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Panel Discussion: What Lies Ahead for the Media in India
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Anushree Jonko
5:13
Panel Discussion: What Lies Ahead for the Media in India
5:14
Hello and welcome to the panel discussion: What Lies Ahead for the Media in India. Today we have Alan Rusbridger, former Editor of The Guardian, in conversation with Siddharth Varadarajan of The Wire, Marty Baron, Editor of the Washington Post and Ritu Kapur, co-founder of The Quint.
5:17
Rusbridger starts the conversation by asking, "You're saying that India was in a vulnerable position and Modi made it worse?"
5:22
Varatharajan says, particulary on the business module most newspapers are operating from the peoples point of view. Now it is going for the digital.
Rusbridger goes on to ask Ritu if she agrees, to which she says, "I agree to the fullest. The pressure of social media. The binary of being nationalist and anti nationalist."
5:23
Ritu adds, "The focus is on sentiment which was not there in the previous governments. Earlier, the arguments were more nuanced. But now it's blatant. There is no space for opinions."
5:25
Rusbridger asks Baron if he draws parallels to which he answers, "There are some parallels. We're aren't there yet. And I hope we don't end up there. The media favours Trump despite the Constitutional talks of freedom of expression."
5:26
Rusbridger asks, "Do you think America feels confident enough?"
Baron goes on to say, "I think the President's goal is to disqualify people who are not in his camp. He wants media outlets to be a megaphone for his ideas."
5:27
Rusbridger continues the topic by asking, "Do you think Trump would get away with whatever he says in the media?"
5:29
Marty draws analogies and says, "It is different from India because he just dismisses whatever the media says. One barks more than biting. I would obviously prefer the bark to the bite (referring to Modi and Trump. Trump barks, Modi bites).
5:31
Varadharajan says that the two claims are very different. He believes that Trump is far more vicious, "Modi looks for public utterances. Essentially, the similarity is that both armies and leaders in command of the media. In India social media threats also lead to physical threat. Trump is impressed with press conferences which are scripted."
5:32
"Trump doesn't give many shows but he performs and when he does give them. He always has an enemy, be it Obama. If he doesn't, he attacks the press." says Baron.
5:33
Ritu goes on to say, "The Wire's leadership is growing. We have our audience to fact check. If misinformation goes viral. Our readership is growing fast. The audience is converting it into blogs."
5:34
Rusbridger directs his questions to Varadarajan and Kapur, "How is it two of you are able to run organisations that are different?"
5:36
Varadarajan: "My senses are exclusively do that.  We consciously choose the resources to set up a company.  We don't have much profit so we will rely on readers. Media organisations like Hindu, Business Standard have a range of business interest. For us the business management is integral."
5:37
While Kapur says, "We don't have to worry about salaries. Stay independent and stay free. After the CRPF incident, same media house say different things. This is common in India."
5:39
Rusbridger asks, "Whether the news would be more susceptible to the cons of pressure?"
Do you think that media in your country in Independent?
Yes (0% | 0 votes)
 
No (0% | 0 votes)
 
Total Votes: 0
5:40
Baron answers, "The news organisations are doing their best. There is a real crisis at the local level . Yes, local organisations are susceptible to pressures. Many of them are owned by news organisations who wouldn't be susceptible to pressures. The bigger concern is the fact that they don't have reporters to cover police, court, school boards etc. They simply can't conduct investigations , because of this, the officials know that no one is looking into their activities."
5:41
That concludes the discussion. Thank you for being a part of it!
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