'Publications now carry government's pictures': Press Club event looks at what ails photojournalism

On the first floor of the Press Club of India, in the corridor outside the conference room, a group of photojournalists were smoking cigarettes on Friday afternoon. “These men are stuck in a world that has long passed,” said one of them, carefully balancing a filter and tobacco on a rolling paper.

By “these men” she meant the seasoned professionals inside the conference room – Shekhar Gupta of the Print, Rajdeep Sardesai of India Today, ace photographer Raghu Rai, Press Club of India president Umakant Lakhera, and Working News Cameramen’s Association chief SN Sinha, among others. All panellists for a discussion tersely titled “Photojournalism: Challenges and Opportunities”.

By “challenges”, the organisers meant shrinking access for photojournalists to government events, particularly at the Red Fort on Independence Day this year.

“Opportunities” meant the lack of jobs for photographers at news organisations.

Despite seemingly inhabiting different “worlds”, those inside and outside the conference room were united by a common complaint: photojournalism in India is in bad shape and needs an overhaul.

“It is as good as dead,” proclaimed a pamphlet distributed at the event. That’s because most important newspapers and magazines, with some exceptions, “have no space for even good photographs”.

Inside, the event – which began half an hour late because Sardesai and Gupta did not arrive on time – resembled an old boys’ club. Rai and Gupta regaled an audience of mostly elderly men about their time at the India Today magazine in the 1980s. Science journalist Pallav Bagla boasted about his interviews with prime ministers. Lakhera droned on about resolutions and why everyone must sign them.

The panellists, however, did converge on two points. One, photojournalists are fast losing access to the government. Two, their tribe cannot and should not be replaced by cellphone cameras. Bagla made the latter point by asking the audience to spot flaws in pictures and videos released by the Narendra Modi government which allegedly passed off foreign satellites as India’s at last year’s Independence Day celebrations and even on the Rs 2,000 currency note.

“Photojournalism needs legacy knowledge,” Bagla remarked, making a case for discernment that comes with journalistic experience, disputing the idea that a young reporter with a camera is a cheap alternative to a seasoned photojournalist.

Gupta was equally provocative. “Access is power,” he began, “on Rajdeep’s channel, we have a sports journalist who was in trouble recently for intimidating a cricketer.” He was likely referring to Boria Majumdar, a fixture on India Today. “We know that he is on the channel despite all that because he has access.” Sardesai smiled sheepishly.

Gupta took stock of the stature of several photojournalists at the event, but with a twist. “We were great people in a glorious past,” he said, flailing his arms. “Now we have to introspect and think of the future.”

The editor asked camera-carrying journalists to adjust to the new economics of the new media while lamenting that veteran journalists such as Rai and him “didn’t mentor any successors”.

Photojournalist Naresh Sharma, however, told Newslaundry the problem was not economic but political. “Most publications now publish pictures supplied by the government,” he explained. “These pictures are staged and projected, unlike a photojournalist’s, which might capture something inconvenient. But newsrooms don’t understand that. If the government hands them pictures, they believe that they don’t need a photojournalist.”

Sharma, who has been a photojournalist since the 1990s, left the news industry a few years ago. He claimed that his last job at a major media conglomerate did not involve outdoor assignments at all. So he quit. “I miss news,” said Sharma, who now works with tourism boards. “These days, if I can do some journalism by chance it makes my day. Else everything seems empty.”

A photojournalist at a Hindi daily who spoke to Newslaundry on the condition of anonymity, painted a similar picture. “We cannot do what we want to anymore,” he said. “If the paper carries a critical photograph, government officials ring the newsrooms. Worse, the publication self-censors.”

The scribe, who was present at the event, claimed that his annual increments at the daily do not exceed Rs 1,500. “It’s likely that those who spoke here do not prefer hiring photojournalists themselves,” he added, cynically. “Editors of a section of the media want exclusive pictures of every big event, but the assignment they give you involves covering a temple prayer on Janmashtami, or worse.”

Another photojournalist cited the same problems. “We are nobodies,” he said. “News organisations pay us a meagre Rs 15,000 a month and make us sit in office instead of covering assignments.”

The only voice of hope at the Press Club on Friday was Raghu Rai. For the seasoned photographer, the lack of access to the government was an opportunity for journalists to turn their eyes, and cameras, elsewhere. “Is politics everything in this country?” Rai asked. “Let the government and its photographers manage their show. We photojournalists should tell stories from untouched corners of the country. Let’s not get stuck.”

Pictures by Ayush Tiwari.