By Ranjona Banerji
A few weeks before September 9, in 2011, I got a call from Pradyuman Maheshwari. Little did either of us know then that we would embark together – and with many others, on an incredible journey of exploration into our profession and our ideals.
Pradyuman and I have worked together in a number of media organisations since 1991. He has been my boss, but never treated me anything other than an equal. In every job he had when I was free or jobless, he would give me a writing opportunity.
Every time we quit an organisation, we and other friends with similar ideals and ideas, would dream of things we could start, media enterprises we could do better.
None of that materialised and my documents folder is full with the wasted project proposals and business plans of crazy dreams.
But Pradyuman did not give up. Against all odds.
As he honed his skills in new areas of the media, he collected people and information and knowledge. Critiquing the media was a new exercise in India. There were only a few who did it. And the media itself is notoriously prickly about criticism. We ourselves when on the inside have dismissed complaints with arrogance and lack of grace.
But as the internet broke our ivory towers. Reader input became more accessible and reader contact much easier; we could no longer ignore what we were being told.
Of course, a lot of it was rubbish and abuse. The “comments” sections under articles soon had to be policed to remove all the endless stream of abuse. The email ids provided with articles allowed personal abuse straight to your inbox. Apart from all the threats of rape and dismemberment, I remember one reader who emailed me after every article was published mocking my weight and accusing me of eating samosas. What really upset me was that I don’t really like samosas. Beer and chips, he should have said. That was then, when I still worked for a newspaper.
Trolls learnt very quickly how to control the discourse. Social media only gave them more traction.
Into this space, people within the media realised that media scrutiny had better come from people who know how it operates. Us.
What made mxmindia.com different is Pradyuman’s refusal to compromise on his ideals. On his training within journalism. And on free and fair comment, whatever the price he paid. A lot of the losses that he has carried, and continues to, comes down to me. Never once has he asked me not to write about X media house or go easy on Y. He has probably not even told me the number of times ads have been pulled out or he has been threatened because of my writing.
This free hand has been one of my biggest boons over the last 12 years. In that time, I have lost writing assignments in established media houses, because of my views. But not with mxmindia.com.
As ever, he has been very critical of himself and his achievements with mxmindia.com:
https://www.mxmindia.com/media/12-going-on-13-wish-us-luck/
But those of us who have worked with him know of his commitment, dedication and steadfast support.
More power to mxmindia.com and Pradyuman!
And as ever, my heartfelt thanks.