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8 valuable things we learned from Ramon Magsaysay awardee Ravish Kumar


A couple of days after receiving the Ramon Magsaysay Award in CCP, Indian journalist Ravish Kumar visited the GMA Network Center in Quezon City and met with Kapuso newsmen and women for a morning discussion on journalism and democracy.

Kumar, who was recognized for his sober, fact-based reporting, began by sharing how journalism is all but dead in India.

“In Indian media it’s just shameless. Shameless is a very civilized word,” he said, talking about the growing control of government and businessmen, sensationalism, and the dangers of journalism.

According to Kumar, the government has completely isolated him in that no government official would appear in his show. He’s been called an anti-nationalist by fellow journalists, too. Journalists experience very real threats in India, saying journalists have been sacked for reporting on particular topics. “No one is there to protect you, people will trash you on the road, and if I lose my job, nobody will hire me.”

 

 

But Kumar is able to rise above the challenges. He has created a new standard of journalism that involves his viewers, he’s able to keep his costs low to zero, and he continues to enjoy the trust and confidence of viewers.

It was a very enlightening experience. Below, we share a few important things we picked up.

1. It’s media’s responsibility to educate the viewers. And for Kumar, that means presenting well-researched and in-depth reports, allotting a month’s time to a single story if need be, training to help them become citizen journalists, and going against the ‘news,’ which for him is propaganda.

2. Cost-cutting caused the decline of journalism in India. According to Kumar, “It was media itself that dismantled the news gathering system, in the name of cost-cutting. There was no news system anymore. And ‘The Man’ arrived and used those empty structures for his purpose – propaganda.”

3. There is a way to cut costs without compromising journalistic standards. Kumar proudly shared that he is able to keep his costs low to zero, thanks to viewers who gladly send him materials. “I’ve trained them, how to take video, what would work for TV. Then I vet, I call some officers, my friends. I check. Then I save their numbers, according to area, according to district. Many days I run my program with zero cost.”

 

 

4. Viewers appreciate learning about under reported topics. Says Kumar, he often reports on things that “newspapers don’t publish. So when I do a program, viewers watch it with respect. They take it as a reference point.” He shares doing a series on delayed government exam results, and how appointment letters for those who passed were issued shortly after.

5. It helps to be transparent. “I never tell my viewers I know everything in the world,” Kumar says. “When I make a mistake — for instance, someone sends me an email saying I pronounced a word wrong — I start my program with that. ‘I pronounced this and the actual pronunciation is this’. I tell them when I don’t have the resources and when I need more time to vet materials. They will start respecting you when you are transparent with them.”

6. Good journalism doesn’t need to be confirmed by government. “I do not find any law that says if you’re not confirmed by government, you are not doing good journalism,” said Kumar, who admits to having been isolated by his government. Instead of relying on government’s response to certain issues, Kumar leans on his viewers for material.

 

 

7. Give viewers the space and attention. The New Delhi Television Network anchor does not shy away from reporting on “ordinary people” among them manual scavengers, whom he said wouldn’t sit on the chairs provided in his studio because with India’s caste system, “not everybody is entitled to have a chair.” But Kumar said it was very important to give such viewers “a space for their voice. Find them the space and they will respect you. They will say, ‘this platform is for me.’”

 

 

8.  It’s important to engage with and educate your audiences. According to Kumar, because people are faced with free content every day — and people are taking that free content at face value — it’s very important to break the monotony by engaging with them and educating them. “Make them realize the value of democracy and information.” — LA, GMA News

Tags: ravishkumar, ramonmagsaysayawardfoundation, ramonmagsaysayawards2019
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