Can Indian media houses join hands for justice?

After great popularity of ‘brand integration’, is media integration next in line? – Collaboration among media houses: Can Indian media follow suit?’ at Talk Journalism 2019 helped the audiences explore better. The panelist for the same were Rasmus Nielsen, Ritu Kapur, Nick Davies and Sachin Kalbag. The panel was moderated by HR Venkatesh. The session witnessed a concoction of pros and cons regarding the topic.

Introducing the topic, HR Venkatesh said that through the collaboration of Indian media houses, spread across different geographical regions, information regarding a common issue can be disseminated to a mass audience while catering to their linguistic needs.

There is an enormous amount of news publications and television networks present in India; hence, the potential for collaboration of media houses is infinite. “A lot of small publications face financial difficulties while covering stories which can be eliminated through collaboration with renowned media houses”, said Ritu Kapur, Co-founder and CEO of Quintillion Media.

“Digital Spaces, during their initial stage were struggling to get recognized. Since they started collaborating with established media houses, they rose to fame and are now doing better than other mediums”, Executive Editor, Hindustan Times, Sachin Kalbag informed.

There are several journalistic collaborations which have helped the truth to come to light across the globe. The most notable one is the Wiki-leaks which work on an international level. A Professor and Director, Reuters Institute, Oxford University, Rasmus Nielsen stated, “Collaborations attempt at breaking structures yet creating networks”

Collaborations have been decreasing on grounds of trust issues between media houses with regards to the ownership of the news.

“Collaboration can help different media houses stay united in spite of the governmental pressure enforced on them in matters of controversies regarding national issues. Not one but many voices are needed to make a difference”, said Nick Davies, a Senior Investigative Journalist.