49. Risks and Challenges of Digital Journalism/Journalists

The devastating Covid-19 pandemic destroyed lives and livelihoods, closed down international borders and induced domestic lockdowns. But, it forced the human race to rethink and recalibrate on every aspect of life. Several lessons learnt through this period of collective human suffering will continue to impact strategic, social to economic decisions moving forward. As the world braces up to face the real financial impact of the pandemic with fears of recession and slowdowns looming, work from home to other cost-cutting practices across industries have become common place. As a reflection of society, these trends will prominently show in the media and news industry too which had to experiment massively with technology to tell stories and report amid catastrophic covid waves and severe lockdowns. Over the past few years, MoJo or mobile journalism has made it easier and cheaper to report on developing news and tell stories. It became the perfect tool to help the mushrooming digital platforms create content with small young teams. MoJo also became the need of the hour for journalists on the ground covering the Covid pandemic worldwide. But, the risks involved are real when you operate as a one person team on the ground under high-pressure situations. The chapter will explore the challenges of mobile journalism as well as key risks involved for online platforms today in these polarising times. It will additionally seek to look into the fundamental question—whether digital journalism has democratised the newsroom or diluted the quality of traditional journalism. Laced with anecdotal memories from the author’s travels and ground reportage of two decades, the chapter seeks to give a practical view of the transition of traditional newsrooms, digital challenges today as well as some useful on ground tips to decode MoJo.