Sitting Down with Krishnaswami

Sridhar Krishnaswami, a professor and journalist from India came to speak to our Blogging for Journalists class last week and delivered a wealth of knowledge on various topics.

Krishnaswami told us, "I don't blog, I don't tweet and I am a boring guy."

But Krishnaswami was far from boring in my eyes. Krishnaswami has seen many things in his time as a traditional journalist and he has made a living finding information and delivering it to the people.


Krishnaswami says that blogging has made many journalists, "lazy". I can agree on that point. There are so many places to go for information and the vast majority of them can be used without even getting off the couch.

What I found most interesting about our guest was how he talked about the flourishing Mass Communications outlook in his home country. He touched on the fact that print journalism is booming in India and broadcasting is also on the rise.

I feel this is part of the reason that Krishnaswami isn't infatuated with blogging. In someways, India is way behind the times with journalism. They are at a stage long since forgotten in America. Where newspapers could rely on print and didn't have the internet shadow looming over them.


Krishnaswami received his bachelor's in India, then went to Ohio to obtain his Masters and Doctorate degrees, spending time at Ohio University and the University of Miami-Ohio. He then traveled the world as a foreign correspondent for an India newspaper and now teaches.

He has a wealth of experience on a global level. 

Perhaps his most useful advice came when he cautioned the next generation of bloggers. Krishnaswami told us, not to compromise ethics.

He also told our class that a good blogger needs to know the lay of their land. A tourist staying in a foreign country and blogging about the strife their without fully understanding the country they are in, is not the best source of information. 


I enjoyed what Krishnaswami had to say and hope to sit in on a lecture of his sometime in the future. Although is is not the biggest blogging advocate, he knew enough about it and the journalism backbone of blogging to present an interesting talk.