“Struggle is not exclusive to anyone… the system that exists in such way that no matter which place you take birth in, you will struggle somehow.” These were the first words that Ravish Kumar talks about when asked about his personal life, that we know very little of, in Kunal Kamra’s show/podcast ‘Shut Up Ya Kunal’. He doesn’t want to sell himself by telling everyone his daily struggles. As a journalist, the only thing we will get from him is news. However, the turns his career took could perhaps tell us how they shaped him to become the journalist he is today.
For anyone who doesn’t know him, Ravish Kumar is an excellent journalist. Currently the Managing Editor of NDTV India, he also hosts weekday shows Prime Time with Ravish Kumar, Hum Log and Ravish Ki Report (not to be confused with The Screen Patti’s Rabish Ki Report, a wordplay on the title, which is a political satire show parodying in Ravish Kumar’s fashion of reporting). With his calm and unadulterated reporting, Prime Time with Ravish Kumar, despite not having a very high TRP, is one of the most popular news shows among viewers. As the fourth pillar of democracy is nowadays trying to play safe to be on the good side for the State, very few journalists walk the path to report nothing but the truth and Ravish Kumar is one of the most eloquent voices among them.
Right Skill = Bright Future
Born on December 5, 1974, in Jitvarpur village, Bihar, Ravish Kumar attended the Loyola High School, Patna, to receive his primary and secondary education. He went on to pursue his under-graduation degree specializing in History from Deshbandhu College, Delhi. Starting his college life as an average student, he developed an interest in writing. Not only did his teachers encourage that habit but also pushed him into reading- not just fiction but the high-end academic lingo too. He developed such a good relationship with his teachers that even to this day, he contacts them when he wants assistance in research.
He loved researching and hoped to go ahead with a research career. However, as a Hindi-medium scholar, he doubted his opportunities to get into universities like Oxford and Cambridge with researches and writing done in Hindi. Although discouraged by that thought, he learnt to speak decent English, again, thanks to his teachers. In an interview with Madhu Trehan in 2012, he admits making many mistakes while speaking English, but that does not stop him from speaking English.
On completing his bachelor’s degree, he attempted civil service exams but failed to clear them. He went to the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) but left it midway as the academia was very different from what he dealt with in History. He got back to History and finished his postgraduate from DU. He tried his hands on freelance writing jobs. He even brought up a Hindi newsletter, where he learnt about the discrimination against Hindi compared to English.
One of his teachers, Anil Sethi, encouraged Ravish Kumar to get into journalism who was then immediately into it then. He got his first newsroom experience in a daily job where he had to sort out letters that were sent in response to a show in DD. Five months after this, he started his M Phil course in DU. After severe contemplation between the golden opportunity that is M Phil and sorting letters in a newsroom, he chose the latter.
Eventually, he became a translator at NDTV and with the launch on NDTV India, he started a desk job there until, ultimately, Miss Radhika Roy herself sent him a mail offering a reporting job. As he was diffident about his English, he had Mahmood Farooqui type out a positive reply to her. Since then, NDTV has offered several doors for Mr. Kumar to open. He has been felicitated with several honors and awards for his excellence in journalism. In 2019, he was honored with Ramon Magsaysay Award for journalism in Manila.
In his humble acceptance speech, he stated that Indian media is in a state of structural crisis. He added, “Not all battles are fought for victory- some are fought to tell the world that someone was there on the battlefield.” Those are some very powerful words and serve to be self-explanatory to explain his fame among aspiring journalists. He has also authored some books- Ravishpanti, Ishq Mein Shahar Hona, Bolna Hi Hai, Dekhte Rahiye. On February 27, 2018, he published The Free Voice: On Democracy, Culture and the Nation where he speaks about the hate and intolerance in the nation are perpetuated by polarizing debates on news channels as the media and our leaders are failing us. In addition to that, he also attempts to give us a perspective to amend this damage to our democracy.
At times when news anchors, like performers, take the reign of a television news channel’s value by integrating their signature style with it to sensationalize every news, Ravish Kumar stands out with his reporting by maintaining his integrity and sticking to the true news values. Thank you.