Tuhina Sahoo

Bhubaneswar, Sept 16: Odisha has witnessed significant progress in terms of women’s participation in mainstream media and journalism. Nowadays women are not only choosing the field of journalism but also have evolved as video journalists.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a moving picture is worth a million. Most people love to watch visuals instead of reading articles. Video journalists take the responsibility to deal with all circumstances and capture the visuals to support content. Be it a situation of flood, cyclone, accident, or any other natural calamity, women professionals have handled everything with ease that is being traditionally done by men. They hardly complain about working in shifts or handling the pressure of working in a 24X7 channel.

In Odisha, we have three women video journalists-Debajani Samantaray, Jyotsna Dalai, and Sushree Nayak. Prameyanews.com speaks to them about their experience,

Debajani Samantaray- Cameraperson:      

Debajani Samantaray said “I have completed almost 20 years as a video journalist. My husband and family also my colleagues have supported me always. I never feel that I am a woman and I can’t manage the difficult part of the shooting. Always remember that there is no difference between a man and a woman…there is no such thing in this universe that a woman can’t do.”

Jyotshna Dalai-Cameraperson:

Jyotsna Dalai said, Whenever I am on my duty with the camera,I never think that I am a woman. I always think that I am a camera person and I have to cover the best out of it.”

She also shared one of her memories and said, “When I was new to this field, I had to cover the incident when the Bajrang Dal was on a protest. At that time I followed them when they were breaking the barricades one after another and storming into the Odisha Assembly building through the main entrance and were indulged in vandalizing over 30 minutes which became a national issue.”

Sushree Nayak-Cameraperson

Sushree Nayak said, ” I am into this field for seven years, and being a women video journalist I feel very proud of myself. Though I am married there are no restrictions.”