BJR-Final

Behind the news
October - december, 2014
Q &
WHAT’s
on the
front?
A
To not judge a book by its cover
sounds out of place when it is about
newspapers.
Like most conventions journalism
breaks, so it does this old
dictum too.
For any newspaper, the front
or the cover page is the bait, the
front door. The idea, at least, is to
grab eyeballs, ambitious as it might
sound, of passersby first and then
of those lingering ones around
newsstands and racks.
No wonder some newspapers
are getting everything from simple
cosmetic changes to occasional fullfledged
makeovers.
Looks aside, what Bhutanese
news consumers sometimes wonder
when they see a newspaper
front page is about the choices
made to elevate a certain story
above another.
What makes front-page story?
Who decides?
Most editors and reporters in
newsrooms of various newspapers
and those of country’s only broadcast
station agree they hold to the
“editors are the ultimate arbiters”
tradition still.
The country’s national newspaper,
Kuensel managing editor Ugyen
Penjor expresses disbelief of this
being true in the case of the country’s
oldest newspaper, his elbows
resting on the immense rectangular
table of the office conference room,
which he remembered once echoed
with spirited discussions on issues
20
that would roll out on the paper.
Most reporters that made up the
Kuensel newsroom today were either
recent recruits, or still learning
the ropes of reporting.
Being a daily edition, the
newspaper usually ran important
government decisions and events
on the front page.
Latterly, the paper also ran
more of human-interest stories
on the front. The government
was not making many decisions.
The Bhutanese newspaper editor
Tenzing Lamzang agreed. While
the previous government made one
too many decisions, the present one
lacked the resolve to make even a
few.
Running the newspaper with
three young reporters, all crammed
in a dingy room with accounts and
finance staff, the need to discuss
what made headline news was
never felt.
EDITORIAL MEETINGS DECIDE
• STORIES FOR THE ISSUE
• STRENGTH OF THE STORIES
• ALLOCATE PAGES FOR STORIES
• LENGTH OF THE STORY
• ACCOMPANYING PICTURE/VISUAL
• POSTMORTEM ON LATEST ISSUE
• POST-MORTEM ON COMPETITORS
Drawing from his situation,
Tenzing Lamzang, perched on the
attic of a building below Bhutan
Development Bank, believes editors
should have the final say on what
made page one news because they
would be responsible for it once
published.
Little wonder most front-page
stories in The Bhutanese bear the
editor’s byline, who claims his
newspaper focuses on investigative
journalism and pursues stories
of officials graft to go on the front
page.
With most breaking and spot
news having already been covered
on the social media much before
they are on air or dailies serve them
on the newsstands, weeklies have
the challenge of giving more to the
readers.
While most weekly newspaper
editors admitted the need to provide
more than what appeared on
the social media and daily newspapers
and broadcasts, in terms
of analysis and in-depth news
stories, they found their purpose
scuttled by lack of seasoned reporters.