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| E-paper version of Andhra Jyothi newspaper; the tabloid section for a region |
Located in a colony behind the RTC bus station, in an independent house that wasn't well lit, we were greeted by one of the stringers of this Telugu newspaper. He took us to Nagaraju, who we had seen having a smoke in the verandah just minutes earlier.
One look and I knew Nagaraju had had yet another long, tough day. And it wasn't really over although it was 9.15 p.m.
On his desk was a computer's monitor and keyboard, with wires running on to another desk where a CPU, its panels removed.
"So what does PC stand for," I ask.
"It has been called PC for ages and I don't know why," Nagaraju tells me.
Nagaraju is a veteran journalist. Under him are some 10 stringers who feed him news of Nellore town. Some 100-plus stringers ( all part timers) cover the 46 mandals covered by the Nellore edition of Andhra Jyothi.
These stories feed the tabloid section of the daily. And since it is election time, every bit of any significant political development at the deepest end of the region gets reported.
PC offices are spread across the region, each headed by a full-time journalist. Stringers attached to each centre file copy from these offices.
Currently, if they are covering campaigns or public meetings at night, the stringers have three tech options to use to beat deadline.
1. File copy on WhatsApp - a software that all stringers possess on their phones allows them to type in Telugu.
2. Dictate copy into the phone and let a software produce the copy which needs some correction/editing.
3. Call the operator at the PC centre, dictate news copy to him.
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| Andhra Jyothi's Nagaraju showing the Telugu report filed via WhatsApp |
Copy filed to the various PCs, is vetted and then sent to the Desk at the edition centre.
Nagaraju says his challenge today is to caution young stringers on fake or manipulated news and videos. ( This election season, there are lots of 'manipulated' videos/visuals).
He clicks on his handphone and plays a 20-second video clip. Its shows Varaprasada, the candidate of Gudur Assembly constituency who is on a street, talking animatedly with a few people, even as he waves his hands and often raises his voice.
"This video clip was on social media this morning, claiming that the candidate was drunk and shouting at people on the street," explains Nagaraju.
That video clip then got on to many local news channels, which had exclusive election coverage bulletins. It was now news.
Nagaraju says he wanted to cross check; so he called his stringer in the area where the 'incident' took place, to get to the facts. People at the spot told the stringer that the candidate was not drunk but seemed frustrated and agitated and that explained his behaviour.
"I reported the story of the video clip and also mentioned the facts in the report we just filed," said Nagaraju.
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