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Panel Discussion on the Reuters Digital News Report 2021
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Malavika Jayadeep
7:10
7:19
Good evening, and welcome to the panel discussion of the Reuters Digital News Report 2021. We have 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. Manisha Pande, the executive editor of Newslaundry will be moderating this discussion.
7:28
Supriya Sharma believes that a lot of news consumers understand the mission of an organisation to hold power and to give space to everybody's views.
Shashi Kumar says, "there are two types of objectivities. Your neutrality will come from the pollution of various view points."
7:30
Manisha Pande begins by saying that with news concerning rape, people do not accept other versions. People in India want their own versions. They believe in 'my way or the highway' and some political or religious angle is always involved.
The Reuters Digital Media Report 2021
7:32
Adding to this, Dhanya Rajendran says that with news concerning rape, people usually do not expect more than one perspective. This differs in India as people expect more political and religious perspectives in the news.
7:34
"Indian citizens always trust the brand they have chosen and the audience does not believe us. What does it do to journalism?" asks Manisha Pande
7:36
7:38
Shashi Kumar states that in the Reuters report, there is a contradiction. Republic TV is ranked fourth but when it comes to trust factor it is the least trusted. He asks, "Republic TV has become a reality TV show. So are the viewers watching what they don't trust?"
7:39
Rasmus Nielsen enters the discussion by saying that it is becoming increasingly difficult to be fair. The broader public thinks fairness is giving everyone a chance to express their points of view. 4 out of 10 people believe that journalists are lapdogs and circus dogs.
7:40
"According to India Report Brand Trust, both The Wire and The Republic are at the last. There is a filter bubble in the main stream media." adds Shashi Kumar.
7:42
7:43
Manisha Pande says that there exists a romance with Doordarshan as it is a government owned channel to which Shashi Kumar says that Doordarshan is a propaganda arm of the government. Manisha Pande adds to this by stating that in the second wave of the pandemic, Doordarshan had no coverage of oxygen cylinders.
7:44
Supriya Sharma asks, "What is this doing to journalism?" and says that she believes we have to stick to more reporting and not fall for lucrative low cost way of generating opinions.
7:46
With regard to Doordarshan, Supriya Sharma says that she has not watched DD News in a long time. She asks, "Which state has lockdown? Are trains running? Doordarshan is responsible for this kind of information."
7:47
7:50
She further states that currently, stories about PPE kits and government delay to avail oxygen are being read widely. Their investigative story has been widely read and has resonated with their readers. The readers contributed to ground reporting funds during the second wave when oxygen was running out and people were unable to access hospital beds.
7:52
Dhanya Rajendran says that the pandemic made people realize that the media was propaganda-driven. She had been reading Supriya's tweets and has noticed that the people who used to praise the government previously were now beginning to criticize.
7:54
She further states that people have started to speak up on behalf of people and not according to the government or their political or religious views.
7:55
Manisha Pande steps in to say that the biggest difference between the first and second wave of the pandemic is the reporting.
IS MEDIA PROPAGANDA DRIVEN?
YES, DEFINITELY (0% | 0 votes)
 
NO, NOT AT ALL (0% | 0 votes)
 
I AM UNAWARE (0% | 0 votes)
 
Total Votes: 0
7:56
Supriya states that the measure of it has been seen in mainstream media. They did not particularly question the govt during the first wave and feebly spoke up for their audience.
7:57
7:58
"Digital media (like the quint , wire etc), are the front line of journalism in India in terms of the stories that matter, are being exposed and that is the reason the govt is targeting them . Now there is a big shift taking place which is perhaps for the better." adds Shashi Kumar.
8:00
Manisha Pande claims that newspapers still continue to be the most trusted and go to source for the people, but the second wave has seen a shrink in these advertisement-driven papers. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen responds to this by saying that he is not convinced that newspapers will not be continued.
8:01
Shashi Kumar states that the growth of digital news portal is only a decade old and the government is cracking down on these portals. The main elephant in the room is that multimedia is taking space in mainstream media.
8:03
8:04
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen says, "Regional newspapers used to be dominant earlier because it flows to huge platforms." He adds that the growth of online news portals are much more reliable. They make immense contributions and the newspapers are under tremendous commercial pressure. He is particularly impressed by the digital news media.
8:08
The Asia-Pacific launch of Reuters Digital Media Report
8:14
That is a wrap on the panel discussion, thank you for joining us.
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