Esquire magazine has just published a landmark article by C.J. Chivers on the massacre at School No. 1 in Beslan, Russia, by Chechen rebels in 2004 that left 362 dead, including 186 children.
At 18,000 words, it is the longest story published by the magazine in 20 years, and has been hailed by The Washington Post as "one of the best pieces of narrative journalism to appear in any American magazine in this millennium". Sample a few paragraphs here and here.
Here's the key question. Our newspapers and magazines are minting millions. Why don't we see something like this, of similar length and intent, on ordinary Indians? Say the plight of Kashmiri pandits or the Narmada displaced or terror victims or dead farmers?
Readable journalism not turgid party propaganda.
churumuri 
That’s a good question. Why not have some dedicated correspondents, both print and electronic, work on indepth stories, which aren’t flashy exposes but solidly researched pieces? NDTV used to give some freedom to Shikha Trivedi in years past but not much face time. We can only hope that soundbyte journalism would end one of these days.
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It is all very well to romanticise about long-form narrative journalism. But is the Indian reader interested? When we cannot talk of Gujarat 2002 without invoking Delhi 1984, when we cannot talk of Tehelka without invoking Bofors, when we cannot talk of any terror attack without invoking the plight of Kashmiri pandits, can journalists do their job without having their motives questioned? The New York Times did a series on race for which reporters had spent 12 months in the field. In an era of hit or miss parachute journalism, do Indian editors have the time and money, do Indian journalists have the energy and stamina, and do Indian readers have the time and the interest to know more?
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Kashmiri Pundits seem to be the forgotten race in our country both for the Govt and the Media.
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