‘You cannot have different versions of the truth’

An esteemed panel of media veterans and journalists engaged in an interesting and insightful panel discussion on the topic - Challenges Facing Journalism Today? - at e4m English Journalism 40 Under 40 Summit and Awards.

On the panel were Surabhi Dahiya, Prof English Journalism, IIMC; Tarun Nangia, Associate Editor Special Projects, NewsX; Swati Kahndelwal, Executive Editor, Zee Business, and Deepti Sachdeva, Independent Journalist. The session was moderated by Dr Bhuvan Lall, author, filmmaker and entrepreneur.

Dr Lall kicked off the session with his take on journalism. "For me, journalism is primarily a search for truth and in that search, creating credibility." What, then, are the challenges for a nation and how are journalism students trained, he asked.

Sharing her views, Dr Dahiya said, "We try to be objective while teaching. When I teach objectivity in news, there are some students who ask me what the business side of the news is. So, I also add classes related to media management and the business side of news - how business models are changing and about D2C models. There are so many challenges that we see in the industry today beginning from top security and a flood of opinions to fake news in the media. So, we try to deal with misinformation and teach our students ways to combat the same. We also try to include the technical aspects where we teach them Artificial Intelligence. I always tell them that 'you should be a one/woman-man army' if you have to work in Indian media today."

According to Sachdeva, "If anyone says that there is no crisis in journalism today, they are lying. The very fact that it has become 'us vs them' journalism' is extremely sorry. You cannot have different versions of the truth. You can have facts and can talk about objectivity. But I think it's unfair to just point a finger at the TV. I have been a TV journalist for over 18 years and I have had the good fortune of working with the best editors across brands. Everywhere you get to learn, you get to imbibe a lot of things but I have not been told, at any point, what to say and what to do, and that is completely up to an individual journalist. Because, at the end of the day, it is about your credibility."

On the topic of external regulation, Nangia remarked: “Anywhere in the world, especially in democracies, no external regulation works."