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Panel Discussion on Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2021
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Anish P
1:46
Hello and welcome to the live blog of the Panel discussion on Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2021 featuring 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. The discussion is moderated by Manisha Pande, executive editor of Newslaundry.
1:47
Panel Discussion on Reuters Digital Report 2021
1:49
Moderator Manisha Pande begins the discussion by introducing the panel. She begins the discussion with the concept of neutrality. "In a hyperpolarized space, media persons are accused of not being neutral enough. What is it they are expecting out of you?" she asks Dhanya Rajendran.
1:51
Dhanya says, "In my personal view neutrality does not exist. We don't aspire to be neutral." She underlines that almost 40% of people in India believe in news media.
1:52
"When a news consumer demands neutrality what is it they expect?" asks Manisha.
1:56
Supriya Sharma says, "The consumers understand the mission of journalism is to hold power to account." She says tougher questions will be asked of the government and fairness is to give space to every side of the story.
1:58
"There are two kinds of new objectivities possible: one is to be fair-minded as Supriya said to be equitable in terms of your story, but it's also possible that in highly fragmented media ecology that we are in now, your neutrality or sense of objectivity will come through a collision of various viewpoints," says Sashi Kumar
1:59
Sashi says that the mainstream media is being tempted into an echo chamber because the eyeballs and viewership are there.
2:01
"When crimes happen in case of Hathras and Kashmir, people want their version to be out. People expecting neutrality is bizarre. We need to be objective and bring out both sides of the study," adds Dhanya.
2:02
"With regards to the Hathras rape case, why aren't crimes being covered equally? If the audience is not going to trust us then what does that do to journalism?" asks Manisha.
2:04
Sashi quotes from the Reuters report about Republic having high viewing percentages but lacking in the trust factor. He says the contradiction is apparent and people are watching what they trust the least.
2:05
"My question is what do we do to explain to the viewers why they question the governing party more than others. Maybe it's a question of media literacy?" asks Manisha.
2:08
Rasmus adds that it will be incredibly difficult as powerful people will be behind them and question their professional ethics and practices. "Whilst many individuals have journalists they admire, sometimes they trust too much and have low expectations off them," he says.
2:09
Manisha adds, "With DD and AIR, it is sort of the longing for news without shouting. A round up for the day. Maybe that's one of the reason why there's a romance for Door Darshan."
2:11
Sashi criticizes Doordarshan calling it a propaganda arm of the government. Manisha adds, "DD did not cover anything regarding the oxygen shortage during Covid. It is mostly an element of romanticism or nostalgia."
2:13
Supriya says, "Citizens know that doordarshan is only reliable for government based news example train timings, lockdown etc."
"How has your experience been with your news readers?" Manisha asks the panel.
2:15
Dhanya responds, "I just want to correct your question. What my understanding is, we have one group who will believe us and other set will not. Both groups were impacted during Covid times. Audience realised that news outlets dont have any agenda against the government."
2:18
In reply to Manisha's question on news reader experience, Supriya says, "We found that our public accountability journalism has resonated a lot with our readers. Every time we've done an investigative story it's been widely read." She gives examples of stories like the delay in PPE production and the lag in inviting bids for oxygen plants.
2:19
Do you think Indian media has freedom of speech and expression
Yes (0% | 0 votes)
 
No (0% | 0 votes)
 
Total Votes: 0
Dhanya adds, "The pandemic has shown to the public that news outlets care for them and thus it gives them power to question powerful people. The pandemic will bring that shift of trust towards media".
2:21
Manisha asks about the difference in reporting between the first and second wave and also the difference in trust scale. "I don't see people going to newspapers as their primary source of news. So how do you see this play out in the future?" she adds.
2:22
Sashi responds, "Digital media or stand-alone portals are frontline of journalism. It doesn't matter what the trust scale says because important stories are published by them. Government will unleash complaints on your portal. We saw it in the IT Act ruled out by government last year."
"With the rise in digital how do you see the industry play out in the future?" asks Manisha.
2:24
Rasmus says the point is to recognize the complexity and size of the Indian society. He adds that he isn't convinced about the growth of regional media with the digital media coming up.
2:25
"Advertisers will only pay for the major newspapers and not the regional ones. The growth of new entrants like Scroll and Newslaundry, being so clearly focused, are going to add further competition, adding pressure to the regional and local newspapers. Depending on governments for advertising is also something that is not dependable on the long term," Rasmus adds.
2:28
Supriya says that the elephant in the room is the multilingual regional media that is growing at a greater pace than the English Media. "What is happening there is very important and I think it will have to be factored in future studies of India, although it's going to be daunting because you have so many languages," she adds.
2:29
Dhanya says she would disagree with Rasmus as the growth of regional media is not only about newspapers but also about news channels. "The impact of regional media is big on television and they have big influence on the population. People are vulnerable and they believe what the regional news media tell them," she adds.
2:30
"In India what is the attitude towards subscriptions?" Manisha asks Rasmus.
2:32
Rasmus answers, "It is uniquely challenging in India. When you had the liberalization in the 90's, it meant that newspapers were sold for recycling value. So if you have people for 30 years who had it for virtually as cheap as a cup of tea, it is hard to convince people to pay. It is hard in the foreseeable future with the various sources available online."
2:33
"Ad revenue won't disappear, it will be more than in the past. But news companies have to try and convince people to pay for services and reward them in other creative ways. The up side is that we are sure that around the world there is scope for people who pay subscriptions for products which are unique and help the user," he adds.
2:36
Supriya shares her story on subscriptions in Scroll. She says readers were offered  an ad-free experience on the site, full access to our archives, even discounts on coffee and books. "We realized that actually what was the strongest driver for a reader to turn into a subscriber was the journalism– a kind of in-depth investigative reporting that we did ," she says.
2:37
Dhanya raises her concern that only a small pool of people are willing to pay for news. She adds that this will not be sustainable in the long term and more people will have to join in.
2:39
Manisha explains how Newslaundry has been completely ad-free from the beginning, but for bigger organizations there is a need for a mix of advertising and subscription revenue.
"I'm optimistic about subscriptions in the long run. Subscription rankings are going high. Brand loyalty in terms of channels or newspapers doesn't exist anymore," adds Sashi.
2:42
"I think that the NY Times is a less interesting example but what it shows is that if you have a good digital product based on commercial or digital grounds it is possible to sustain this. I think there are a range of different models which may not work for everybody. We have to be clear about that but we have to be more optimistic now than a few years ago," says Rasmus.
Manisha ends the discussion thanking all the panelists for their participation.
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