TV.NXT 2014: Is There a Need to Redefine Journalism in the Online Era?

Ananth Rangaswami chats with Parry Ravindranathan and Jayant Mammen Mathew on how news broadcasters are dealing with the digital world.

We are in a world where news is consumed anytime, anywhere and on any platform. The way the news is gathered and played out has changed considerably. This demands thinking about news and journalism differently. With the penetration and increasing access of smartphones, news could begin from even social media. So what are the challenges and opportunities for professional TV journalists?

At afaqs! TV.NXT 2014, Ananth Rangaswami (editor, Storyboard) chats with Parry Ravindranathan (MD, Bloomberg Media, APAC) and Jayant Mammen Mathew (deputy editor, Malayala Manorama Group of Publications) on how they deal with the digital world.

According to Ravindranathan, tablets and other digital devices are changing the news consumption pattern. "Saying that 'TV is here for 10 years as a device' is a bold statement. I think the broadcast space will remain very similar, but it's going to be device agnostic."

He explained that at Bloomberg, they don't really care how they are being viewed, adding, "We are seeing that lot of our TV consumption is moving to tablets and other digital devices." Even in the TV space, Ravindranathan notes there are different kind of devices like over-the-top (OTT). Bloomberg itself is on Amazon TV. "The challenge as a global player is how we are able to change with time and keep up with the changing consumption pattern. The challenge is how do we make that content palatable in different devices."

Though Bloomerg Media is principally a TV player, its video consumption online has increased from two million page views a month to 50-60 million views a month in the last three years. On being asked by Rangaswami about the role of an editor in today's day and age, Mathew explained that today's editor wears many hats. "He could be a marketer," he opines, adding, "For a news channel, he still has to make a two-minute package, make sure that the story goes viral, audiences are engaged and also that a particular story has a different headline and is cut differently for its online version."

A news source today could be anyone or anything - even a tweet. Mathew agrees that it's not a regular news cycle anymore. "We have a news channel for the Gulf, three localised channels for Kerala. We cater to these different news audiences at all time. So, no more do we air news at particular time slots. We shoot it and air it as we get it," he says.

Talking about the competition in the news environment today, Ravindranathan feels that for his company, the competitors are not the large media companies. "We are a privately held company and have a huge advantage. We can invest more and compete. Also, the important thing is to be nimble enough. We have to align, restructure and rethink of how we gather news. At Bloomberg, we have started integrating our newsrooms and it's been a huge success. It makes a huge difference in the way we approach news content," he explains.

Aroon Purie, (founding chairman and editor-in-chief, India Today Group) mentioned in an earlier session that breaking news is no longer breaking news. It doesn't sell that much on TV now as most people get breaking news on their mobile phones and on websites. This is leading to more opinionated content on TV. When asked if it made more sense to move towards analysis and opinion than just news, Mathew's answer was, not yet.