From journalist... to publisher
Niraj NaikNiraj Naik, known for his coverage of rural and remote
Goa in the 'nineties, is today publisher and editor of
the Digital Goa. This fortnightly, the only specialist
publication of its kind in Goa -- covers the IT
industry in the state. He has worked in the Delhi
media, and was located for some time in Malaysia.
Without doubt, one owes one's career in journalism to
the emergence of Konknni (Devnagari) journalism with
the launch of Sunaparant. One was then still a
college-going lad, having very strong views on the
number of issues. The Konknni agitation was at its peak
and I was a staunch Konknni supporter. On a parallel
track, one had also started questioning not only the
obvious excesses flowing from religious fundamentalism
but also ritualism and, subsequently, the very concept
of God.
It was a time when I was also leaning towards
socialism. Contrary to the projected image, life around
you in Goa can tend to get suffocating. Given my rural
background, I wouldn't have had confidence to write in
the English-language newspapers, and the bitterness
generated in those days over the language issue
prevented me to opt for Marathi.
So, the launch of first Devnagari-Konknni daily Sunaparant
gave me the much needed platform to express myself.
There was no looking back after that, and I wrote
hundreds of articles in Sunaparant to make a vent to my
inner feelings. Gradually, I switched my interest
towards current affairs and hard news. In the meantime,
one had a short stint as an activist, working on the
number of socio-economic and environmental issues
confronting Goa. But, my temperament did not allow me
to stay there for long and I decided to come back to
active journalism.
Herald was my obvious choice, given its image as the
'activist' newspaper and, at that time, being the only
paper which had escaped from the clutches of
all-pervading mining lobby, which till recently
controlled most of the Goa press. My first pieces were
a series on the socio-environmental impact of iron ore
transportation in the village of remote Sanvordem, a
problem that is otherwise very seldom noticed in
distant Panaji, more so in the world of the
English-language press.
It was one of the first comprehensive documentation of
the explosive situation prevailing in this part of
Sanguem Taluka, due to the unbridled ore transportation
by over 500 trucks on a small stretch cutting across
barely 17 kilometres, and passing through the densely
populated village of Sanvordem.
Derek Almeida was the News Editor of Herald then. He
was the one who encouraged me to do another series on
the also-distant Canacona taluka, which was in the news
in those days for opposing number of larger tourism
projects. I actually spent a week in the different
localities of Canacona, including a over-night stay at
Cotigao wildlife sanctuary. This was followed by number
of stories on the developmental and environmental
issues in Goa.
Herald was going through a transition when I joined the
paper. Diedre Sampayo-Fernandes had just taken over as
the publisher of the Herald and was taking keen
interest in the affairs of the paper. She made an
unsuccessful attempt to streamline the functioning of
organization. On the editorial front, Rajan Narayan had
become almost defunct due to his deteriorating health.
Devika Sequeira and Pamela D'Mello had just quit and
Julio D'Silva (who, in the ever-so-political world of
newspaper politics, was perceived as being close to
Rajan Narayan) was brought into Panaji as the Chief
Reporter, on shifting Alaric Gomes to Margao. Franky Fernandes
of Vasco joined, shortly followed by Rupesh Samant. It
was an entirely a fresh team.
For some reason, the reporting desk was given the
lowest priority. I had to handle the reporting-desk
single handedly for months together. Besides, also
perceptible was the same instability at the top during
those couple of years, around the mid-nineties. We saw
as many as four to five mainly outstation deputy
editors come and go. Hardly anybody could withstand the
internal politics and rivalry. We were grappling in
darkness in the absence of the required guidance. There
wasn't any motivating force. Meanwhile, Julian also
made her foray into reporting after working in the
magazine section for couple of years.
The post of Chief Reporter was vacant for quite
sometime following the resignation of Julio Da Silva.
His perceived closeness with BJP had probably started
long before he joined BJP, to contest Cuncolim
constituency on that party's ticket in the 1998 Goa
assembly elections. But ambition cost him both a career
and a (political) seat. Meanwhile, Ashley do Rosario
rejoined the Herald after a stint with The Navhind Times
ended. After keeping him without designation for
awhile, Ashley was finally given the post of Deputy
Chief Reporter. To some of us, this trend -- of using
designations as carrots or baits, and apparently handed
out in a manner far from fair -- was demoralising,
specially since we had run the show when nobody was
around. Personally, one was never comfortable with
mainstream reporting. My biggest 'weakness' was
politics, or rather, a healthy skepticism about it. I
always hated politics, more so the superficial level at
which it gets reported in newspapers. Unfortunately,
politics has long been the mainstay for our newspapers.
This lopsided stress on politics in the media,
especially in the Goan media, has not only undermined
other genuine and more critical issues, but also given
undue encouragement to petty politics and crooks.
One always wanted to focus on the more real issues of
the people. But routine stories prevented devoting time
to such a venture. Special stories of such a nature
would usually imply going out of Panaji to the
villages. Pressure of covering routine events prevented
me to leave Panaji to chase these stories. Instead we
had to cover some insignificant press conference of
politician X or Y, or somebody else.
There were other beats like the police and courts,
which had to be covered on daily basis. There was no
appreciation for special or exclusive stories done, but
missing of a routine story was taken note of,
how-so-ever insignificant it may be. Leave aside
incentives on exclusive stories but working in the Goa
press can also mean that even travel bill were not
reimbursed. This was a general trend in most of the
newspapers. All this resulted into many a Panaji-based
reporter turning into mere stenographers, ready for the
next round of dictation. There seems to be unanimity
amongst the desk staff and reporters that whatever
words are uttered by a minister constitute the gospel
truth, and that is the hot news worthy of wide
coverage. This has resulted in ministers getting
unwarranted prominent displays on front pages for the
various announcements they make, but which more often
than not never see the light of the day. I recollect a
practice one reporter was engaged in. He would arrive
at the Secretariat late afternoon, and would visit
ministerial cabins to hunt for stories. There would be
literally a begging for stories. Some ministers used to
oblige, and needless to say, the story would get a
prominent position in the next day's edition. The
entire spectrum of Goa-based newspapers could be
categorized on the basis of their political
affiliations, stand on the language issue and the lobby
they belong to. Though most of the papers shift their
policies in favour of the ruling party of the day, the
papers were strongly divided on the lines of language.
All the Marathi newspapers, with the exception of the Rashtramat,
supported Marathi. On the other hand, Sunaparant, Rashtramat
and Herald supported Konknni, and some papers remained
neutral or avoided a clear stand on this issue.
However, the major difference was the lobby they belong
to. At that time, all the significant Goa-based papers,
with the exception of Herald and Tarun Bharat, were
owned by mining corporations. Needless to say, that
there was a total blackout of all mining-related
stories which showed the industry in poor light. This
embargo exists till now. Only one difference has crept
in; the Gomantak group, which publishes Gomantak
(Marathi) and Gomantak Times, has been taken over by
the Sakal group of Maharashtra. It is the worst kind of
self censorship by a section of Goan press which
deprives a voice to the thousands of people living in
the mining belt in miserable conditions due to
pollution of air, water and land. My discontent was
growing as a journalist in a Goan newspaper. I was
looking out for an opportunity to move out from here.
And at the first opportunity, we -- meaning, my wife
and myself -- descended in Delhi for the more enriching
experience which completely changed my outlook towards
life and helped to change the course of my career.
Taking on new roles...
I was back to Goa after a gap of two years. My stay in
Delhi and a short stint in Malaysia was an enriching
experience. It was a new life altogether. There was no
question of joining any local paper for the very reason
I had decided to quit it. The dream was to start
something of my own; something different. The meteoric
rise of IT had thrown up lots of opportunities. Goa too
had made foray in the area of IT, and it had big plans.
Goa had an edge over its counterparts due to her
peculiar socio-economic conditions.
IT was nothing new for someone in the area of
journalism, since we had been dealing with information
all along. Having realized the power of information, it
was my endeavour to harness the technology to make it
an instrument of change.
With this objective in mind, I decided to set up a
small company and named it Aparant Infomedia, (after
the historical name for Goa). The basic objective of
this venture was to bring the fruits of IT to the
masses and use it to bring about a positive change
amongst the lives of thousands of people, especially
for the underprivileged.
An IT newspaper or magazine for Goa was just one idea
amongst the many which the company aimed at. There were
some innovative ideas to capitalize on the potential
thrown up by the Internet, and particularly by e-mail,
for the benefit of the common men. The paper got
priority over other things simply because there was a
need to create awareness amongst the masses.
There were a number of efforts underway in Goa in the
area of IT by the government, industry, NGOs and the
like . But there was a lack of co-ordination and hardly
anybody knew what was going on in the other camp.
Opportunity came calling, indicating that there was an
urgent need to create a common forum for the discussion
of IT-related issues and cost effective solutions.
This was priority Number One. Thus Goa's first IT
fortnightly was born in the beginning of the year 2002.
It was appropriately named Digital Goa, to encompass
not only computer specific issues but the whole gamut
of information technology even beyond computers.
Initially, this idea evoked a cautious response from
both media stalwarts and IT professionals, some of whom
even outright dismissed the idea as non-workable. Two
individuals were exceptions to this rule, and they
jumped onto the idea and have been a constant
motivating factor all throughout i.e. GCCI President
and D-Link General Manager Nitin Kunkolienkar and our
own colleague Frederick Noronha.
One was aware of the average Goan's apathy towards
reading, leaving aside few daily newspapers. This
explains the fact that no periodical worth its name,
and with a widespread readership, could be established
in Goa, despite factors like Goa's high literacy, and
relatively higher affluence levels. In the past one
decade, a number of family-oriented and political
magazines have hit the stands, only to disappear
without making their mark. Those existing are
struggling for their survival or are backed by big
corporate houses. Then there was a new trend of
free-sheeters that gripped Goa for a while. That too is
seems to be slowly fading away.
On this backdrop, it was really a risky attempt to
start a specialized magazine, leave alone the general
magazine. Number one, there was no corporate house
backing this effort nor did one have any savings to run
it without any expected returns for the initial period.
Most importantly, I did not have any other source of
income since this was my full time activity.
One had to run the show all alone, which meant which
meant facing demands of 12 hours or so of time each
day. One must put it on record here that without the
financial and moral support of my wife, Sangeeta, it
would not have been possible for me to take this major
risk.
It could be argued that most of the magazines which
were closed down did not have a professional approach,
consistency and utility value. These are critical
factors for any publication's success. More so in a
place like Goa. You need to study the mind of the
reader, and his or her likes and dislikes. How a story
is displayed is as important as the choice of the story
itself. Readers should get something refreshing to
read, and not just a rehash of stories already appeared
in the daily newspapers.
For a product to succeed, it should also have some
utility value to the readers. People are bombarded from
all sides with knowledge and information in this
information era. The job of the media is to screen and
customize this information for the benefit of their
readers. This is the role especially of the niche
magazines, and it is the secret behind Digital Goa. The
first issue of Digital Goa rolled out in the first week
of April after a three months of running around. But
very soon the initial enthusiasm was over and I had to
face the stalk reality. Publication is the
capital-intensive business. You have to go on pumping
money for years before the product starts yielding
fruits. So you need tremendous sustaining power.
Many times, one was confronted with existentialist
dilemmas -- whether or not to continue to invest money
without any signs of returns. The returns were almost
commensurate to the investments, and one point of time
my investing power was almost exhausted. But I did not
give up and the result is before the reader to judge.
It was only after a year that things started changing.
The IT businesses who had earlier adopted a cautious
wait-and-watch policy, realized that this was not a
fly-by-night kind of venture, but a serious
publication. Though one had some kind of a hi-and-bye
relationship with a few players in the IT circuit, most
of the people were unknown to me.
Secondly, this was my maiden experience of conducting
business deals with the business class, being a
journalist for all of my earlier years. It was a
different experience altogether dealing with all types
of people, including some who could be safely
classified as crooks of the first degree.. But one
passed this agni-pariksha (test by fire).
Being behind a small time publication, one had to be an
all-rounder -- looking after all areas of publication
-- editorial, circulation, advertising, printing,
accounts, and whatever work was left to be done. One
could obviously not appoint professionals and
sufficient staff to look after all these departments,
simply because overheads had to remain in check.
To prevent this venture going into the red, I managed
the show mostly with one staff-member, and by deploying
my Merces flat as the office. The first one year was
really tough, as one could hardly recover the printing
charges leave alone my salary.
It was a great eye opener; before starting, I had set a
target of some 1000 subscribers within a couple of
months at a subscription-fee of a fairly reasonable Rs
120 per year. But it did not take me long to come in
terms with the harsh reality. Even my close friends did
not bother to pay subscription as a support to my
efforts. Those in the thick of IT sector of Goa also
did not care to subscribe it too. One got the feeling
that people were scared that with their single
subscription I may get rich or Digital Goa could
overnight grow into a big publication.
I experienced the much spoken-of Goan crab mentality
very closely during this time. One thing that can be
said with certainty is that Goans are very hostile
towards those who make a new beginning. They would
waste lots of their energies to discourage you from
aiming higher, or pull you down, instead of supporting
enterprising people. It is only when they feel that one
has survived their onslaught and have made a mark, that
they would be sympathetic to you.
This is precisely the reason why the average Goan youth
doesn't take a risk and avoids aiming higher. To
succeed in Goa, one should either have money-power or a
godfather or extraordinary perseverance. Most of my
energies still goes into Digital Goa, though today it
has grown into a professional, self-sustaining
magazine. It has not only gained acceptance but even
attained popularity within industry, IT businesses,
students and general IT users alike.
There is no dearth of advertisement and, most
importantly, our advertisers do not part with their ads
as a measure of their generosity, but rather on account
of the mileage they get in advertising in Digital Goa.
This, for us, is the biggest recognition that Digital Goa
is treated as a professional periodical. In fact, one
could argue that it is the fastest growing publication
and one could venture a bold forecast here that, touch
wood, it could have a bright future.
But, there is much to be done to make it really a good
quality magazine, both in terms of content and layout
and printing. We need to dream of publications on par
with any national-level magazine. My preoccupation with
the Digital Goa magazine has made me neglect the other
projects of Aparant Infomedia. However, we could still
complete a comprehensive directory of IT related
businesses, including a database of around a thousand
firms, with the help of Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry
. Also, we are in the final stages of completing a
Website and e-mail directory for Goa, one of the first
of kinds in the country. Hopefully other interesting
projects on the lists will get to see the light of the
day, so that it can be proudly said that journalists
can themselves re-invent themselves into good
publishers too!