Taaza Khabar: Journalists meet to discuss news - Part 2
Director: Bishakha Datta; Cinematographer: Ranu Ghosh
Duration: 00:36:11; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 277.679; Saturation: 0.010; Lightness: 0.466; Volume: 0.111; Cuts per Minute: 9.615
Summary: Part of the footage of the film Taaza Khabar directed by Bishakha Datta and produced by Nirantar. The film is about the journey of a team of all women journalists of Khabar Lahariya (a grassroots newspaper published by the women themselves) through several obstacles. The determined efforts are to ensure the 62nd issue of Khabar Lahariya reaches its readers on time. The women are from Chitrakoot district in U.P. who report stories that find no space in mainstream media. It also portrays how these women have created their own space and established their identity in a context where patriarchy and caste-based discriminations are dominant. In this event, the journalists continue to discuss the news stories for the next edition, writing down the various sections and news for the different pages of the newspaper. They also share their views on the purpose of having certain kinds of news and the relevance of it in a rural newspaper.
Meera, the editor of Khabar Lahariya, continues to moderate the discussion on the news stories that the journalists plan to put up in the coming edition of the newspaper. She writes in the second box on the white board and gives a brief about what was discussed and decided as the two main stories. One is about the illness of malaria in a village and the other is about elections. Bishakha asks Meera how they decide to put a certain news story in the main page of Khabar Lahariya. Meera explains that they decide on a news story for the main page by taking those stories which address urgent and relevant issues, those which are affecting a large population, such as the malaria that is spreading and causing deaths. The election news is important because it lends crucial information to the people about the polling results in their areas and educates them about figures such as the number of people who have voted, the number of candidates, the number of women in the elections, those from different castes and many such details.
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Karwi, Chitrakoot
Meera starts to fill the second box with the heading on Elections. Under that she writes the topics that needs to be covered in the story such as about women candidates, their thoughts, role of the authorities etc. She also fills the third box with more points of the election news story. The dicussion is on a break while the journalists have a look at other newspapers and read the news. Shanti writes her story, as Meera helps her and dictates sentences. When Shanti makes a spelling mistake, Meera corrects it and shows her the correct spelling by writing it on her hand. Shanti looks at it and corrects it in her notebook. The room is quiet, as the women are all engrossed in their work. There is only the sound of construction work going on outside the room, with a constant beating of a hammer against a wall.
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Shanti starts to write in a box on the lower half of the white board, starting with "Women's Issues". The others watch as she writes points. Meera corrects her when she makes a mistake, and Shanti writes according to her instructions. Once she finishes filling that section, she starts to write on the fourth box in the upper half on the board. She writes the topic as National and International news. Meera smiles and looks on proudly as she watches Shanti write. The others also help when she makes a mistake and she makes a few corrections to spellings. After Shanti sits back, Manju comes and makes a few more corrections.
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Kavita starts to write in the next box. Bishakha asks Shanti what kind of news goes into the national and international page and why that news needs to be put when Khabar Lahariya is a rural newspaper. Shanti explains that it is to increase peoples' awareness of various issues happening in other parts of the country and the world, understanding various conflicts, politics and news on important events.
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Kavita fills the next box with more news stories. Shalini from Nirantar is reading through one of the draft stories of the journalists. Bishakha asks Kavita how many pages are there in the newspaper and what news goes into each of the pages. Kavita tells her that Khabar Lahariya has eight pages. The first page is the "taaza khabar" (literally "hot news") which covers issues that are of importance to Chitrakoot district and also may include State news. The second page covers national and international news. The next page covers development news, including news related to health and illnesses. There is a page for women's issues, where news related to women is covered. Following this come the pages covering culture, entertainment and stories. She explains that they also have lighter pages so that the newspaper doesn't become full of only heavy news. Bishakha asks her what her favorite pages are, and Kavita smiles and says that she enjoys writing for the taaza khabar and national/international news pages.
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