Platformisation and the Indian news media: A qualitative exploration of Indian journalists’ perception on platformisation with respect to news production and distribution practices

The news media industry in the Indian subcontinent has sustained a relatively steady growth in newspaper sales and readership and shares almost every challenge with its global counterparts when it comes to the change in production and distribution models. This is largely due to the growth of platforms that have displaced the traditional news-making practices. This research aimed to explore the perceptions of Indian journalists on platformisation with regards to news production and distribution, the changing newsroom practices and the use and effects of algorithms and automation. There was a thematic analysis conducted on ten in-depth interviews with Indian journalists who are presently working with Indian news organisations. The analysis revealed that these journalists are concerned about the reaction-driven and outrage-inducing content on the platforms, the increase in the spread of misinformation and the prevalence of hyper information. They were distinctly aware of the interference of platforms in their day-to-day practices and the dependency on views or clicks for revenue, and the control that has on the content created by them. There has been a rise in alternative journalistic practices, which include citizen journalists, freelancers and any individual with a large following on social platforms. These also include journalists who now have an influencerlike status that can impact people's opinions. Furthermore, despite these changing practices, Indian journalism seems to have reverted to the use of conventional journalistic practices that were prevalent in legacy news media organisations. They seemed to agree that the profession would continue to evolve no matter the medium and must serve the public. The inescapability of platforms and their impact or editorial autonomy was also noted, as was the impact from Covid19 on news publications and organisations. To add to this, there still exists a preference for print journalism in India causing a divide between digital and print teams and thereby a succinct knowledge gap between the roles and tasks of the journalists who are part of these teams. This has also been cited as the reason behind Indian news organisations' slow adaptation to platformisation. Lastly, Indian journalists associated platforms with the business and economic side of the news organisation and at times simply an extension of their daily work. They maintained that the use and purpose of platforms were dependent on the person using them and at the same time, took cognisance of the positive attributes of platformisation. Thus, the findings of the research had some similar themes to studies done on platformisation and news media, and also provided some additional insight. The study has relevant theoretical and practical implications on platform studies, journalism studies and news production and distribution practices in India.