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Panel Discussion: Editorial Leadership in an Age of Disinformation
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3:06
Hello and welcome to the live blog for the panel discussion on Editorial Leadership in an Age of Disinformation here at the M.S. Subbulaxmi Auditorium, Asian College of Journalism. The session is moderated by Sashi Kumar, Chairman, Media Development Foundation and Asian College of Journalism. The panelists today are Pratik Sinha, Co-Founder, Alt News, Dan Shelley, Executive Director of Radio Television Digital News Association and Krishna Prasad, Former Editor-in-chief, Outlook.
3:14
Sashi Kumar introduces the discussion for the afternoon by saying, "The theme of our discussion today is editorial leadership in an age of disinformation. We are talking about the role of the editor. Is the editor the significant entity anymore in the social media? Has the corporatization of the media made the editor redundant?"
3:16
Dan Shelley takes the question by saying, "Never before has the role of editor been more important than now. In order to champion the free press, the editors have to ensure that newsrooms have a culture which encourages ethical journalism. The editor is always been a paramount figure of responsible Journalism and his role is even more important today."
3:19
Sashi Kumar asks Krishna Prasad if as a former editor he agrees with Dan's comment about the role of editors.
3:20
3:21
Prasad replies that not only editors but young working journalists as well as citizens have to partake in the process.
3:22
Prasad puts emphasis on the fact that disinformation is not a 21st century phenomenon and that we have been fighting this since the Gutenberg press.
3:25
Dan adds to Prasad's point by saying that citizens also have the responsibility to check the sources of what they are reading instead of believing any one particular media outlet, and that we as journalists have to help them by reporting the truth.
3:29
Pratik Sinha talks about the difficulty of running an organisation without advertisements. He also adds that Alt News has taken to crowdfunding when it comes to dealing with economic constraints, and how we as media professionals need to rethink the business model for Indian media ecosystem.
3:32
Sashi poses a question towards the panel, asking as journalists have to deal with so much information, how does one not lose sight of the race to report first, and focus on fact checking.
3:33
Pratik answers by saying that due to the current situation, many organisation have started fact-checking their stories.
3:36
Sashi asks Shelley if fact checking needs to be institutionalised, and whether a particular media outlet should call out misinformation/disinformation spread by other media organizations.
3:38
3:39
Shelley brings up the example of Jim Accosta from CNN and how journalists across the board came to his defense in last year's controversy suggesting that while the media has a split down the middle, there has been signs of solidarity as well.
3:44
Prasad blames the obsession with speed and profit for this crisis of credibility. He also talks about how some of the biggest newspapers are publishing fake news as the owners have ideologically driven agendas, and with journalists not holding them accountable, the free press is getting jeopardized.
3:49
Shelley responds to Sashi Kumar's question about the dynamic between media and the power structure by saying that journalism still survives because the power structure represented by, for instance, someone like Donald Trump needs the media. Freedom, according to Shelley, dies in absence of a free press.
3:55
Pratik Sinha points out that propagandists are creating provocative content and making them viral. He gives the example of how there is a list circulating on the internet about journalists who are anti-Assam.Government has a role in the circulation of such content, he suggested.
3:56
3:58
Sashi Kumar says that there is no one speaking up against the wrongdoings of the government like Ramnath Goenka did during the time of emergency. "Today it looks like the fourth pillar of democracy has become the fifth column of newspapers", says Sashi.
4:01
Considering the the current scenario in journalism, everything is monitored by the government, adds Sashi Kumar.
4:02
4:05
Prasad comments on how people have forgotten the Emergency period and compares it to the present situation in Kashmir, where media has been denied access and communication channels have been completely shut down. He calls this 'undeclared emergency' unconstitutional.
4:07
Prasad blames the current opposition for not protesting against the situation prevailing in Kashmir and compares it to the Hong Kong protests.
4:10
4:12
Shelley explains that on the Kashmir issue, he has found 6 channels supporting the Modi government and being anti-Pakistan while the rest have been opposing the idea. According to him, Indian Media channels have mastered the art of flashy and explosive production.
4:14
Shelley points at the lack of balanced journalism and blames agenda-based, opinionated news reporting for this degradation of the Indian media.
4:21
Shelley responds to Sinha's question about the ad based business model in American newspapers by saying that in spite of being dependent on advertisements for funding, one can do responsible journalism if one sticks to serving the local community.
4:23
4:24
Now the session has been opened up for Q&A.
4:30
Prasad, while responding to a question on why the Indian media has crumbled while American media holds significant ground says that unlike India, America has the first amendment that gives a blanket protection to the Freedom of Press. He also explains the importance of American institutions standing up at the time against the challenge of disinformation compared to Indian institutions which cannot and in the process, get destroyed.
4:32
Prasad also takes the example of Justice HR Khanna who stood up to the Indira Gandhi government during the period of Emergency as an exception.
4:35
On the question of satire, Pratik Sinha says that news literacy is the main problem in India and that no one understands satire in India.
4:37
Pratik gives the example of Arundhati Roy’s statement about Kashmir which was covered by all major media organizations but was later found out to be fake news.
4:40
Sinha takes this further by sharing a story about how the creator of a particular fake news piece, when asked about why he published the story responded, “Everybody reads fake news".
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