Indian journalists: Personal passion, organisational dynamics and environmental forces

ABSTRACTIndia has witnessed an exponential growth in its news media in contrast to trends elsewhere, lending urgency to the study of its journalists. This article presents a profile of India's journalists, including their views on personal careers, organisational dynamics and the economic-political-technological forces impacting journalism, from interviews conducted with 145 journalists in New Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune. The project within which this study is situated had the common goal of comparing the views of journalists by online/offline media and by cities. For India, comparisons between online and offline journalists’ views were made minimally because independent online journalism is still in its infancy in India, resulting in the inclusion of a few journalists working mainly on online versions of offline news media. In fact, interviewees considered traditional news media more prestigious, employing reputed journalists and serving the watchdog function, and deemed online news media to be yo...