Indira Naidoo-Harris Producer of South Asian Programming, OMNI TV Written by Preeti Thandi

   • OMNI TV

For Indira Naidoo-Harris the decision to follow the media path came about when she was doing a Masters degree in Political Science from the States. She was considering different options like taking up law. Indira was in New York with her husband and always found television interviews and journalism an interesting topic of discussion. At first she thought it would be a very difficult field to get into. “There weren’t as many visible minorities,” she says. To her surprise, the News Director at WNYT asked her if she could volunteer and help out.

Prior to moving to Canada, Indira worked at PBS station. Indira is known for her work at CBC where she was a national announcer on CBC radio and hosted such programs as The World At Six, World Report and Canada At Five; in broadcasting she worked for CBC television news, Ottawa and for CBC television national news programming, including: Midday, Prime Time News and The National. She has also reported and anchored for Newsday at CBLT, Toronto.
Indira has been with OMNI/ CFMT for the last 6 years. When she was first offered a Producer’s position she wasn’t sure if she should take it up.

“I don’t think it’s a drawback coming from an ethnic community anymore,” she says. “It was a challenge some years ago. At that point it was quite difficult. The only person then was Adrienne Clarkson. It was difficult because everyone was going with a formula. As for today there are lots of minorities… there are all kinds of different shades of color.”

Indira brings a different perspective with her South Asian heritage. She can relate to the immigrant’s perspective and the struggles of a newcomer. “Things weren’t that difficult for my family,” she says yet believes that hardships make a person stronger. “Journalism is about a balance. It is a career that advances with more life experience.”

In her current role as an Associate Producer at OMNI, Indira is successful in bringing news of interest to the South Asian community. The role brings a lot of freedom but also loads of responsibility. Indira enjoys the ability to not only anchor but also control what goes into the newscast. “We have a great team,” she says. “We pick what’s hot and what’s not. I derive a great deal of satisfaction and am also able to draw attention towards things that need to be talked about.”

Indira is constantly looking for quality ways to present the one-hour live English newscast, South Asian Edition. “It is a good feeling,” she says. “We are doing a lot of what we should be doing. We are doing stories on both sides of the argument. We covered the story of Muslim Canadians after September 11, we talked about the dangers of terrorism.”

“The thing I’d really like to do is to make the culture of new immigrant experience more mainstream… how people embrace that culture.”

Indira agrees that media can be very competitive and demanding. “The problem is when you are doing something that you enjoy it is very difficult to draw the line.”

Her advice to aspiring journalists - “This isn’t the kind of job for someone who is meek or shy. You have to be aggressive on some level, willing to get out there and get the story. You have to stand your ground to get your clip. It is the kind of job for doers who are persistent. You have to do it in a way that is responsible and respectable. You need a strong personality. The deadlines are fast and furious, everyday is a challenge.”

Indira is of the view that diversity is growing. “The war in Iraq was an eye-opener. Everyone was scrambling for people who were Arabic and could cover the stories, an immediate area opened up. Women in sports or knowing business can be a good ticket.”

Is being a woman in media a challenge or an advantage? Well, Indira says, “I think it is the same these days. When I was at the CBC, the scales really started to tip. But now the challenges are disappearing. Broadcast has embraced women!”