Dear Friends and Readers,
Today we are at 8th NBC Awards event and completing one more successful year, I cannot help reminisce upon the various challenges I have had to deal with to bring the show to this point of culmination today. When the success of NBC as a Media House is seen, it’s also important that people understand the challenges I have faced behind the scenes to reach this point. This journey was my passion and to live with it, I had to undergo immense struggle.
Media business is a 24/7 commitment and to keep the show rolling, very sound and constant management attention and backing is required. The biggest challenge I faced on this front is to generate every day funds, I was multitasking with many jobs in hand to fulfil the requirements. Government was kind enough to release regular advertisements, there was overloaded classifieds. But still to run a publication this was not enough. The passive presence of NBC Directors and their convenient commitment to business has been a shocking experience. But anyhow we were able to sustain and manage the show keeping our goals high. This newspaper was started to overcome the evils of the fourth estate. We are here to create difference and bring some change.
Sometimes life throws challenges from all fronts, professional as well as personal. The past few months have been the most difficult days of my life as it was a time of huge personal loss and grief as I lost two of my best friends and third friend serious in hospital. My health needs a lot of care as I have had an accident due to which I had to undergo multiple surgeries and presently needs utmost medical attention. So at such a time in spite of personal and health issues, it was extremely difficult to not only balance myself on all fronts but also ensure the newspaper is published and media business functions normally.
At such crisis point, it is easy to raise your hands up in helplessness, but very difficult to deliver ones responsibilities. Convenience does not run a Media House; constant commitment runs it. Today it is very easy to make a yearly entry to claim your grand post in public, but very difficult to stand by your staff and face them every day during adverse times. Also when anyone starts a company, they need to understand that value of its people who are contributing to the progress of that firm and at the end of the day are human beings too. I and my staff really stood by each other like kinfolk; we were thick and thin during this journey and to make this day a successful event.
Meanwhile, staff members too have plotted their own learning curve. Journalism as a field offers everyone a choice to express and it’s surprising for me to see how some experienced senior people still resort to the “cut-paste journalism”, while at the same time the newcomers have truly explored the subject and are actually practicing “tabloid journalism”. When I observe their growth, I truly feel more newcomers should be trusted and encouraged and their journalistic potential explored. Today my team, no matter what their range, conducts as one family and support requirements in all situations as a pillar. They all stand united; forgetting each other’s flaws and shortcomings and continues their contribution to the company. I do not hesitate in saying; whatever I am today it’s because of their support and hard work.
For me, the show must go on. Without being subjected to any external pressures on multiple levels, I have maintained our media publications uniqueness to voice our views truthfully as we are the voice of the people and owe it to them. Freedom of speech and expression are required to maintain the integrity of journalism and I wish to instil this guideline through every medium I represent.
The whole reason of “Newsmakers Achievers Award” function has been started to acknowledge and honour achievers from various areas of life for their contribution to the society. For Newsmakers Awards, initially we relied on sponsors, but saw that they raised various demands in giving award to certain people who were not in alignment to our selection criteria of winners and thus to avoid compromising the ethics of the awards event, we later hosted the event on our own. Today I am proud to say that Newsmakers Awards has been organised without any sponsorship or PR management. We are fortunate to have goodwill from many channels and publications that voluntarily come for event coverage without any PR and gladly encourage the spirit of our event.
Newsmakers Broadcasting House is known for its Parallel Journalism, so when we use PR to garner publicity of any kind, that would be considered as “Paid Media” and we do not wish to be a part of any double standards. At such a time it is also important that the awardees understand that this is a charity event and when we land up spending thousands for their travel expenses, it’s the charity event that gets ignored. We need people to understand the essence of this event and support it in the most graceful way. We value Newsmakers awards uniqueness and its ability to make a difference. And we also value the unconditional presence of people in it. So far no one came up with any demands and we never obliged anyone for that matter. It’s been eight years; best of people marked their presence and made us proud.
This year’s journey has been a roller coaster ride introducing me to a new level of life experience. I am a single lady who has had to fight on all fronts, both professional and personal. But inspite of the pain, loss and setbacks, what also gives me immense solace and strength, is the support of people who have helped, believed and encouraged me to tackle every challenge. My heartfelt thanks to my readers, family, friends, well-wishers and staff as their soulful cooperation and blessings helped me overcome every adversity behind the scenes.
I have done my best and shall continue the journey forward.
Once again thank you everyone.
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