'Shillong Times' finds it difficult to attract the tech-savvy to journalism

Shillong Times office

Patricia Mukhim invites me to visit the office of 'Shillong Times', the newspaper she edits. But I have two hours free on my hands. I locate Madras Cafe in the heart of a bustling shopping-bus station centre of the city where I treat myself to masala dosa and coffee even as a big group of people, obviously from Tamil Nadu chit-chat and gossip loudly, in Thamizh. 

Madras Cafe must be the first destination of travelers from the southern end of the country. I then zip across to what is commonly called Don Bosco Museum - a fantastic work by the Salesians religious where the focus is on the North East's indigenous people, customs, histories, life, art and craft.

You need at least 90 minutes to quickly explore this grand space.

That done we drive across the city, and into what seems to be a Cantonment zone; we negotiate winding roads on the hillside and spot what looks like an independent bungalow.

It isn't.

I am at 'Shillong Times'.

I must take the stairs that leads to the underground offices - the pre-press room is on one side, the printing press on the other and further down, the editorial offices. Only then do I realise all over again that I am in hill country.

A page designer at work

Patricia is at her desk and she takes me to the News Room. The hall is empty save for one designer who is working on a page of the group's Garo newspaper, 'Salantini Janera'.

In a small cabin here, three young women are at work. Two of them edit copy and are about to wind up for the day.

The Desk; sub-editors at work

The third, Nabamita Mitra handles the Sunday magazine pages of the Times. The current issue has a front page feature on the state of Khasi musicians and explores if traditional music is losing out to Western music - which has a huge following in the North-East.

Nabamita is from Kolkata and on a whim, chose to leave behind the Kolkata phase of her career in journalism and get adventurous; that is how she landed in Shillong. In that small, partitioned space for Nabamita and her two colleagues, we spend some time talking about a journalist's job in this state.

They tell me that many people, especially the youths are reticent when it comes to speaking their mind or sharing their views considering the sensitive and fluid atmosphere that has existed in this region. "Nobody would like to go on record or even be seen in a photo," they tell me.

Meghalaya's youths are fixed to their phones and access and use social media a lot but they seem to be less interested in news developments and more keen to get employment. "They banked a lot on jobs in the state sector but that having failed them they now look to go outside to get employed," they tell me.

Patricia tells me that it has been extremely difficult to get young people to work for the newspaper. Nobody wants a desk job and few are keen to invest time and energy in serious journalism. And this does tell on local newspapers like 'Shillong Times'.

Save for posting the daily edition online ( the English and the Garo one) as E-papers, the Times has a very basic website (www.theshillongtimes.com); it has not tapped technology to advance its publishing. The reason - it does not attract tech-savvy people who wish to work at a newspaper.