So, the launch of first Devnagari-Konknni daily Sunaparant gave me the much needed platform to express myself. There was no looking back after that, and I wrote hundreds of articles in Sunaparant to make a vent to my inner feelings. Gradually, I switched my interest towards current affairs and hard news. In the meantime, one had a short stint as an activist, working on the number of socio-economic and environmental issues confronting Goa. But, my temperament did not allow me to stay there for long and I decided to come back to active journalism.
Herald was my obvious choice, given its image as the 'activist' newspaper and, at that time, being the only paper which had escaped from the clutches of all-pervading mining lobby, which till recently controlled most of the Goa press. My first pieces were a series on the socio-environmental impact of iron ore transportation in the village of remote Sanvordem, a problem that is otherwise very seldom noticed in distant Panaji, more so in the world of the English-language press.
It was one of the first comprehensive documentation of the explosive situation prevailing in this part of Sanguem Taluka, due to the unbridled ore transportation by over 500 trucks on a small stretch cutting across barely 17 kilometres, and passing through the densely populated village of Sanvordem.
Derek Almeida was the News Editor of Herald then. He was the one who encouraged me to do another series on the also-distant Canacona taluka, which was in the news in those days for opposing number of larger tourism projects. I actually spent a week in the different localities of Canacona, including a over-night stay at Cotigao wildlife sanctuary. This was followed by number of stories on the developmental and environmental issues in Goa.
Herald was going through a transition when I joined the paper. Diedre Sampayo-Fernandes had just taken over as the publisher of the Herald and was taking keen interest in the affairs of the paper. She made an unsuccessful attempt to streamline the functioning of organization. On the editorial front, Rajan Narayan had become almost defunct due to his deteriorating health. Devika Sequeira and Pamela D'Mello had just quit and Julio D'Silva (who, in the ever-so-political world of newspaper politics, was perceived as being close to Rajan Narayan) was brought into Panaji as the Chief Reporter, on shifting Alaric Gomes to Margao. Franky Fernandes of Vasco joined, shortly followed by Rupesh Samant. It was an entirely a fresh team.
For some reason, the reporting desk was given the lowest priority. I had to handle the reporting-desk single handedly for months together. Besides, also perceptible was the same instability at the top during those couple of years, around the mid-nineties. We saw as many as four to five mainly outstation deputy editors come and go. Hardly anybody could withstand the internal politics and rivalry. We were grappling in darkness in the absence of the required guidance. There wasn't any motivating force. Meanwhile, Julian also made her foray into reporting after working in the magazine section for couple of years.
The post of Chief Reporter was vacant for quite sometime following the resignation of Julio Da Silva. His perceived closeness with BJP had probably started long before he joined BJP, to contest Cuncolim constituency on that party's ticket in the 1998 Goa assembly elections. But ambition cost him both a career and a (political) seat. Meanwhile, Ashley do Rosario rejoined the Herald after a stint with The Navhind Times ended. After keeping him without designation for awhile, Ashley was finally given the post of Deputy Chief Reporter. To some of us, this trend — of using designations as carrots or baits, and apparently handed out in a manner far from fair — was demoralising, specially since we had run the show when nobody was around. Personally, one was never comfortable with mainstream reporting. My biggest 'weakness' was politics, or rather, a healthy skepticism about it. I always hated politics, more so the superficial level at which it gets reported in newspapers. Unfortunately, politics has long been the mainstay for our newspapers. This lopsided stress on politics in the media, especially in the Goan media, has not only undermined other genuine and more critical issues, but also given undue encouragement to petty politics and crooks.
One always wanted to focus on the more real issues of the people. But routine stories prevented devoting time to such a venture. Special stories of such a nature would usually imply going out of Panaji to the villages. Pressure of covering routine events prevented me to leave Panaji to chase these stories. Instead we had to cover some insignificant press conference of politician X or Y, or somebody else.
There were other beats like the police and courts, which had to be covered on daily basis. There was no appreciation for special or exclusive stories done, but missing of a routine story was taken note of, how-so-ever insignificant it may be. Leave aside incentives on exclusive stories but working in the Goa press can also mean that even travel bill were not reimbursed. This was a general trend in most of the newspapers. All this resulted into many a Panaji-based reporter turning into mere stenographers, ready for the next round of dictation. There seems to be unanimity amongst the desk staff and reporters that whatever words are uttered by a minister constitute the gospel truth, and that is the hot news worthy of wide coverage. This has resulted in ministers getting unwarranted prominent displays on front pages for the various announcements they make, but which more often than not never see the light of the day. I recollect a practice one reporter was engaged in. He would arrive at the Secretariat late afternoon, and would visit ministerial cabins to hunt for stories. There would be literally a begging for stories. Some ministers used to oblige, and needless to say, the story would get a prominent position in the next day's edition. The entire spectrum of Goa-based newspapers could be categorized on the basis of their political affiliations, stand on the language issue and the lobby they belong to. Though most of the papers shift their policies in favour of the ruling party of the day, the papers were strongly divided on the lines of language. All the Marathi newspapers, with the exception of the Rashtramat, supported Marathi. On the other hand, Sunaparant, Rashtramat and Herald supported Konknni, and some papers remained neutral or avoided a clear stand on this issue.
However, the major difference was the lobby they belong to. At that time, all the significant Goa-based papers, with the exception of Herald and Tarun Bharat, were owned by mining corporations. Needless to say, that there was a total blackout of all mining-related stories which showed the industry in poor light. This embargo exists till now. Only one difference has crept in; the Gomantak group, which publishes Gomantak (Marathi) and Gomantak Times, has been taken over by the Sakal group of Maharashtra. It is the worst kind of self censorship by a section of Goan press which deprives a voice to the thousands of people living in the mining belt in miserable conditions due to pollution of air, water and land. My discontent was growing as a journalist in a Goan newspaper. I was looking out for an opportunity to move out from here. And at the first opportunity, we — meaning, my wife and myself — descended in Delhi for the more enriching experience which completely changed my outlook towards life and helped to change the course of my career.