Do Indians trust Doordarshan more than private channels? A chat with Lokniti-CSDS on news and more

“There might be a fatigue with news in the future,” says Vibha Attri of the Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. “One does notice a gradual decline in the consumption of traditional media over the years. We do see a decline if we compare 2014 and 2022 in the consumption of traditional media such as print and television.” 

Vibha, Sanjay Kumar, Jyoti Mishra from the CSDS spoke to Newslaundry’s Manisha Pande about a report titled ‘Media in India: Access, Practices, Concerns and Effects’. It was released by the Lokniti-CSDS and the India office of the German political foundation Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. 

“In southern states, people consume newspapers more. In northern India, there is a decline in the readership. However, it remains intact in south India,” Jyoti says while commenting on the data on newspaper readers. 

Sanjay Kumar, meanwhile, says that Doordarshan is now more trusted than private channels primarily due to “a high level of sensationalism” in the latter. 

The four discuss why TV news is still the most popular choice of consuming news, why news consumers prefer bulletins over news debates and the problem of polarisation in news. 

Watch.