Good News, Bad News: A Life in Television – Maya Sharma

A memoir spanning thirty years of a career in television news, Good News, Bad News unravels the life and form of TV journalism in India through the years.

About the Book: In 1989, one of India's first-ever televised election results coverage was to go live, and Maya Sharma stood at the ready, an earnest expression on her face and a firm grip on her mike. She reported live for the first time then—and would do so thousands of times in the years ahead.

As a senior reporter for NDTV's Bangalore bureau, she would go on to cover more elections, dramatic political developments, devastating natural disasters, as well as art and entertainment, human-interest stories, and sports. Away from the center of political and journalistic power in Delhi, a bureau reporter could not afford to stick to just one beat—but, equally, this was a chance to develop a wide range of interests, contacts, and specializations.

While an insider to news television, a bureau reporter is nonetheless an outsider who has the distance to assess the faultlines of her profession: the north-south divide, the woman reporter's particular challenges, and the constant tug of war between the quest for truth and TRPs. It is unusual for one person to have stayed the distance so long that the span of their career mirrors almost the entire life of private TV news in India. As much as it is an appraisal of the history of her profession in the country, this book is also a clear-eyed evaluation of how journalism works today. Good News, Bad News is, in short, the story of the rise and fall of television news in India.