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Panel discussion on Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2021
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arishaa izaj
1:46
Hello and welcome to a panel discussion with Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, director of the Reuters Institute, Sashi 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.
1:51
Dhanya Rajendran, while talking about journalists being neutral, says that news organisations should understand that neutrality doesn’t exist because we are all humans.
“ News consumers shouldn’t expect neutrality from journalists”, says Dhanya.
1:54
Supriya Sharma talks about the essence of traditional journalism. The mission of journalism is to hold power into account. Demand accountability from common citizens doesn't make any sense. Fairness is expected.
1:56
Sashi Kumar, says there are two forms of reporting. One is equitable when every side is given equal opportunities. The other is media houses becoming echo chambers. As consumers, we look at different media houses, gather what each of them conveys, and arrive at a conclusion.
1:57
Dhanya emphasises that when it comes to crime news, for example, in Hathras Case, etc, consumers are hyper polarised and news organisations should consider this factor.
2:02
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, says, professional ethics shouldn't be confused with public opinion. Many people have individual news outlets they admire or trust. 4 out of 10 people trust the news. News people are like lapdogs. Journalism intends to do what it wants sometimes but not always.
2:05
Supriya Sharma, says, we are living in polarised times. The challenge is to be steadfast in traditional values. Stick to more reporting. As far as Doordarshan is concerned I haven't watched it in a long time. People may be looking for basic information and that's why they rely on Doordarshan on it since it is a national channel.
2:09
Manisha talks about how people trust a certain brand which leads to hyper-polarised coverage. Sashi intervenes and says there’s an apparent yet intriguing contradiction that channel like--Republic has very good viewership but is also the least trusted news channel.
2:11
Supriya also mentions that investigation stories are widely read. For example, the PPE kits or the oxygen plant stories. Readers came to us as trusted sources and also contributed to our funding. People like these stories because it's relatable to them.
2:12
Sashi Kumar says, there is no news bulletin on news channels and it’s all reality tv. He says, a program like news hour is only about people fighting on television and that people aren't getting the news.
2:14
Supriya says that mainstream media is not known for questioning the government, but even they couldn't ignore it during the pandemic. They spoke with keeping sentiments of the audience and questioned the government.
2:16
Dhanya links her answer to Supriya and explains that there are two types of media organisations --
eco-chambers and trusted sources. Both of them have wide consumption. However, it was during the covid pandemic that a big shift was seen in the consumers of eco-chambers to trusted sources, as they realised the importance of factual reporting during the crisis.
2:17
Manisha asks Dhanya about an example. Dhanya, says that she follows Supriya’s tweets and that’s where she understood that there’s a section of Indian media that still cares about the public good and wants to see themselves being represented in the news stories.
2:19
Rasmus says that he is personally not convinced that the stories in regional languages continue for very long. Regional newspapers used to dominate but with the growth of media outlets in digital like Scroll, it has changed. There are potential risks in relying on government organisations. He says he is quite concerned about the legacy of the industry even if they have done an outstanding job.
2:24
Sashi responds to Rasmus by saying that the growth of regional news channels over English channels is by a big margin. He further says that with technological advancement, the viewership will only increase.
Dhanya disagrees with Rasmus and agrees with Sashi Kumar. She says that the growth of regional media isn’t restricted to just newspapers but television. For instance, Malayala Manorama and several other regional broadcast and digital channels across Tamil Nadu, Kerala etc. During assembly elections, these regional media organisations play a huge role and have a wide range of viewership.
2:30
Rasmus thinks that it's a huge challenge in India, especially with the English language. It's hard to convince people who had free access to things for a long time since liberalisation. Rasmus says it is necessary to make it work. On the whole, advertisers have a choice to pay. Advertising revenue will not disappear and will be a significant part of it. There is a substantial minority of people willing to pay for news when they see the efforts. It will not be a majority, especially in India anytime soon. When The Hindu was launched during colonial rule its aim wasn't to make money but with the aim of something else.
2:32
Supriya says that we were very reader-friendly payment-wise back when the scroll launched. The subscription amount is too small. They got the response as they valued our Journalism much more. After that, we decided to go reporting stories. We got a good response from our audience about that.
2:36
Would you pay a subscription fee for good journalism?
Yes (0% | 0 votes)
 
No (0% | 0 votes)
 
Total Votes: 0
2:38
Regarding subscriptions, Dhanya relates with Supriya. She mentions that The NewsMinute came up with a subscription model very recently. She also points out that initially the subscriptions were limited but a hike can be seen when a story is liked or appreciated enough by the consumers.
2:39
Dhanya raises two concerns, First, there’s a small group of people in India who wants to pay for news. Second, there’s another small pool of people who don’t mind paying for news and this pool should increase. More and more people should become subscribers otherwise it would restrict independent organisations from factual reporting.
2:41
Rasmus thinks that The New York Times is a less interesting example but it shows that a good digital product based on commercial or digital grounds is possible to sustain this. He thinks there is a range of different models which may not work for everybody.
Sashi feels optimistic about subscriptions and cites The Hindu’s paywall which could become a revenue model. He points to Dhanya’s point and says people are loyal to certain programs from different channels and asks, “are we supposed to subscribe to all?”  He says Rasmus is right about NYT about the success they are having with the subscription model.
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