About the Session
At some point in their professional life, every journalist dreams of cracking that big story. Getting confidential information from a whistleblower, verifying, reporting and unearthing scandals that can shake governments and institutions.
As a reporter in the 1980s, Chitra Subramaniam did just that while investigating the Bofors scandal – one of India’s biggest political scams till date. In 1986, India bought Howitzers from Sweden. The guns were excellent and the price was the best. The problem was the bribes paid into secret bank accounts in Switzerland. Every detail had to be verified in libraries or books in Switzerland or Sweden – there was no Google or cordless telephones. There were a few telex machines which had to be operated by trained people who got copies from journalists to send to newsrooms around the world.
Much has changed in terms of technology since then, but the basics of good journalism – trust, transparency and accountability – remain.
How can one build trust with a source or a whistleblower? How can journalists establish intent and purpose, sift fact from fiction, and gauge personal agendas? Is the work more complicated on a breaking story? What are the legal and personal risks involved whether it is something as international as Bofors or a story as immediate as Dharmasthala?
Get the answers to all these questions in this workshop helmed by Chitra Subramaniam, an award-winning journalist, best-selling author, and cofounder of The News Minute.
