New age digital media is the present and the future: Bhupendra Chaubey

It is time to stop looking at legacy media platforms as the only media, said senior television journalist Bhupendra Chaubey at the 16^th edition of e4m NewsNext Summit held in New Delhi on Saturday.

During his keynote session on ‘Can new age digital media ever replace legacy media?’, Chaubey asserted that the present and the future are new age digital media.

“I feel that if we have to remain relevant as journalists, we need to figure out ways of challenging what legacy media platforms are really offering. There is a huge information vacuum. Where do you go when you need to verify a fact or rumour? The commentary, the context setting, the information gathering mechanism…everything is happening on digital platforms. It is time for us to stop looking at legacy media platforms as the only media. If we do that, a lot of challenges go out of the window.

“The present and the future is the new age digital media. We are in an ICE (information, credibility and explanation) age. None of these three factors is being addressed today by legacy media; that's why attempts must be made to try and look for new age platforms,” he said.

Making the observations around the current media scenario, Chaubey said that legacy media houses are trying to reposition themselves as digital platforms and these days anyone can start something of their own.

“If you have a desire, the bar has come down dramatically to start something of your own. I think it is a moment of great opportunities. We are in an extremely chaotic democracy. We are in the midst of a massive election season. We are in a highly opinionated society as well.

“What is happening is that legacy media themselves want to be repositioned as new age digital platforms. Look at any TV channel or newspaper, everybody wants to run on the gravy train of digital bandwidth, digital content creation and digital business plans,” he said.