Going in to the details of the budget document and finding stories can help print media journalists to differentiate themselves from television journalists said senior journalist Hema Ramakrishnan, who now writes for the edit pages of The Economic Times.

Television news does not go into the details of the numbers because of the time constraint in the industry. This is an opportunity for print journalists to provide new context to the existing numbers in the newspaper, the very next day said Ramakrishnan, while talking to the students of Asian College of Journalism.

She said that reporters must ensure their credibility with sources like bureaucrats and government officials, as lot of the information might be market-moving and confidential. To create the trust, journalists must make themselves available at all press meets and networking dinners arranged by the finance minister, she added. At the same time, a reporter must maintain an “arm’s length relationship” with government officials.

Covering the budget comes with a lot of preparations. It is with good research that a reporter can ask informed and short questions to civil servants to get a prompt newsworthy item to write, said the veteran journalist. According to Ramakrishnan, it is important to be curious about the intent behind a specific move of the government, giving an example of the “complex” personal income tax slabs introduced by the government a couple of years ago.

She said that it is very important for journalists to cross-check the numbers of the budget, as getting them wrong hits credibility. She also gave an overview to the students on reading the budget documents.