Exclusive | Reporting have become better and worse: Ravi Khanna

How should new readers and anchors of television news channels approach their work, what are the things they should do and which are the areas they should steer clear from? Ask Indian born Ravi Khanna, veteran TV and radio journalist who was the first naturalized US citizen, a non-white to be accepted as a News Writer in the Voice of America (VOA) newsroom. He was also the first South Asia Desk Editor and has written & produced a number of TV packages for VOA, mostly on South Asia and the Middle East. These analytical pieces provided an in- depth background and perspective to the news which are used by all 38 services of VOA.
 
Ravi Khanna has interviewed a large number of South Asian leaders such as Manmohan Singh, Narasimha Rao, Atal Behari Vajpayee, Rajiv Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto , Asif Ali Zardari, and Morarji Desai to name a few. Based on his vast experience, Ravi Khanna has recently written a book, “TV News Writing Made Easy for Newcomers" which was released by Salman Khurshid, Honorable Law and Justice Minister of India. Adgully had an opportunity to interact with Ravi Khanna and dwell into his mind on various aspects. Following is the conversation.
 
Adgully (AG): How did and why the thought of writing a book on TV News Writing come to you?
 
Ravi Khanna (RK): During the last five or six years of my South Asia Desk Chief’s job at the VOA Newsroom in USA,  I saw how the number of TV channels are multiplying in India, triggering a huge demand for TV reporters and anchors. I also saw there were very few Media schools of impeccable quality to train the youngsters and that the books on TV reporting were verbose sermons about journalism. So I felt the need for a practical guide on TV News Writing and Production that virtually holds hands of the students and guides him or her first to cover an event with camera, then write about it and then produce it as a TV package And that is what my book does.
 
AG: What is the book all about; What is the central theme that you have addressed in the book?
 
RK: The central theme of the book is to tell the students that news is nothing but a “FACTUAL STORY” and they should acquire the art of telling a story as it happened, without distorting facts and without inserting their opinions into it – right from the beginning to the end, with no questions unanswered. To emphasize this,  I have deconstructed a TV news story into six parts – the lead with five W’s (what, who, when, why and where), reinforcement of the lead, more information about the five W’s, background information about the story, and lastly the information about the COMMENTS OR VERIFICATIONS WHICH WE COULD NOT OBTAIN.
 
AG: The book is aimed at which target audience/readers. It is focused for India or global audience?
 
RK: News can be local, national or international, but the principles of writing the news are universal. So my book is not limited to Indian audience. The construction of a TV package is the same everywhere.
 
AG: You have been a veteran in this field. How according to you has the standards of news reporting evolved over the years?
 
RK: The standards of reporting have become better as well as worse. On the one hand now we can gather news even by sting operations and just by recording events on our Blackberrys but the responsibility that comes with these standards is sometimes ignored, which is very dangerous. News can never be of just one side, the other side has to be told otherwise it is not news, just views.
 
AG: Any particular style of news reporting you dislike. It has often been observed that TV news thrive more on sensationalism. Your comments?
 
RK: I don’t like “opinionated news” that a lot of Indian channels give.  Sometimes it seems every Indian TV channel has an agenda. The viewers these days are very smart and they can catch easily if there is a twist.  Obviously, there are two ways for the TV channels to thrive. Either they make the news sensational or keep it totally genuine. In my view, the life of a channel that gives sensational news will be shorter than the news channel that consistently keeps on giving news in a serious and genuine manner. The game is “credibility”  and it takes years to build it and just minutes to lose it.
 
AG: Here in India, even “a dog falling in the well” becomes Breaking News and news channels short of news play it whole day long. Do you think this is correct?
 
RK: This is not just India’s problem, it is a problem created by 24/7 news channels all over the world. You can’t expect serious news happening every hour of the day and every day of the week. And that creates a huge problem for the channels that give news for all 24 hours. How are they going to fill the time? So even “a dog falling into the well” becomes news for them, because it comes in handy when they have nothing else to show. As they say, “the TV screen cannot be left blank; it must have some pictures all the time.”
 
AG: During the course of your long career you have interviewed some of the best leaders who were also best minds. Who impressed you the most?
 
RK: US President Bill Clinton impressed me the most, and still do. He is a “very shrewd politician” but comes across as a “harmless messiah”. When he is being interviewed his blue eyes are always locked onto your gaze and suddenly you start believing everything he says. There is a rare charisma in his personality, and that is why I think he is the number one leader today, although just a former president in USA. In my opinion, the irony is that in today’s age of electronic media, no political leader can win the hearts of the people or any election unless he or she comes across on TV as a good and an honest person. That is what TV has done to us and that is where Mr. Clinton excels.
 
AG: Any advice you would like to give to news broadcasters/readers of today. Some dos and don’ts?
 
RK: They are all listed in my book.  I see anchors sitting in the studio using the same lead without changing a single word, as the person who reported the story from the field had used. No one takes the time to rewrite the lead for the anchor. If it is “breaking news”  the repetition is understandable. But if the anchor had time, I think he or she should not steal the field reporter’s lead. Also I see some of the TV channels playing background music with the News footage, perhaps without realizing that the background music is given only to “dramatize”  the impact of the scene on the screen, and that you cannot “dramatize”  news.
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