Author Chetan Bhagat, NDTV's Rahul Kanwal Discuss Balanced Journalism, AI

Media organisations must learn to adapt their content to different platforms, stressing that content created for television cannot simply be republished on social media, NDTV Editor-in-Chief and CEO Rahul Kanwal said in a conversation with author Chetan Bhagat at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) conference in Mumbai.

Speaking during a session titled 'The New Economics of Media and Entertainment – Building India's Global Media Companies', held as part of the summit on October 15-16, Kanwal said that television content cannot simply be put on Instagram or X and expected to work in the same way.

He said that media organisations must understand how each platform works and change their content accordingly.

"We're in very interesting times, politically and also from the lens of the news media," he said, adding that many organisations were choosing sides or presenting themselves as revolutionaries.

"It's like, you know, there's a certain traditional Test cricket way of doing things, which is traditional broadcast media. And then there's a certain T20 way of doing things. A good batsman should be able to adjust to all formats," he added.

Kanwal said news organisations should not claim to be completely neutral or unbiased, as every person has their own views. Instead, they should make an effort to present different sides of a story.

"No one should say, I'm 100% neutral, I'm 100% unbiased, because frankly, no one's going to believe that," he said.

Kanwal added that organisations should have clear guidelines for journalists and editors to follow. When mistakes happen, they should acknowledge them, discuss what went wrong and work to prevent similar incidents in the future.

"It's an effort to try and tell all sides of the story, which is what I believe is core to the mission of journalism," he said.

Kanwal said news organisations need to speak the language of each platform. The way a story is presented on television may not work on Instagram or other social media platforms. Content must be planned and adapted to suit the audience and format of each platform.

"You can't take television content and just put it on Instagram or X. So it won't work," he said, adding that media organisations need to have a different approach on social media from the one they use on television.

He also spoke about the need to build an audience across platforms. He said for media companies, the aim should be to reach viewers through television, connected TV and digital platforms, rather than focus on just one medium.

However, Kanwal cautioned against relying too heavily on algorithms to reach audiences. He said that while platforms can help news organisations reach more people, media companies must not allow the demand for clicks and views to affect the quality of their journalism. "Sensational content may attract attention, but accuracy and trust remain important," he added.

He said while social media algorithms often favour extreme views, news organisations should not allow these systems to dictate their editorial decisions.

"You can't say I will talk the language of television on Instagram or I will talk the language of, say, the web on YouTube," he said. "These are different platforms. You have to customise content for those platforms."

Kanwal also discussed the challenges artificial intelligence poses for news organisations.

At a time when AI-generated content and deepfakes can make it harder for people to identify what is real, Kanwal mentioned that media companies need to focus on verification and credibility. "Trust in news reporting becomes particularly important when audiences have access to large amounts of content from different sources," he said.

Kanwal also raised the question of how media organisations should be paid when AI companies use their reporting and other content. He stressed the need for fair payment to news publishers whose work may be used to develop or support AI services.

He added that news organisations must check and double-check information before publishing it, particularly when there is pressure to break a story first.

"If you can put out good content in the language of Instagram, but you've checked it, you've verified it, you're putting it out after certain authentication, you can actually shine," he concluded.