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Panel Discussion- Digital News Report by Reuters
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Joan Mathew Jacob
3:16
Hello and welcome to the Panel Discussion on Reuters Digital News Report.
3:19
A panel discussion with Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, director of the Reuters Institute, Shashi Kumar, journalist and media entrepreneur, Supriya Sharma, executive editor of Scroll, and Dhanya Rajendran, editor-in-chief of the News Minute. The discussion was moderated by Manisha Pande, executive editor of Newslaundry.
3:24
Manisha Pandey, the moderator welcomes everyone.
3:25
She asks about about the concept of neutrality and choosing neutrality in journalism.
3:26
3:27
Dhanya: "I think in my personal view is that neutrality does not exist. Because we are human beings. From the selection of the story the bias works. People simplify news and just explain what happened. 40 percent of people in India believe in media."
3:29
Sashi Kumar: "Mission of Journalism is to hold power into account. Can't demand the same accountability from the govt and individuals. This is a question of symmetry, news consumers will expect that."
3:30
Kumar: Speaking on Value at objectivity says, there are two kinds of objectivity-
  1. To give the other person a viewpoint
  2. Clash of viewpoints
A sampling of all viewpoints is necessary.
3:31
Mr. Kumar: "Your neutrality or sense of objectivity comes from a coalition of viewpoints."
3:32
Supriya Sharma: "Mission of Journalism is to hold power into account."
3:33
Dhanya: We need to be objective, but we can't give both the sides same weight. For example we can look at the "Hathras case".
3:34
Moderator: Asks about trusting in the sources that they have chosen, journalists are seen as truth seekers... But if the audiences feel like the journalists are biased then what do journalists do?
3:35
Mr. Kumar adds: One of the contradictions, Republic channel is least trusted. You are just watching what you least trust.
3:36
The moderator calls Republic TV a reality TV show.
3:37
Rasmus Nielsen : One of the difficult things in journalism is distinguishing between bad faith and perception. It is difficult because you get complaints from powerful people. It questions your professional ethics.... But it should not be confused with the public opinion...
3:38
Mr Kumar adds, brand trust rating Wire and Republic are fairly the same.
3:39
Strange because what we have is an echo chamber, TOI - DD leads brand trust.
3:40
DD just tells you a roundup of what happened. As Mr. Kumar spent a part of his career in DD, he says, "DD is a propaganda arm of the government."
3:42
Supriya: Maybe we are functioning in a polarized environment. We should stick to more reporting and not lucrative low cost way of generating opinions.
She hasn't watched TV in a while.
DD is reliable for in certain ways, like train timings and lockdown status.
3:43
Moderator asks Supriya: Have you seen a shift in trust in your news consumers? How has the experience been with your news readers?
3:44
Supriya replies: Response has been heartening. Investigative stories were receptive
signaled or communicated our values in journalism via our stories. They also contributed to our ground reporting funds.
3:46
Dhanya: What my understanding is that we have one group who does not believe us, another who believes us.
3:47
She further adds Both these groups were impacted by COVID. The pandemic made people realize that news outlets are not always lying. People who would have praised the government 5 months ago, have started to rethink during pandemic.
3:48
Supriya: Indians across many states felt the bang in the second wave. Mainstream media started speaking up for their audience.
3:49
3:50
Mr. Kumar: Digital media and standalone portals are the frontlines of Journalism. Governments are hard-hitting the digital media sector with digital media laws because they feel their power. Role of trolls and mobs are unleashed on digital media. Mainstream media is taking its cues from digital media and social media. This is a big shift in media.
3:52
He adds: Newspapers are the major players. It's taking time to grow. The big story is that panning out is taking place. The government is cracking down on digitization. The regional language has a long way to go.
3:53
Proportion of false or misleading news.
3:54
Rasmus: With the speed of internet access, we are seeing a time stamp in India and regional news. Everywhere the pattern is the same. 
The growth of new sources like the News Minutes threatens regional media.
Regional media will be under tremendous pressure.
3:55
Sashi Kumar adds, news portal, Malayalam Manorama is the biggest regional companies.
3:56
Dhanya disagrees with Sashi Kumar.
She says: Regional news platforms have quickly adopted.
3:57
Tamil and Malayalam channels have quickly adopted more than anyone. 
Kannada and Telugu mainstream media on digital put up a lot of hyper National content.
3:58
She further adds: The way regional media behaves, has an impact on the minds of people.
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