JOBS: Salon looks at U.S. journos moving to India

SAJAforum's editor, Arun Vengopal (whose day job is as a reporter for WNYC Radio), has a piece in Salon that looks at a phenomenon that didn't exist a few years ago. U.S. journalists heading to India for work. From "Journalists Seeking Paychecks? Try India":

So, what's an underemployed journalist to do? Some move on to academia or cross over to the dark side of public relations. But a few forward-thinking souls are heading to a land where journalism jobs not only aren't disappearing, but are more plentiful by the day: India.

In recent years, India's steamroller economy has diversified well beyond tech and outsourcing, including a big boom in the news media. Circulation has been steadily growing at Indian newspapers, and new dailies and magazines are popping up on a monthly basis. Among the new serious business publications that cater to the economic elites (or aspiring elites) is Mint, edited by Raju Narisetti. Narisetti is the former editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe, and before that served as deputy managing editor of the U.S. edition, which helped him lure several journalists from the U.S.

"Mint has a handful of American citizens in its newsroom, including me," he wrote me. "India is a fascinating country where history is being made in many respects so it is a fertile place for good journalism. Hopefully some of the non-Indian journalists will have a better understanding of India when they do go back."

Foreign journalists aren't the only ones taking advantage of India's growth. Rolling Stone has also launched an Indian edition, following Vogue, FHM and Maxim. People magazine's local edition is launching soon. However, the growth is even greater in the non-English media, in part because rural and small-town India are becoming more literate and have more disposable income.

In broadcast, the change is even greater.

Read the rest of the piece here. And post your feedback at the Salon page or below.

UPDATE: The WSJ does not own any stake in Mint.

SAJAforum's recent coverage of the Indian media scene - onsider it a must-read collection if you want to learn more about the media in India:

• Murdoch to beef up India presence
• International magazines, Indian twist
• India's hot media market
• A look at new business dailies
• More on the business press
• James Mutti essay on India, democracy & the press
• Questions for Sevanti Ninan on monitoring South Asia's press
• Courting Dalits as readers
• Can journalism keep up with India's media explosion?
• One problem with Indian media
• News investors, turn to India (and ditch America)
• BOOKS: "Foreign Correspondent: Fifty Years of Reporting on South Asia"

Comments

[factcheckguy]

Arun,

Nice article. But I don't think the Journal owns a stake in Mint. Mint is owned by Hindustan Times, and they license the WSJ name for use in India. Either way, the paper is a good addition, if a little too free-market obsessed, for readers in India.

[Ruma Dasgupta]

I just read the article on the new exploding media scenario and how it is an opportunity like never before for ambitious journalists around the world.

I was a hardcore advertising writer having spent twenty years and more heading the Creative Departments of three top multinational agency offices in Kolkata, India. It was a cushy life with the fat pay cheque getting fatter every year and ample opportunities to travel and live life king - size.
However the good life is not always the most exciting if it consistently becomes better. I decided that instead of making cigarette and lingerie brands famous I needed to work for self actualization and do something more "meaningful" so that I didn’t die an “advertising chick”.

I had started out in the eighties as a journalist and written a few investigative reports before opting for a career that would get me bigger bucks. Journalism paid pathetically then and to my horror I have discovered it still does.

For freelancers there are multiple “options” with the newspapers adding on supplements skewed to specific segments that draw advertising spends.

The publication brands are in the process of installing a new god in their universe – trying to be a part of the fabric of market economy competing on the shelf . They are new settlers in the new world order adapting desperately. They are also are transforming themselves from being facilitators in society to competitors in the marketplace. I get this horrible feeling that they are losing their bearings because they haven’t quite figured out who the boss really is. For the lingerie brand I handled, the consumer is the king or with my brand, she was the queen. For the newspaper brand the advertiser is the boss. Which means the newspaper brands are once removed from their consumers and dictated to by advertisers. Because the composition and size of the readership base brings in the advertisers the quality of editorials are doctored according to the intellectual levels and sensitivities of the target segments of marketers of those brands which are advertised in the publications. In this complex scenario where does a quality journalist fit in?

The Kolkata - specific supplement of the biggest news publication The Times Of India contains page after page of mindless going-ons in the lives of glamour babes and wannabe celebs as well. Some of the publications make no pretences even calling those sizzly pages What's Hot. At the crack of dawn the reader is subjected to what some showbiz morons have to say about their mating habits or even worse about terrorism or climate change or whatever is the headline on the cover. The media explosion is sure happening in terms of quantity… and what an explosion!...killing our brain cells and making us ask for more and more.As the Pepsi advertisement said "Dil Mange More” and publications think readers are saying the same!

There are new magazines on travel and wellness, on food and hospitality on lifestyle and aging…and endless supplements that cover property and business and blah blah blah. Yes that’s all those are – blahs-one no different from the other-no surprises, no cutting edge style, no new point of view, . Writing for one and writing for all is mostly an exercise in re-writing.

Some publications are apparently trying to do their bit for society but precious little to improve the read. The Times of India concluded its “ Lead India” campaign and has launched its new “Teach India” campaign. Its efforts are directed towards improving itself as a brand and hence the two campaigns.For journalists there is no hope in the horizon unless more firebrands, like Tehelka once was , surface.

For a salary cut I am doing what I did in advertising-looking for an idea, trying to fit in a celeb, making pitches, and forever having that feeling called “I wish”.

[Joydeep Dasgupta]

I agree with what Ruma says...

Joydeep
Correspondent,Kolkata

[Joydeep Dasgupta]

I agree with what Ruma says...

Joydeep

[Ruma DG]

Joydeep,since I am into journalism as a second career I would like to know what folks like u in media in India feel about the trash we have to suffer day in day out.

[Lisa Amin]

Does anyone know of journalists from the san francisco bay area who are considering moving to India to work?
I'd like to contact a few.

[Nona Garg]

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