Sunday, May 3, 2009

"Does Journalism Create A Writer in You?"......An Essay

An interesting question and a possibility.First,let us look at what is journalism?A journal is a newspaper,magazine,or any written material prepared like a bounded book.
Journalists usually begin their carrers by enrolling themselves in news borroughs,magazine companies,or just being free lance.They cover a wide variety of news ranging from domestic,police,international and report their data to their respective organisations through which they are associated with.The style of their writing is more news oriented than literary oriented.It is the usual the run of the mill type of writing.No fun,no pleasure of reading anything interesting.Journalists are of the same breed all over the world; their main job is of reporting.Journalists try hard to present themselves as front writers and that is why their writing is head-line oriented.Some instances:::::::::::::::::::
(1) Off-spinner Gibbs 'lances' through India in Test Cricket.
(2) Cheap liquor buys pricey votes.
(3) Hate Netas? Now, you can shoe them away online.
(4) Wolfram Alpha hounds Google.
(5) Now bell the CAT(Common entrance examination) online.
(6) When globism starts going viral(swine flue)
(7) At Kingsmead,all the 'kings' men prevail(IPL cricket)
(8) If you continue sleeping,so will our politicians.Wake up & vote(Ad.on TataTea)
(9) Shilpa's innings with Warne(The actor plans to make a film where Shane Warne
might do a comeo)
(10)A man's beard grows fastest when he anticipates sex(article by Roshmi
Bhattacharya on what happens when you get the wrong guy)

But,a literary writer is cast in a different mould.He goes through many processs,before making a mark as an establishd writer of repute.Just as a good product comes out a good mould,so also,good writers come out of good writings.First of all, a literary writer is a gifted man of letters.He has his original style of writing;he does no imitation.The literary writers's main forte is content;while a journalist's main strength is exciting head-line news reporting,with a bit of 'mirch-masala'.While a literary writer will go on to write a best-seller,a journalist will only succeed in writng a book based on facts & figures;there will be nothing literary about his works.So, a journalist aspiring to be a writer of repute will be difficult.Why? because creativity is missing in a journalist.His mind is trained for reporting only;he has no time to think in a different way as a writer.His writing is mere commentary as in a cricket match.Journalists are like actors,who want to go to direction after sometime.Maybe, they get bored of their jobs or they want to seek greener pastures of a writer of a novel.
So,journalism is only about writing;but a literary content is not about writng only.Its about a passion,a style,an originality,a creativity,fun,joy,beauty,enjoyment,arts................

Now, imagine a highly reputed literature author writing a book.The title of his book will at once reveal his power as a writer.Some example:::::::::
(1) A Wounded India... by V.S.Naipul.
(2) Geetanjali.... by Rabindranath Tagore
(3) 20,000 leagues under the Sea.... by Jules Verne(A classic!)
(4) Dr.Zivago....by Borris Pasternak.
(5) Devdas........by Sarat Chandra
A literary writer will have his own way of writing.His style will be elegant and his conversations interesting.For instance, an ordinary write may say....."Where did you disppear?" ....A literary writer will ask...."Where did you disppear like a ghost?"One can read conversations of novels written by Sidney Sheldon, the biggest crime writer of all time.Or take the case of a literary writer,Sir Walter Scott,He wrote a book:::::Mariamian, A Tale Of Folden Field(1808) Watch his words...
"Oh,what a tangled web we weave,
When first,we practice to deceive."
His content will be polished and well written.

To sum up,journalism does not necessarily create a writer in you,but only report writing and literary content writing.Finally,I would call journalism as business writing and literature as creative writing,valued for their beauty,of form,espaecially for novels,poetry and plays.

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