Leaders all
Reporters, especially television journalists, can sometimes pose ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’ kind of questions to put Ministers in a spot. At a press conference recently, Minister for Textiles, Ports and Inland Transport Baburao Chinchansur was asked his opinion on M. Mallikarjuna Kharge becoming the Chief Minister. When he evasively said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was their leader and was doing quite well, the reporters quickly asked if that meant that he did not regard Mr. Kharge as his “leader.” Sensing that the conversation was leading into dangerous territory, he quickly said he was there to talk about an issue related to ports and he would confine himself to that. “Both are our leaders and let us leave it at that,” he mumbled.
- V. Sreenivasa Murthy
Many layers
It is not easy to miss a group of reporters at any event thanks to the flashlights and video cameras that accompany them while huddling around personalities. However, print journalists are often left disgruntled as they have to push past the wall of cameras to be able to pose a question.
Even the police have observed this as a senior police officer, who frequently faces the camera, pointed out the different “layers” of journalists who surrounded the Chief Minister at a recent event.
“First come the cameramen who rush to position their cameras closest to the Minister, followed by the television reporters with their microphones, and then photo journalists, who try to get the best possible angle. And finally, the print reporters who crane their necks to grasp what is being said,” he said, quite succinctly.
Following the officer’s astute observations, some of the print reporters, including this reporter, could only nod in complete agreement.
- Vinayashree Jagadeesh
