News and news choices are both ever-evolving: Supriya Prasad

At the e4m NewsNext summit 2023 held in Delhi on Sunday, Supriya Prasad, News Director, Aaj Tak, India Today and GNT spoke to Ruhail Amin, Senior Editor, exchange4media Group, about the complexities of a newsroom and the future of media broadcasting channels using technology and content.

Speaking about the pressures of the newsroom, Prasad said the profession is such, pressure will definitely be there. “Aaj Tak as a channel is trying to do their best in terms of keeping their credibility, that’s the main aim. For that, Aaj Tak tries to invest more on research and content rather than investing in the landing page.”

AI technology has quickly grappled news world now as many channels are bringing in AI anchors to deliver news. Talking about the future of this technology in the newsrooms, Prasad said that no matter how evolved the technology is, it can never replace the esteemed anchors that have been a part of the Aaj Tak newsroom for years. However, when a new technology approaches, they want to make sure they make the best use of it as quickly as possible.

Prasad said he believes news is ever-evolving, and news choices will also keep evolving. That is how the world progresses. As long as your news is accurate, it doesn’t matter what format you are using to show it, he says.

Speaking about what makes AajTak unique, Prasad said that Aaj Tak has a surprise element in its news delivery. People usually await how Aaj Tak will deliver a particular news item and what their take will be. That makes Aaj Tak very credible.

While replying to a question about why news channels always look at every small story from a political angle, Prasad explained that that is not the case. He spoke about how during the Chandrayaan-3 landing news, there was no political angle to it. Politics is definitely a big part of our system, but I do not agree that everything is shown from a political angle, he said.

Lastly, Prasad said that a broadcast news channel is an audio/visual experience. He says TRP and data is very important when it comes to news channels, but he raised questions on how BARC was stopped and then restarted and no proper data has come out from their side yet. He believes TRP is a snakes and ladders game and every channel is stuck in this flawed system.