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Literary Review
Views of a veteran
IT is no longer necessary now for you to be proficient in the art of shorthand and typing skills to become a journalist. And with newspaper organisations across the spectrum laying claims to objectivity (notwithstanding the fact that it is merely a rhetoric), there is a tendency among those looking forward to a career in journalism to profess against holding a political position of their own.
K.C. John belongs to the old generation to whom journalism was not just a means to a living but a profession. They did hold their political views and were open about that. But then, they were also objective to the point that they refrained from mixing news with views; they waited for a different occasion to share their views with their readers.
Beyond the Deadline is a collection of K.C. John's notes (certainly not an exhaustive one) where the veteran journalist's impressions and opinions of the political players with whom he had occasions to interact have been made public. And while doing so, the author has taken care to inform the readers of the context in which he learnt the art of reporting and conveys so well how it was possible for several of those young men to join the profession and grow up under Sadanand and his Free Press Journal. The author's travails in Bombay, the rise and the fall of Sadanand's paper and the changes that caught up the print media are brought out so well that it makes the reading of this short book mandatory for all those who seek journalism as a career out of passion.
But then, Mr. John's accounts reveal only what he wants to. As for instance, his account of the dismissal of the E.M.S. Namboodiripad ministry seems incomplete. While the author has brought out the manner in which the forces of reaction combined in Kerala against the Education Reforms Bill (that Prof. Joseph Mundaserry proposed), John could have taken some more care to inform the new generation in the profession the details of the Bill moved by Mundaserry. Such facts, as he himself must be aware, are not even part of political folklore any longer.
Similarly, the author's recollection of his days in Bombay (as a reporter) brings out the emergence of S.K. Patil as a key figure in the affairs of the Congress party so eloquently. But then, there is certainly more to it and any informed reader would have expected more from someone like John on these. But then, the author had moved out of Bombay by then and was becoming a specialist on affairs in Kerala. But then, his memories in Bombay and the travails of a journalist, the encounters he had with the legendary Sadanand are all pages in this book that could help young entrants to the profession to commit themselves to ideals rather than looking at journalism as just another means to a living.
Kesari Memorial Journalist's Trust has indeed done a service by taking up publication of one of Kerala's veteran journalists. There are a few places where the typographical errors are too blaring. It could be a reflection of the falling standards in the area of sub-editing and proof reading; these are sections or departments in the newspapers that seem to have lost the old charm with the coming of electronic equipments — the computers that also check spellings — but then such errors could have been avoided with just a little more care. The trust will help media professionals by enlarging the project and get the several veterans there in Thiruvanthapuram and elsewhere in Kerala to put their memories in the same fashion as this.
Beyond the Deadline, K.C. John, Kesari Memorial Journalist's Trust, Thiruvanthapuram, p.144. Rs. 100.
V. KRISHNA ANANTH
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