Adgully Exclusive | From television to books, Amrita Tripathi looks to conquer hearts

There would be very few who won't be familiar with Amrita Tripathi. One of the leading faces of CNN IBN channel, she is one of the successful broadcast journalist in the country. And not surprisingly, she is now making her debut as a writer with the launch of her new book.

Broken News was recently launched by Koel Purie, Indian film actress & Naresh Fernandes, Chief Editor, Time Out.

Amrita was always inclined towards writing right from her early days. Before joining CNN IBN, she worked with Indian Express.

In her book, she deals with the dynamics of media industry --a life where demands are never-ending, where egos take over and the drive to succeed wipes out everything else.

Broken News is a work of fiction, but stabs at the truth of fractured identities and misplaced priorities in the glittering world of television news.

So what's her inspiration for writing this book?

"A couple of years ago, I was approached by a commissioning editor who was looking for a sort of tell-all, behind-the-scenes TV book, which didn't really appeal to me. But after about six months, it struck me that I could use a familiar environment -- that of broadcast news -- and set a fairly dramatic story in there.

It's a setting I'm familiar with, and an adrenaline-charged one at that but I had fun inventing a story and making a few points along the way," she says.

Amrita had little trouble in creating the characters as she has been used to the broadcast set up. "I used the setting of TV news, which I'm familiar with, and "real-life" events from the news world to pace my narrative -- but frankly the rest is made up," she admits.

"I invented these characters, they're entirely fictional, and they took on a life of their own. Now it's a realistic world in the book - in that I talk about urban dysfunction, troubled relationships, coping with massive pressure -- but not based on my personal experience, as such," she explains.

But Amrita is the first one to admit that she did over-dramatize quite a lot, but hopes that it will be a bit of eye-opener.

"I'm sure it'll be a bit of an eye-opener -- though all readers should keep in mind, I did over-dramatize quite a lot! Having said that, young people today do seem to have a much clearer picture of where they'd like to be headed," says the St. Stephan's graduate.

"I know a lot of kids are interning in various forms of the media, while studying, and that exposure I'm sure is unparalleled," she adds.

Television these days have become a powerful medium with its each. Often it has been criticized for over-exaggerating news. But Amrita feels viewers always have a choice. "No. I think news channels are geared to respond quickly, and do so in a way that informs the public. Most senior editors have a very fine, evolved news sense, that's for sure. But at the end of the day, the viewer gets to choose-- so in a way pretty much everything that is a service, can be treated as a commodity, from the back-end," she says.

Amrita feels it's important that print and broadcast go hand in hand as there is a constant flow of information. "They (print and broadcast) both complement each other, in a way. And much as we hear about the death knell of newspapers, it's not something that's entirely rung true yet -- at least in India, so thank god for that! We will see more platforms evolve, I have no doubt, but there will always be a need for information sifted through an editorial sieve," says the Philosophy graduate.

After the successful launch of the book, Amrita is trying to get her focus back after all the hard work. "I had started two very different projects, but it's too premature to get into," she says.