Confessions of a journalist
CHINDU SREEDHARAN
Born May 7, 1973
QUICK LOOK
Associate Editor to rediff.com (India’s most-accessed online news service), and its sister publications India Abroad (the most-circulated ethnic newspaper in the United States) and India in New York till October 31, 2003. Appointed AE in 2001, at age 27, one of the youngest in India to hold that post.
Began career in 1994: trainee with the New Delhi edition of The Sunday Observer, a weekly newspaper. Trained in reporting and editing. Beats included crime, education, and, later, politics.
Joined rediff.com in 1997 as Staff Writer. Based in Mumbai, worked as Senior Feature Writer, Assistant Editor, Senior Assistant Editor.
Job included co-ordinating and supervising in-depth coverage of national issues. Editing and rewriting for both rediff.com and India Abroad. Focus was the Kashmir conflict, but I reported on a range of other issues as well. A few favourites:
The National Foundation for India Media Fellowship 2000. My study was serialised on rediff.com as The Lost Generation, a 10-part series exploring the impact of militancy on the children of Kashmir.
Skills
Editing, rewriting, reporting, online production.
Alternated between desk and reporting. At rediff.com, initial assignment was on the news desk. Later moved to rewrite and features desk. Was also section-editor tasked with developing multi-media sub-sites ('Complete coverages') for major newsbreaks.
Since 2001, after rediff.com acquired India Abroad, alternated between online and print media, editing and reporting for both publications. For six months in 2002, I was deputed to the New York office of India Abroad to work on its relaunch.
Major stories
Writing up a PhD in journalism at the Centre for Public Communication Research, Bournemouth University, titled Focus Kashmir: Role of Media in Resolving Intractable Conflicts. Read more about my research.
TEACHING
Lecturer since 2004 at the Media School, Bournemouth University. Currently teaching News Journalism and Professional Writing on the BA Multi-Media Journalism and BA Communication and Media degrees, respectively.
Email: csreedharan@bournemouth.ac.uk
Blogs: Indian in England, The Accidental Academic, Footnotes
Born May 7, 1973
QUICK LOOK
- Journalist: Ten years in print, online media. As editor and reporter.
- Lecturer: Five years teaching news, features, online writing at Media School, Bournemouth University.
- Researcher: Writing up PhD in Journalism, full-time.
Associate Editor to rediff.com (India’s most-accessed online news service), and its sister publications India Abroad (the most-circulated ethnic newspaper in the United States) and India in New York till October 31, 2003. Appointed AE in 2001, at age 27, one of the youngest in India to hold that post.
Began career in 1994: trainee with the New Delhi edition of The Sunday Observer, a weekly newspaper. Trained in reporting and editing. Beats included crime, education, and, later, politics.
Joined rediff.com in 1997 as Staff Writer. Based in Mumbai, worked as Senior Feature Writer, Assistant Editor, Senior Assistant Editor.
Job included co-ordinating and supervising in-depth coverage of national issues. Editing and rewriting for both rediff.com and India Abroad. Focus was the Kashmir conflict, but I reported on a range of other issues as well. A few favourites:
- Blood in the snow
10 years of conflict in Kashmir, a 10-part series - The C-word
Convergence (for Poynter) - Britons… and baying for blood
Beckham versus Argentina: View from a pub - Down to earth
Movie Nandita Das, in conversation - 'I believe in love. Not fundamentalism'
Spiritual guru Mata Amritanandamayi, an interview
The National Foundation for India Media Fellowship 2000. My study was serialised on rediff.com as The Lost Generation, a 10-part series exploring the impact of militancy on the children of Kashmir.
Skills
Editing, rewriting, reporting, online production.
Alternated between desk and reporting. At rediff.com, initial assignment was on the news desk. Later moved to rewrite and features desk. Was also section-editor tasked with developing multi-media sub-sites ('Complete coverages') for major newsbreaks.
Since 2001, after rediff.com acquired India Abroad, alternated between online and print media, editing and reporting for both publications. For six months in 2002, I was deputed to the New York office of India Abroad to work on its relaunch.
Major stories
- The Kargil conflict
One of the first on ground in Kargil when the 1999 border war broke out between India and Pakistan. My personal favourites from among those quick-fire reports: Run, an experiential piece on what it is to come under artillery shelling; Mingi awaits retaliation, a profile of the refugee situation; Flying in the face of danger, the story of army pilots; Death, be not proud, the diary of a war correspondent; and Kargil 2000: one winter after, a four-part, follow-up series. - People's War guerrillas
In 1998, I spent time with the members of the banned revolutionary Marxist-Leninist outfit for a four-part feature, Karl and the Kalashnikov. Three months later, I recorded a rare and detailed interview with PW chief Ganapathy, one of India's most-wanted men. I recorded a second interview with him two years later. - Kashmir militant chief
In 2001 interviewed Syed Salahuddin, head of Hizbul Mujahideen, the largest militant outfit in Kashmir. - Elections in Kashmir
In the six-and-a-half years I covered the Kashmir conflict, I reported on two elections from the valley. Personal favourites include The slaughter of democracy, a take from 1999. - Attack on Christians in North India
My favourites from the 2000 reportage: Witness to murder and The truth that killed Vijay Ektha.
Writing up a PhD in journalism at the Centre for Public Communication Research, Bournemouth University, titled Focus Kashmir: Role of Media in Resolving Intractable Conflicts. Read more about my research.
TEACHING
Lecturer since 2004 at the Media School, Bournemouth University. Currently teaching News Journalism and Professional Writing on the BA Multi-Media Journalism and BA Communication and Media degrees, respectively.
Email: csreedharan@bournemouth.ac.uk
Blogs: Indian in England, The Accidental Academic, Footnotes
posted by Chindu at 8:03 AM
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