Kirti Khatri, national editor of a district newspaper

Kirti Khatri

Kirti Khatri, Kutch and Kutchmitra have become synonyms. Any journalist who has been to Kutch on a journalistic assignment will agree with this introduction of Kirti.

He is a kind of moving encyclopedia of Kutch with a clear vision for better Kutch.

Though Kirti retired as editor of the leading newspaper of Kutch, Kutchmitra two years ago, he is still associated with this newspaper as its consulting editor. This is just a technical shift in his position in the newspaper, for people of Kutch and the staff of the newspaper it is the same Kirti Khatri.

Recently he had been to North-East on what he calls a personal study tour and has penned his views in five weekly articles in his newspaper Kutchmitra for his readers. Not many have the idea that Pakistan first attacked India on April 9, 1965 in Kutch as a kind of trial for full fledged attack on India later that year.

Earlier this year, Kirti visited Bangalore to interview 81 year old S J Coelho who was Collector of Kutch at that time. He had literally seen the attack as he was in the target border area on that day. Kirti remembered that story and like a great journalist traced Coelho and interviewed him for the 50 years of the attack in which CRPF had a huge causality.

Kirti is Kutchi, son of famous short story writer of Kutch, Jayant Khatri. But his journalistic career began with Janshakti in Mumbai and later he moved to Jansatta in Ahmedabad. It is here that I met him first.

However, it is his career as Deputy Editor in 1980 and Chief Editor since 1982 for ‘Kutchmitra’ which makes him a noted journalist of the best cadre. His insightful Editorship for ‘Kutchmitra’ has taken the Newspaper to a new height.  

He has been honored with several awards starting from ‘Kutch Shakti Award’ in1990 to ‘Harindra Dave SmritiParitoshik’ in 2011. He has also been awarded by Life Time Achievement in Journalism Award by Gujarat Media Club.He is the second recipient of Tushar Bhatt Journalism Award.

Kirti Khatri has come out with a nine volume of his writings. It is basically a compilation of his writings spanned over 32 years. This is the period when he has remained with Kutchmitra.

The compilation is missing the young Kirti, the man who started his career in Mumbai and later shifted to Jansatta in Ahmedabad. He belongs to old school of journalisms where journalists rarely thought of having records of their writings to create profile. Even the writings in these books could become possible because of the well organized library of Kutchmitra.

The first of the nine books “Manas Vali Kutchimadu” tells what Kirti means to his friends in media, leaders in society whether they are businessmen or bureaucrats.

One of his books

The title of the first article in this book aptly describes what Kirti Khatri is. The title is “national editor of a district newspaper”. Probably nothing can describe journalist in Kirti better than this title.

Like me many journalist friends feel that he would have a star journalist if he were in Mumbai or Delhi. But, he is Kutchi Madu-man of Kutch- and always remained kutchi. As son of famous Kutch based short story writer Jayant Khatri, spirit of Kutch is in his blood and since he was brought up in Kutch and his growth was mainly in Kutch, he breaths Kutch in all aspects of his life.

And if he were not there, who could have told national media about what Kutch is what are its problems and the fascinating kutch. Like me there are scores of journalists for whom Kirti was the main source of stories about Kutch. Stories of border issues hit headlines in national media with journalists accumulating by-lines, all courtesy Kirti Khatri, a name unknown to the readers of these stories.

Writings in the eight volumes take reader to Kutch when scarcity and Kutch were common as struggle of Kutchi men and arduous terrain of the second biggest district of India.

March 12 is the birthday of Kirti born in 1946.

S&T communication Award to Gujarat journalist

For Ahmedabad based journalist, Sarasvatichandra Acharya, science has been a subject beyond his school and college text book. Though he writes on variety of subjects, science and scientists figure in his writings and films prominently.

This profile of the Physics graduate Acharya has won him coveted award of National Council for Science and Technology Communication. He has been given award for communication in the electronic medium category which carries award of Rs 1,00,000,  a memento and a citation at a function in Delhi.

These awards are given on National Science Day, Feb 28. The day marks the discovery of Raman Effect by Physicist Dr. C V Raman who got Nobel Prize for this.

He has produced more than dozen films about science, mainly about institutions working in the field of science communication. Almost equal number of films he has on health awareness.

Besides this he frequently contributes news and features in print and electronic media. He is a regular contributor of science content to Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha TV.

He feels that much of science communication in the country is limited to English and Hindi. In the process regional languages which are main channels of communication to much of the population is left out from the main stream science communication. There is lot of scope for this. There is no shortage of funds for such an activity, but it is to be targeted and prioritized.

Armed with a B.Sc and LLB degree he started his career with Ahmedabad doordarshan in 1996 as news reader. Later he joined Gujarati Financial Express and Sambhav group. In 2004, he joined Deergha media, an audio visual media launched by his wife Manisha Sharma. He runs a content generation agency.

Mind your language- Five Rules of George Orwell

Language is a tool of communication. But most of us tend to flaunt our vocabulary as a prized possession. In many cases we go for clumsy sentences, cliché and jargon which make our writings and other content expressions weak. This may sound simple, but this is probably the most difficult task we journalists face. We work against time. We have daily challenge of meeting deadlines. Competition stress drives us to short cuts like cut-paste. 

If you want to be understood, if you want your ideas to spread, using effective language must be your top priority.

In the modern world this is hardly ever the case. In many instances, imprecise language is used intentionally to avoid taking a position and offending various demographics. No wonder it's hard to make sense of anything!

This is not a recent problem, and as George Orwell wrote in his 1946 essay, Politics and the English Language, the condition is curable. Try these 5 Rules of Orwell.

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

This sounds easy, but in practice is incredibly difficult. Phrases such as toe the line, ride roughshod over, stand shoulder to shoulder with, play into the hands of, an axe to grind, Achilles' heel, swan song, and hotbed come to mind quickly and feel comforting and melodic.

For this exact reason they must be avoided. Common phrases have become so comfortable that they create no emotional response. Take the time to invent fresh, powerful images.

What does expressions like inclusive growth or HDI mean. They just mean benefit of development to all. It's so simple.

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

Long words don't make you sound intelligent unless used skillfully. In the wrong situation they'll have the opposite effect, making you sound pretentious and arrogant. They're also less likely to be understood and more awkward to read. Faulkner criticised Hemingway for his limited word choice. Hemingway said, Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don't know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. Accordingly, any words that don't contribute meaning to a passage dilute its power. Less is always better. Always.

4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.

This one is frequently broken, probably because many people don't know the difference between active and passive .  Here is an example that makes it clear:

The man was bitten by the dog. (passive) The dog bit the man. (active).

The active is better because it's shorter and more forceful.

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon if you can think of its equivalent in your language.

This is tricky because writing now a days can be highly technical. If possible, remain accessible to the average reader. If your audience is highly specialized this is a judgment call. You don't want to drag on with unnecessary explanation, but try to help people understand what you're writing about. You want your ideas to spread right?

6. Break any of these rules sooner than saying anything outright barbarous.

This bonus rule is a catch all. Above all, be sure to use common sense.

These rules are easy to memorize but difficult to apply. The key is effort. Good writing matters, probably more than we think.

I hope you find these rules helpful including my bonus rule and through their application we're able to understand each other a little bit better. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to read Orwells original essay. It contains many helpful examples and is, of course, a pleasure to read.

Budget, Media and Common Men

I spent much of the last two days trying to understand the Union Budget 2015 surfing through channels and turning pages of major newspapers. Let me admit that I could not make out anything. Like me there must be many.

I wonder for whom we write. I feel our news stories must be able to communicate a clear and concise message, the crux of the thing.

Budget is a complex exercise touching almost all aspect of our economy. For this purpose, major newspapers particularly English newspapers engage a battery of “experts” to explain it for the readers. Still it leaves one major task for the newspaper to give overall picture. Most of newspapers have conveniently used all page make up tricks, like blurbs and subheading to avoid this basic task.

It may surprise, regional and language newspapers have reports that have kept their reader in mind while presenting budget on Page 1. English newspapers indulged in rhetoric talking about the budget in terms like road map and terms like never before and for the first time.

I am not here to give sermons on journalism. I am just talking about communication. Despite all talk about revitalizing economy, attracting investment and providing social security to underprivileged our friends missed the most visible fine print of the budget- it is inflationary. This is something which is most striking fact and yet most ignored aspect of the budget in media.

This may get space in coming days, but was missing on day 1. Only “Local” newspapers reported it.

Tax is the most tangible aspect of the budget. Rest is road map or something that will pay off when it is implemented. And in this budget increase in the Service Tax is the aspect that will touch all. Whether there is non Income Tax paying poor or a super rich all are affected by this.

Now with this increase in price of services, one will face what we call inflation in jargon of economics.

However, income level of all will remain same as there is no change in Income Tax. Theoretically super rich will have lesser money because of 2 percent tax introduced for this category in the budget.

And so what will be the net effect of this inflationary measure. It will pinch people more.

The problem with budget reporting is that we engage experts who are basically industry leaders. We must admit that there thinking is focused more on their issues and thus bound to miss many finer points.

Even in this, if we take newspapers and debate reports of previous years we will find that in number of cases same faces appear every year. Are we not getting same old odour instead of fresh air.

The purpose of this write is not to show off anything but to pose a question. Can’t we think in terms of our reader who is the focus of communication of our content?

And you know from where I got the direct message of inflationary budget. From common men on the street who was thinking of more difficult daily life in coming days.

I think 500 words are enough to drive home the point .

S B Rawal takes over as Information Commissioner

S B Rawal new Information Commissioner

With the retirement of Bhagyesh Jha, Information Department of Gujarat has new Commissioner- S B Rawal. He took over the new assignment today.
Before this assignment, Rawal was Collector of Morbi district. He was appointed as first collector of the newly formed Morbi district.
Rawal joined Gujarat Administrative Service in 1986 and served as Deputy Collector of Bhavnagar and Rajkot. He was also Director of District Rural Development Agency in Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar.

Gujarat Media Club is facing identity crisis

Gujarat Media Club is entering 10^th year this year. Started with much fanfare in 2006, the Club is facing identity crisis. Except some annual activities like Navratri festival and IOC-GMC cricket tournament which are sponsored there is hardly anything it can boast of.

Even in these events, lack of interest of members is evident and team of office bearers has to make efforts to save its face and thus have sponsorship live. These two activities were started in the initial phase.

Though the Club started Media Awards with ONGC funds two years ago, it has failed to attract good number of entries. It has Hindi and Gujarati categories also and the amount of the award is quite handsome. In this case, more than members apathy, it is the routine bureaucratic approach of the team GMC that has led to award on ventilator situation.

I have been associated with the Club from its formation days. I have seen the initial enthusiasm of its members fading away in the years that have witnessed both internal and external politics involving other journalists (non-members, more powerful than the might of a club which got 100 members in its first year).

No doubt there were bright patches also. But it is a fact that knocking the door of the tenth year, the Club with deposits of lakhs of rupees to its credit is an organisation in search of its soul.

The problem with the Club is of the identity crisis. For media in Ahmedabad it is a club of English journalists (I do not want to use the phrase generally used to express this) Within the Club no one knows what Club stands for, whom it represents and what it should do.

This month club is going to have its elections. A formal announcement of election was made today. Till now, elections have been a formal exercise as only last year two or three had come out to contest. They were ultimately declared elected uncontested.

I am producing an article which I had written on its launch.

A lot has changed since then.

Here is an article Gujarat Global had on the launch of the Club last year.

Gujarat Media Club, a club of journalists associated with all forms of media has been launched. Moving spirit behind the idea R K Misra of Pioneer( he is very much in profession, but not with Pioneer) said that the club on the lines of press clubs elsewhere in the country has been registered under section 25 of the Companies Act to make the organization accountable and transparent.

Several attempts have been made in the past to run a press club, but all failed in initial stages. In this sense, the media club can be called a successful innovation that is all set to click with its novel approach. Besides Misra, the promoters of the club are Brajesh kumar Singh of STAR News and Sunil Raghu of CNBC( he is now with other banner)

Highlighting its various unique features its promoters said that as the word media reflects that the club represents journalists associated with the entire media, not just print media. The idea is to have a club to provide journalists better resources for their professional work, aspirant journalists to have a place to get better idea of the profession and to help veteran journalists since there is no social security concept in the media, Brajesh Kumar Singh said.

It has regular members, life members and associate members and has enough scope for others associated with media like PR and advertising professionals, government media and corporate members. There is an elaborate fee structure for different categories. The Club will undertake research and training activities besides content generation to make itself an independent income generating organization, according to Sunil Raghu.

Sanjay Pandey of Crisil Marketwire who is the secretary of the Club finds response of journalists to the club very encouraging. He said that to really do groundwork to create an edifice of working journalists in the state as many as 11 committees will be formed to take care of different jobs ranging from membership drive to disciplinary committee. Sanjay has been doing one of the most challenging job of coordinating different people.

He said that the concept of committees is quite innovative in the sense that people are being asked to volunteer for the post of convener of the committee and these conveners will be free to choose their team. The idea is to provide committees an environment to deliver result. We should have a team of dedicated office bearers who are willing to slog for two years to create strong foundation of the Club so that it can withstand all kind of pressures.

The treasurer of the Club, Rammani Pandey of Star, said that before the formal announcement of the launch on Saturday, the club had 14 life members who paid money. On the day of the launch 15 more life and regular members bought forms. He said that there were many queries from several journalists and their interest reflected their enthusiasm to join.

President of the club R K Misra clarified that initially the activities of the Club will be limited to Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar and later gradually it will have a state level network. He also made it clear that the present body has been nominated for two years in the interest of the growth of the organization and after that regular election will be held.

The club has also launched its website which will be developed as a full fledged channel for different activities. Members will have access to its database.

Lets wish that the 10^th year of the Club proves a milestone and give it right identity.

Jargons, Journalese and slangs

This is another piece from my old blog media newsletter.  I am reproducing here because it is a great learning exercise for more effective communication.
Friends Jargon, Journalese and slang are the words we should avoid. Many international publications have their style guide which tells journalists about publication's stand about different aspects of language to be used. Here is style guide of Economist about these three very important aspects of language which reporters and writers generally tend to ignore.

Jargon
Avoid it. You may have to think harder if you are not to use jargon, but you can still be precise. Technical terms should be used in their proper context; do not use them out of it. In many instances simple words can do the job of exponential (try fast), interface (frontier or border) and so on. If you find yourself tempted  to write about affirmative action or corporate governance, you will have to explain what it is; with luck, you will then not have to use the actual expression.
Avoid, above all, the kind of jargon that tries either to dignify nonsense with seriousness (The appointee...should have a proven track record of operating at a senior level within a multi-site international business, preferably within a service- or brand-oriented environment, declared an advertisement for a financial controller for The Economist Group) or to obscure the truth (We shall not launch the ground offensive until we have attrited the Republican Guard to the point when they no longer have an effective offensive capacity—the Pentagon's way of saying that the allies would not fight on the ground until they had killed so many Iraqis that the others would not attack). What was meant by the Israeli defence ministry when it issued the following press release remains unclear: The United States and Israel now possess the capability to conduct real-time simulations with man in the loop for full-scale theatre missile defence architectures for the Middle East.
Try not to use foreign words and phrases unless there is no English alternative, which is unusual (so a year or per year, not per annum; a person or per person, not per capita; beyond one's authority, not ultra vires; and so on).
Journalese and slang
Do not be too free with slang (eg, He really hit the big time in 1994). Slang, like metaphors, should be used only occasionally if it is to have effect. Avoid expressions used only by journalists, such as giving people the thumbs up, the thumbs down or the green light. Stay clear of gravy trains and salami tactics. Do not use the likes of. And avoid words and expressions that are ugly or overused, such as the bottom line, high profile, caring (as an adjective), carers, guesstimate (use guess), schizophrenic (unless the context is medical), crisis, key, major (unless something else nearby is minor), massive (as in massive inflation), meaningful, perceptions, prestigious and significant.
Politicians are often said to be highly visible, when conspicuous would be more appropriate. Regulations are sometimes said to be designed to create transparency, which presumably means openness. Governance usually means government. Elections described as too close to call are usually just close.
Try not to be predictable, especially predictably jocular. Spare your readers any mention of mandarins when writing about the civil service, of their lordships when discussing the House of Lords, and of comrades when analysing communist parties. Must all lawns be manicured? Are drug traffickers inevitably barons?
In general, try to make your writing fresh. It will seem stale if it reads like hackneyed journalese. One weakness of journalists, who on daily newspapers may plead that they have little time to search for the apposite word, is a love of the ready-made, seventh-hand phrase. Lazy journalists are always at home in oil-rich country A, ruled by ailing President B, the long-serving strongman, who is, according to thechattering classes, a wily political operator—hence the present uneasy peace—but, after his recent watershed (or landmark or sea-change) decision to arrest his prime minister (the honeymoon is over), will soon face a bloody uprising in the breakaway south. Similarly, lazy business journalists always enjoy describing the problems of troubled company C, a victim of the revolution in the gimbal-pin industry (change is always revolutionary in such industries), which, well-placed insiders predict, will be riven by amake-or-break strike unless one of the major players makes an 11th-hour (or last-ditch) intervention in a marathon negotiating session.
Prose such as this is freighted with codewords (respected is applied to someone the writer approves of, militant someone he disapproves of, prestigious something you won't have heard of). The story can usually start with the words, First the good news, inevitably to be followed in due course by Now the bad news. A quote will then be inserted, attributed to one (never an) industry analyst, and often the words If, and it's a big if... Towards the end, after an admission that the author has no idea what is going on, there is always room for One thing is certain, before rounding off the article with As one wag put it...
Perhaps even more wearying for the reader is the trendy journalist's fondness of vogue words and expressions. Some of these are deliberately chosen (bridges too far; empires striking back; kinder, gentler; F-words; flavours of the month; Generation X; hearts and minds;$64,000 questions; southern discomfort; back to the future; thirty-somethings; windows of opportunity; where's the beef?), usually from a film or television, or perhaps a politician. Others come into use less wittingly, often from social scientists. If you find yourself using any of the following words, you should stop and ask yourself whether (a) it is the best word for the job (b) you would have used it in the same context five or ten years ago, and if not why not:
address (questions can be answered, issues discussed, problems solved, difficulties dealt with)
care for and all caring expressions (how about look after?)
environment (in a writing environment you may want to make use of your Tipp-Ex, rubber or delete button)
famously (usually redundant, nearly always irritating)
focus (all the world's a stage, not a lens)
individual (fine in some contexts, but increasingly used as a longer synonym for man, woman or person)
overseas (increasingly used, and often wrongly, to mean abroad or foreign)
participate in (take part in—more words but fewer syllables)
partner (“Take your partners for the Gay Gordons!” by all means, but dancing together does not necessarily mean sleeping together—just as a sleeping partner is not necessarily a lover)
process (a word properly applied to the Arab-Israeli peace affair, because it was meant to be evolutionary, but now often used in place of talks)
relationship (relations can nearly always do the job)
resources (especially human resources, which may be personnel, staff or just people)
skills (these are turning up all over the place—in learning skills, thinking skills, teaching skills—instead of the ability to. He has the skills probably means He can)
supportive (helpful?)
target (if you are tempted to target your efforts, try to direct them instead)
transparency (openness?)
Such words are not wrong, but if you find yourself using them only because you hear others using them, not because they are the most appropriate ones in the context, you should avoid them. Overused words and off-the-shelf expressions make for stale prose.