Boria Majumdar
News reporting isn’t an easy business, especially when it comes to Indian cricket. Every piece of information is dissected on social media and, if you make a mistake, you can end up being viciously trolled. The truth is that each one of us will make mistakes. No journalist can ever get everything right. While the quest is always to be spot-on, even the best batter will get out for a duck on occasion. Journalists are no different, and each one of us should remember that.
Take the Shubman Gill case. We at RevSportz had been reporting for the last five days that Gill did not really have a chance to play the second Test. While all of us wanted to see the captain play and win the game for India, the truth is that his injury hadn’t healed – or needed more time to heal – and it would have been an enormous risk had he pushed himself. That’s what we reported.
We used phrases like “All But Ruled Out” and “Unlikely to Play”. And the moment we did so, we were trolled by a section of fans. They pointed to reports claiming he was 100 percent fit, ready, traveling to Guwahati, and would play. While each journalist has his or her own sources, the important thing is to trust your own information and keep doing your job. Focus on the process, not on what others are saying. And if you are wrong, own up to it.
In Gill’s case, we knew our sources were right. Medical advice and recommendations were against him playing, and it would have been risky for him to do so. That’s what we reported. There was no need to “take sides”, yet the fans were divided. Some said we knew nothing, while others copy-pasted media reports claiming, “Here’s the truth.”
We are a fairly young team, and it was instructive to see how younger colleagues reacted under pressure. Some asked me privately if we needed to take a softer line rather than saying “All But Ruled Out”. But there was no question of doing that. I encouraged Shamik Chakrabarty to go with the headline, and Gargi Raut and Rohit Juglan to run the video. Knowing full well that they would all be trolled if things turned out wrong, we still needed to back our own story. That’s all we did.
And yes, if it had turned out wrong, I would have owned up. As editor, the buck stops with me. It would have been my fault. Things will go wrong on occasion, and that’s fine. The effort matters, and I would much rather see my colleagues chase a story than wait for a press release. Gill was the important story to pursue, and I am pleased that we got everything right.
News can be a double-edged sword. We got this one right, and so we are rightly pleased. When we get the next one wrong, we will be criticised. All we need to do is take things in our stride, and move on. Praise or abuse – none of it really matters. The effort does.
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