SAJAforum

JOBS: A U.S. Job Fair for Those Who Want To Work in India

Here's an unusual jobs-related item that came via e-mail: A job fair in the US for those looking to move to India. Includes booths for journalism jobs at the Hindustan Times, a general-interest daily and Mint, a Delhi-based business launched by SAJAers Raju Narisetti (now managing editor of the Washington Post), S. Mitra Kalita (now an editor at WSJ in NYC) and others with U.S. connections who moved temporarily or permanently to India.

From: Helena Podgorniak <helena.podgorniak@relianceada.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:50:25
Subject: India Calling! US Job Fair 2010 - Journalism Jobs In India Available!

Greetings from Shine.com!

Shine.com, a career portal of Hindustan Times Media Ltd., is pleased to announce US Job Fair 2010 - a Job & Relocation Fair in US to be held over 2 weekends in August and September, reaching out to NRIs looking for job opportunities in India. The fair will be held in New Jersey & California.

   - 28th and 29th August at Raritan Exposition Centre, Edison, NJ
   - 3rd and 4th September at Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA

GALA: JAI SINGH, A Believer in The Promise of Online Reporting

Editor's Note: At this year's SAJA Gala Awards & Scholarship Dinner, three of the most senior South Asian Journalists in the United States were asked to appear on a panel called "View from the Top". Two of them - Madhulika Sikka, executive producer of NPR's Morning Edition; and Raju Narisetti, managing editor of the Washington Post - are winners of this year's SAJA Journalism Leader Award, given for outstanding leadership. The third speaker, Jai Singh, won the SAJA Journalism Leader Award, in 2003, along with Rena Golden, then head of CNN International and the late Peter Jennings.

SAJAforum student bloggers talked to the SAJA Gala Dinner panelists ahead of the event. Here are excerpts from the interview with Jai Singh. Read the ones with Sikka here and Narisetti here.

Interview by Pia Sawhney, summer intern at International Crisis Group and a documentary film director. She is pursuing a master's degree in public policy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

At 19, when Jai Singh talked of a career in journalism, friends and family discouraged him, calling his choice impractical and esoteric.

"I was an anomaly," Singh said in an interview from his office in New York City. "When I started my career, there weren't too many Indians studying journalism. My parents worried whether I would be able to put food on the table."

Singh, managing editor at The Huffington Post, has done better that that. He has weathered a turbulent tide that has roiled the industry over the past decade, and found new ways to blend his penchant for storytelling with emerging digital platforms.

Singh began as a reporter at The Eagle, the newspaper at American University. He was the paper's editor. After graduating from college, Singh worked the cop beat and tracked City Hall ledgers in Washington, D.C. Then he took a left turn, joining an early digital publication in 1984 incubated by Reader's Digest magazine. The outlet produced stories in electronic format. He later became Editor-In-Chief of the technology news team at CNET.com where he was responsible for overseeing reports published in real-time. 

"I knew, while I was at CNET.com, the internet would take off," Singh said. "I didn't know exactly how or when, but I knew it would happen."

Since then, he has been part of the evolution of online journalism. He firmly believes that developing successful online reporting models are simply a matter of time.

GALA: RAJU NARISETTI On COVERING NEWS IN INDIA AND THE U.S.

Editor's Note: At this year's SAJA Gala Awards & Scholarship Dinner, three of the most senior South Asian Journalists in the United States were asked to appear on a panel called "View from the Top". Two of them - Madhulika Sikka, executive producer of NPR's Morning Edition; and Raju Narisetti, managing editor of the Washington Post - are winners of this year's SAJA Journalism Leader Award, given for outstanding leadership. The third speaker, Jai Singh, won the SAJA Journalism Leader Award, in 2003, along with Rena Golden, then head of CNN International; and the late Peter Jennings.

SAJAforum student bloggers talked to the SAJA Gala Dinner panelists ahead of the event. Here are excerpts from the interview with Raju Narisetti. Read the ones with Singh here and Sikka here.

Interview by Shanti Venkataraman.

Raju Narisetti is a journalist who frequently makes news himself.

In 2006, the veteran The Wall Street Journal editor decided to move to India to launch a business newspaper in a highly competitive market that already had four flourishing business dailies. In 2008, he made news again when he returned to the U.S. as the managing editor of The Washington Post.

Ahead of the SAJA Gala on July 24, 2010, Raju Narisetti offered us his view from the top. Here are excerpts from an interview with SAJA Forum blogger Shanthi Venkataraman:

How is it to be back in the US, after your experience of launching Mint in India? Has your perspective of journalism, and the news we cover, changed?

The three years I spent in India were actually that of real adjustment after spending 20 years in American journalism. If I had to do it all over again, I would do it in a heartbeat. You can spend a lifetime here and never get the chance to launch something new and see it grow well. It was immensely satisfying experience, and Mint continues to do well. Just this month, it launched another edition in Ahmedabad, India. And it just broke even, three years after its launch and that, too, in a global recession. For it to be recognized as a paper with quality, ethics and analysis – that accomplishes everything that I set out to do.

 What was your experience with the media industry there?

Obviously the industry was completely different. It is a dynamic industry. Unlike here circulation and advertising there is growing in the double digits. The business side of the media is doing really well. On the journalism end of it: multiple choices have not necessarily led to a substantial increase in quality of journalism. The industry is in a transition phase, though and Mint is evidence that quality journalism and analysis has value.

JOB: Roving foreign correspondent for WashPost

In late 2009, SAJAforum posted jobs for Pakistani bureau chief of Reuters and Islamabad correspondent for the Washington Post. Here's a brand-new posting for what looks like an amazing opportunity for a journalist with the right experience, temperament, hunger, and frequent-flier miles.

DON'T FORGET: SAJAforum tips for American journalists going to South Asia for the first time.

Job Posting: Foreign Correspondent
   With the war in Aghanistan likely to intensify in the next year, we're planning to create a new, roving job on the foreign staff to help strengthen our coverage. Its  responsibilities will stretch from Iraq to Pakistan, and the duties will keep a correspondent on the road for at least seven months a year, dividing time between our bureaus in Baghdad, Kabul and Islamabad. The correspondent could be based in Washington or abroad.

    We're seeking an experienced war correspondent who has already spent time covering either the war in Iraq or the war in Afghanistan, if not both. Any candidate should be mindful of the dangers inherent in covering conflict zones, and should be prepared for long stretches away from home. We're seeking a minimum commitment of one year for the job, beginning no later than April 2010.

     A strong candidate would be an agile, self-starting reporter and a generous colleague eager to parachute into a new story every month or so. A strong internal candidate has already emerged, but we're eager to hear from others interested in this job or in other opportunities on the foreign staff. Applicants should contact Douglas Jehl jehld[at]washpostl by Jan. 18.

January 4, 2010

Please use code "SAJA" so they know you heard about it here.

JOB: Islamabad correspondent, Washington Post

Earlier this month, we posted a job for Pakistani bureau chief of Reuters. Now, an equally intriguing posting from the Washington Post. 

DON'T FORGET: Tips for American journalists going to South Asia for the first time.

Islamabad Correspondent

Foreign is seeking an Islamabad correspondent for a tour of at least one year, beginning Feb. 1. The post includes primary responsibility for Pakistan, a nuclear power facing enormous challenges from inside and outside its borders. It would include some shared responsibility for Afghanistan, working closely with our correspondent in Kabul. We're looking for a strong writer, energetic reporter and big thinker eager to dive deeply into the confusion and chaos of a region that ranks at the top of Washington's most urgent concerns. The job would require a candidate willing to be based in Pakistan, rather than to make periodic rotations.

We ask that any applicant give full consideration to the security risks inherent in reporting from Pakistan and Afghanistan. There is a strong internal candidate, but we're eager to hear from others; we're interested in talking to anyone interested in this or any other foreign post. Those interested should contact Douglas Jehl at jehld[at]washpost.com by Monday, October 5.

Comments welcome.

JOB: Reuters Pakistan bureau chief

We don't usually post jobs on this blog. Instead, we share job openings with only our paid SAJA members (sign up here for membership; just $20 for journalists). But this sounds like a terrific international opportunity for the right journalist. Positions like this rarely get advertised outside the news organization. Please share with folks anywhere in the world who might be interested. Feel free to post your comments below.

Earlier on SAJAforum: Tips for American journalists going to South Asia for the first time.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Bureau Chief, Pakistan
Reference code: #PAK1994

Reuters is looking for a top-notch journalist and manager to become bureau
chief in Pakistan, covering one of the world’s most exciting news stories.

These are tumultuous times for Pakistan as the government grapples with militants who control swathes of territory along the border with Afghanistan. The Obama administration has put "AfPak" at the heart of its foreign policy agenda, but many would argue that the bigger problem of the two is nuclear-armed Pakistan, not Afghanistan.

The Pakistan bureau chief must be able to anchor a diverse, multimedia news
file, leading from the front with excellent reporting, writing and analytical skills of her/his own. She/he must ensure that Reuters routinely breaks news and sets the agenda on the key security and political stories for our media and financial clients.

CONV: Job Seeking Journalists Keep The Hope Alive

[ See all SAJA@15 Convention & Career Expo coverage ]

Economic turbulence has hit most everyone hard, but journalists have had to deal with a double whammy - the financial crisis and a technologically-driven revamp of the media industry.

Jobs are in short supply. A survey by online job website CareerBuilder.com revealed that only 43 percent of employers intended to hire new graduate this year, down from 56 percent in 2008 and 79 percent in 2007.

Everyone around seems to be doing unpaid internships – some while waiting tables on the side - while others blog about their woes.  A slightly luckier crew is making some money through freelance work. Still, at the SAJA job fair there still was a glimmer of hope.

Pracheta Sharma who is finishing up her main project for television at the Columbia Journalism School came with a teammate to pitch media outlets a story on South Asian maids in the NYC.

Charlotte Purin made the trek from Los Angeles. Having worked in Hollywood as a location scout manager for movies and commercials, she was unfettered by the dismal job market as she makes a mid-career change to journalism. “Everything is under the water as you might as well pick what you love,” she said.

A benefit for Purin: the concept of evolving media is not foreign to her. “We used 35 mm film and then we had to digitize the whole thing,” she said about her time in Hollywood.  “You just adapt and ingest.”

Purin also was at the job fair to pitch a story on the festival known as Kumbhmela(http://www.divinerevelation.org/KumbhMela.html). “This is a place to plant seeds,” she said unfazed by the mixed reception her idea received. “You never know where it’s going to lead.

-- By Betwa Sharma, a recent graduate from Columbia University.

 

ESSAY: Class of '09, exit stage left

While many of my friends are getting their diplomas and moving into the real world this spring, I’m taking the scenic route to graduation – pinning on an extra semester that allows time for a Gainesville Sun newspaper internship, journalism trip to Brazil, volunteer work in north Indian villages, and some extra multimedia classes.

“Oh, you’re such a free spirit,” my mom’s friends tell me as they nudge their children toward law school or MCAT classes.

But my sense of adventure might have something to do with the fact that finding a job has me shaking in my hiking boots.

The other day I looked up from my elliptical to the gym TV to see a headline that read “Worst year to graduate ever?” Soothing.

It’s not just the news, or the demise of the Boston Globe, CosmoGirl or Oprah Home. It’s also the journalism conferences where even lighthearted, successful columnists like Dave Barry have given budding writers the yellow light.

Professors in j-schools around the country are arming students with “backpack journalism” skills like video editing, RSS-savvy writing and Web design, but telling us to be open to PR and advertising.

My mother, who still makes me open up Word or upload photos for her, is pushing me to become more technical. Basically, a computer programmer who might have a couple story ideas too.

JOBS: APIAVote looking for new executive director

An important opportunity for those interested in U.S. politics.

The Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote) is pleased to announce the re-opening of its Executive Director search process.

 You may be familiar with our work and our partnerships with local and national AAPI community based organizations.  APIAVote is a progressive 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that promotes civic participation of the Asian and Pacific Islander community.

The position of Executive Director requires strong field strategy and management experience.   APIAVote's primary goal is to build the field and organizational capacity of our local and national partner organizations, through coalition building and training.  Its program focus addresses voter registration, get-out-the-vote (GOTV) initiatives, media/communications strategy and voter file operations.

The Executive Director reports directly to the Board of Directors and oversees a small staff that does administrative, field, communications, and program management tasks. S/he is responsible for day-to-day operations including its effective staff administration, fundraising, communications, field organizing, training and partner relationships.

This is a wonderful organization that addresses a distinct community need.  It is also a great opportunity for a qualified and innovative candidate.  Please forward this to your networks, and any interested parties.  If you have any questions regarding APIAVote, please take a look at our website (www.apiavote.org/jobs), or contact the ED Search Committee at APIAVotejobs[at]gmail.com.

Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,

Jeanette Moy
Executive Director Search Committee
APIAVote Board of Directors

Vida Benavides
Interim Executive Director
APIAVote

JOBS: Yahoo! India Managing Editor

We usually don't post jobs on SAJAforum. We post jobs of interest to journalists in a blog format for paid SAJA members only (are you one yet? Just $10 for students; $20 for journos and $30 for non-journos. Sign up at http://www.saja.org/membership). But we do, on occasion, post unusual or important jobs that are worth noting. Here's a special opportunity for the right person - they sent it specifically to SAJA for wide dissemination.

Yahoo! India has a fantastic opportunity that I think SAJA members may be interested in. I think they're trying to move quickly on making this important hire.

Post your comments below. 

Managing Editor, Yahoo! India 

 

Description:

As Managing Editor for Yahoo! India, you will be responsible for programming Yahoo India’s front page, news, entertainment, cricket and other key media properties.  Your primary goal is to make Yahoo! India’s content as compelling and engaging as possible, directly impacting our top-level reach and user engagement metrics.  You will be responsible for crafting Yahoo! India’s editorial voice, working closely with other Yahoo! sites globally.