By Editors
The Pune chapter of NWMI and the Pune Union of Working Journalists (PUWJ) organised a session on work opportunities in the shrinking media job market, as part of the conference “Enhancing media skills” held at the Patrakar Sangh in advance of International Women’s Day. Participants included journalists and students of journalism and communication from Pune.
Sujata Deshmukh, Sahitya Akademy Award winner for her translation of Vikram Sampath’s My name is Guajar, emphasised that translators must be knowledgeable in the subject of the material to be translated, and be prepared to do the necessary research. There is a demand for translators, for international websites, streaming apps and online books. They can earn well once they are established in the field.
Veteran journalist Sorabh Ghaswala said: “The good news is that with the world wide web and the internet, anyone can start their website. The hard part is to keep it running.” It helps to specialise, he pointed out. “If you’re starting a news portal, identify a particular niche in which you want to work.” Ghaswalla concluded: “Despite technology advancing or changing, journalistic skills are not going to change. Journalists are never going to be out of work, don’t worry.”
Journalist and writer Sekhar Seshan spoke on the opportunities in book writing.
Sandhya Taksale, one of the founder members of NWMI, spoke about the network. NWMI is open for all women journalists. It has provided support to many women journalists, giving them access to information about work and other opportunities. The network has also been a lively forum for discussions since its inception in 2003.
Prasad Kulkarni, president, PUWJ, spoke at the gathering on the Patrakar Sangh’s workshops on “Mobile Filmmaking”, and reported on an ongoing survey of the socioeconomic background of journalists.
March 2020
