There is a whole crowd of social media journalists in South Asia who present themselves as an alternative to big media houses. Most of them have half-baked knowledge of journalistic ethics and the basic knowledge. A good majority of them would have little idea about the basic terms like headline, byline, Editorial, banner headline, reporter, PTC, trial balloon, and anchor. However, they buy the cheapest microphone available online and take to the streets first with a bit of vox populi which slowly metamorphoses into an aggressive diatribe on social issues. These untrained journalists in South Asia are creating a kind of pungent street journalism that is ripped off all decency and is mostly an avoidable noise than journalism.
Gone are the days when in Kashmir one had to really slog it hard in the Yuva Vani section meant for greenhorn artists, presenters, and prospective news presenters. It was a set of recorded programs professionally orchestrated by the program executives and oftentimes the same had to be recorded scores of times for perfection. This hardship would make young artists into thorough professionals. Sometimes one had to work for seven to ten years in the same Yuva Vani before he could see the face of a LIVE microphone in the general service of All India Radio (AIR). A small left-handed remark or an unprofessional act in the general service and one would be taken off the roster for many weeks as a punishment.
It is through these carefully devised training schedules that we were able to produce actors, presenters, and journalists who then got worldwide fame. All the major video or radio journalists in Kashmir have gone through this tough training schedule in the 90s and the first decade of the 21st century.
The government must organize a training program for these social media journalists. It can be a small capsule course organized by the Department of Information or through MERC of Kashmir University. Small duration program making them aware of what is admissible on air and what is not. This will go a long way in at least knowing their boundaries.
Unbridled these pseudo-journalists can wreak havoc with the social fabric of Kashmir. The government needs to take strict action against some of the serious allegations of female harassment on air by some of these half-baked journalists. The law of the land must prevail.
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