the next day. Accordingly, I informed the boys’ parents who were a little apprehensive initially to send their young wards so far.

I explained to them that I would ensure their safety and also take care of all the expenditure of travel, boarding and lodging.

We left in two batches of six and eight members respectively on November 4 and 5. We went by train to Bangalore and took an Indian Airlines flight to Delhi. From thereon we caught the connecting flight to Benares. (I also took my mother along on this trip!)

I had a Mysore connection in Benares, Suryanarayana Sastry who hailed from Talakad. He and his family had settled down in the holy city over 40 years back and I had contacted him prior to my departure and asked for his help during our visit.

He had booked hotel rooms for 14 of us at Hotel Siddarth and once we arrived we were received by Sathyanarayana Sastry, Suryanarayana’s brother. The rooms were comfortable and everyone had a day’s complete rest. Tomasz soon arrived, and he called me to meet and discuss the shooting schedule.

We spent a whole day choosing the locations. Tomasz and I, along with Sathyanarayana, went round finalising the venues. We zeroed in on: 1) Ram Singh akhada, Dhaniabad, 2) Sri Akhara Murchali Birbaba (Ganshu pahelwan), 3) Guru Gaya Set akhada, 4) The old house roof at Swasananda Ashram, Bengali Bhavan, and 5) The ghats near the Ganges.

We had to take the permission from the police to shoot pictures at each of the ghats and we had to cough out Rs.10,000 each for the licence for the eight ghats. I had to arrange for the lighting and back-up spot boys. A generator van was also arranged.

Initially, the boys had a full day’s rest and were asked to practice on the asanas which Tomasz had preferred. He wanted the hand stand, the head stand, the Mayurasana, and the split to be perfect, and he wanted them to be seen in action the next day before commencing the shooting on November 6.

He saw the artists in action on the evening of November 6, and was only satisfied with the performance of Mahendra, Jalendra Kumar and Anantha Kumara. He asked the others to work hard for getting the needed perfection.

November 7: We did shooting at the Ram Singh akhada with Mahendra in different asanas. Suresh also performed certain weight training warm-up exercises which were shot. The day ended with only one venue covered and the next day’s programme was fixed at 7 am at Guru Gatya set akhada.

November 8: At 5.30 in the morning, I woke up everyone and took them in a taxi to the venue and asked them to get warmed up before the shoot. The artists had to wear dhotis and perform warm-up exercises in tandem, which would be shot.

The lights and generator van arrived an hour late, and Tomasz was irked at the impunctuality which resulted in his not being able to use the early morning sunlight for shooting. Mayurasana and Shirasana were performed by ten yoga artistes and around 100 black and white photographs were taken in different sequences.

Around 9 am we packed up and went to the next venue, the Sri Akkada Murchali Bhirbabad in Katvapura. Here a portrait picture of the yoga artistes with the Gurukal was taken in banians and dhotis.

Then, the prize winning picture (above) was shot. For this I purchased four pipes, inserted them into the wall each at an interval of four feet, and plastered them. 14-year-old S. Suhas performed the Mayurasana, while K.V. Anantha Kumara performed the split on the bars. B.S. Nikhil stood by the side of the wall.

The same shot was photographed at least 50 times by Tomasz in different angles and one of them proved to be the prize winner!

Next, we went back to the ghats and shot on the banks of the Ganges and also at the passage in the Birla ashram.

November 9: We shot on the roof top of the house belonging to Suryanarayana Sastry. Around 500 photographs of the boys performing asanas in different postures were taken. The boys were then asked to come to Swasananda Ashram where the hand stand and other exercises were picturised.

We shot at the roof top and also came down to the Ganges for shooting besides the background of the temples at the ghats. Photographs of Mahendra in different poses were taken.

November 10: The day was full of shooting at the Ram Singh akhada and shots were taken of Mahendra and Suresh. In the evening, everyone departed from their hotel to catch their flight at 4.30 pm to Delhi.

Thus ended the week-long shooting spree in Benares which was combined with work and pleasure. It’s a wonderful feeling that the hard work put in by the younger lot has yielded such results. Like a true leader, Tomasz didn’t just up and leave; he was kind enough to help the yoga artistes financially.

Also read: Yoga may be good. Not always, not everywhere

CHURUMURI POLL: Is yoga only for Hindus?

Pardon us, is yoga becoming a bit of a scam?

Marichasana on Madison Avenue; Trikonasana on 34th Street

K. PATTABHI JOIS: The second most famous Indian in the world?

At last, an Indian video production textbook

With television booming in India, and news and entertainment channels being launched every other day, expertise at video production is increasingly in short supply. It’s a void that journalism schools and mass communications programmes at diploma, under-graduate and post-graduate levels, are trying to fill, but they are hampered by the lack of relevant literature suited to the Indian milieu.

The few textbooks that are around are foreign publications, priced in dollars and largely out of the reach of most students. Moreover, most foreign books are highly segmented, and cover different aspects of production in tiny niches in separate books, making it difficult for students and teachers to purchase and refer to multiple books.

Filling that vital blank is VASUKI BELAVADI, a reader in communication at the Sarojini Naidu school of performing arts, fine arts & communication at the University of Hyderabad, whose book Video Production (paperback, 352 pages, Rs 325) , published by Oxford University Press, will soon be out.

“Video Production is a step-by-step guide on making effective video programmes and provides an in-depth coverage of all aspects of video production, pre-production, production, and post-production. Throughout the book, the key concepts are explained through numerous illustrations, exhibits, figures, exercises and anecdotes.

“Beginning with creating an understanding of visual grammar for video production, the book goes on to discuss the parts of a video camera, the roles of the personnel involved, and the three phases of video production. It moves from the conceptual to the practical, discussing in detail scriptwriting, lighting, sound, and editing; single-camera and multi-camera production processes; and the techniques involved in electronic news gathering and electronic field production. Video and broadcast technology and the various delivery options available in India and abroad are also discussed in detail.

“The book will be very useful to students who want to specialise in video production and will also serve as a reference and guide to those interested in taking up video production independently.”

Prof Belavadi, formerly on the faculty of Manipal University of Communication and Tezpur University, has worked with Eenadu Television, and has been on the staff of several Indian newspapers.

Email the author for further details: vbsn@uohyd.ernet.in

How not to write in the year ahead

The department of English and comparative literature at San Jose State University has announced the winner of the 2007 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, and the winner is Jim Gleeson of Madison, Wisconsin, for this passage. The goal of the contest is to submit bad opening sentences for imaginary novels.

“Gerald began—but was interrupted by a piercing whistle which cost him ten percent of his hearing permanently, as it did everyone else in a ten-mile radius of the eruption, not that it mattered much because for them “permanently” meant the next ten minutes or so until buried by searing lava or suffocated by choking ash—to pee.”

The runner-up is Scott Palmer of Klamath Falls, Oregon.

“The Barents sea heaved and churned like a tortured animal in pain, the howling wind tearing packets of icy green water from the shuddering crests of the waves, atomizing it into mist that was again laid flat by the growing fury of the storm as Kevin Tucker switched off the bedside light in his Tuba City, Arizona, single-wide trailer and by the time the phone woke him at 7:38, had pretty much blown itself out with no damage.”

Also read: How to write badly—a proud winner tells all