Students of journalism are told: if dog bites man, it’s not news. But if man bites dog, that’s big news. Much depends on who the dog bites. If it’s Narendra Modi or Michelle Obama or Bips or Dips or Piggy Chops, it will surely become newsworthy for some. Journalists are often described as watchdogs of society. But there are journalists and journalists just as there are dogs and dogs. A watchdog may just be able to bark and not bite. But the burglar may not know this and would run away. There are lapdogs as well, dogs that are particularly comfortable if the lap belongs to a powerful politician, a corporate captain or an influential bureaucrat. There are journalists who are little more than stenographers. And then there are intelligent dogs, guide dogs who help a visually challenged person cross a busy street, sniffer dogs that can smell drugs or explosives in a pile of luggage, or a Saint Bernard who rescues a person caught in a blizzard. So I ask my young friends who wish to pursue a career in journalism: What kind of a dog do you want to be?
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
(Paranjoy Guha Thakurta is an Indian journalist, political commentator, author and a documentary film maker)