For the Love of Stories

She followed in her mother's footsteps. She's been dragged into controversies but has never feared what may happen. From covering wars to travelling 30,000 kilometres to unearth stories, she is the bold woman who shook television journalism with her work.

Founder of Mojo story. Image source: Brown University

It takes courage to speak the truth. Never has it been truer than now. A journalist must report incidents truthfully and present facts. However, the sorry state of affairs has led many journalists to dim their opinions, hush their voices, and stray away from the truth. One must wonder how journalists can inspire the next set of people who aspire to choose this profession.

But as always, there are a few exceptions that instil our faith. Barkha Dutt is one such journalist whose presentation of facts and reporting of cases excites people. It makes the viewers wonder why certain events unfolded the way they did.

Barkha Dutt's mother was a journalist with the Hindustan Times. She attributes her journalistic interest and success to her mother. Dutt recalls her mother's stories. She recounts how often her mother told her that women back then couldn't land reporting jobs easily. The editors would often say that women were only suited for covering flower shows. But Dutt's mother fought through and established herself as one the earliest female journalists in India. Her mother was the first female war correspondent of India.

Dutt inherited her mother's fighting spirit, and like her, she too had to fight for her role as a television journalist. However, she followed in her mother's footsteps and reported the Kargil War in 1999.

After her work as a war correspondent, Dutt found her calling. The girl who was determined to make movies and was even trained to be a TV producer now chose to become a television journalist. Her technical skills and knowledge of production have aided her in producing quality content.

Although Dutt has been passionate about her work, she has also been criticised many times. While reporting the 2002 Gujarat Riots, she did the unthinkable- identified the attackers as Hindus and the victims as Muslims while covering the event on television. Further, she received a lot of backlash for her sensationalised coverage of the 26/11 attacks. The critics say that her reporting put many lives at risk.

Aside from being a television reporter, Barkha Dutt wrote columns for the Washington Post as well.

During the COVID-19 crisis, Barkha Dutt took to the streets to report the ground reality. She realised that a story like this cannot be covered or presented from the comfort of her office. She travelled 30,000 kilometres to report the stories of migrant workers and labourers who had to move to their villagers when buses and trains were not operating.

She recognises the role of technology and the positive role it played for independent journalists.

Barkha Dutt chose this profession so she could help people and make a difference in their lives.

She's actively working on expanding her digital news organization- MoJo Story. She has been candid enough to talk about the mental health issues journalists combat.

Dutt has been conferred with many honours and awards, including the Padma Shri. She has also served as inspiration for many characters in Bollywood such as Preity Zinta's role character for Lakshya, Rani Mukherji's role in No One Killed Jessica and many more.

She understands that criticisms are a part of her work and don't take them to heart. She believes in her work and that is more than enough.