The Transformation

The Transformation

At this juncture of my career, when I have spent a good two decades writing, rewriting and editing news copies, I stand here looking for change. After being in a profession which demands a big NOSE for news and on-your-toe urgency to meet deadlines, there’s hardly any skills left in you or for that matter acquired by you than to just pick holes in whatever others do.
Always treading (at least presented to do so) on a moral high ground, I am ready to join the army of ‘commoners’ who are constantly under the watch of the fourth estate. But will it be so easy to pass the test to the House of Commons?
Well, to be a journalist is very much like being in politics. Look for holes, potholes, if there ain’t enough dig some or make others to dig some, so that you have enough space (read depth) for manipulation, winning favours, accolade and sympathy. Yeah, manipulation! That’s one hell of a tool for all human kind to turn mediocrity into stardom, and politicians as well as journalists are quite adept in using it in their favour. The case becomes all the more intriguing when one is pitted against the other.
So, when X politician made a politically correct statement to Y reporter on a very crucial issue, the latter, out of habit, juxtaposed the comment with a piece of googled information that made it sound so apolitically incorrect statement. The reporter could easily wash his hands off the ensuing controversy saying that he put X’s comments in exactly his words and therefore, Mr X just cannot complain.
Mr X would have his day also. So, he deliberately leaks a very sensitive piece of information about his colleague and rival to media, stirring the hornet’s nest. The rival is doomed by the media expose even as Mr X chuckles satisfyingly.
This is called mutualism. You scratch my back I will scratch yours. You play to my gallery I will play to yours. But while a journalist is only scanned by his bosses or peers, the commoners, thanks to the former, are on the pubic crosshair for most of the time. One step too right or too left and you are off the tight rope. For journalists, there may be too many strings attached to their jobs, but at least, they don’t have to walk the tight rope.
And I was talking about passing the test to become a commoner. Being a politician, like being a journalist, you don’t need to have a particular set of skills taught in technical university or a business school. The only condition required is you operate in a democracy. The advantage, however, of being in journalism is that a very few people would compete with you as it is the least remunerative professions in the world. However, politics is different. You make money and you bask in power. So the competition is tough. People of all hues, creed and caste are there to share with you their hopes, desires and desperation. If you are a choker you may have no space to suffocate and if you are a winner, there’s no podium to finish at. There’s only the dais that you have to share with so many like you.
It is tough and yet I am ready to give it a go. I have played with words all my life, and all I have to do now is to play with words in a new capacity.