This Election Season, Outlook's reporters travelled all over the country to bring stories on the elections, from the remotest of regions to meet the poorest of the people, undertaking a solemn guarantee towards its readers and viewers that their report is genuine, it is unbiased, it is factual, it is objective, it is balanced, and above all, that it is true.
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Follow us:
Website: https://www.outlookindia.com/
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#ReportersGuarantee #Journalism #Elections
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NewsTranscript
00:00 >> Hello and welcome to Outlook Live again.
00:03 You know, we have Chinky, our editor, Outlook.
00:06 So from the numbers,
00:07 what I think becoming very clear is that apart from all the hype,
00:11 apart from all the analysis,
00:12 apart from all the exit polls that came, etc.
00:15 There is nothing really to beat for a journalist to go to the ground,
00:19 come back with stories, talk to people,
00:21 come and report to the editor,
00:23 then bring out issues.
00:24 So that is one thing I think that with our resources,
00:28 whatever we could manage but we found out reporters all over
00:31 the country and what they brought back to us did not seem,
00:34 in fact, that is reflecting in what is I think going on right now, isn't it?
00:37 >> I think so. I think firstly,
00:40 we went back to the traditional forms of journalism and we cut out the noise.
00:46 We said to our reporters that we'll try and send everybody across India.
00:50 We also adopted a model where a reporter will go to a state which is unfamiliar.
00:56 So that they are able to see stories and how-
00:58 >> The outsider's advantage.
01:00 >> Exactly. The outsider advantage and also,
01:02 we also learned in journalism schools that
01:04 how when a reporter goes to a place which is not very familiar,
01:07 they're able to see more in terms of they're not biased and they're not really.
01:12 So we made sure that we are able,
01:15 I mean today in this day and age where magazines and print media struggling,
01:20 I think we're also very grateful to Outlook, the CEO.
01:25 Indranil Roy who actually did not say anything and said that,
01:29 "Okay, here's the money.
01:31 You guys use it judiciously."
01:33 So we also sent out very young reporters actually like Zaina,
01:37 Sharmita, Vikram Raj for instance.
01:41 Very young reporters who are in their early 20s.
01:43 >> It's their first time reporting in elections.
01:44 >> It's their first time and nobody gets that opportunity.
01:47 Because we always go for very seasoned reporters.
01:49 There's this whole thing about being political in terms of reportage.
01:54 But I must say, but even for old fogies like me,
01:57 it's to go to the ground,
01:59 speak to the people and you've gone there with a lot of,
02:04 you've read a lot, you've prepared yourself.
02:06 But what the surprise is that you get to know that the ground throws up.
02:11 It's absolutely unmatched.
02:13 It's like because I traveled as you know in the Marathwada built in Maharashtra,
02:19 from Solapur, Aurangabad, Nashik, Bombay, etc.
02:23 There was real farm distress.
02:26 The onion farmers were not getting the prices that they were hoping for.
02:29 In fact, they were getting half of what they had got
02:32 six months ago because of an export ban.
02:34 So these are local issues.
02:35 >> Onion is a huge thing because remember the legacy of onion.
02:40 >> It's a brought down election, brought down government.
02:42 >> Yeah, yeah.
02:42 >> So I think that in fact that is the point.
02:45 I think the central government I think was
02:47 a little apprehensive about inflation.
02:49 So they didn't want the onion prices to shoot up.
02:51 So they put this ban on exports.
02:52 That on the ground, I mean for us it's fine in Delhi and Bombay,
02:56 it's great that onion prices have gone down and the customer is happy.
02:59 But how it matters to the farmer there.
03:02 He is sold, I mean he's expecting a price of what he was getting about 45,
03:05 47 rupees, it's come down to 17, 18.
03:08 So what does he do? His input costs are the same.
03:10 Most of them are small farmers really.
03:13 So the distress is real in soybean, in cotton.
03:18 Then of course the Marathwada agitation itself.
03:20 Again from far away it doesn't seem like a big thing.
03:23 But when you're there, we met Manoj Jarange Patil,
03:27 and the following he has, it's amazing.
03:30 So it's a serious issue.
03:32 >> You traveled a lot in fact from Vijaywada to stretch.
03:35 >> Yeah, we did from this coast of from Vijaywada and Andhra Pradesh,
03:39 we traveled through Telangana,
03:41 Andhra Pradesh, then Maharashtra and ended in Bombay.
03:44 So all through, even in what I think is
03:47 showing a little bit in the assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh,
03:50 how TDP is making a comeback,
03:52 there was a lot of anti-incumbency.
03:55 See, I think that 10 years to rule in India is a tough job.
03:58 There will be an anti-incumbency whether it is Uttar Pradesh,
04:01 whether it is Andhra Pradesh,
04:03 to continue for a chief minister for 10 years is a very difficult task.
04:06 So there is a natural anti-incumbency is there among people.
04:10 They wanted more, didn't get so much.
04:12 So I think that is what our reporters brought back.
04:15 >> You were in Coimbatore.
04:16 I mean, the star candidate there with so much talked about,
04:21 etc doesn't seem to be doing so well right now.
04:24 I mean, it's all very early trends.
04:25 I mean, to keep on reiterating, things may change.
04:28 But so in Coimbatore for instance,
04:30 I mean, the report you wrote was so,
04:33 it's an eye-opener for so many of us here,
04:35 though I'm from the South.
04:36 >> Yeah. No, I think the interesting thing about Coimbatore was when we went there,
04:41 and we landed in a rally which was by the DMK and Rahul Gandhi had come.
04:47 There were like lakhs of people there,
04:48 1.5 lakhs and I have never seen a rally like this in that sense.
04:52 >> These numbers.
04:52 >> I've never been in a rally like that.
04:54 I thought that there was this whole thing about online and offline, this election.
05:00 So online, you would see a lot of things
05:03 which ran almost contrary to what you would see on the ground.
05:07 >> Correct.
05:07 >> Because there we were there,
05:08 I mean, in Coimbatore, the BJP doesn't have that many carders.
05:12 People were even saying,
05:14 Annamalai's deposit would be taken or all kinds of things.
05:17 But the DMK came across as a very strong party over there,
05:21 and social justice and politics,
05:23 a lot of people had written it off.
05:25 But I don't think that-
05:26 >> It's very much alive.
05:27 >> It's very much alive and we spoke to a lot of people.
05:29 I think there's a lot of,
05:30 what I felt was there was a lot of arrogance on part of certain candidates.
05:35 I think that also translates into this voting behavior.
05:40 The other thing we went to, we went to Kashmir,
05:42 which obviously only has three seats,
05:45 but very important in terms of elections because the BJP
05:48 has talked about Article 370 and the abrogation across India,
05:52 even in the South. So I thought that was very interesting to note.
05:55 So at Outlook, we also picked places very wisely in terms of where,
06:02 like we picked Coimbatore because there was this communal politics situation happening.
06:06 The gateway was through this communal politics and the riots in Coimbatore that happened.
06:10 So all kinds of things.
06:11 >> Absolutely. Maharashtra was going to be this deciding state in some ways because
06:15 it's got the second largest numbers after UP and it's very important seats there.
06:21 So that was the other thing. We picked and chose not just the states,
06:25 the regions in fact.
06:26 >> In fact, yeah.
06:26 >> Like say, Rakhi would go to Western UP.
06:29 There was a lot of, there was farm district,
06:31 there were a lot of other political.
06:32 >> Given the fact that we are still a very small organization
06:35 and we don't have the kind of resources.
06:37 >> Yeah, this is all we are actually.
06:39 >> This is all we are and our reporters worked very hard.
06:42 In fact, everybody worked really hard and it's
06:45 very difficult to cover elections in this kind of weather.
06:47 We all got sick and everything.
06:49 But the old form of a print reporter in the sense that a print reporter goes,
06:53 understands the situation rather than just doing
06:56 these quick bites and jumping to conclusions very quickly.
07:00 We keep telling our reporters that we don't have to be biased,
07:03 we have to understand things.
07:05 I think the young energy, I think it's a great.
07:09 >> That's absolutely correct.
07:11 This deep interview that a print journalist is able to do,
07:14 instead of it's not a question of talking to 10 people,
07:16 it's a question of talking to that one person.
07:18 >> Exactly.
07:18 >> Who's going to give some insight.
07:20 So that happens only,
07:21 that can come only with time, with energy.
07:24 You got to spend time,
07:26 you got to have the resources to do that.
07:27 >> Also, we don't jump to conclusions that quickly.
07:31 Let's say if we see something,
07:32 it's not like we will say, "Okay, this is it."
07:35 >> Right.
07:35 >> We also go, I mean, this is all about behind the scenes kind of situation,
07:39 where we go and look at things.
07:42 I'm very happy that our reporters did so much hard work in today's day and age,
07:46 and we're not really swayed by what other media was saying.
07:51 >> The hype.
07:52 >> Yeah. We don't take sides.
07:53 We said in the beginning also,
07:55 I think the first issue was very apt.
07:58 We looked at ideology,
08:00 and I think a week or two later,
08:02 Rahul Gandhi also announced that this is an ideological battle.
08:05 >> Yeah.
08:05 >> I think in that issue,
08:07 we looked at the kind of ideological situations,
08:11 like the ups and downs that have happened,
08:13 which parties have continued to retain
08:16 their ideological positions and which parties have diluted.
08:19 I think that really mattered,
08:21 and I think we started the elections with that,
08:23 and then I think we then sent out,
08:25 and we also did that reporter's guarantee.
08:28 >> Yeah.
08:28 >> Because everybody was talking about this guarantee, guarantee, guarantee.
08:30 >> Yeah.
08:31 >> We thought ground reporter with all their honesty is the guarantee.
08:35 >> Yeah. Exactly. That really seemed to have worked for our coverage.
08:38 >> Yeah.
08:39 >> Okay. Thank you.
08:40 >> Thank you very much. Thank you for joining.