Sam Daniel, an award winning senior television journalist and news anchor is a household name in India and the diaspora, for credible, unbiased and ethical television news reporting. A seasoned Television Journalist with proven leadership and twenty years of reporting experience across seven countries with the premier NDTV 24 X 7 (New Delhi Television Ltd), he presently heads the bureau in Chennai. He also reports widely on NDTV’s digital and new media platform.

Sam Daniel was the first to report from ground zero when the Tsunami struck India’s Nagapattinam and has also reported from the US and European countries. He has interviewed a range of national and international leaders, sports champions, celebrities and newsmakers; and has addressed a Ted X meet and mentored around 50 budding journalists.

A British Chevening Scholar, International Visitor Leadership Programme Alumnus, The Media Project Fellow, and Rotary International’s Group Study Exchange Scholar, he has also been chosen for several international fellowships in the US, UK, Germany, Belgium, Holland and Nepal. He is  the recipient of the Excellence Leadership Award – Electronic Media in 2015 and recently won the “Global Tamils Media Icon Award”.

An Alumnus of the premier Madras Christian College and University of Westminster he has a five year experience in teaching English and Journalism in colleges as well.

In an exclusive interview, Sam Daniel shares with Marie Banu his views on responsible journalism.

How do you define responsible journalism?

It is very subjective as everyone may have their own definition in terms of what responsible journalism would mean to them. But I go by what is very conservative or what we call as old school of Journalism. The major task is to be a watch dog, to point out the mistakes, to alert government and expose things that are going wrong- not just huge scams or corruption cases, but also ordinary things that affect the common person. For instance, reporting on issues faced by people while getting a license or registering at the employment exchange. Such reports may not bring about immediate change though, but it would keep the issues on the spot light and bring about changes in the long run.

The role of a journalist varies or depends on the kind of media house you work for – whether it is a local neighborhood newspaper or a regional channel or national or international media. The news for a regional channel may not be news for a national channel every day. Likewise, what the national media looks at may not be interesting for regional media. There is a change in perspectives.

A journo should ask himself: “What is my contribution through my news report to my community, to my state, and to my country? “Am I serving as a watch dog? Is my work, in any way, relevant to the community who is watching this or reading this?  Am I working towards a better tomorrow?” If he or she is able to answer these questions positively, then I think largely it could be termed as responsible.

I always feel that a journalist need not always be critical or reporting only on bad news. By this, you are projecting a lopsided view of the society and people may think that there is nothing good happening in our country, which is also not correct. A responsible journalist should balance his report in such a way that he or she is able to also provide insights into the good things that are happening in the community. It can be about a social service or an achievement by an unsung hero or work done by a group of volunteers, etc. These are called inspiring stories and would actually motivate a lot of people. There is no point complaining that things are bad.  Your profile could change when you cover much of ‘hard’ stories’ or ‘investigative stories’, as we call and you may become a popular reporter as a journalist. But you may not be accurately reflecting on the ground realities if you do not talk about the good things as well. It is important that you strike a balance between these two. While it is important to bring the power to account, ask tough questions and expose the wrong things; we need to also show that there are good things happening around us and there is hope in the community.

What is the code of conduct that every journalist and media house should adopt?

Of course, a journalist ought to have a code of conduct. I always look at it at two different ways – personal level and profession level.  At the professional level, a journalist ought to be seen as a balanced, neutral and objective person in all scenarios. One may belong to a particular religion or a community but that should never be a reason to exaggerate or downplay an issue.  He or she should be a thorough professional and personal likes or dislikes should not have any space in one’s reports. This is very important.

In this era of social media, verification of news is crucial because everybody has access to information. Gone are the days when people relied on newspapers or television alone for news. Everybody gets news on their social media. Of this huge inflow of information, what is accurate?  Large number of people are also consciously peddling with fake news, and pushing inaccurate information to suit their agenda. It has become an industry. It could be a political party which would spread a particular narrative to make people think differently about them and build an opinion or it could be a private company which is doing something bad but trying to project itself in good light.

A journalist is required to report accurate and verified information, and that is very important. There is a lot of competition in the media. When A channel flashes a news, other reporters and other channels are under pressure to immediately report on that. Chances are that if you don’t do your due diligence and toe the line, you may go terribly wrong. In our channel, every report ought to be verified by two credible sources, otherwise the news will not go on air. This way we ruling out 90% probability of things getting reported wrongly.  The second aspect is about balancing. For example, the opposition party levies a serious allegation against the Chief Minister or against the ruling government. As a responsible journalist, you can argue to flash this news first and take response from the other party later. But it would be perfect to quickly check with the other side on what they have to say and then give a complete report. Otherwise it may appear as you favouring one particular side of the story and not bothering to get verified or at least getting response from the other side.

Thirdly, your accuracy should not fall victim of flashing the news first. It’s okay to flash the news five minutes later after you have done the due diligence correctly. This makes you build reputation and credibility for yourself as well as for the media house you work for. Speed should not be at the cost of accuracy. Lastly, there should be no colouring of news; you report as it is; and let the people be the Judge as they are quite intelligent.  Also, give a variety of views and not one perspective alone because we are in a way contributing to the process of opinion building in the country. People pay money to view a news channel or read a newspaper as they want to get different perspectives about a particular issues and take a well-informed decision or build a well-informed opinion. So, it is just not enough to talk about the government perspective. You should also mention about what the opposition party, activists, and experts have to say.

This is the era of the social media and the journalist has his personal space here. It is very important that a journalist is seen to be neutral, objective and very balanced, else people could build a wrong opinion and it could affect the way they read your report and your integrity.

Please share your experience at the Chevening South Asia program?

This scholarship is highly rated among journalists and the training was at University of Westminister in London. I2 of us got selected – from India, Pakistan and few other South Asian countries were selected in 2012. The focus was on good governance, accountability and transparency. I was lucky to work with two channels as part of my placement – Channel 4 and ITV.

In terms of technology, Indian channels like NDTV are much far ahead. What I found useful was the levels of accountability, transparency and good governance the country was looking at.  This helped me as a journalist to raise the bar in my reportage and gain new perspectives and ask more tough questions.

Your advice for young journos?

The space for journos in mainstream media is reducing now, for two reasons. One is the technology taking over with time. Secondly, the impact of economic slowdown and now the pandemic.

Young journalists are required to be good in multi-tasking; report on camera, write for the web, shoot the video, if required, and edit as well.  New media is the future and may be in 5 to 10 years’ time we may not have these many news channels. People would watch much of the news online either on their phone or computers. You ought to be talented for the format required for the new media.

You should be apt at 360-degree reporting. The same TV news should be rewritten for the web, the same story ought to be told in a few words on twitter and in a paragraph in Facebook.

The technology has made it simple and there are many specialized journalism schools like the Asian School of Journalism in Chennai, Symbiosis in Pune and Manipal Academy in Karnataka. Most of these media houses prefer from these institutions as they are close to the industry’s norms. It is good to have a good portfolio developed during the graduation period. Writing good stories for local newspapers and college magazines or on social media would show people your work and would help at the time of your job interview. Create opportunity to showcase your talents.

We find the youngsters not reading much. Unless you read, you would not have a wide perspective. You should make sure that you read at least two newspapers thoroughly so that unconsciously all these news come handy when you ask questions. Even when you travel, use the time to read a newspaper or listen to the radio. You should be well informed, and there is no compromise on this.