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Panel discussion: Future-Proofing The Journalists
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Muneef Khan
2:36
Hello and welcome to this panel discussion on 'Future-Proofing The Journalists'. We have Anuradha Das Mathur, founder and dean, Vedica Scholars Programme for Women, Irene Jay Liu, a Singapore-based reporter and editor, Neha Dixit, journalist and author, Ritu Kapur, media entrepreneur and CEO of Quintillion Media, Sashi Kumar, media personality and chairman at the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai in conversation with Rohan Venkataramakrishnan, associate editor, Scroll.
Talking about trainee journalists, Rohan  Venkataramkrishnan asserts that many "just jump into journalism without a degree, lack of training and young journalists are expected to pick skills up on the job". He further emphasises on the Covid-19 pandemic and how it has hardened the process of transferring skills in the newsroom and on the field. “Zoom does not allow young journalists to soak into the newsroom culture,” he says.
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Talking about the changes at The Quint and its newsroom, Ritu Kapur said,"We were culturally set up as a noisy and packed newsroom but our team was also well equipped with practicing mobile journalism and dealing with things such as bandwidth issues. By being digital first and frugal, we had the advantage."
2:43
Bringing mobile journalism to younger audiences
https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/inside-the-quint-the-indian-media-st...
2:45
Pointing out the additional responsibilities faced by her employees – who are also young mothers – in a work from home setup, Kumar asserts that they (young mothers) "no longer have the creche option". "There is also the social expectation that if there is a couple staying at home, the women will have to take undertake more domestic chores. I did not think that it would happen to the kind of team members we have but unfortunately it happened. We have to address the gender aspect of upskilling."
2:49
Talking about negotiating skills, Anuradha Das Mathur emphasised on the importance it held for women professionals because the culture enabled them to put everyone before themselves. "We are teaching young women how to get jobs, but we are not teaching them how to keep jobs," said Mathur.
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Laying emphasis on the minor and major issues faced by independent journalists during the pandemic, Neha Dixit explained on how something as innocuous as not having a company supported press card can block the access of freelance reporters. She also highlighted that the laying off of more than 1,000 journalists in the recent years which has increased the pool of freelancers and the competition.
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“We know that newsrooms are incredibly ’scrapped of resources’ and the business model has suffered. We are bearing the brunt of not only diminishing resources but also news. Strains of working remotely, childcare with a demanding job is stressful for journalists more than ever” said Irene Jay Liu while talking about how the pandemic continues to change the situation for journalists across the world. When asked about encouraging grassroots collaboration all over the world, Liu said that the Covid-19 pandemic is a geopolitical, economic, local story and "it does not recognise language or nation state".
3:13
Reinventing journalism in a post-Covid world
3:14
Talking about the shift to online learning due to the pandemic, Sashi Kumar asserted that the pandemic has, however, accelerated the process of digital journalism.
“Digital media is still evolving, we don’t have the benefit of distance and hindsight” said Kumar while emphasising on the benefits of creating multimedia storytellers and a mobile first approach to content creation at the Asian College of Journalism.

 “We have always had women as the majority students in ACJ, but this seldom translates into women in the newsrooms,” says Kumar while speaking about the gender dynamics in journalism and further terms it as a growing concern.
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Are women in newsrooms still on the struggling end?
Yes (0% | 0 votes)
 
No (0% | 0 votes)
 
Can't say (0% | 0 votes)
 
Total Votes: 0
This brings the session to a close. Thank you for tuning in.
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