MIRI: Journalism can be hard on the feet. Just ask the media practitioners of yesteryear.
They will tell you of a time when smoke-filled newsrooms were a clickety-clack of typewriters, of reporters trying to get their intros right with larger-than-life unrelenting editors breathing down their neck even for the slightest of errors.
Making you wish you had chosen another career path.But yet you plodded on, cursing and swearing under your breath,if only to get your act together and maybe earn a compliment from your editor. Which was a rare phenomenon in those days.
But when you get to see your story published the next day, even better if it carries your byline, you feel a sense of euphoria. It is a high any journalist worth his salt would have experienced in his or her career.
And if your writing mobilises public opinion the next day, well, that would be the icing on the cake.
It makes you want to keep going, telling stories.
Fast forward to 2022.
Today the old faithful typewriters have long gone,computers have made the job a whole lot easier. The Delete button makes it easy-peasy to change your intro, word count helps you keep a tight grip on story length and spellcheck is a divine option to today’s journalists.Wait, it gets even better.
If at anytime you need some referencing, do some recapping or obtain new information, there is always Mr Google.
In sum, the old timers would argue that today’s journalists are no longer knocked into shape they way they were. Yes. And that it is no longer challenging to be a journalist.That’s where they are wrong.
Whatever modern advances, the fundamentals of the craft have withstood the test of time. It is still today what it was yesterday.
Journalists still have a duty to bring their story to the public domain, telling each story as accurately and succinctly as possible, much like their peers from the past.
But today, despite all the amenities at their disposal, they must all feel the need in their bones. A need for speed.
Enter social media,i.e. netizens,keyboard warriors,rumour mongers,wannabes and spin doctors, all of whom have made the job of bona fide journalists hard, if not more difficult than what was experienced by their veteran contemporaries.
To tell a story well one must one now pick his way through a whole plethora of information out there which may or may not be true. And be quick about it.
Sarawak Journalists Association (FSJA) president, Andy Jong Wan Joon knows all too well what the score is.
“So National Journalists Day is a recognition by the government of our contribution towards the country’s development,” he says matter-of-factly.
If anything it will inspire journalists to play an even bigger role in nation-building, he adds.
Jong recalled how the media had carried out its role as an essential sector during the Covid-19 pandemic over the last two years.
“Journalists were on the the front line, facing the risk of becoming infected with the disease and transmitting it to those close to them,” he said.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Michelle Choo, 31, of Sin Chew Daily, Miri.
“Journalism is hard work and it is not an easy job,” she said adding the profession is still all about going to the field, talking to people and gathering facts.
For Catherine Igang, a journalist at Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) Miri, the job is demanding.
“Thus, National Journalists Day is a platform for the government to acknowledge our hard work,” she said.
Cindy Lai of the Borneo Post said the government should at the same time give more space to media practitioners to do their job in recognition of its role in the country.
Call it a watchdog, fourth estate or just a platform to provide information, journalism is a complex craft.
Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
And it is as challenging today as it was in yesteryears.
