Pramila taking notes for a story

Pramila Modachur Krishnan is a senior reporter at the Deccan Chronicle, an English-language daily in Chennai, the capital of India’s Tamil Nadu state. Pramila’s parents are both farmers, and she was the first in her family to get a university education; she has both a bachelor’s and master’s degree. Now 27, she’s especially interested in reporting about the environment and issues facing women and children. In 2013, she took part in a DW Akademie workshop on environmental reporting in Chennai. Her pluck, resourcefulness and dedication convinced her trainers to recommend she attend the recent UN climate conference in Warsaw. onMedia asked her a few questions about her chosen career.

Why did you decide to become a journalist?

I wanted to be in a job that would provide me the opportunity to contribute to society. And I wanted to learn new things and not get bored by doing the same thing throughout my life. I want every day to be an exciting one and that happens in journalism.

What did your parents and/or friends say when you decided to become a journalist?

My parents are farmers and I was the first person in my family to get a college education. I decided not to take run-of-the-mill courses. When I learned about journalism and communication studies, I thought this would be a good fit. My mother encouraged me as she always believed that I should study what I like and not what others want. But others in the family, including my father, stressed that I should get married since that was the custom in many families. My friends doubted I would get a job.

Do reporters have a good reputation in India?

Yes, particularly women journalists, who are in the limelight now. Several media houses have increased the number of women journalists in the last few years.

What do you like most about your job?

I am learning and contributing to the society. I’m happy when I report about an issue and the government or voluntary organizations react and problems are set right. I am hugely satisfied when people whom I have not even met call me to say thank you for a story which I’ve published and which impacted their lives.

What do you dislike most about your job?

Sometimes I am forced to deliver an incomplete story because of deadlines. But I enjoy my work, so I don’t have many complaints.

What was the most difficult story you have covered?

I worked on an investigative report on how elderly people are killed by their own families. In the south of Tamil Nadu there is an age-old traditional practice under which grown-up children conduct a ritual named “Thalaikoothal,” which involves giving sick elders an oil bath and feeding tender coconut water to them to kill them. I visited the villages and met people who had killed their parents. I met quacks who took money and killed elders with lethal injections. I risked my life posing as the granddaughter seeking help in killing her grandfather. After the story was published, it created ripples across the country and the government came up with a mechanism to stop the murders. Now self-help groups have been formed to protect vulnerable elderly people.

Is there a story that you have covered that has particularly affected you?

The story about the murders of elderly people affected me personally. In covering the story, I saw the problems of senior citizens who could well be considered disabled people. They lose their eyesight, hearing, mobility, and ability to think clearly. I understood that I have a grandfather but didn’t spend much time with him. That story changed things. Recently I published a short story book penned by my grandfather. I encouraged him to read books and write stories. Now, I have become a resource person for many elder groups and help them organize events.

Pramila (left) at a DW environmental workshop

How do you feel you are developing as a journalist and advancing along your career path?

I have widened my perspective from a beat reporter to a senior journalist who can cover topics ranging from social issues, the environment, politics and education. I’m also able to lead media campaigns. For example, my “Green Chronicle” initiative in my newspaper featuring stories on e-waste created new awareness. Through the campaign, three tons of e-waste were collected for safe disposal.

Still, I feel I need training in digital journalism skills and specialized subjects like the environment and health.

You were recently invited by DW Akademie to attend the UN climate change conference in Warsaw. What was the experience like?

I was excited about participating. Covering an international event like that for the first time was thrilling. Thanks to my trainers, I was able to cover it and deliver stories every day for my newspaper.

What did you learn there and how will you use it in your future work?

I was able to break down the science in simple terms for my environment stories. I now understand climate change with a little more clarity than before. Participating in the conference gave me hope that I could specialize in environment reporting.

What kind of equipment do you use in your work?

I use a computer, a camera for photos, voice recorders for interviews, and mobile phone applications like WhatsApp and others for receiving and sending photos and other info from government officials and other voluntary organizations. I use mini-cameras if necessary during investigative reporting.

What are your dreams or goals as a journalist?

In the long term, I want to be an editor and give opportunities to young reporters from rural India. More short terms goals are to learn and update my knowledge in areas like the environment, women and children’s issues, and digital journalism.

Personally, I would love to travel around India in a van to explore and write about people aren’t normally written about. I like to travel, learn new things, meet new people and report previously unreported stories.

Interview: Kyle James

Not just for this reason, some reputable newspapers and news agencies around the world have their own headline specialists – experienced editors who focus on just drafting headlines. But if, like with most of us, you always have to write the headlines for your stories yourself, what are the things you should keep in mind?

Clear and concise

First and foremost, headlines need to be concise and clear to the readers. Or, as one of my colleagues likes to put it: “short and catchy”. The best way to do this is to reduce the story to it’s basic elements in the headline, but also to use active as opposed to passive sentences.

Let’s look at an example from Africa. Following the sacking of Nigeria’s main security advisor and the defense minister by Goodluck Jonathan in June 2012 after a number of terrorist bombings, it would be possible to lead with the following headline: “Security Advisor and Defense Chief jobless following further bombings in Nigeria”

This headline gets the message across – but it is long and also passive in its construction. A better solution would be to shorten the sentence and make it active. For example: “Nigerian President sacks security and defense chiefs”. When the headline contains a verb, it instantly becomes more understandable.

Have a go at a headline first

It’s generally useful to create a working headline for your piece before you have written the text. This can be done at the same time as you are writing the “teaser”, the short text which accompanies a headline at the top of the page. Both of these elements have to work together to entice the reader in.

Writing the headline and teaser at the start has two benefits. Firstly, it gives you an idea of where you are going with the article. Namely, what statement do you want to make with your article? Where does your focus lie? It’s also useful to help you jump into your story in the first paragraph. If you have established the right facts from the very start, then writing the piece is a lot easier.

And don’t worry: changing the headline after you have written the piece is pretty normal and nothing to be ashamed of!

Catching people’s attention

Unless you are working for a publication with very serious editorial guidelines, it’s generally fine to occasionally use jargon, abbreviations or word-plays in your headlines. But remember, you should only do this if the reader doesn’t have to think too long to understand what you are trying to say. Be creative by all means, but stick to the point.

Tabloids – especially the British publications – are renowned for using really cheeky headlines to attract readers. This is a style that they have made their own and also something that their readers now come to expect. Many of their headlines might be inappropriate for other media outlets, so it’s best to ask an editor or an experienced colleague about what the tone of your headline should be. Remember, it’s not worth defaming someone just for the sake of creating an eye-catching headline – this could cause problems for you and your publication.

Another way of catching the attention of your readership is with an interesting quote from one of the protagonists in your story. If you decide to do that, you should present the quote in quotation marks. Try to pick a quote that will spark curiosity or interest.

Finally, some technical stuff

Often the publication you are working for will have a limit of characters for its headlines – it might be 50 characters, maybe 60. That’s not much room to move, which is another reason to keep your headline concise. Obviously, it’s best to find this limitation out at the start so that you don’t waste time drafting a perfect headline that you then find out at the end you can’t use anyway.

Plenty of websites – but also newspapers who put their content online – need to put keywords in their headlines in order to maximize their success in search engines like Google. That means if you are talking about famine in Somalia, you need to mention “Somalia” and perhaps “hunger” or “drought” in your headline. Check with your webmaster as to whether this is the case.

Finally, the headline should not repeat the lead sentence of your article. Rather than being a technical problem, repetition can confuse your readers right at the very start of the process. Not something that we want to achieve!

So, time to get out there and start drafting some creative and punchy headlines. Once they’re done, don’t be afraid to try them out on your colleagues and friends to see how they react. Often they will have a good idea that can make your story even more of an “eye-catcher”.

Author: André Leslie