luding the Indo-Asian News Service. He has an active
presence on the Internet, and has been for journalism
training to Germany and Sweden. He is founder of the
Goajourno, India-EJ and ThirdWorld-EJ mailing lists,
that seek to build collaborative networks among
journalists.

Reports or features critical of large companies are to
be avoided by and large. No report on a corporate
situation, however much it may be considered in the
public interest, shall be sent to the press without
prior clearance from the editor. We cannot afford to
antagonise potential advertisers. -- Editorial
guidelines, from Rajan Narayan, May 3, 1984.

Denying journalists the right to express his or her
views is like denying oxygen to a human being. -- Stray
Thoughts, by Rajan Narayan, September 2003, www.rajannarayan.com

AN ACTIVIST friend argues vehemently that this editor
single-handedly opens up space more than any other in
Goa. Some staff who worked under him have a sneering
you-don't-know-the-inside-story attitude. Others credit
the man with making them what they are. For the average
Goan Catholic, Rajan Narayan is virtually a hero in
real life, if not the newspaper equivalent of a patron saint.

Undeniably, this is the man who has shaped Goan
journalism for at least two decades, and has big plans
for more. Any venture to understand the contemporary
media in this small state would be incomplete without a
chapter on Rajan Narayan, who at the time of writing
(end-September 2003) has just announced his decision to
resign from the Herald.

This writer epitomises the love-hate relationship many
a journalist in Goa would share with someone who
suddenly descended on the Goan scene sometime in 1983.
Someone who has critically shaped the understanding of
Goa, including how we see ourselves and what are the
issues we define as important.

Clearly, Rajan -- by design or default -- has
contributed in significant manner to the Goa debate
over the past two decades. If one has to name the five
positive aspects of his legacy, it would be his ability
to extend the debate (by saying things no editor would
say); heading an organisation that, by design or
otherwise, actually gave a chance to many youngsters to
enter the profession; building up a till-now
sustainable alternative to the once arrogant lone
English-language daily in the state; giving space for
speedy growth to youngsters entering the profession
(even if, ironically, blocking that very