here is consensus on the value of local news
content, the importance of rural correspondents has not
always been appreciated by the powers that be in the
newspaper. A correspondent is often treated like the
spare wheel of a vehicle, detachable and to be ignored
under normal circumstances. The merit is only
recognised in times of emergency, when a big story
breaks out in areas represented by correspondents. Then
too, it is a common trend that newspapers would prefer
to send its full-fledged staffers, often from Panjim,
instead of relying on part-time rural correspondents,
to cover the event. This is not to suggest that
full-fledged staffers have no right to tresspass on the
territory of correspondents, as it were. Rather, a
staffer would benefit a great deal by utilising the
expertise and local knowledge of a rural correspondent
to ensure an effective story.

To cite an example, a staffer was recently asked to
interview noted people in connection with a prominent
cultural festival in a village. The staffer was unaware
that the same festival is celebrated separately by two
groups in the village and, that, the article would need
to carry the comments of people from both groups.
Instead of seeking the assistance of a correspondent
from the area, the staffer went ahead and interviewed
five persons from the village. Eventually, the staffer
realised that four persons interviewed represented one
group, while the sole personality interviewed from the
other group went on to criticise his own group! The
article was published and the damage was done.
Organisers of the second group were aggrieved and
threatened to withdraw advertisements to the newspaper.
The issue was finally resolved when the local
correspondent carried a series of reports to clarify
the position of the organisers of the second group. Had
the staffer sought the assistence of the local
correspondent, the issue would never have been blown
out of proportion.

Then again, the 'who-has-written' preference over the
'what-has-been-written' has plagued many
English-language newspapers and this has largely
contributed to the 'City-Centric Syndrome'. There have
been instances to suggest that a news report filed by a
staffer has been accorded more prominence -- both in
space and display -- than a report sent by a rural
correspondent. Recently, tension flared up along the Tuyem
-Camurlim ferry route, after the river navigation
department wanted to shift the lone f