GOING GLOBAL WITH LOCAL

I see an attitude problem with some big town journos. Exceptions apart!

They fly to small and slow towns wearing arrogant and almost repulsive vibe, groaning why the heck their editors dispatched them out of their cushy metropolitan cocoons to cover a local story. And so their stories will capture the pain they had had to suffer on the way to cover a story on, say, a farmer's suicide.

The story therefore turns out a journalist's painful journey rather than one about economic or social realities surrounding the subjects or stakeholders.

Mark Tully, the legendary BBC journalist, had an advice for us at the National Foundation of India's awards function in 2002.

"You are not the story", he reminded us, "you are the story-teller."

You can see the stereotypes when you read the stories from rural India in the national and international press: '...dusty countryside'; '...parched land'; '...no power, no road, no water.' Yet stronger metaphors: 'Hungry land'; 'Suicide country'.

The white man is slightly better, but not always.

Both these creatures para trooping to small towns to cover a global story are in some ways similar: They come to cover a story, and often, leave without one.

They tell a global story without even touching on local realities and invariably miss out on the threads that make a story worthy.

I sense a window of opportunities for small town journalists, like me.

The geographical and economic disadvantages that big town guys face provide us new opportunities. That drove the shift in my training plan at our mid-term seminar at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersberg earlier this month. How do you tell a local story to a global audience? Personal coaching sessions there helped immensely.

My new theme: Going global with local or vice versa. I had earlier taken a web-course on the Poynter's News-U: Covering global stories locally.

We can effectively tell local story globally by joining the dots, and a global story locally by studying the impact of global processes. Nothing new in there, except the way the faculties dealt with the subject.

The week at Poynter was undoubtedly stimulating. I learned as much from the faculty as I did from my re-charged co fellows.

The session on "how to teach" was real surprise. I look forward to using some of those tools to share whatever good I've learned on this program with the willing-to-learn fellow journalists. Thankfully, we have so few that sharing will be easier.

But this update is for the entire month:

So here's what I did through the month that saw some of my stories getting published in the Sun Sentinel. I did a couple of editorial blog entries too.

I spent the first week of July with metro-desk, covering courts. I did one story on a death sentence to a homicide convict, which was in line with one of my goals: how to write tight and crisp. The story was pruned to 250 words from 600 that I penned. That's how much could fit in the available space. Online version was slightly long.

That weekend, I attended a conference of the Florida Press Association at the historic Breaker Hotel in West Palm Beach with my mentor and editorial page editor of Sun Sentinel, Mr Antonio Fins. There was one session on multi-media that was of some professional interest to me, but it was an occasion to connect with media persons from across the sunshine state.

I returned to the business desk to finish two of my stories with Doreen Hemlock, and we did it before I headed for Poynter. Both the stories got published while I was at the Poynter. They got good displays and had multi-media presentation online.

One of the two stories was profiling a bagasse power plant against the backdrop of new energy bill passed by the Congress earlier this month; helped me understand the process of tight writing. It gave me an insight into the massive sugar sector.

The editor returned that story at least four times with questions and more questions to be clarified. Frustrating it was. But in the end, it was for the good.

Editors in the U.S. newsrooms will in seconds crush any ego you might have. They are unassumingly brutal.

Honestly, it's not easy to get your story through the several lines of editors here. All my friends in Nagpur, I must suggest, value your words and integrity. Facts come first. And they are paramount. Read your stories again and ask yourselves: "Is that true?" Writing a news story is not a piece of imagination or fiction. Editors back home too need to be more careful. For, their writings shape future journalists. Ergo sorry! I can't be preaching those who already are self-proclaimed intellectuals!

Post Poynter, I am working on a big project for the Outlook section slotted for the August 23rd edition. It's a comprehensive story on small farms in South Florida. And I am currently doing my field visits: a lots of them. I am taking the video too. The story will have sound slides, a glimpse of which we saw at Poynter. I am working with a photo-journalist on the project that would hopefully be my major take-home!

This story will meet all my goals: It will allow me to study the farm issue; write a narrative story, and learn multi-media skills (aka sound slides etc).

I plan to attend a small farms conference in Kissimmee, Florida, on August 1 and 2. That's when I meet small farmers, scientists and policy makers from Florida.

I spent the entire last week visiting farms. We are half way through. We will finish the visits this week. I plan to finish the writing as soon as possible to then work with the photo-editors on sound slides and possibly the video.

Next couple of weeks, while I work on this story, I would also do a couple of serious editorial pieces to meet my last goal: to write opinion pieces.

That's all about work and goals. Now beyond the work.

I explored new things in Florida. New sites and cuisine.

I was hosted by former travel editor of Sun Sentinel, Thomas Swick, and his wife, Hania, for dinner on the eve of my Poynter visit. Tom, an avid traveler, loves India. A visiting faculty at many journalism schools, he has much to share, particularly about travel writing.

After our Poynter seminar, I traveled with one of my mentors, editorial cartoonist Chaning Lowe, to Cape Canaverel, the Kennedy Space Center.

Kalpana Chawla's name is etched in the memory of every Indian. I saw her name etched on the memorial glowing bright in the Sun light.

I stood silent, paying homage to the woman, who chased her dream and left her legacy for millions of young Indians: To dream and chase it to fulfillment.




Last Saturday I went snorkeling with my main mentor Antonio Fins and his son Anthony. It was a thrilling experience to see colorful fish in its home.

Blue green waters in Key Largo hide fascinating coral reefs. I wasn't sure of swimming in the ocean. But as I buried myself deep into the waves, the world of reefs and marine life came to me in all its tranquility. I loved it.



There are many other tit bits. For now, I keep them to myself.