Media Front: India - The future of journalism

The Compass

• Episode: Media Front: India - The future of journalism
• Website: The Compass
• Feed URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p035w97h/episodes/downloads.rss
• Duration: 00:27:35
• Published: 2019-08-28 12:00

India's ruling party the BJP won a landslide victory in the country's May general election. The party bypassed traditional media channels and exploited India's love of social media to deliver their message direct to voters. Andrea Catherwood is a former international correspondent for CNBC and ITN. In the age of the unmediated political leader she asks - what's the future for journalism in India? Prime Minister Narendra Modi has his own radio show, his own app and is among the most popular global leaders on Twitter. Meanwhile, many traditional media outlets, already struggling in a mobile first country, are dependent on the Government which is their largest advertiser. Some observers fear that the result is a subservient and unchallenging media. We hear about the real dangers for journalists who speak out against the Indian government and its supporters, consider how journalists and the media landscape will fare during the next five years of Modi's premiership and discuss the current media climate with a BJP supporting Indian politician and journalist. Andrea Catherwood is joined by Emily Bell, a professor at Columbia Journalism School, for whom these issues have global resonance. (Photo: Indian men read newspaper outside a polling station in Agra Uttar Pradesh. Credit: Nasir Kachroo/Getty Images)