The journo with a journalist’s channel
Rajdeep Sardesai walks into the building with a spring in his step. His colleagues stare at him in awe and wonderment as he runs to his office. He's a livewire, and one finds it difficult to imagine that he's left the office only at 4.00 am after he's covered the Indian Institue of Science, Bangalore, shoot out story and subsequently done an analysis of the CNN-IBN coverage vis-à-vis the competition.
Rajdeep Sardesai walks into the building with a spring
in his step. His colleagues stare at him in awe and wonderment
as he runs to his office. He's a livewire, and one
finds it difficult to imagine that he's left the office only
at 4.00 am after he's covered the Indian Institue of
Science, Bangalore, shoot out story and subsequently
done an analysis of the CNN-IBN coverage vis-à-vis the
competition.
He's late for the appointment he has, and he starts off
with an apology.
That captures the essence of the man. He's humble,
almost to a fault. He takes pains, at multiple points during
the interview that Impact editor Anant Rangaswami
had with him, to underline that the channel was not
about just Rajdeep Sardesai, but about a team of committed
journalists. No, it was more than that; it was also
about his co-promoter, Sameer Manchanda; it was also
about Raghav Bahl and Haresh Chawla.
He impresses upon us that he has the highest regard
and respect for his erstwhile boss, Dr. Prannoy Roy and
for Radhika Roy.
He will not hear an ill word about them; he doesn't
even want to compete with them.
All he wants is a little space - his space. He (with his
team, lest I forget) wants to create an English news
channel that he believes the viewers deserve.
To achieve that, he is open and willing to learn from
the Hindi channels - for whom, might I mention, he has
the highest regard.
He is most vociferous when he speaks of what makes
his channel different - journalists. This is not a channel
of marketers - this is a journalists' channel.
Not just the journalists' channel: it's the citizen's channel,
he says.
