Frederick Noronh on Tue, 23 May 2000 19:30:06 +0200 (CEST) |
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<nettime> FEATURE: Journalism Down Under... |
goanet-news-digest Sunday, May 21 2000 Volume 01 : Number 123 JOURNALISM THERE AND HERE: VIEWS FROM DOWN UNDER Carlos Monteiro is a Goan journalist, who took the difficult route. But come out on top he has. He went from Goa to Mumbai. Then to Papua New Guinea and, from there, to Australia. Today he is night-editor of the Sydney Morning Herald's online edition. After working for a range of prominent publications in India's media capital Mumbai, Monteiro (36) was Features Editor with 'The National', the top daily from the remote nation of Papua New Guinea. He held this post from November 1994 to January 1999. Goa-educated, Monteiro can be an example of how well equipped youth from here can take on the outside world, if given the chance and a sound education. He got a First Class M.A. Degree in English Literature, and studied via the then newly set-up Goa University. His work has also seen him function as the Deputy Editor and Features Editor of India's leading Sunday newspaper, 'Sunday Mid- Day', the Arts Editor of the classy national daily 'The Indian Post', and was also a sub-editor with the 'Indian Express' and 'The Afternoon'. He also edited the weekly 'Science Express' pullout and wrote features for 'Weekend Express'. At one stage he was even the overseas rugby league correspondent for a Papua New Guinea newspaper. Monteiro, whose brother is a prominent cardiologist in Miramar, was in Goa recently. Below are extracts from an interview given to FREDERICK NORONHA: *************************************************************** What is journalism like Down Under? In what way does it differ from that back home? *************************************************************** Journalism in Australia is cutting-edge stuff -- in terms of technology, treatment and technique. We are talking of a highly developed country where English is the first language. Attention to detail is paramount. And professionalism is the key. Opportunities for a journalist are tremendous. Every bit of life goes under the microscope. Of course, the sheer breadth of human interest detail and living colour that the subcontinent provides cannot be matched here. But journos in Australia probe every possible story, from every possible angle. And do it with a lot of humour and understanding of the deeper issues involved -- something that is largely lacking in India. *************************************************************** What does your job require you to currently do? *************************************************************** I am currently a night editor on the online edition of The Sydney Morning Herald. It is a fascinating experience for me, straddling a new medium that delivers news and analysis to a larger, global audience in a creative way. After clocking 13 years in mainstream journalism, I thought it was interesting to venture into this brave new world of information processing. I design and supervise parts of our gigantic portal site -- which carries within itself scores of specialised subsites -- every night. That involves choosing stories and pictures from the print edition of the Herald as well as outside sources and wire services to which we have online rights. And with our Internet production, it isn't just news reports and columns. We do picture galleries, video reports, audio features, special graphics and so many other multimedia things. As a newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald is published every morning. But as a Website, it is updated every few minutes, round the clock. *************************************************************** What would you consider to be the high points of your career? *************************************************************** Editing Sunday Mid-day in Bombay for two and a half years was a big high. I had the freedom to shape the paper the way I wanted it. And in my time, it was popularly regarded as India's best features newspaper. As a journalist, you have to be ready to try new things, go the distance. My present challenge at The Sydney Morning Herald is extremely exciting. The coming 2000 Olympics will test our mettle in more ways than one. It will be a huge logistic exercise for our group, which runs an extensive network of more than 30 sites which attract over 2.3 million page views per day (2.4 million visitors per week). More than 200 journalists, photographers and production staff will be involved in the Olympic coverage. *************************************************************** Do you have many Indians working in journalism in your part of the globe? Did you come across any bias or discrimination earlier in your career? *************************************************************** There are a handful of Indian journos mostly on the regional and suburban papers across Australia. It is pretty tough actually to break into the mainstream Aussie press. I guess I was in the right place at the right time. As for bias or discrimination, no, I faced nothing of that sort. Once people see what you can do, they respect your abilities. *************************************************************** How would you rate Australian newspapers on a global scale? *************************************************************** Pretty highly. Nothing beats the quality British press. But the big-city Australian dailies, like The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age (Melbourne) and The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) are up there with the best in the English-speaking world. *************************************************************** If you were running a newspaper in Goa, what would be your priorities? *************************************************************** I guess one has to improve the quality of the writing and editing - -- more the latter. A proper training system that employs veteran editors to pass on their skills would be useful. Local coverage needs to improve. Local news pages are sometimes treated as press-release pages. What each paper needs is some good pages covering the region. Journalists can be sent to cover special stories. These stories need not all be investigative stories, because investigative stories take time to work out. But at least it could be an innovative story. Papers also could write more about people. This would liven up Page 3, which is one of the most interesting pages in places like Australia. People want to read about their community. They would prefer to read about what's happening in Goa, rather than in some distant place. *************************************************************** Where do you feel are the potential areas for growth for newspapers in a region like Goa? *************************************************************** Newspapers in Goa must look beyond the traditional channels of information and explore new avenues. The Internet, in particular, is a huge untapped frontier. It can reach out to a whole new generation of readers, for whom the traditional format will not suffice. *************************************************************** An Australian prof, Robin Jefferey recently published a study of newspapers in India. He said that while newspaper circulations in the West were shrinking, the regional press in India had grown phenomenally. Is this true of Australia too? *************************************************************** Yes, to an extent. Circulations of some big dailies are stagnant. The Internet has won over thousands of readers who prefer to receive their news via their desktops. That is no wonder, though, in a country with one of the highest densities of home computer usage. The regional and community press, however, continues to thrive. Most of these papers happen to be free though, surviving on the generosity of advertisers. *************************************************************** Why do you feel so many Goan journalists have been able to make it abroad, particularly in the Gulf? What are the skills needed to survive in this profession abroad? *************************************************************** Goans' flair for the English language may have a lot to do with their success.... As for the skills, all you need is a passion for the truth and a love of the written word. And skills, as you know, can only be honed by using them over and over again. *************************************************************** What would be your advice to youngsters wanting to enter this field? *************************************************************** If you have a way with words, go for it. Cultivate a love for the truth. Shine your spotlight in every dark corner of your society. Capture this moment in time and share it with the wider world.(ENDS) NOTE: Monteiro can be contacted via email on csmon@idx.com.au or csmon@hotmail.com ********************************************************** Frederick Noronha fred@vsnl.com Ph 27 14 90 or 27 86 83 # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net