Future looks bright except for journalists

By John Cheeran
It is impossible to criticise media organisations.
Newspapers and magazines can criticise anyone. But there will not be any space when criticism is directed against the conscience keepers of the nation.
So how do you bring to light the mischief that goes on in media houses?
Leave alone exposing the frauds in the media, how do you argue for better wages and working conditions for journalists?
It is a difficult task indeed.
Editors in India have no time for reforms in their backyard but preach for quick reforms in rest of the world.
Among the illustrious Indian editors only B.G. Varghese did come up with a proposal that sub-editors should be paid a decent salary, much more than what reporters earn, so as to improve the quality of newspapers.
But B.G.'s proposal was never implemented.
I write these lines after reading Philip Knightley's piece on the Indian media scene in the recent issue of India Today weekly. Knightley's comments are interesting. Let me quote him from India Today. " New newspapers blossomed and today, India is probably the only country where readership is increasing. The future looks bright, except for journalists' wages. They (wages) have never been good and were often paid late. Indian proprietors, like anywhere else, believed that working for their newspaper was sufficient reward."
Yes, Mr Knightley, future looks bright except for journalists.
It was a rare comment in an Indian publication that highlighted the plight of journalists. I have a doubt, though.
Was it a lack of attention from the India Today Copy Desk that let Knightley's critical comment see the light of the day?
It is remarkable that it has taken an outsider to highlight Indian journalists's bleak future as far as salaries are concerned. In this era of Editor-cum Publishers in Indian media, wages of journalists are not news.