Technology and religious reporting

Three years ago, Executive Editor of the religious news agency I worked for asked a common question during one of our annual seminars. His question was simple. Have you heard of 3G? Most of us knew. He went on to explain how the agency could upgrade technologically by adopting the latest technology in future – may be to provide news headlines by sms or present WAP versions of the site for mobile users. I was thrilled then because I am a technology and gizmo freak. And since I was also working with audio features, I suggested we start audio stories along with print.
Three years and a few hundred stories later I found the same agency more primitive than it was ever. The photos were discontinued citing poor response from the clients. But how can you sell a photo if haven’t shown it to your client? From a paid site, the agency realized its folly and became a free one. But it has not been able to even drag itself with technology. So all the 3G dreams went to drain. As a punch line of an ad goes - first dream, then believe and create. The agency celebrated its silver jubilee by merely dreaming. It never learnt to believe and create. What it created became archives much before it became news. That is the reason the best stories ever told by countless reporters remained only in archives.
To tell the story of the people of God in India more effectively first we need to find people who will be using those stories. There may be a sizeable number of clients who uses this agency stories but I don’t think numerically that is enough. The agency produced the best stories from Asia and if only the Almighty is expected to read those stories, it is of no use. Technology helping those stories to reach to a wider audience was never taken seriously.
During two decades of reporting stories from Asia, one feature of this agency was accuracy. People trusted the agency for its truthful reporting. But imagine the crime of keeping those stories under the wraps just because you don’t have technological expertise. The agency could not progress in terms of technology, speed and innovation. It remained buried under quality and accuracy.