Barkha Dutt

Barkha Dutt
Barkha Dutt
Born	December 18, 1971
Nationality	Indian
Education	Modern School, New Delhi, St. Stephen's College, Jamia Milia Islamia,Graduate School of Journalism
Alma mater	Graduate School of Journalism
Employer	New Delhi Television

Barkha Dutt (born December 18, 1971) is a reputed senior TV journalist with New Delhi Television (NDTV). Lately, after Mumbai attack, she has been lambasted by blog writers for aggressively pushing only her take in the NDTV news channel. She has been heavily criticized by the bloggers for presenting only her ideas, views and analysis when she should have reported the events.

Early life

Barkha Dutt was born to S.P. Dutt (called "Speedy" because of his initials) and Mrs Prabha Dutt (nee Behl).^[1] Dutt was an official in Air-India and Prabha was Chief of Bureau of the Hindustan Times for some time. Her childhood days were spent shuttling between New Delhi and New York.^[2]

Barkha credits her journalism skills to her mother, Prabha, a pioneer among women journalists in India. Prabha Dutt graduated from the Chandigarh School of Journalism with honours and did her inhouse training with the Hindustan Times, Delhi in 1964. Prabha Dutt died in 1984, when she was in her prime, due to a brain haemorrhage. At that time Barkha was just thirteen.^[1]

Education

Dutt was educated at the Modern School, New Delhi. She then did her Bachelor's degree in English literature from St. Stephen's College, New Delhi. After this, she did her Master's degree in Mass Communication from Jamia Milia Islamia's Mass Communication Research Center New Delhi.

She was a 1997 winner of the Inlaks Scholarship, which sends six Indians abroad annually for graduate work. Barkha took two years off from work and got a master's in journalism from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, New York.

Career

Barkha Dutt's frontline reporting of the Kargil conflict in 1999 rose her to prominence in India. She had interviewed Capt. Vikram Batra during the Kargil conflict. This stint raised serious questions on her ethical propriety and journalistic ethos. Ms Dutt has been accused of compromising the safety of troops and giving away strategic operations by the Chief of Navy, Admiral Mehta. He also accused Ms Dutt and her ilk of being a destabilizing force.^[3]

Since then, Dutt has reported on a large number of conflicts, covering areas ranging from Kashmir, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. In all instances, she has been accused of going for the least common denominator, choosing emotion over fact. Her style of bringing the human story out has been described by critics as shoddy journalism and lazy reporting. ^[4]

Currently, she is the Managing Editor of NDTV 24x7, India's premiere satellite television network, and the host of We the People, a discussion show covering current events. As the Managing editor of the Channel she was partly responsible for the chaotic scenes outside residence of Arushi Talwar, a murdered teenager. In covering that incident, TV crew, including NDTV whose Managing Editor is Barkha Dutt, were severely criticized for poor editorial standards. Evening during her reporting in Mumbai attack, her continuous effort to sensationalize every bit of news has angered the views which are heavily expressed by in the blogs.

Her reporting style has been ridiculed as the worst of its kind and consequently, Ms Dutt has been nominated the worst Senior Journalist. In shoving microphones on the faces of ordinary people, and seeking tears -- either hers or that of the victim, she has been nominated for Razzies of Indian journalism.

Ms Dutt also has a penchant to dissolve complex issues into 10 second soundbytes -- reducing the serious to absurd. Her rebuttal of these criticisms drew satire for being an insult to the intelligence of viewers.^[5]

She also writes a weekly column for The Hindustan Times and Khaleej Times.

Criticisms

She has been widely criticized for her sensatonalist style of reporting. Specific instances are detailed below.

During the Kargil conflict, Indian Army sources repeatedly complained to her channel that she was giving away locations in her broadcasts, thus causing Indian casualties.[citation needed]. Around 8 Indian Army officers laid down their lives when she started filming at the border despite being advised not to by the authorities.

She has also been criticized for showing apathy towards victims of casualties and asking them insensitive questions. Also, it is said that her entire Kargil coverage was more of a publicity stunt.

The November 26th 2008 terrorist attack coverage by her was also seen as quite overboard and sensational as usual, only to drive up the ratings of the TV station. Adopted very cheap stunts like shouting at security forces attacking terrorists, to ask them if there are any alive. She and her NDTV colleagues were also very busy giving away the police and army tactics and positions to terrorists watching on TV.

Awards

File:Barkha.jpg

Barkha Dutt at Asian Television awards

Her work has won her over twenty international and national awards including the Padma Shri Award (Journalism), 2008.

References

^ ^a ^b The Tribune Article
^ "She dares". Retrieved 2007-03-20.
^ 1
^ http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1210997
^ http://themaanga.com/2008/12/04/barkha-dutt-absolves-modi-calls-him-great/

3. [1]

External links

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/mumbaiterrorstrike/Story.aspx?ID=COLEN20080075194&type=opinion

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[TribuneIndia-1] The Tribune Article

[2] "She dares". Retrieved 2007-03-20.

[3] 1

[4] ttp://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1210997

[5] ttp://themaanga.com/2008/12/04/barkha-dutt-absolves-modi-calls-him-great/

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