Abstract: From the early days of the rise of the Internet, the future of newspapers and the news media has been in question. What useful purpose would they serve in a situation in which individuals can interact and communicate with each other on their computers through bulletin boards, email, instant messaging, web portals, and the like? In recent years, smartphones, social media, podcasts, videocasts, and other apps have only made things easier for citizens and political and other organisations and businesses to send, post, discuss news and other issues of public interest.
In recent years, political leaders have claimed that they are using social media to reach their supporters and citizens directly without the intermediation of the controllers of the news media, who may have their own agendas. A new category called” influencers” has emerged who seek to shape opinion and direct action in fields as diverse as political commentary and stock market advisory to marketing products and services for businesses.
Faced with this radical challenge, it is no surprise that many people, including professionals and experts in the field, doubt whether newspapers and news media will survive, even a few years hence. All this has led to a re-examination of the nature of newspapers: their use, purpose, and mission, and how these are changing in these transformative times. Assuming they still serve a useful function and purpose, the question arises: what is to be done?
About the speaker: K N Hari Kumar is the former Editor-in-Chief of Deccan Herald and Prajavani and Chairman and Managing Director of The Printers (Mysore) Pvt Ltd, the company which owns and manages those publications. After completing his MA in Modern Indian History at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, he returned to Bengaluru in 1976 and joined the company in 1977.
Mr. Hari Kumar is a commentator on current affairs with a special focus on India and Karnataka. He has written news reports, analyses, opinion articles, etc in newspapers and other publications including the Economic and Political Weekly, Mainstream, The Hindu, Scroll, The India Forum. He has edited a book, Courts, Legislatures and Media Freedom (National Book Trust 2006).