Towards the end of November 2023, Newslaundry’s Executive Editor Manisha Pande visited the Department of Journalism & Mass Communication as part of her reporting assignment on Telangana State Assembly Election. After her show was recorded, our students Ezra Samuel Raju, Akula Rakesh Kumar and Sandeep Thatla caught up with her. Excerpts from their interaction:
What are your impressions of Osmania University?
I think it’s a very beautiful campus. I really didn’t know that in Hyderabad such a beautiful university exists. But I’m very sad to see the current condition.
What’s your take on the state politics?
We’ve seen a lot of advertisements of BRS in Delhi… of the chief minister advertising Telangana as a model state. So it will be very interesting to see whether his welfare schemes and everything that he’s advertised is actually true or not and how happy people are.
You started your career long back. How have things changed in journalism?
I started in 2009 and now it’s 2023. So a lot has changed of course. I think it’s harder to do journalism today if you are adversarial towards any government. I think the digital era has meant a lot of innovation for us and a lot of opportunities as well. Having said that, it’s tough.
Do you think the field is more welcoming for women now?
A lot has to change but I think it is a more welcoming profession for women. A lot of women have been able to do really well. Women in newsrooms now are really commanding important positions. They’re becoming editors, they’re becoming chief editors, they’re heading departments.
How do you make sure that you are safe and how does it feel?
Like most of the men around, I think, as journalists, we are used to it. We take some precautions. Like you should always be aware of your surroundings, where you are, who you’re traveling with. You should be aware of the situation around you. So we take precautions like that to see, judge the crowd, judge the room that you’re in, and that’s about it.
Other than that, as a journalist, you have to go to many places, you have to talk to all sorts of people. So you have to be a little responsible in how you approach that. Organizational help is very important. You should have an organization who backs you, gives you enough resources to travel well to be able to get help if you get in trouble. So organisational help is also very important.
What do you think about the government having authority over media?
Government control on media is something that really has to be looked into, and fought. And I think people need to be very aware about this. The news you’re consuming, where is the source coming from? Who owns them? Where are they making their money from? You need to be aware of that, and you need to start paying for news, because if you don’t pay for news, then vested interest will pay for, and then they’ll control it.