No-good Goodbye to CNN-IBN

Vanakkam,
I’m not particularly good at speeches or goodbyes, but after nearly two years here, I guess I can think of a few things to say.

I find nothing gives you a shot of objectivity like putting in your papers. I wouldn't recommend it, of course! As far as workplaces go, CNN-IBN is probably the best most of us will see. The pay could be better, but the current market value of journalists is somewhere below the price of onions. I hear it's two reporters for Rs 50 in Andhra's agency areas; bargain hard enough and they'll throw in a stringer. We crib about our paychecks as a matter of principle. We wouldn't be employees otherwise.

And as for work pressure...ah, that's quite a pickle. In those job-hunting years which we try quite hard to forget, we call it 'The excxitement of working in a news channel.' When we get the job, it is magically transformed into a pain in the neck. The truth is, we all secretly draw energy from that newsroom phenomenon. It is what makes one of those firebrands on the assignment stand up and deliver their victory yell, "EXCLUSIVE PHONER! FIRST VISUALS! CLEAN FEED FROM GROUND ZERO!......TAKE IT NOW YOU BASTARDS!!! It wouldn't quite have the same ring to it without pressure. Then there's rundown.

I have always been in awe of this part of our channel. As a copyeditor, it's the most dynamic aspect of news I work with. I’ve seen the entire first segment be reworked as the headlines are on air. I’ve seen graphics popping up in seconds, I’ve seen a single one hour bulletin become the stage for four unexpected breaking news stories, all of them conveyed with a beginning, a middle and an end. Some of their innovations with available graphics have worked out splendidly on air. It wouldn’t quite be the same without pressure. Then there’s copy.

On those occasions when the copy desk and rundown finds a rhythm, even the most mundane reports become stories that simply shouldn’t be missed. A cheeky story slug, a simple set of explainers conjured up in the nick of time, packages written in 15 minutes and written bloody well. It’s a rush I will miss. But this side of the channel is built on the work of the desk.

Rundown and copy, when there’s a news flood get to pick what’s important and what’s not. The desk at no point have had that luxury. The demand on them is unrelenting. Partnered with editors, prime time packages have innocently walked into the rundown on time, saying nothing of the quicksilver decisions, uninhibited teamwork and under-valued determination to meet the deadline that went behind it. But what truly sets us apart is, well, us.

It is often said that life is short. It isn’t. Everyone gets a lifetime. But buffeted as we are by our own plans and by destiny, it’s the time we get with prospective friends that is short. Too short for grudges, too short for cynicism any longer than a cigarette in a five-minute break. Within weeks of my coming here, I was already one of you. Whether or not I come back here, I know for a fact that everyone reading this wishes me well and would rather I stayed than move away. And that makes my stint with CNN-IBN a success. I never thought I’d say this, but part of me will remain 18 till I die. And it’s all your fault.

-Ananda