In my years of teaching journalism in different countries, I’ve seen promising students – who could make a critical difference to the profession – continue to pursue careers in lifestyle infotainment media. Which is a disconcerting trend.

Not that lifestyle magazines are less respectable. It’s just that when in fact more than half the world’s children go to bed hungry every night, writing eye-candy advertorials about fad diets, fashion and ‘how to look beautiful’ seems so …