Scribes in politics: Who flourishes & who perish

Bhubaneswar, June 4: It is well known that journalists are often inclined towards politics. It also often noticed that scribes tend to get attached to a political leader or party during coverage of the leader or the party. Many boast of their association with politicians or political parties. And surprisingly many youngsters aspiring to be Reporters prefer coverage of politicians or political parties.

But the irony is that not every reporter, covering a politician or political party, is patronized by the same politician or the party. And they fail to realize this and get frustrated in later days.

This is a common phenomenon across the country. There is no state in India where these things do not happen. However, it is more pronounced in the northern part of the country, though   gradually trickling to other states. Odisha is no exception.

In Odisha several journalists are known to be aligned to political leaders and inclined towards a political party. There are some who at some time of their lives have been actively associated with a particular leader or party. The list is huge and need not be discussed in detail.

But in the last two decades, there has been a perceptible change. Few journalists, after a few years into journalism, have tended to be inclined towards the ruling BJD, BJP or Congress. The preference among these journalists has been the ruling party or a prominent political leader of any of these parties.

Few names crop up in Odisha such as Swayamprakash Mohapatra, Satya Prakash Nayak, Satyajit Mishra or Ardhendu Sekhar Das.

Swayampraskh is the newest to don a political cap joining the ruling BIju Janata Dal. He was welcomed to the party by none other than the Organising Secretary of the party Pranab Prakash Das. When the photo of the two went viral on social media, people tended to believe that ‘Something big’ is in the offing as he quit a lucrative job in the television channel to jump into politics.

Yes age is on his side and he cannot be discounted as an ‘also ran’ life some of his colleagues in his profession.

Satya Prakash got into active political life—though he continues to remain associated with journalism through his youtube news programmes—and jumped into electoral politics securing a ticket to contest Lok Sabha elections in 2019 on a Congress ticket. However, he flopped and is not very active in politics. Could this be due to his non-acceptance in the party. It is not clear if he ever hobnobbed with the ruling Biju Janata Dal. He is sometimes very critical about the ruling dispensation in his blogs, posts in social media and in the abatar of Spokesperson of the Congress party.

Ardhendu, began his career as a journalist and has worked in different electronic media. He too is known to have hobnobbed with several ruling party leaders, ostensibly to try his luck in politics. He too has not found luck so far and continues with journalism.

Satyajit Mishra was a reporter with a leading television channel in Odisha and had become a household name with his special programme on the channel interviewing bigwigs. Barely few months ahead of the 2019 General Election he suddenly embraced the BJD. Murmur in grapevine was that he may try his luck at the hustings on a ticket from the ruling BJD. But it was not to be. He has virtually been erased from the mind of the people of the State who once loved his programme on the leading satellite channel.

Wheter the success of Swayamprakash or failure of Satyaprakash, Ardhendu or Satyajit influences others in the profession remains to be seen.

Surjit Dhal