Research plays pivotal role in the development journalism
KALABURAGI: Head of the Department of Media Studies in the Akkamahadevi Women’s University at Vijayapura Dr Onkar Kakade stressed the importance of research in the professional life of a successful journalist and said that the research played a pivotal role in giving a stamp of authority and authenticity to the investigative and development stories.
Speaking at the last session of the three-day International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research and Journalism, organized jointly by the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication and Faculty of Business Studies in Sharnbasva University on Thursday, Dr Kakade shared his experience as a field journalist working in districts like Belagavi, Bidar and in Bengaluru and how his reliance on research had helped him in filing effective and impact making stories which changed the lives of the people.
Dr Kakade said that a research bent of mind is most essential for every journalist to file effective and impact making stories and “Whenever I wrote a special story or a development story, my research instinct helped me in producing good and effective stories which had some impact on the society and the government”.
He quoted one special story about the first reported suicide by a farmer in Dhannur village in Bhalki Taluk in Bidar district due to the loss suffered due to crop failure and the heavy burden of loans availed from private lenders and banks in 1990s changed the course of the government thinking on th farmers suicide and made ruling class from the then Chief Minister and the then Union Agriculture Minister Mr Balram Jakhar to visit Dhannur village and pay homage to the farmer who committed suicide. Even the then Chairperson of the UPA Ms Sonia Gandhi paid visit to the Dhannur village to talk to the family members of the deceased farmer.
Similarly when more than 138 villages and 9 cities on the banks of the River Krishna were facing a severe drinking water shortage due to the drying up of the Krishna River, Dr Kakade said that one of his report exposing the fact that the drying up of the Krishna river was man made and the river dried up due to non release of water by the Maharashtra from its dam due to the non payment of the water charges agreed upon by the state government.
“Everybody were under the impression that the river bed dried up due to the less number of rainy days, but the true picture revealed after some research that Maharashtra government stopped the release of two TMCFT of water released during the summer every year for the non payment of Rs 2 Crore as agreed earlier as water charges by the state government, only after a report appeared in the press about this fact, the state government opened its eyes and paid the sum to get the water released from the Maharashtra to quench the drinking water shortage in the villages and cities on the banks of the river”.
Mr Omprakash of the Digvijay TV presided over and Special Correspondent of The Hindu Mr Rishikesh Bahadur Desai welcomed and introduced Dr Kakade.