DOI: 10.15655/mw/2019/v10i1/49566
A Decade’s Tour De Force
Dr. Jyotirmaya Patnaik, Ph.D
Editor
Journal of Media Watch with this issue has entered its 10th year of publication. While writing this Editor’s Note, I am overwhelmed with a number of emotions. In Media Watch’s inaugural function I was the ‘guest of honour’ and now I am officiating as its editor. I feel fortunate.
Time flies. Nine years have already passed. It seems to me as if it was yesterday or day before yesterday. A handful of young mass communication graduates decided to bring out a journal in communication field. None of them had any experience in publication nor did they have enough money. Nevertheless, they had a dream in their eyes and an undying passion in their hearts to translate that dream into three-dimensional reality.
I have observed Media Watch spreading its wings at close quarters. Though I was hardly associated with the day-to-day functioning of the journal during its nascent stage, I was keeping an eye on its path of evolution – from an amorphous wobbling existence to its present rock solid state.
Media Watch set on its journey in a small sea-side rest house in the holy city of Puri in Odisha state of India—the land of Lord Jagannath. For these enterprising young publishing enthusiasts, carrying on with the publication of the journal on schedule was quite pain-staking. Financial paucity was definitely there, but that was not so pinching as getting original articles from scholars. Finding reviewers was a tall order. Still, the show continued and till this moment has been going on without interruption. The journal is getting stronger day by day. What sustains it is the missionary zeal to keep an alternate avenue open for those scholars of second and third world countries who, in spite of their high quality research, usually find themselves at the mercy of big corporate publishing houses.
At the time of its inception, the management has consciously decided to run Media Watch on a non-profit basis. Now Media Watch is placed on a strong foundation. Though it has not grown too large, yet it is now confident and capable enough to swim alone in the ocean of publishing where large sharks prey on the small fish. Unflappable adherence to values and rigorous quality parameters has made Media Watch a must-read for intellectuals and researchers in social sciences area throughout the globe. Their love for Media Watch is manifested through their regular subscription which is like oxygen to us.
It is high time we reiterated our gratitude to them who stood by us in our lean times and lent their helping hand during these years. Of course, we admit- words are words; deeds are deeds; no matter how high sounding the words of our indebtedness may be, they are bound to seem feeble next to the deeds.
We are utmost grateful to all those scholars and reviewers who trusted Media Watch in its initial years. We were non-entities then; still the scholars posed confidence in Media Watch as the platform to publish their research reports and reviewers carried out their job diligently without any expectations. The reviewers’ inputs helped improve the quality of manuscripts and thereby raise the standard of journal as a whole.
In addition to authors and reviewers we have heartfelt appreciation for the contribution made by members of the Editorial Board. The board is as diversified as it can be and is constituted of members belonging to different continents. If Media Watch has an edge over other contemporary communication journals, the credit goes to each individual member of the board.
Though this space is too limited to enlist all the names who we owe our success to, it would be grossly inappropriate not to mention those who acted as friends, philosophers and guides for Media Watch. Our special gratitude goes to Dr. RC Pattnaik whose shoes I have stepped into just a couple of months back. He being Media Watch’s founding editor acted like a sheet anchor during tempestuous times. We are no less grateful to Prof. Mark Goodman of Mississippi State University who has been with us from the beginning. His co-operation is an invaluable asset. He is an unending source of encouragement for us. We are also thankful to our former Editor-in-Chief Dr. Sony Jalarajan Raj of MacEwan University, Canada, who during his association with us for a small span of time fine-tuned a lot of things in Media Watch. A visionary as he was, under his stewardship the journal reached many milestones.
Many a times, it so happens that those persons, without whom you wouldn’t be what you are today, who like your shadow are always with you assisting in all that you need, remain unacknowledged. It is not for you take them for-granted or you undermine their contribution. It is simply because you consider them as inseparable parts of yours. You exist because they are there. Does anybody thank air, water, fire or earth?
Wish you all a wonderful 2019.