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During the past decade, with advances in digital technologies and rapid increase in the penetration of the Internet, media has undergone a dramatic change in the manner in which news is gathered, disseminated and interpreted. There is an emphasis on speed, a premium on immediacy and virtually instant interpretation such as through Twitter. Traditional media, both print and electronic, are struggling to stay relevant and are themselves, adapting to and adopting the new technologies to create web-based news portals, mixing text and images to survive in this new environment, which is still in the throes of rapid change. The panel on ‘Unpacking Media – Digital & Traditional’ will seek to explore and understand these changes and look to what the future may hold. We have outstanding journalists who have lived through this transition and those who have achieved success in the new media. They will share their rich and varied experiences with us.
Moderator: Richa Bansal- Director of Communications, Centre for Policy Research
Speakers:
Mr Ashish Malhotra- India Correspondent, Deutsche Welle and Freelance Multimedia Journalist
Mr Pankaj Mishra- Editor in Chief, Co-Founder and CEO, Factor Daily
Ms Rama Lakshmi- Editor, Opinion, ThePrint
Mr Zakka Jacob- Deputy Executive Editor, CNN-News18
The talk will be livestreamed on the IIC website; streamed through Facebook-live on the Metamorphoses Facebook page; and video recordings will be available on YouTube, as well as disseminated through social media channels hosted on the Metamorphoses website. The promotional video for Metamorphoses can be accessed here.
Questions will be taken on a special number through SMS, provided at the venue, and selected ones will be answered given time constraints.
Ashish Malhotra is a journalist who has worked in television, print and online media across the globe. Ashish started his career at Asia 360 News, a startup pan-asian news magazine based in Singapore before joining Al Jazeera English’s award-winning social media based television program, The Stream, in Washington DC. During his 4+ years at The Stream, Ashish produced live programs and over 400 interviews with guests based in more than 50 countries. Since August 2016 Ashish has been based in New Delhi where he has worked across media platforms, first as the Deputy Multimedia Editor at the Hindustan Times, and since, as a freelance journalist for international media such as Deutsche Welle, The Times of London, The Guardian and CityLab.
Pankaj Mishra has been a technology journalist and editor since the year 2000 with several publications including The Economic Times, Mint and TechCrunch. Based in Bengaluru, he writes about people and companies taking technology mainstream in India. Pankaj is the cofounder, writer and CEO of FactorDaily.
Rama Lakshmi is Editor, Opinion at ThePrint.in, a news and opinion portal that was founded by Shekhar Gupta a year ago. The opinion section of ThePrint is the Big Tent of ideas, debates and scholarship – one that brings views from writers across the political and ideological spectrum. She also runs a daily online news debate called TalkPoint, a hub of experts weighing in with their short commentaries on the top news development of the day.
Before joining ThePrint.in, Rama worked as the India correspondent for The Washington Post for 27 years. For her 2004 tsunami coverage, she won the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ Jesse Laventhol award for best deadline reporting. At The Post, she covered a range of subjects including politics, economy, development, national security, foreign affairs and culture.
A museum studies graduate, Rama has also worked in several museums in the United States, including at The Smithsonian Institution. She is also the curator of the Remember Bhopal Museum, which opened in 2014 and chronicles the Union Carbide gas disaster and the ensuing fight for justice.
Zakka Jacob is Editor, Output of CNN News18 and the host of the channel’s flagship show India@9. In his short span in CNN News18, which is the international player CNN’s India affiliate, Zakka has managed to carve a niche in the crowded and noisy 9 o clock slot which is dominated by loud talking panelists and shouting matches that pass off as debates. Zakka’s calm demeanor and sharp questions have quickly earned him the moniker ‘thinking man’s anchor’ who doesn’t have to resort to catering to the least common denominator. Prior to joining CNN News18, Zakka worked in China Central Television from 2011 to 2014 becoming the first South Asian face on Chinese TV. Zakka brings an international flavor to CNN News18’s local programming. He started off his career in 2011 with Sun News a regional channel before moving to Delhi with Headlines Today. At the time he debuted, Zakka was the youngest male anchor on English news TV.
Richa Bansal is the Director of Communications at the Centre for Policy Research in Delhi, India, which she joined in 2014 – launching a new website, brand identity, six social media channels, setting up a team, and producing regular interpretation as well as outreach of research outputs.
Prior to this, she has worked in communications roles for five years in gender rights organisations based out of India and the United Kingdom, including CAMFED, UK, International Center for Research on Women (regional office in Delhi) and the Population Foundation of India. She started her career as a journalist and worked for different newspapers in various cities of India for nearly four years before switching fully to the development sector after pursuing an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge, UK. She also holds a master’s degree in mass communication and is an English literature undergraduate.
Metamorphoses is a modest effort to try and bridge the gap between digital technologies, which are transforming our lives, and our understanding of their multiple dimensions. It will unfold in a series of nine interactions covering different aspects of the digital revolution.
This series will examine the impacts of digital technologies on the human psyche and on societies – exploring ways in which some of the negative elements may be mitigated. There will be a peep into the future – of what machine learning and artificial intelligence may bring to human experience – and the moral and ethical dilemma associated with these. It will also delve into issues relating to data privacy and cyber security as well as the emerging legal regime to regulate this critical domain.