As part of our course, Approaches to Editing, me and my partner, Sahela Jay, had the honour of interviewing Jayashree Arunachalam, Associate Editor at Newslaundry. It was a great experience and I wanted to share it as part of my portfolio. Not only was it an insightful conversation, but it was also a pleasure to talk her, without any formality, as she answered all our questions, patiently.
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A report on our interview with Jayashree Arunachalam, Associate Editor, Newslaundry.
By Anukriti Chaturvedi and Sahela Jay.
We had a great time working on this project, interacting with Jayashree as she answered all our questions patiently and jovially, having an extremely cool demeanour. While doing this project, we learned a lot about the roles of an editor, how a print publication works differently from a digital one, the style sheet, etc.
About Newslaundry:
Newslaundry is an independent digital media platform founded in 2021 by Abhinandan Sekhri. The company's engaging editorial style uses humour and alternative content formats, such as cartoons, comics and video, to inspire readers to demand more from their news sources. It also provides platform access to other investigative and data-based news organisations.
Demographics of Newslaundry:
Newslaundry has an average page visit duration of a minute and 17 seconds until September 2021. Most of its audience traffic is from India (78.93%). Apart from the free news articles, they have also ventured into making regular newsletters, subscriber-only events and podcasts.
About Jayashree Arunachalam:
Jayashree Arunachalam has been working as the Associate Editor at Newslaundry for the past three years. Based out of Tamil Nadu, this dynamic woman has worked at several prestigious organisations during her career, particularly at The Times of India, The Hindu etc., along with freelancing, writing blogs and scripts.
The motive behind approaching Jayashree was to know more about the editorial structure at Newslaundry, famous for its scathing remarks against the ruling party while bringing to fore the news of the daily happenings and the opinions of their writers in a balanced manner.
We also wanted to draw parallels between her current job and her previous ones at The Times of India and The Hindu as Copyeditor and Reporter/ Sub-editor, respectively, and understand how these organisations work compared to Newslaundry which is entirely digital.
Jayashree is a graduate of the Asian College of Journalism and has won the Laadli National Award for Best Feature in 2014 for a story on Tamil Nadu's cradle baby scheme.
The Interview: The interview was held over Google Meet. After exchanging pleasantries, we explained our project and its motive in understanding how the editorial desk works and seamlessly segued into the interview.
Hi Jayashree. Can you please walk us through a day in your life, explaining your roles and responsibilities?
I am currently heading the desk at Newslaundry. It is very unique since it has a very small desk and comprises only two people; most media houses would have at least three or four. A typical day would be: I would go through the stories that I heard in the morning. Since this is a very dynamic website, we don't really prepare in advance for the kind of copies that will go up. On a day-to-day basis, we evaluate the number of stories that are in. I would then edit, rewrite, fact-check, put a headline, and coordinate with the photographers on the copies to get them to the final stage. I also upload and publish on the website and onto our back end and do some commissioning work. If we're looking for stories on a particular topic, I would try and find a reporter to write about it.
If I were a reporter under you, what would you want from me in terms of stories and writing style?
We allow our reporters to have a certain voice; we don't want everyone to sound the same. It's quite different from newspapers since many reporters' stories are edited or rewritten to sound very similar to the newspaper's style. Since we're a website, it is not something that we do. We expect them to stick to the word count to provide us with a story brief. I would like every sentence written within that story to tie up to the story brief. There is also a lot of back and forth between me and the reporter where I would do a preliminary edit, which is to mark up the entire story with queries and questions. The reporter would go through all of that and answer it, and then we'll do another edit to finalise the piece.
How is Newslaundry set up differently from your previous organisations?
Legacy media houses have been around for a very long time. There are certain established hierarchies and protocols in which they work. If you're writing something for a print newspaper like The Hindu, a specific kind of format exists in how you are supposed to approach, write, and edit your work.
We are small teams and also much younger. A lot of it is ideas we come up with throughout. Even if we're setting up a podcast or a new column, we define how that product will work. There's no organisation head somewhere in the background who has already made these decisions for us; these are things that we come up with on the fly. It gives you a lot of freedom to experiment. There is a structure, but we are part of the process of building that structure. It's not something that's been established over time, and therefore, you have to stick to it. We don't need to stick to a script to approach our work and editing.
Do you follow a style book?
There was a stylesheet about three years ago. It's pretty outdated because the people updating the style sheet are people like me, who come and go. We don't really follow any style guide. Newslaundry is unique since the tone of many of the pieces is quite casual. We don't do very formal and academic writings. So far, I have a basic level of things like which numbers do you spell out? Will per cent be one word or two words? How do you break up things into paragraphs? It is the first time that I'm editing at an organisation where I'm the person calling the shots in terms of how I want the text to look. I can afford to do that because I have enough experience to be able to. It also gives you a little more ownership of the kind of stories you work on.
Times of India had their in-house guidelines on the kind of style that we needed to use.
How do you strike a balance between providing information and your opinions so that other people can form their own opinions about the piece you have written?
We clearly distinguish whether stories are filed under opinions or as reports. Reports will be more straightforward. The reporter's opinion should not matter, which we try 'very hard' to maintain. At Newslaundry, we believe that stories should have no bias, but it is hard to work on because people are fundamentally biased. What matters is that you are balanced. That's something that we try to do with our ground reports, which hopefully we are succeeding at. If a reporter allows their opinion to bleed into a story, we try to balance it with quotes, facts, citing data, etc. Because even if opinions do exist in a story, it needs to exist in a structured manner and holds up to scrutiny.
What are the necessary skills required to work as an associate editor?
Experience always helps, which is sad, but true because I think it's unfortunate that experience matters so much, especially within journalism. When it comes to editing, I believe that all newspapers and digital websites are only as good as their desk. The value of editing has been significantly undermined over the years. I think people believe that anyone can edit, which is completely untrue; you could be a great writer and a terrible editor and vice versa. I think it is extremely important for people to understand what editors do; you need to learn that a copy that comes in via a reporter is never ready for publishing. It needs to go through editorial filters, which is the kind of thing that only comes with practice.
"Not just experience, but I think 'varied experience' matters."
When I was a copy editor/ reporting role at The Hindu, the kind of work that I did then and the work that I'm able to do now is so different. I had also worked for a long-form magazine, which really shaped my work as an editor.
"Trying out various kinds of editing"
I also tried other kinds of writing to see what the difference was. I worked in publishing for about a year and have done freelance publishing work, so I think trying out different types of editing also gives you a better understanding of the medium you end up in.
Compared to working on print and digital media with regards to your previous experiences, what are some glaring differences between the two?
"The difference in storytelling"
When you're taking a report, for example, on the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, how it would appear in the newspaper and in Newslaundry are very different. Our approach has been more of 'trying to tell it as a story.' In a newspaper, it would seem more like a report, whereas here, we add a lot of background colour and try to paint a picture of what the place was. It unfolds in the way that you would read a book. The style of editing is different because you're not only checking it for language, syntax and grammar, but you're also trying to shape it into a narrative.
"More room for learning"
With a digital website, you're not hindered by constraints of space. There is more room to develop the story. Moreover, my work isn't confined to just reports and text. It's also editing podcasts, scripts, video scripts, etc. These are skills that I never had; I am learning them on my job, which is interesting.
With reference to Newslaundry, what is the difference between an associate editor, an assistant editor, a senior editor and a managing editor?
I feel it all starts with newspapers, where you'll have a principal correspondent, a senior correspondent reporter, a sub-editor, etc. This titling stipulates hierarchy and denotes how much one gets paid. It has been continuing at Newslaundry too. In this organisation, I joined as an assistant editor in 2018. I became an associate editor a couple of years ago. The senior editor is one title above mine on the desk - which Mehraj holds. These are just designations based on experience or pay, in my opinion. We have Manisha Pande as the executive editor and Raman Kirpal as the managing editor. I used to think that there's a lot of stock in these titles. I used to think, "oh, how do they matter?" It's just a designation. But in a way, it does matter. Hierarchy does matter, especially when you negotiate salaries or plan to apply for a new job.
How does the Marketing/sales department affect your job?
"Subscribers bring out the best in us"
Since we are digital, our revenue depends upon the viewership we're gathering. We don't get revenue from advertisements; we run on our subscribers and subscriptions. We do a lot of online/ offline events for subscribers, text pieces that we put behind the paywall etc. So, there's much more pressure on us to present the best possible version of our work and justify the paywall. However, not being affected by business is something a journalist should do to ensure that every story they do is perfect.
Our team constantly discusses how many views/ subscribers we have and what kind of stories can we do to make it better? Or what kind of special projects can we embark on that will be interesting? It is a very dynamic environment.
How do you decide which story gets prioritised and which one gets spiked?
We kill a lot of stories. My fundamental test for whether a story's worth it or not is, are you able to read it to the end without getting bored. Unlike newspapers with digital versions, we are much smaller and don't focus on 'breaking' the news. If a protest happened this morning, we would like the story to be out by evening and give it priority. The team also makes sure we've got angles or information that others may not have yet.
Are there any plans for Newslaundry to roll out a print version anytime soon?
No, we'll stay digital, but we might diversify in the kinds of shows we do and introduce new podcasts. But there are no plans to try and return to the print model.
You and Meghnad are both associate Editors at Newslaundry. How do you share your responsibilities between yourselves?
Meghnad and I don't work together; he handles the show TV Newsance. At the desk, I work with the senior editor - Mehraj Lone.
Lastly, do you deal with procrastination on a daily basis?
I am a procrastinator, which is a terrible habit. I do not recommend that anybody procrastinate. Since the beginning, I have worked from home because of medical issues and for some reason, that works very well for me. Also, since we're a small team, you can't really get away with procrastinating because if the team has not done its work, somebody else will pick up the slack. I'm very strict about procrastination with other people. It's a bad habit. Don't do it.
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