Chennai: A popular lore in Indian journalism is that there would be no English news organisation that does not have an ‘Ex-press’ man or woman. The reference is to the Indian Express founded by media doyen Ramnath Goenka where many top journalists cut their tooth.
In Tamilnadu, this could well apply to the News Today. There would hardly be an English newsroom in the State without a journalist who has had a stint in the News Today. In fact some of the eveninger’s old boys and girls are heading / have headed news teams in different capacities in leading newspapers, magazines and even television news channels. Incidentally, for the Express itself the News Today has been a talent hunting ground for long.
To this day the organisation continues to be the stepping stone for many aspiring journalists. Professional lessons picked up here help in holding them in good stead for years to come. It is here that Reporters, Sub-Editors, Photographers and Page Designers learn to race against early deadlines to send the edition to print on time.
The afternoon deadline had led to many Reporters mastering the art of dictating stories over phone with clarity to the Sub-Editors, a practice only followed in news agencies. I vividly remember how Pavendhan, who used to work for Maalai Sudar, the News Today’s sister publication, and I ran for over a kilometre alongside the Z-Plus convoy of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi with security personnel screaming at us, to reach a public telephone booth and dictate her maiden election speech made in Sriperumbudur on January 11, 1998. Many such stories (filed by colleagues) that made to the headlines had led to a demand for the newspaper in stalls during that period when 24 x 7 television journalism, Twitter and WhatsApp were not around. Some of these were the arrest of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and the death of Governor M Channa Reddy, both of which happened in the forenoon.
Reporters would be trained to cover multiple assignments on a day and they would do it with perfection. In the run up to the 1998 mid-term Lok Sabha elections, I would often board a bus to Satyamurthi Bhavan to cover Tamil Maanila Congress leader G K Moopanar’s press conference and then head to Anna Arivalayam where DMK leader M Karunanidhi would brief journalists on the alliance talks between the two parties. Both stories would make it to the evening edition serving as a reference to journalists from other organisations.
Not many would remember that the News Today was the most sought after newspaper in the evenings during the bullish run of the stock market (Harshad Mehta era) for its stock market listings. The newspaper also ran an advertisement in Doordarshan highlighting the advantage of seeing the stock prices a day earlier than the English dailies. For VIPs and others arriving in Chennai by evening flights, the eveninger was a staple read on board.
Being a smaller organisation there was a sense of belonging and camaraderie among colleagues from different departments and the Editor T R Jawahar himself would be friendly. These bonds have lasted beyond 20 years and will continue.
(The author, D SURESH KUMAR had two stints at the News Today during 1997-98 and 2002)