Gopikrishnan Unnithan
Former Principal Correspondent, India Today
As a child, I was quite ambitious and had great plans for my career. While studying in the 4th standard, I wanted to be a soldier in the armed forces. A few years later, the plans changed, and now I saw myself becoming a pilot. As I completed my 10th board exam, I realized I was not an academically bright student.
I started becoming more realistic about my plans and decided to become a loco pilot (a person who runs the train). Two years later, my 12th standard marks dashed all those hopes. In the summer of 2010, weeks after the result, my family and I were scrambling for colleges and courses that would accommodate a below-average student.
Today, I am writing this article in my capacity as a journalist and communications professional. The long and complex intro was nothing but a reflection of the reality of school learning and career planning for an ‘average’ student. Unfortunately, even today, in many schools, students are recognized, appreciated, judged, and shamed based on their ability to memorize what is taught in the classrooms and replicate it in the answer sheets.
In my opinion, only 20-35% of youngsters reach a profession through sheer determination and early planning. Another 35%-40% develop a special interest in a particular profile during various stages of their learning and gradually work towards that goal. The remaining 25%-30% might start realizing various job opportunities only after entering college or other post-school institutions. But this doesn’t mean they can’t be successful in life. Just like a test cricket match with two innings, life will always give you a second chance. It’s all about learning from your mistakes in the first innings and building a stronger second innings to achieve your career goals.
Being a ‘below-average’ student in school, it was imperative that I find a course that suited my interests. My love for cricket had made reading newspapers a habit. From days when I used to read only the sports pages, I gradually started developing an interest in general news and awareness about socio-political issues. This skill and general awareness gave me the confidence to pursue a degree in journalism and visual communication. This interest helped me perform better academically in college, which, in turn, opened doors to a central university where I would complete my Master’s. In five years, I had a plan for my career goals, which helped me land a job as a Journalist Trainee at Reporter News channel. From there, I often switched between Journalism and Public Relations.
Field Reporting: Toiling 24/7
In 2017, I was appointed as the Kerala State Correspondent at a national network. This profile helped me learn a lot about the profession. It was my first stint as a field reporter. In my previous assignments, I worked inside the news desks. The working conditions in the field and inside a newsroom are as different as night and day. While a newsroom offers the flexibility of sharing responsibilities and working together as a team, in the field, it’s just you and your cameraperson (as a broadcast journalist). Being a single reporter for the entire state is both interesting and challenging at the same time. While you find yourself covering all sorts of stories, from entertainment to politics to sports to cultural and literary events, you may not necessarily have the luxury of enjoying work-life balance. You go to bed constantly checking for breaking news, hoping nothing turns up late at night. You wake up with your phone, anxious that any major news may have broken while you were asleep. As a single-man reporter, you are expected to be on your toes around the clock, with very minimal scope for long breaks or mandatory week offs.
2018 was a year I will never forget. In May that year, Kerala reported the first outbreak of the Nipah virus in the northern district of Kozhikode. Despite the deadly nature of the virus and the stringent restrictions imposed on the ground, I was duty-bound to travel from the state capital to cover the news. Soon after returning home, I got a call from my office asking me to move to Chennai. Former Chief Minister and DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi was admitted to Kauvery Hospital in critical condition. Our organization had deployed a team of reporters on the ground for this, and we would often take turns camping outside the hospital and at his residence to capture public sentiments. A week into this coverage, Karunanidhi’s condition improved, and I traveled back to Kerala.
Unfortunately, some days later, in the first week of August, his condition deteriorated, and I was back in Chennai on duty. On August 7th, he breathed his last at Kauvery Hospital, and tensions were running high in Chennai. Following his funeral, I returned to Thiruvananthapuram on the morning of August 9th. From the airport, I headed straight to the office, where I had to finish some pending tasks. While in the office, I started receiving weather alerts about severe rains in the high-range regions of Kerala. I informed the office and headed straight to Idukki. Little did I know that I was on my way to cover one of the worst natural calamities the state had seen in a decade — the Kerala floods of 2018. That coverage, a roller coaster ride both emotionally and physically, lasted 17 days before I returned home for a short break. This was shortly followed by the Supreme Court’s Sabarimala women entry verdict, which led to a series of clashes in and around the Sabarimala temple.
2018 was an unforgettable year for me. In May, Kerala faced its first Nipah virus outbreak in Kozhikode. Despite the danger and restrictions, I had to travel from the state capital to report on it. Soon after, I was called to Chennai, where DMK leader M. Karunanidhi was critically ill in Kauvery Hospital. I joined a team of reporters covering the public sentiment outside the hospital. After a week, his condition improved, and I returned to Kerala, but in early August, I was back in Chennai as his health worsened. On August 7th, Karunanidhi passed away, and after covering the tense situation around his funeral, I returned to Thiruvananthapuram on August 9th. That same day, I got weather alerts about heavy rains in Kerala’s high ranges and rushed to Idukki, unaware that I would be covering the devastating Kerala floods for the next 17 days. Soon after, the Supreme Court’s Sabarimala verdict sparked protests, marking another intense reporting phase.
Is Journalism a Good Profession Today?
Journalism as a profession is as good as any other profession in the world. It empowers you to bring about changes in the lives of common people. However, in recent times, a worrying trend has emerged in the field of journalism. Journalism is perceived as the fourth pillar of democracy because it holds truth to power and is considered much closer to the common public. It is expected to take up the role of the opposition, questioning the government on its flaws and demanding answers from those in power.
By 2018, nearly 70% of the media houses in the country had become mouthpieces of the ruling party. Media organizations often face pressure to align with dominant narratives, and those who resist can experience various challenges, such as reduced advertising support or increased scrutiny. This atmosphere can sometimes influence decisions in newsrooms, with leaders opting for a more cautious approach to what gets reported. Despite these challenges, there are still journalists and organizations committed to upholding the core values of the profession, ensuring that diverse voices and perspectives are heard.
Should You Still Choose to Be a Journalist?
I would answer yes to this question. Of course, it is a challenging job, as outlined above. The people’s verdict in the 2024 Lok Sabha election raises hope for a stronger opposition and a sense of accountability in a coalition-run government. Despite the political climate and atmosphere of fear, the media is still one tool that can bring about meaningful changes in society. I have one personal example to back this up. In my nearly 10 years of professional experience, I have never received any award for my work. But there was one story that stood out. In 2021, during my last months in the organization, I did a story about the lack of facilities for online education for children in remote regions of Wayanad. They had to trek uphill into the forest to find places with an adequate network to attend classes. Actor and philanthropist Sonu Sood, who noticed this story, offered to intervene to find a solution. He brought this issue to the attention of telecom companies and offered to bear the expenses of installing a new mobile tower in the region. Though the process took a while, the efforts finally paid off when a telecom operator installed a mobile tower to solve the coverage issue in the region. That intervention, which brought smiles to those children, was worth a thousand awards to me. This is a realization that despite the challenges, hard work, and everything else, journalism is still a profession worth choosing if you have the right skill set to excel in it. This includes good communication and writing skills, interpersonal skills, critical thinking, attention to detail, and more. I will add one more skill to the list: empathy — which makes you a good journalist and a good human being. Work on these skills, and start reading a lot if you are up for this profession.
