There’s always (only?) a free lunch for lazy journalists

Along with the politician, Gonzo journalist Hunter S Thompson trained his words-sniper at another kind of professional: the lazy journalist a.k.a. LJ. ‘The most consistent and ultimately damaging failure of political journalism in America has its roots in the clubby/cocktail personal relationships that inevitably develop between politicians and journalists,’ he wrote in his 1973 book, Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72. What applies to 1970s US applies to India circa 2023, and goes beyond politics to the corporate firmament.

The LJ, with his or her thin-daal reportage, stenographic talent, and what Thompson called being ‘stuck in a bog of stagnant mediocrity’ has, over time, devolved to another kind of laziness: that of ‘clubbiness’, where ‘free lunches’ not only exist but are part of the professional portfolio. Being seen at events is far more of value to LJs than actual reportage, the coverage turning ‘press release’ into an ironic phrase. Strange subroutines have emerged to facilitate (read: take advantage of) LJs, arguably the strangest being ‘bridge-building’ meetings with corp coms – corporate communication persons – as if these lead to war reportage from a Japanese prison camp next to the River Kwai. Thank god for the likes of Zoom, emails and the good old mobile that LJs abhor. These tend to take the L out of LJs.