Journalists must be paid more, says Shekhar Gupta
December 11, 2014 12:50
As editor-in-chief of the Indian Express newspaper, Shekhar Gupta packed a powerful punch. But as a recent profile in Caravan magazine revealed, he also packed a powerful pay packet, earning up to Rs 10 crore a year, an unheard of sum for journalists.
Never one to duck an issue, Gupta in fact spoke to the magazine about his earnings and other things, effectively blunting what could have turned out to be a not-too-flattering profile of himself.
Now, in a detailed interview to webzine Scroll, Shekhar Gupta further elucidates on journalists, journalism, payscales, etc. Some quotes:
'What bothers me is this value judgement within the media that journalists shouldn't be paid so much. Why? Journalists must be paid more. My endeavour all my life, since I got editorial responsibilities and I got to hire and allocate salaries, has always been to pay journalists better and better. Frankly, I've also been blessed with media owners who have never objected to that.'
'Any honest tax-payer is generally entitled to privacy of his tax returns. But if somebody wants to do a little bit of tax- return pornography, that's also fine. That doesn't bother me so much.'
'I disagree with the idea that journalists are low-skilled people. I don't believe in citizen journalists. I say give me citizen doctors and citizen lawyers and I'll give you citizen journalists. We learn the journalistic skill, we come with bullshit detectors, which gets better with age and experience.'
You can read the full interview here.
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