Popular news anchor and veteran journalist Sudhir Chaudhary says the news broadcast industry has not reinvented itself in the last 20 years, leading to news consumption gradually shifting to other platforms. Unlike social media influencers with millions of followers, there are no stars in the news industry, he believes.

While basic storytelling remains the same, viewers have shifted to emerging social media platforms.

“Least innovation has taken place in the news broadcast industry. With every new technology coming in, the existing formats have to reinvent themselves. Today the consumer has a plethora of available options. News is available on WhatsApp, Instagram, SnapChat, TV, print on social media. You have the choice to watch news on long format, small format, reels and you have to show the same story in different formats, durations and parts on different platforms. This has opened the market and given more choice to viewers who get to benefit the most.”

He was talking about trends in journalism on a Governance Now podcast with Kailash Adhikari, managing director, Sri Adhikari Brothers.

You can watch the conversation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FECvzxAjAzw

Chaudhary said that out of the nearly 400 news channels that exist today, 10-15 big news channels follow the same breaking-news formats in red, similar headlines, … news anchors look the same with the same subject in debates and with mostly the same panellists.

Experts in newsrooms study TRPs and ratings, and suggest content creation as per popularity. 99% of the industry functions in this reactive manner. The industry has lost its way. Instead of repeating the same formula, you have the choice of creating good content. Ratings, TRPs and money are byproducts and good content will automatically generate good ratings. “This is the principle I have followed in my own shows,” he said.

Responding to a question on his research methodology to pick and explain issues in a simple manner to the viewers, Chaudhary said his news reports touched the life of the common man. They were initially ridiculed by rival channels, which worked on set formulas of political news with cabinet meetings, party alliances etc. Later his concept of news analysis came to be adopted by many channels – though only for ratings and not organically.

“Unless the news anchor feels his story, it will not resonate with viewers and look mechanical. A reporter must look at small stories in newspapers to enhance their potential for the common man,” he said.

Asked how he views the shift of news consumption to digital platforms, he explained that in the era of radio and print came TV which was followed by digital and both print and radio continued to survive. “Today we have radio, TV, print, internet and now AI. With every new technology coming, existing formats have to reinvent themselves. Similarly, earlier films had three-hour duration and now they are of 1.5-hour duration. Earlier cricket Test match was for five days. Now you have T20. Cricket, stadiums, bats, balls, runs, players, wickets, viewers … everything is the same. Cricket has reinvented itself.”

Speaking on how social media has impacted the news ecosystem, Chaudhary, who has 7.9 million followers on X, said that earlier people said they watch him on TV, but now they say they “follow” him.

“This is a big change and these are all different forms of technology. With the social media influencer creating new and different content in long and short form, people are coming in big numbers  from YouTube, Reels  and other social media whereas many in mainstream media for years do not have as many followers. However, the challenge in the coming days will be to maintain speed and accuracy. And you cannot compromise accuracy for speed,” he said.

Asked how a news person can identify fake news in the era of speed news when the sources of news are increasing, Chaudhary said that news channels rely on multiple sources while content creators on social media have even more sources.

“However, it needs to be understood that big agencies spend a lot on credibility of news gathering and big newsrooms have multi-layered mechanisms for filtering the news. And if the news is not credible it will stop at some check post. As against this, a YouTuber who is a one-man show has not spent money on news gathering or filtering and many times can show inaccurate news.”

He underlined the importance of decoding numbers in a story and said that news creation is serious business and needs discipline and content creators must keep upgrading.

In his next innings, Chaudhary, who will soon be presenting his show on the national broadcaster Doordarshan, said he now needs freedom to create content instead of chasing TRPs or numbers and needs support of social media content creators to promote his own content.