hem into
decent stories. Quite often, the easiest way out would
be to forward the raw report to the dust bin. A
sub-editor flooded with such reports and working under
pressure would invariably exercise this option with
considerable frequency.

Then in June 1998, it was my turn to handle the
correspondent network under the fancy and wordy
designation of "Chief of News Bureau". In reality, I
had to play God in the laboratory. This meant
subjecting numerous correspondent reports to various
quality control tests each day and, in some cases,
creating sense from nonsense, before they were ready to
be read by thousands of readers in and around Goa.
Under such circumstances, I had anticipated that my
association with correspondents would not to last long,
that is, if I wanted to maintain my sanity in the
profession.

But this was not meant to be.

The days turned to weeks, months and eventually years.
And, before I knew it, my interaction with rural
correspondents went on to complete half a decade. I
have since handled thousands of reports either sent to
me through post, fax, emails or even dictated over the
phone. In most cases, the reports may have initially
appeared trivial or insignificant, but a little
refinement and some cut-paste commands have succeeded
in giving a new look to the report. And with
encouraging results.

In a recent case, the Pernem correspondent sent me a
report on action initiated by the local health
authorities, in view of the outbreak of viral hepatitis
in the state. In the second last paragraph of his
report was a mention that the authorities had decided
to shut down the Pernem police station canteen for
operating under 'unhygienic conditions'. In my view,
this was most significant and I refined the story with
this angle as the lead. Taking cue from the news item,
the Director General of Police issued a memo to the
Pernem police inspector, seeking an explanation for the
unhygienic conditions in the police canteen.
Incidentally, Herald was the only English-language
daily to carry this report.

Over the years, I have not only succeeded in building
up my tolerance level to the specific demands of
correspondents, I have also learnt to appreciate the
crucial role of those eyes and ears spread all over the
state. This experience has led me to believe that a
local newspaper which ignores rural news content will
be as effective as an orchestra playing music before a
deaf audience.

While t