N. Ram lauds native digital news media

Native digital news media, irrespective of its reach, has kept the spirit of independent journalism alive, said N. Ram, Director, THG Publishing Pvt. Limited, on Saturday.

Participating in a webinar on ‘State of the Indian media’ organised by Dravidian Professionals Forum, he commended native digital news media for keeping the spirit of independent journalism alive.

“When you look at the Babri Masjid judgment of the Supreme Court, there was criticism but see how the media fell in line. I think CAA was a little different, but these are impressions. There has been some critical coverage on farmers’ agitation, for example, which is why so many cases are being filed against those who covered it, supported it or tweeted about it. It is a mixed performance but, by and large, we have failed to play anything like a minimally independent role. In contrast, you have the native digital news media. I really want to commend them for this – whatever their reach and business model – they have kept the spirit of independent journalism alive,” he said.

According to him, one cannot avoid calling attention to the rise of authoritarianism – not authoritarianism in the abstract. “Sometimes people talk about the media during the Emergency and now. I think it is a mistake to even attempt that kind of comparison because the environment is totally different… the forces, formations are totally different and dominant players are totally different. We are familiar with what happened before… another kind of authoritarianism but fortunately short-lived. Today, it is what can be called Hindutva authoritarian regime,” he said.

Authoritarian regime

Mr. Ram said that one must not shy away from characterising the Centre as a ‘Hindutva authoritarian regime’.

State Finance Minister P. Thiagarajan, said, “We are not in a stable media environment but we are in a moment of flux.”

Taking the example of a ‘right wing’ local language newspaper, Mr. Thiagarajan said, “We find that their reach is declining very, very clearly. There used to be a time when what they said used to be taken as gospel truth but as time goes on, the power of the internet has fundamentally decayed their reach and revenue model. It has forced the owners to other businesses. In this transition from a traditional press model to an internet model, the pressure on media houses to stay profitable and afloat is making a big influence on outcomes.”

Readers Editor of The Puucho A.S. Panneerselvan said social media hate gets amplified because the news media is unable to come up with a push back system.

Opinion writers

“There is a structured delegitimising of opinion writers. Never their content is questioned. We do not know how to confront this,” he said. There was also a mismatch between reach and revenue. “One issue which is being missed by the State regulatory framework is the relationship between content and carrier. In the last 10 years, the carrier companies have become more powerful than the content companies. Whether it is a newspaper or a television channel, you are at the mercy of who delivers. It can be an ISP or DTH company or cable operator,” he said.

Professor Sukumar Muralidaran, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, said during the first phase of the internet, the media saw it as a very benign presence to expand its reach.

“Internet content was text-based. But the situation changed very rapidly with Google’s IPO, Gmail and Facebook. Again for a while, this was benign and it was opening up. In 2016, there was a watershed moment. Algorithmic curation of news and the advertising model that rides on profiling of users is creating filter bubbles,” he added.

Pamela Philipose, Public Editor, The Wire, said, “The new Information Technology rules which have targeted small and independent news portals like The Wire is all about bringing the media under State control.”