Howabouts Of Newsfield

On Tuesday, May 24 2005 the Additional Director-General of Doordarshan News, Indian Information Service officer, Mr. Amitava Chakraborty, was invited to the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Calcutta, Asutosh Siksha Prangan, College Street, to share with the faculty members and Masters students of the department, anecdotes from his long and rich experience as a foreign correspondent. The informal session kicked off with a brief introduction by professional journalist and journalism teacher, Mr. Snehasish Sur, with Prof. Dr. Tapati Basu presenting a memento to Mr. Chakraborty on behalf of the host department.

Mr. Chakraborty embarked on his thrilling yet humorous narration with a sweeping overview of his journalistic adventures during September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks, followed by inside stories of Operation Black Thunder, Amritsar; Operation Cactus, Maldives; 1992 Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid crisis and 1987 Colombo assassination attempt on Rajiv Gandhi. The vivid descriptions were animated by his personal takes on several stray incidents. His keen insight into the intricacies of the operation procedures was enlivened by his exuberance.

The equally absorbing interactive session with the teachers and the students covered such variegated topics like embedded journalism, media lobbies, building up of sources in alien situations, media management, winning the confidence of the news sources and the news consumers alike, among others. He advocated self-censoring during sting operations. Talking of the challenges of journalism, he mentioned that fear is overwhelmingly overpowered by the intoxicating excitement, which holds the key to the enjoyment factor associated with journalism. He opined that due to so-called security reasons, reporting from the battlefront is often reduced to 'schoolboy journalism', depending on the war stances taken by different countries. Emphasing the need for innovative updates in news presentation techniques, he zeroed down on credibility and transparency as the hallmarks of meaningful and successful journalism.Among the other dignitaries gracing the occasion were Mr. Debanjan Chakraborty, Director of News, Doordarshan, Kolkata; Mr. Bikash Chakraborty, senior teacher of Political Science, Vidyasagar College(Evening); and CU journalism and mass communication faculty members, Dr. SoumendraNath Bera and Mr. Jay Sircar.