Ashok Bhatt, Master of the Art of hitting headlines

The new Gujarat Assembly has Ashok Bhatt as its Speaker. Bhatt has many distinctions to his credit. He is the MLA representing Khadia constituency in Ahmedabad since 1975, longest surviving MLA in the country. During this period he has witnessed turbulent periods of Gujarat as a society and its politics.
Today when incumbency is a catch phrase in Indian politics, Bhatt's survival as MLA from Khadia is a classic example of his ability to hit right note with his electorate. His personality has another fascinating aspect. However, media and his contemporaries have not been able to do justice to this aspect of his personality. This is his ability to hit headlines at his will and in his way.
It may sound strange when one learns that he his just SSC. He has no qualification in Journalism nor has he undertaken any course in media. He is great in throwing up ideas that catch the attention of the media instantly. PR skills are natural gift to him. He is always willing to help people particularly people from press. But his mastery is much beyond simple PR tricks of exchanging pleasantries and offering help.
It is a know fact that Health, Law and Justice are among those departments which are not sought after by politicians. These are not newsy departments. Nor they are considered important. But Ashok Bhatt has shown that even these dull departments can be turned into happening departments from media point of view.
Malaria is a common health problem. No one thinks beyond quinine tablets. But our Bhattji had processions of monstrous models of mosquitoes to tell people about the villan that caused malaria! This was a good picture event for media. Then there were all kind of information tableau. Once the issue of problem of malaria in the Banaskantha district was raised in the House. He had a very creative explanation. He said flooding of water from the neighbouring Pakistan was the main cause of Malaria in the border district. No one could miss the story, whatsoever may be the fact of the flooding water.
He would have plenty of such occasions. He was probably the first Health Minister who involved UNICEF and had frequent joint media interactions. Promotion of Ayurveda and projects of development of herbal plants brought him fruits in the form of wide media coverage. His tenure as Law and Justice Minister saw news stories of Lok Adalats, evening courts and National Law University in Gujarat!
It is a known fact that Chief Minister Narendra Modi's decision to have him as speaker did not bring cheers to him. But he had to accept the job. Once he accepted it, he started showing his best. He visited the vast library of the Assembly. It had no readers. He sent letters to all MLAs asking them to use the Library. It was a good news copy that MLAs did not use the library. All had this news as prominent one. Next day he wrote a letter to former MLAs asking them to keep relations with the Assembly as the creator of present Gujarat. A creative newsworthy idea! Then he arranged a three day workshop for MLAs. Lok Sabha Speaker was among the important speakers. Certainly a national event.
Even during the budget session, he showed his creative newsiness. What use speakers make of the CCTV. Hardly any. But Ashok Bhatt started viewing tapes of all cameras after Assembly hours. He found some MLAs sharing chocolate , ministers sending notes to MLAs to ask questions. He used this information in the House to act as a good successful monitor!!
At a time, when people curse media for its reporting and charge it with writing all kind of things, here is Ashok Bhatt who sets agenda for media and succeeds in it!!!

Privileged among privileged

When I visited the Gujarat State Assembly for the first time as a student of Journalism, it was an enviable awe inspiring experience. Assembly sergeants in impeccable white uniform directing strangers and visitors with a command of authority.And when I visited the Assembly to cover proceedings as a reporter of Indian Express, I had another experience of the Assembly.Even the elite, the media- not a popular term in those days, had to stick to rules.

I distinctly remember my first day. While leaving the gallery, I had left my papers on the writing desk. A senior next to me drew my attention to the papers. He asked me to put all my papers in the desk so that nothing flew away from the desk. He explained to me that if papers flew and got into the House, I would be punished. It amounted to throwing papers into the gallery, common form of protest in the Assembly by outsiders.Such was the sense of decorum of the House and spirit of help of fellow journalists.

Now, the atmosphere in the corridors of the Assembly is more or less same. Strict discipline for outsiders and strangers. MLAs, officers in the officers gallery and visitors in the visitors gallery have to follow the strict discipline. Speaker is the ultimate unchallenged undisputed authority for all. Everyone is conscious of the the omnipresent authority of the Speaker. There is an unwritten dress code. Sober colours and formal clothes are still a tradition followed by all.

Last week, Jagdish Thakore of Congress drew the attention of the Speaker to two senior officers of the Information Department sitting in the visitor gallery.There was nothing wrong in the sense that anyone can be in visitors gallery. But the officers slipped out of the gallery the moment the issue was raised.

But the scenario in the press gallery has undergone a sea change. Journalists talk freely at a decibel that is audible even to some members in House. Frequent movement in the gallery attracts attention of everyone in the House. There is a good number of women journalists. In the last session, Sergeant had found a lady journalist giving a note to a sewak in the House from the press gallery. Proceedings were on. He called the lady and warned her . This was one of the several such incidents which showed changing times in the gallery. This week again a lady journalist was seen sending a note through sewak.

Assembly has audio-visual recording of the proceedings. At certain places like office of the Leader of Opposition, Canteen and press room one can see these proceedings live. Earlier this month, newly elected Speaker Ashok Bhatt found a channel showing the scenes which were removed from the record of the proceedings of the House. He sought explanation from the channel. Top brass of the channel was in the Assembly. They tendered an apology. The issue was settled. However, after two days the Speaker issued a circular which pointed out that recording of the proceedings of the House through the network of Close Circuit TV was not allowed and asserted that there should not be any recording.

The problem is that there is a very wide gap between seniors and juniors. It is quite difficult to meet the challenging attitude of juniors who can question anyone about anything. Who can dare tell them about the decorum of the press gallery ! People in the press gallery are privileged among privileged!!

What Friends Say

--Dear Yogesh,
It is through your media column that I came to know of the death of veteran Kirit Raval.And it would be in the fitness of things if I use the same medium to convey my deepest condolences to a warm hearted human being and a splendid journalist.I was learning to walk in journalism when the ruling crime reporting Czars of Anubhai ,Jaidev,Ambalal kaka and Kirit Raval ruled the roost.Kirit's spirits never sagged and the intake was never able to overshadow his outflow of news.May God bless his soul.
Another point I would like to make here is that our busy schedules , many a times,lead to a situation where we lose track of our own colleagues.I would earnestly request everyone in the fraternity to bond together so that frequent interaction ensures that we do not lose , both touch and track, of our fraternity members and are together to share their happiness and sarrow.Allow the
Media Club to bridge all generational gaps by coming together under it.
warm regards and best wishes.
R.k.misra, founder President Gujarat Media Club
--Dear Yogeshbhai,
Great job done,congrats.
I think,this type of MEDIA was needed since long for media persons in Gujarat.
Keep it up with more and more media masala.
Secondly,I think you should send print out of this newsletter to main 4 media schools,2 at Gujarat University and 2 at Gujarat Vidyapith in Ahmedabad,it will be useful for journalism and communication students.
f posible,try to change layout and presentation of newsletter.As 1,its not eye friendly and 2,you are using more verticle space than horizontal.
tks rgds,
Dhimant Purohit, Aajtak

--Dear Yogesh
It's really a good idea to bring out a specialised newsletter for us - we miss out many important items from the daily newspapers and I will call it a specialised news article service - crisp and to the point - Mind your Language - Be Simple was a good read ! I wish you all the success in this initiative ! Can I add some of my friends to this newsletter ? Is it meant only for a limited audience - or open to all ? Please let me know
Satish Deshpande, British Library
--Dear sharmaji' with this news letter ü have brought the media community closer and will go a long way in building a sense of pride and brotherhood in the media fraternity.

Pankaj Mudholkar, Grey World Wide
Dear shri Yogeshji,
Your endeavour to do some new thing is praiseworthy. congrates.
warm regards,
Arvind Jobanputra, COB UNI Rajkot
--Yogeshbhai
i m very happy to see news about our newsmen, becacuse we are always eager to know what is happening in our media field.ratherthan actual news. i will be more happy when u come with new ideas, because i m confident that u r a proper person who cater these things to our people in a different manner.
keep it up
wish u all the best.
Viren Vyas, Garvi Gujarat.
--Dear Yogeshbhai,
Congrats. I read your second issue with great interest. I am sure that your initiative will go along way in our topical debate on changing role of media. Best wishes for all the time to come.....
Bhagyesh Jha, Commissioner Of Information, Govt Of Gujarat.
--Dear Yogesh bhai,
Just gone through newsletters, you sent. it is a great job. The way you have chosen is really a great, brilliant and exciting.
Please accept my best wishes for this new way of awareness in journalism, and apology for being late. After reading this, I think that why I shouldn't have been gone through before this?
In Gujarat election tour I already experienced your valuable support and information about Gujarat's political scenario. And now enjoying the tips about language and link for Orwell's essay, how one should cover railway with various angle.
It is your privilege to have any help from us, without any hesitation.
Thanks and best wishes again..
AJAY BUWA, Sakal Papers Mumbai
--Yogeshji,
Hearty congratulations...
for this very pioneering venture...media newsloetter
May it succeed in every possible way...
everybody likes the concept of your innovative newslater
warm wishes,
Gautam Purohit,Bereau chief,Gujarat Samachar,Gandhinagar
--Dear YogeshCongrats! A live journalism on modern technology isvery impressive and really give pleasure to read medianews letter.
Bharat Lakhtariya, Gujarat Samachar A'bad.
--Thank you boss. Good stuff. Congrats

RegardsPrashant Pandya,Vice President,Essar Group,Ahmedabad

Silent witness of Gujarat politics for more than two decades

The block number one of Sachivalaya in Gandhinagar has seen ten Chief Ministers in the last 22 years. There were many more senior bureaucrats attached to the CMO during this period which has seen many turbulent periods of murky politics ranging from struggle for plum portfolios among ministers to the famous Khajuraho episode, the first divide in the monolith of the Bharatiya Janata Party by its own man Shankarsinh Vaghela.
But all along these years, if there is one single person who has been quite close to the hot seat of power that runs the state is Jagadish Thakkar, Public Relations Officer to the Chief Minister. The low profile Thakkar is ubiquitous by his presence as a shadow to the Chief Minister in his all major public functions and mostly available in the CMO when the Chief Minister is in Gandhinagar.
At least for the last four years, I have been trying to find the secret of his survival in such a mercurial environment of the CMO where power politics is the other name of the existence. But, all in vain. Jagdishbhai as everyone calls him will offer tea and snacks, will use all his body language to express intimacy while refraining from the sensitive question. A touch of warmth only to signal that do not touch this subject.
Staff in the CMO calls him Dada. Most of the Chief Ministers have called him Jagdishbhai except Chimabhai Patel and Chhabildas Mehta who called him Jagdish. Something which he relishes when he recounts this fact. Keshubhai Patel used to call him Thakkar as per the tradition of Saurashtra region to which Keshubhai belonged. However, he also started calling him Jagadishbhai when he realized that there was another Thakkar in the staff and it created confusion.
And this is precisely the secret of his success. He sees everything and hears everything, but speaks nothing. Though he sits with journalists in public functions, he seals himself off all that might give wrong signals. With media his job ends with the taking notes of the event for writing of the press release of an event.
After much persuasion I could elicit only this statement from him. "I know the mind of my Chief Minister and I work accordingly. That is my brief". This is what he said when I asked him what makes a good PRO. The PRO must know about the organization and its objective, this is his general advice for becoming a successful PRO.
Jagdishbhai, basically a journalist who started his career with Lok Satta Vadodara in 1967 and later shifted to Saurastra Samachar in Bhavnagar joined the state Information department in 1972 as District Information Officer. From the day one, he has to deal with the crisis management and probably that is the reason that he is able to handle the crisis prone position in the CMO.
His appointment has an interesting tale. Though he had to take charge of Mehsana office, he was asked to report to Bharuch where the office had all kind of problem. There are many places in his list where he was posted to deal with crisis ridden position. And so when the then Director of Information P K Laheri selected him for the post of PRO for the Chief Minister Amarsinh Chaudhary he made a right choice.
He was introduced to the Chief Minister who uttered only one sentence. From tomorrow you will sit here in my office. And since then Jagdishbhai is an integral part of CMO. Though he retired four years back, he is continuing as PRO. In the last 22 years he has rose from the post of Assistant Director of Information to the Additional Director. But people know him only as PRO to the Chief Minister.
He started his career with Amarsinh Chaudhary. He is the first moving PRO. Until he joined, PRO used to sit in the Information Department and his job was more or less to issue CM's messages. And since then he is always on the move with the Chief Minister. He writes press releases of the CM himself. And for the journalists his copy is a great help in the coverage.
And as a good PRO he tells about his boss, the Chief Minister even if the other guest has a better point!
His assignments are a chronicle of the CM office. After Chaudhary, he worked with Madhavsinh Solanki who was reinducted for eight months. Then came Chimanbhai Patel followed by Chhabildas Mehta. His next boss was Keshubhai Patel who was later ousted by Shankarsinh Vaghela. After him came his confidant Dilip Parikh and Suresh Mehta and then after a full turn Keshubhai Patel again. And now Narendra Modi.
His present tenure is until February 2008. He does not plan to retire from the active life. He wants to write. Not the inner stories of the power game, but something social, something that makes people think and talk. He ran a serial on Doordarshan "Aghaat" for one year and now he writes one story a year- in the annual issue of government publication Gujarat.
Though he does not want to talk anything political at least with the journalists, he has a good repository of interesting instances of his life. Here is one that happened during the period of Navnirman agitation when Jagdishbhai was in greens of his career. He was posted in Mehsana on a quite a junior post of DIO.
Law and order situation was turning worse. A mamlatdar suggested that night curfew should be clamped to bring situation under control. But who should bring this suggestion to the notice of the district Collector and the District Superintendent of Police. Jagdishbhai suggested this to the bosses. They promised him to come back to him soon since the night session of the Radio was to close at 11 pm.
Jagdishbhai kept on trying to contact till 10.55 pm. Ultimately, he released a statement in his own name that the curfew is clamped in the Mehsana town. Collector and DSP were surprised, but Jagdishbhai had his explanation of deadline of the Radio. Subsequently orders of curfew were issued and in the morning both the bosses complimented Jagdishbhai for the timely response.
And from those days he knows how the government works.
His personal life is also quite interesting. Till the date he has seen only four films. They are Madhumati, Laajvanti, Mughl-e-Azam and Saara Akash. He is married. His wife used to run a school and also social service organization in Gandhinagar. Later, she opted for the social service only. Though, Jagadishbhai moves round a lot on official assignments, he has never gone out with his family.
Despite all this, he says he is a happy man with happy family. One has to believe him seeing him.

KCK award to Radha of Times !

This Thursday Times of India and Rajasthan Patrika had carried photo stories about the Karpoor Chandra Kulish Award. Patrika has instituted the Award in the memory of its founder, a great entrepreneur journalist. Patrika report tells that the first international Award has been jointly given to Dawn of Pakistan and India's Hindustan Times . Great for fostering bonehomie among people of India and Pakistan. It mentions what all former President Kalam said about journalism and the big guns of the media present at the function held in Delhi on Wednesday evening. Nothing else about the Award and others who were given the Award.
TOI here had a photograph of Rajasthan Chief Minister with TOI special Correspondent Radha Sharma who was given international merit award. After reading Patrika one wonders what kind of this award is.TOI report tells that another staffer a senior correspondent Prashant Rupera and illustrator Sameer Mahoolkar were also presented certificates at the function for their role in Radha's work. The photo caption ends with TOIs committment for the save girl child for which the Award was given to Radha and others. Poor Radha. Earlier an advertising Agency had claimed the credit of the campaign. The front page story had nothing about the Dawn of Pakistan and India's Hindustan Times and what else happened at the ceremony.
So friends hell with the Cardinal principle of Five W's and H of journalism. Even if it costs one's own brand image. Patrika had news about its own award. It had been trying to publicise it lot for last couple of months.But its report itself did not have much about the persons whom it honoured with the Award. In the case of TOI, there is another interesting chapter. There is no mention of the Award in its own Ahmedabad Mirror.It is supplied as a seperate midloid along with the TOI. Both have many stories with common theme these days. But poor Radha was missing even in her own group's publication.
An insider explained the situation of TOI something like this.At the time of the launch of the Mirror, the management had told the editors and the staff of TOI and Mirror that the two should treat each other as rivals. Do not discuss stories even when you meet, this was the diktat. Whether it is the spirit of rivalry between the two or Mirror missing the Radha story, the fact is that Radha is missing in Mirror. Certainly it must be quite embarrasing for the lady who is being honoured for save the girl child campaign. Certainly, TOI must not have thought of such a shabby treatment to its own girl running its crusade of Save the Girl Child!!!! Or its all just a corporate style Social Responsibility concept of lip service.

On Friday Patrika here had full page supplement about the Award function. It also had photographs of Radha getting award and award to a Saurashtra publication. The full page had photograph of Radha getting award from the Rajasthan Chief Minister.It said Radha of Times getting Award !!!! Who Radha ? Why Radha? God knows!!!!

Mind your language

Language is a tool of communication.But most of us tend to flaunt our vocabulary as a prized possession. In many cases we go for clumsy sentences, cliche and jargon which make our writings and other content expressions weak. This may sound simple, but this is probably the most difficult task we journalists face. We work against time. We have daily challenge of meeting deadlines. Competition stress drives us to short cuts like cut-paste.

If you want to be understood, if you want your ideas to spread, using effective language must be your top priority.
In the modern world this is hardly ever the case. In many instances, imprecise language is used intentionally to avoid taking a position and offending various demographics. No wonder it’s hard to make sense of anything!
This is not a recent problem, and as George Orwell wrote in his 1946 essay, Politics and the English Language, the condition is curable. Try these 5 Rules of Orwell.
1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
This sounds easy, but in practice is incredibly difficult. Phrases such as toe the line, ride roughshod over, stand shoulder to shoulder with, play into the hands of, an axe to grind, Achilles’ heel, swan song, and hotbed come to mind quickly and feel comforting and melodic.
For this exact reason they must be avoided. Common phrases have become so comfortable that they create no emotional response. Take the time to invent fresh, powerful images.
What does expressions like inclusive growth or HDI mean. They just mean benefit of development to all. It's so simple.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
Long words don’t make you sound intelligent unless used skillfully. In the wrong situation they’ll have the opposite effect, making you sound pretentious and arrogant. They’re also less likely to be understood and more awkward to read. Faulkner criticised Hemingway for his limited word choice. Hemingway said, Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. Accordingly, any words that don’t contribute meaning to a passage dilute its power. Less is always better. Always.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
This one is frequently broken, probably because many people don’t know the difference between active and passive . Here is an example that makes it clear:
The man was bitten by the dog. (passive) The dog bit the man. (active).
The active is better because it’s shorter and more forceful.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of its equivalent in your language.
This is tricky because writing now a days can be highly technical. If possible, remain accessible to the average reader. If your audience is highly specialized this is a judgment call. You don’t want to drag on with unnecessary explanation, but try to help people understand what you’re writing about. You want your ideas to spread right?
6. Break any of these rules sooner than saying anything outright barbarous.
This bonus rule is a catch all. Above all, be sure to use common sense.
These rules are easy to memorize but difficult to apply. The key is effort. Good writing matters, probably more than we think.
I hope you find these rules helpful including my bonus rule and through their application we’re able to understand each other a little bit better. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to read Orwell’s original essay. It contains many helpful examples and is, of course, a pleasure to read.

Journalists turn cricketers !

At the Sprawling Sardar Patel stadium it was one more cricket tournament today. Player after player played his role to his best. Cheer girls continued to cheer both players as well as a small crowd of spectators.

Fours, sixes and outs were cheered by drumbeating. Members of the playing team danced as cheer girls responded to hits and misses on the ground. This is how the members of the Gujarat Media Club had its cricket carnival at the ground.

The players literally toiled, because majority of them were not players in any sense. However, in India given a chance anyone can play cricket and so our friends of the GMC could. It was more to bring together the members and their families around the stumps.

It was a cricket tournament of the journalists, by the journalists and for the journalists. Except handful of outsiders it was purely a journalistic affair right upto spectator. It had a commentator, a practicing doctor. Assisted by some journalists, Dr. Parag Shah did commentary for more than four hours (with more than hour lunch break).

His running commentary was frequently punctuated by his musical interludes when he sang a line or two of old film songs. No doubt the free commentary of Dr. Shah had this untold rider. I will run your show, you lend me yours ears for my songs filled commentary. And he would turn a singer to lift sagging spirits of people on and off the field.

Presence of GCA president Narhari Amin, Hitesh Patel who is known by the name Pochi and Ameesh Saheba, of ICC empires panel gave the event a real cricket look. Defence PRO Satish Menon, Railway PRO Jayant Jitendra were there to add colour to the media event.

There was a guest spectator, Milind Ghatwai of Indian Express presently posted in Bhopal. Ghatwai who is here for the crisis management in the Ahmedabad edition strolled into the stadium to meet old friends. Certainly, a good Sunday for Milind .

At the end of the day, journalists and their families returned home with some kind of satisfaction. Some had known about families of others. Some developed new contacts. For the outgoing team of the GMC office bearers it was a task accomplished, agenda of the tenure finished!

It was a 10 over knock out tournament GMC had organised with the sponsorship of the IOC. There were four teams. The team which lifted the trophy had representatives of Gujarat and Hindi newspapers.

Drunk or sober Kirit Rawal was a great crime reporter

This Saturday Kirit Rawal died. The man who dominated Crime reporting for more than two decades died working. He collapsed in his chair in Sandesh, the newspaper he served the most. In the later years , he was gradually fading away from the live scene. And if there is anything he is known for is his being wet in dry Gujarat.But it does not make any difference to the fact that he was a great reporter. Here, one of his former colleague and fellow crime reporter Bharat Lakhtariya talks about him and his passion of crime reporting and music.Though Bharat is not active in the field of crime reporting, his image of crime reporter and writer of popular column "crime file se " is the one which evokes his name in the mind of reporters and police both alike. Bharat writes Kirit took his last breath with his pen and paper on the desk of leading newspaper "Sandesh" Ahmedabad. That's the life of a journalist. He was basically a crime reporter and he remained a crime reporter all through his life. He was like a roaring lion in the field of crime journalism and his roars were heard in the police set up for decades.

Good height,broad chest and ever smiling bespectacled face was the identity of late Kirit Raval. His well built physique was probably a gift of his father's akhada in Patan.Kirit was a very good Sitar player. "Zanak, Zanak tore Baze Payalie Aaa,the famous song of film Mere Hoozoor was his favourite at "non crime" gatherings.
He started his career in 70s with Prabhat and Jansatta and worked for a short while with Sambhav and Western Times. But he is known as reporter of Sandesh where he worked for more than two decades. He is still remembered for his reporting of sensational Mangadh killings.

He was one of the famous trio of crime reporters of Gujarat. Other two are Ambalal Patel of Jansatta and Jaidev Patel of Gujarat. Ambalal has withdrawn from the field after his retirement and can be seen in social functions. Jaidev is still very active with his old banner of Gujarat Samachar.
Story of Crime reporting of Gujarat can never be complete without the mention of the name KIRIT RAWAL.

Gujarat Media Club elections: A tame affair

The first elections of the corporate style Gujarat Media Club does not seem to invoke any interest among its over 100 voting members. Thursday was the last day for filing nominations. The replies of Club's Secretary General Brajesh Singh about nominations are quite philosophical. Brajesh says its voluntary service. People have to spare time from their busy schedule in fixed 24 hours and so on. The fact is that no one is interested in elections.

On the other hand about 40 members are attending net practice for the IOC-GMC Trophy on March 16. Elections for the first elected body are also scheduled for the same day. With State Assembly Session on and examination season already started, the crowd for net practice is impressive. In such a situation, lackluster election is quite surprising. Gujarat has had several journalist bodies in the past, but the Club under the Companies Act is first of its kind.

Founder President of the Club, R K Misra is not going for the second term. For him foundation of the club and spade work for one year is Mission Accomplished. He says that he had been trying to set up a journalists' body for the last four decades or so. It was quite embarrassing to see excellent Clubs in other cities while Gujarat had none.

With this Club Misra says that his dream has come true. In the first year, the Club has corpus of about Rs.10 lakh. It cannot be touched as per the rules. Now the new team has to raise the club further on this foundation, he says. Misra does not see any problem in this. This may take some time, he says.

As the promoter of the Club, Misra has a clear vision and well defined agenda for the new team. First of all we should always be ready for change, he asserts. I am setting up an example by not seeking second term. The agenda of the new team, he says, should be the agenda for growth. It should develop revenue and welfare model for the Club and its members. There should be viable economic activity for women to help create a bond among families of the members.

In the absence of formal nomination, it appears that the new team will be formed through consensus. Let’s see what consensus evolves on March 16 when members meet for the Cricket match and the lunch. Brajesh has confirmed that like last year there would be lunch this year too!

First issue of the newsletter gets readers Bear hug

The first issue of the newsletter got great response. It was sent to 285 media persons and other, majority of them from Ahmedabad.Till Wednesday evening I got e- mail response from 87 friends. Phones from 13 and accidental greetings from another dozen or so when they stumbled upon me in the State Assembly in Gandhinagar.

Reports of the Newsletter distribution from my service provider has another fantastice story. In all 1700 plus forwards by friends! In this issue I am presenting verbatim some of the responses. Some have made suggestions also. Of these many were quite particular about the colour scheme of the first issue. They found colours eye straining rather than eye catching. Mihir Bholey of NID also drew my attention to space between News and Letter.

Friends, the newsletter has been conceptualized by me for you.It must have you at the center stage. This is precisely I am trying to do. Changes in the format and presentation reflect my commitment. A commitment to make the newsletter a platform for my friends who craft voice and image of others.

Here are the responses of many friends in the form they sent them, unedited & uncensored.


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Dear Yogesh,Please accept my felicitations on the initialisation of this concept.It was sorely needed,is well thought,and highly appreciable.Ideally this is something that the Media Club should have thought about.Good job,well done.My best wishes.

R.K. Misra
Misra is the founder president of the 120 plus member Gujarat Media Club. A veteran of English journalism, Misra does not need any introduction as such.

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Yogesh, Hearty congratulations...You have unleashed your creative
power....Hope this could be used as "Precision Tool" by
Media....Hope in future you will give "High Quality Content" which
will give good "Professional Result"....
God Bless You
All....Dhiren
This is the remark of Dhiren Avashia, who has been associated with media education for long and has many of his young students in the media.

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CONGRATS YOGESHBHAI...for this very pioneering venture...May it succeed in every possible way as you take a stand for information that is AUTHENTIC,TRUE and JUST..
warm wishes,
Fr Prakash
This is how father Prakash views the venture.

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भाई योगेश जी सादर नमस्कार ।
आपका न्यूज लेटर मिला । काफी महत्त्वपूर्ण जानकारियां हैं इसमें । अपने कई मित्रों को भी फारवर्ड कर रहा हूं इसे । मेरे गुजरात दौरे में भी आपसे काफी मदद मिली । सदैव आभारी रहूंगा । गुजरातग्लोबल.काॅम अक्सर खोलता रहता हूं ।
These are the views of Om Prakash Tiwari,Special Correspondent of Dainik Jagran in Mumbai.

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Dear Sharma ,

It is really a great, brilliant and every exciting idea. Only someone like you could think the way you think and work. I know you a workaholic . ...It is good to be one .... I'm sure everybody likes the concept/ idea of your innovative newslater, specially those newsmakers- shakers and movers ( in Gujarati journalism).
I dying to read something about` Bandmaster` and `Khakor` ( breed of journalists) in the newslater.


All the best

basant
Basant Rawat is state Chief of Bureau of Telegraph


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Here is Deepal Trevedie of the Sambhav Group of publications

dear yogeshbhai

was contemplating to write since a couple of days but was out.
read the media news letter. congratulations, its a refreshing change.
i am sure you must be ovtertaken by a flurry of messages and reactions. here , i add mine!
* good stuff! enjoyed reading it.
* the larning zone is really good but i found it a little too long. i think a more crisper version everytime would attract more eye balls.


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Dear Shri. Yogeshbhai,
Thanks for Media News Letter .I congratulate you for this initiative & wish the great sucess . It was much needed as a bridge & wider platform for all media practioners . The word & the world of Media has become very sensitive & complex . we need the viewpoint to understand & interpret it.
Pl. continue its subscription to my inbox .
Thanks again,
meenakshi
Meenakshi is the PRO of the GMDC. She is doing PhD in journalism.

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Dear Mr Yogesh,

Thank you for the mail. I liked your initiative and also the writeup on Wg Cdr Singha. I am sure this initiative of yours will go a long way in binding the journalists here and also bring others come closer to this important state of Gujarat. I wish you all the best.
Wg Cdr Satish Menon.
Satish Menon has joined here as Defence PRO in place of Singha


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Dear Yogesh,

At the outset I contratulate Neha and you for the launch of the Media News Letter, indeed an intitiative borne out of your passion. I also thank you for featuring me in your first issue. It is indeed a great honour for me and I am truly overwhelmed. I suppose it was late last night that you called and I had already hit the sack. But the first thing on waking up that I did was to read your newsletter.

I think it is a magnificent start. I am sure mediapersons also need something like this to circulate among their own and read articles/news other than the routine. I bet contributions will come aplenty. I would be happy to do it myself, rejection slip not withstanding. I would surely pass it around to my friends and media list for others to get to know of the same. I wish the newsletter much popularity and insightful reading.

Thank you once again for being so thoughtful in featuring my tenure here. I cherish each moment spent with each one in the media here in the State. My good wishes remain,

with warm regards and love,

Tarun Kumar Singha
Singha is the first Defence PRO in Gujarat and he has now been transferred to head NCC unit at the BHU.


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Dear Yogeshbhai
Its simply wonderful to have something like this on people like us, who knows almost everything about everyone else but themselves.

I appreciate your efforts and will contribute whenever possible. There is some latest movement in media. If you remember Santosh Chowdhry, who was with IE in Baroda and in Gujarat his last posting was with ET as Rajkot correspondent. Santosh in back in Gujarat. He was with HT Lucknow. He has just joined DNA so still uses his UP cell no here. He can be contacted on 09839539016.
Feel sad about Anubhai. I remember him functioning from a corner desk of Mirzapur office of IE when you were there as Chief Reporter.
Best Wishes
Kamlesh
M:98795 50717
Kamlesh Trivedi is now with Gas-Petro. A veteran in business reporting Kamlesh has worked with number of publications.

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Dear Sir

Thank you so much for the newsletter. It is a beautiful piece of insight into the world of media and its people. Will certainly look forward to upcoming issues.

Warm Regards
Archana
Archana is with Business Standard.

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very nice issue, yogeshbhai. well edited n worded. wonderful contents-particularly 'disastrous reporting of railway disaster' n 'CM in ToI'. thanx. nrb
This is from Nitin Bhatt of Reliance

Great...!!!

Simply great thats the only reaction I can give..

Keep up the good work.....

Regards...

-Soumitra...
NewsWire18
Soumitra Trivedi is the COB of NewsWire18

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Dear Mr Sharma,
I compliment you on your brilliant initiation.......
Great job!!
I convey my heartiest best wishes to you and please do let me know in case I could assist you in any of your further ventures.
Regards
Sanjay Chakraborty
Director:Brand Services
Triton Communications
Ahmedabad
098250-22602

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sharmaji

excellent..i loved the newsletter...and i am sure all others who must have received this, would love it too..once again you have shown that you are a trend setter ..thank you,
hitesh pandya....
Hitesh Pandya is APRO to Chief Minister Narendra Modi

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Yogeshbhai
Thanks you for the newsletter. Will wait for more of it.
This is from Tanvir of Indian Express Ahmedabad

There are many more who have sent their spontaneous response. I have quoted few. Just at random. There are atleast four friends who have made suggestions about the colour scheme of the first issue. Here are they.

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Yogesh,

Very nice and perfectly conceived.But an advice -------------there is no need of using a plethora of goddy colours, cluttering of shades of colour for various items.It can be shown in fonts and sizes of words with bi-colour backdrop to make it more appealing.You can add social stories of neglect and deprivation----all not catching the attention but surfacing visibly in street corners and paltforms etc everywhere.Even women safety and nari shakti issues are going overboard after one glances the crime data and the position of the women in employment, or intheir struggle to earn bread or careers.

sk ( This is S K Nanda IAS )

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My dear Yogesh,
Your Media News Letter is a bold attempt.
However, the letter could do with lighter shades. Fluoroscent colours like deep pink strain the eyes.
And why grudge journos getting fat pay packets? This should have happened long ago. Better late than never.
Regards,
Rajiv Saxena
Rajiv Saxena who has worked with Indian Express for several years is now with Birla group as VP Corporate Communications in Delhi.

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Dear Yogesh Sharmaji,

Received and read your new e-magazine. My
congratulations for this new endeavour! The idea seems
to be quite interesting. It will be useful not only
for the journalists but also for the entire
communication fraternity. Few suggestions; please
write Newsletter as one word and not separately and
avoid using dark colours in the background of the
text. Photograph should be clear to recognize the
face. With the CM it's Bharat Desai I presume. I am
attaching my article recently published on the edit
page of Hindustan. Hope, you'll find it interesting.

Thanks for updating

Mihir Bholey
Mihir looks after Communications in the NID

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Dear Yogesh.
I have gone through the newsletter. It is interesting
and excellent compilation of currents prevailed in
gujarat's journalism. I would like to make little
suggestion about the colour combination of the
newsletter. I Find that fast below and Pink colour is
not impressive. The light colour combination would
have better for reading the contents of newsletter.
Thanks.
Bharat Lakhtariya

Hello Friend where are you

If you happen to meet a journalist friend in Gujarat after couple of months, please do not ask him how are you? Just ask him where are you. There are all the chances that your friend may give you a new visiting card with new office address. And he would not mind boasting about the hefty pay packet he is getting.

Media scene has changed a lot in the last four years. The arrival of Divya Bhaskar in 2003 and new channels has sent employment Index of media persons here sky rocketing. Whether you know a language or not, you should have either a tag of journalist or a professional qualification. You can easily get five digit salary. It may happen that from the day one you get a chance to saunter in the corridors of power in Gandhinagar.

The upward movement of journalists got great boost with the arrival of Divya Bhaskar. Gujarat Samachar and other leading newspapers got a big jolt because of the exodus. ETV, TV9 and several other channels attracted quite young boys and girls. Three UK based weeklies developed Ahmedabad as their main office.

Recently, Times Launched its midloid Ahmedabad Mirror . It recruited 53 . Naturally all were from Ahmedabad. The management made it clear that knowledge of English is not must. Even if you do not know English, no problem. People who were slogging for Rs.5,000 a month have been recruited for Rs.25,000 a month. Without much knowledge of English. Middle level staff got a package of Rs six lakh plus a year.

This month Business standard launched it Gujarati edition. It recruited more than 20 journalists. Here the situation was different. Reporters were told that knowledge of Gujarati was not must. You can write in English. The management has others to translate in Gujarati. Not a bad idea. Even otherwise management has to have someone to translate English news in Gujarati.

These major developments have chain reaction. There are vacancies in other newspapers. They have to offer higher pay packets to attract staff. Never in the past, professional rivalry and cut throat competition among newspapers and others in media made Journalist the King !

So friend days of Jholawala patrakar are now laid to rest in the history. Now we have laptopwalas with plastic currency .

Do not worry. There are some more publications in the pipeline. So keep on asking where are you friend.

Times of India goes overboard for Modi

Recently, Modi visited Times office on the Ashram Road in Ahmedabad. The occasion was the first anniversary of the Gujarati Edition of the Economic Times. And Modi had to play the guest editor of Gujarati ET.

Despite his not so good relations with the Times of India journalists , Modi is the most sought after celebrity in the ET Gujarati. In fact, the Gujarati edition was launched by Modi.At that time he had quipped that how strange was the diametrically opposite behaviour of two boys of one group. Probably, it is the business acumen of the business paper ( paper of mahajans in plain Gujarati) to have good relations with the government(Shaashan) !

Modi was to be the guest of the ET only in the building which also has other publications, TOI and newly launched midloid Ahmedabad Mirror. The engagement diary at the Chief Minister's Office had 20-30 minutes for the function. But, Modi visited the office of the TOI also. He stayed in the premises for more than two hours.

Staff here is still reverberating with the visit of Modi. Senior journalist Himanshu Darji is happy that he successfully took the dictation of Modi's edit. A day after even TOI reported how its women staff was all for Modi.There was literal scramble for handshakes and photographs with Modi. The Chief Minister made sure that cameraman included all in the photographs by his remark that see that none is left out otherwise I (Modi) wii have to bear the brunt.

It was certainly a matter of great joy for Modi and his brand builders who are meticulously crafting his macho image ( desi bhaashaa me marad chaap).

What was surprising to all including Modi that Times had another set of photographs of Modi day after the report of his visit. What was the most striking was the photograph of Resident Editor Bharat Desai along with Modi, in quite a pleasant mood. Insiders say, that this made Bharat's phone ringing from the morning. People wanted to know if there was patch up between Bharat and Modi!

It so happened that Bharat was on leave previous day. He had asked his staff to have some photographs of cheerful Modi since earlier photographs had shown Modi in quite a serious mood of editor. Boss not being in the office, the staff had its way and there was Modi and Bharat in cheerful mood.

A senior journalist of TOI quipped that Bharat should have a heavy dose of anti Modi stories to clear the picture.

Wing Commander Singha says good bye to Gujarat

Wing Commander Tarun Kumar Singha is packing up for his new assignment. It is to head the NCC unit at the Benaras Hindu University. In the career of a man in uniform transfers are frequent and interaction with locals is rare. But, in the case of Singha it is a different story. He is the man who has brought defence journalism to Gujarat, the border state. To summarise his over four year stay in Gujarat, he is the man who did a lot to sensitize people and press of Gujarat to the world of Defence.
This chubby faced officer with a broad grin showed best of him as four in one PRO during his stay here.Whether it was his own Indian Air Force or Army, Navy and Coast Guard.Till his appointment as the Defence PRO in Gujarat, the first ever, defence assignments were mostly a privilege of Delhi based journalists. Even during the Kutch earthquake, planeload of Delhi based journalists were flown to Gujarat by the Defence for the reporting of its rescue and relief operation.

It was during these four years that for the first time a contingent of local journalists was flown to the great air fire power show held at Pokharan. Media interaction with the pilots of Mig 21 and their families was a different kind of operation. It was to counter image problem of the aircraft which has got the dubious title of flying coffin.People of Gujarat saw magnificent show of Suryakiran in the Gujarat sky while the renowned Naval Orchestra offered some of its great compositions to the public. Naval band had its first show in Gujarat.

Series of mega recruitment camps gave exposure to the youth of Gujarat to the openings in the defence forces and thus increased the flow of Gujaratis in the defence forces.Certainly these are few among a number of initiatives of Singha.

In the true spirit of a warrior, he built Defence PRO office from a scratch.And made it a hot spot of activities. All from the word go in February 2003. Going out meeting journalists, creating a data base of information about media was a routine affair for several months. Jagadish Patadia of the Press Information Bureau played his adjutant in his assignments. Patadia stood for Defence whether Singha was here or on assignment outside.
An avid documentary maker, he has conceptualized, scripted and coordinated several documentaries on Defence.These include documentaries on Eastern, South Western and Southern Air Commands, Border Roads Organisation, Army Aviation in CI role, Helicopter Operations by IAF in Arunachal Pradesh and the Indian Coast Guard. He is the first ever PRO to have been sent overseas for a specialist PR assignment by the MOD to cover the Indo-UK bilateral air exercise, codenamed 'Indradhanush-07' in June-July 2007. A regular at scripting the commentary for the Republic Day Parade, he headed the PR team that wrote features and press releases of the Military World Games at Hyderabad in October 2007.

Wg Cdr Singha has been awarded commendations by the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South Western Air Command, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, Commander Coast Guard Region (West); and on 26 Jan 2006, he was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal for his distinguished service of a high order by the President of India. He is the first PRO outside Delhi circuit to achieve the distinction.

In his own words, the most memorable event of his assignment was the coverage of the historic flight of Dr. APJ Kalam's in Sukhoi-30 MKI on June 8, 2006.

One of his projects was to help lift sagging image of Mig 21 which won adjectives like flying coffin.

News of newsmakers

This is a blog about those who craft voice and image of people in the society. It is a different thing that rarely we find news about these persons and their profession-media.Even at the time of their death professional rivalry comes in the way. Hardly anyone writes that a media person died.
The profession has its own quote of problems. Lack of learning facility, abscence of inservice training are the basic one.The newsletter is to make up for all this.