“In the age of scrolling, journalism must adapt to shorter formats without losing its core values”

A panel discussion titled “Newsgathering in the Age of Big Tech: Protecting Truth, Accountability and Justice” featuring Priyanshi Sharma, Co-Founder, Peek TV, and Naresh Fernandes, Editor, Scroll. The session was moderated by Anjali Lal Gupta, Assistant Professor, University of Hyderabad. | Photo credit: Special arrangement

The rise of social media and Big Tech has changed not only where news is consumed, but also how journalism is produced, forcing news organizations to adapt to shorter formats, algorithm-driven attention and competition from influencers and content creators. Speakers at a discussion organized at the Goethe Zentrum in Hyderabad on Saturday (August 29) said the basic principles of journalism, verification, credibility and public accountability must remain unchanged.

The issue came up during a panel discussion titled “Newsgathering in the Age of Big Tech: Protecting Truth, Accountability and Justice” featuring Priyanshi Sharma, co-founder of Peek TV, and Naresh Fernandes, editor of Scroll. The session was moderated by Anjali Lal Gupta, Assistant Professor, University of Hyderabad.

Ms Sharma said digital journalism cannot simply be TV journalism transferred to Instagram or other social media platforms. “When Peek TV started producing short news, the organization initially thought it could adapt its existing TV-style approach to social media. It soon realized that the tone, writing and storytelling needed to change substantially,” she said.

Mr Fernandes, who described himself as someone who had witnessed the transition from newspapers and printing presses to television and digital media, said the technology through which journalism was delivered had changed, but journalism itself had not. “At the core of journalism, it still remains engaging a thinking audience in a public way and telling people what they might not otherwise know, including information that someone, somewhere, doesn’t want them to know,” he added.

Ms Sharma said one of the biggest challenges for digital news organizations was that they were no longer just competing with other news outlets. They also competed with influencers and content creators who often present news in a more immediate and definitive way.

Concerns raised in the first panel about algorithms, platforms and the changing power of digital intermediaries were further elaborated on in the second panel entitled “Technical Design and Policy: Algorithm Navigation, Surveillance and Ethics”. The panel featured Rakesh Dubbudu, founder of Factly Media and Research, and Aniket Alam, who teaches history and social sciences at IIIT Hyderabad. It was moderated by Usha Raman, a researcher and writer on digital cultures and media.

Ms. Raman began by pointing out that the implications of digital infrastructure extend far beyond journalism. Ordinary citizens who post on social media or YouTube may also be restricted or subject to surveillance, although journalists may have institutional protections and remedies that ordinary citizens lack.

Mr Dubbudu said the world was at an inflection point in relation to digital technology, although the move towards stronger regulation was not uniform across countries. “India has not yet reached the same level of popular demand for tighter regulation of the digital economy and social media as in the United States. One reason is that the digital infrastructure has brought significant benefits to millions of people and allowed individuals with very limited resources to reach audiences independently,” he said.

Mr Alam approached the issue from the perspective of history, knowledge production and community. He warned against reducing the digital landscape to a simple conflict between powerful technology companies and an increasingly centralized state, with citizens trapped between them.

Published – 29 Aug 2026 23:09 IST