Exit, voice, and compliance: portraits of journalistic agency within Indian newsrooms

The agency of journalists remains an under-explored topic in authoritarian settings, while the role of institutions in shaping their daily practice and perception of roles has been consistently researched. Responding to this gap in literature, this study takes journalists to be individuals with agency. As people who are tasked with finding out and presenting objective ‘truths’, journalists often confront a dissonance between the editorial line of their organisation and their personal beliefs on issues. In addition to the dissonance, they are often faced with multiple oppressions, involving multiple actors. This study, therefore, highlights how journalists exercise their agency in response to those constraining powers. In doing so, it reveals the coping strategies of journalists working in mainstream Indian media, taking the anti-CAA protests of 2019-2020 in New Delhi, India as its departure point. Following a Foucauldian approach, this research uses concepts such as power, oppression, and resistance to show how journalists interact with them.