TAKING NOTE OF... PRESS CONFERENCES
Elections are bounty time not only for the gullible voters, but for journalists too.
Offers pour in from all over. From a seasoned politicians to novices, who enter the fray with an intention to make a `kill' and dont mind sparing a pound of meat for black and white column inches.
PR journalism is nothing new to Goan scribes, I suppose. Some or most of them literally make a living out of it?
Recently a legislator from the coastal belt invited some journalists for a press conference.
The intention was to tom-tom about his list of achievements and portray an immaculate perfomance chart, for the term ending in June.
Some six journalists -- mostly vernacular press correspondents -- from Mapusa who attended the PC, were supplied with all the facts and figures. After the farcical affair, the journos were treated to spirits and a sumptuous dinner.
Well, perhaps keeping in sync with the DRINK AND DONT DRIVE dictum, they were even ferried to their homes after the `event'.
As if that was not enough, the `gentleman' legislator pushed six envelopes onto each of the six scribes. Uh yes, you guessed it. Each envelope had a crisp note of `Thousand' in it. Amazed? Thousand bucks, only to write about a legitimate press conference. The same press conferences which we publish day in and day out.
None... none from the group of six winced. `That's the in thing. We all get gifts for press conferences. So what if its money' was the common refrain.
Well, one of the six couldn't digest it though. Gifts to a certain extent is, OK. Tolerable. But money??
The next day the scribe met the toad of a legislator and promptly and politely returned the envelope.
The legislator tried to cajole the scribe and even had the gall to say: `This is only the beginning, more will come. I need your help ……'
Well the scribe turned all offers and temptations of the legislator, but left a worried man.
Are we not the ones, who write and editorialise about corruption and injustice happening in the government and private enterprise.
Surely, it's difficult to practise what we preach, uh?
PENPRICKS -- Guys please send in more personal accounts, if you have ever been confronted with such a situation in your respective careers. And write back anyways....
Offers pour in from all over. From a seasoned politicians to novices, who enter the fray with an intention to make a `kill' and dont mind sparing a pound of meat for black and white column inches.
PR journalism is nothing new to Goan scribes, I suppose. Some or most of them literally make a living out of it?
Recently a legislator from the coastal belt invited some journalists for a press conference.
The intention was to tom-tom about his list of achievements and portray an immaculate perfomance chart, for the term ending in June.
Some six journalists -- mostly vernacular press correspondents -- from Mapusa who attended the PC, were supplied with all the facts and figures. After the farcical affair, the journos were treated to spirits and a sumptuous dinner.
Well, perhaps keeping in sync with the DRINK AND DONT DRIVE dictum, they were even ferried to their homes after the `event'.
As if that was not enough, the `gentleman' legislator pushed six envelopes onto each of the six scribes. Uh yes, you guessed it. Each envelope had a crisp note of `Thousand' in it. Amazed? Thousand bucks, only to write about a legitimate press conference. The same press conferences which we publish day in and day out.
None... none from the group of six winced. `That's the in thing. We all get gifts for press conferences. So what if its money' was the common refrain.
Well, one of the six couldn't digest it though. Gifts to a certain extent is, OK. Tolerable. But money??
The next day the scribe met the toad of a legislator and promptly and politely returned the envelope.
The legislator tried to cajole the scribe and even had the gall to say: `This is only the beginning, more will come. I need your help ……'
Well the scribe turned all offers and temptations of the legislator, but left a worried man.
Are we not the ones, who write and editorialise about corruption and injustice happening in the government and private enterprise.
Surely, it's difficult to practise what we preach, uh?
PENPRICKS -- Guys please send in more personal accounts, if you have ever been confronted with such a situation in your respective careers. And write back anyways....
posted by Pen Pricks at
12:35
2 Comments:
considering the rate at which elections are held in goa (believe its almost one per year or near abouts), goa journos must be getting rich faster and at a relatively younger age than anywhere else in the country!
These tips rarely enrich our journos. The money probably gets blown the same day at some local tavern or over a pot of xacuti the same night.
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