Why Multimedia Journalism?

I am a photojournalist and love working on longer projects. But the more I think of it, the more I am convinced, the print news industry is simply not the equipped for good visual work. Now don't get me wrong. It's amazing to see your work printed in 5-6 columns in the print edition. But, how often do you see that in newspapers? More often that not, all a pj can expect is a small 2-3 column space squeezed in between ads and text. The news space (or news hole) is constantly decreasing.

Unfortunately for pjs in India, newspapers are making good money and are content to let things be. Unlike their counterparts in the US and UK (who are struggling with falling readership and revenues), publishers in India see no real purpose of an online edition other than “Yea, its good to be there”.

But to me the most exciting aspect of the internet is the freedom to choose the medium to best convey the story. Add to that, the absence of the usual print constraint of “lack of space” and we have a killer combination. On the internet, a story could be told using any or all media based on the requirement – audio for the cracking voice of the ageing mother, video for a tour of the hell in which she works, still images of the emotions as her tired face lights up on sight of her newborn grandson and text for the background issues involving people living on the street. Now you get the idea.