Thanks to Adrian Monck for pointing me to this fantastic speech by a young Indian journalist. Rupashree Nanda was accepting an award for her reporting on some of India’s poorest communities. It may be over the top but it reminds us that journalism matters and if you put enough in to it, you will make a difference:
I believe, journalism is the most significant human achievement …not man’s landing on the moon, or the splitting of the atom, or the Vietnam War, or communism, … it is the very simple idea of news. I believe just as it is the nature of water to wet, of fire to burn, it is the nature of journalism to effect change… and just as the water that nourishes can also kill, fire that sustains can also destroy, journalism can effect change for better or for worse. I believe, it has no limitations except the ones it imposes on itself. I believe, if it is true to its nature, it is radical, it cannot be otherwise.