Watch: The topics that Indian audiences, media avoid

The media landscape is undergoing a paradigm shift – with declining interest in news, dwindling trust in media outlets and selective news avoidance among the audience, according to the annual Digital News Report released by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. 

In a discussion organised by Newslaundry and the Reuters Institute, a panel comprising Rasmus Kleis Nielsen of the Reuters Institute, Jahnavi Sen of the Wire, freelance journalist Ankur Paliwal and Senthalir Sivalingam of PARI spoke about the key findings of the report. It was moderated by Mitali Mukherjee, director of journalist programmes at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University.    

Senthalir Sivalingam of PARI said selective news avoidance is a phenomenon not just among consumers but also the news media. She said the legacy media writes about caste only in reports on crime and that 60 percent of the population lives in rural India but is not written about.

Detailing the topics respondents avoid and the stories that interest them, Rasmus Kleis Nielsen said respondents were more intrigued by what is working around them rather than what is not. 

India, according to the report, has a higher percentage of selective news avoidance against the global average of 36 percent. Well over 60 percent of respondents in India criticised the work of journalists and the news media, it said. 

Watch.