Role of Digital Journalism in Rural Development

Digital journalism defined primarily as news produced for a digital environment (Deuze & Witschge, Deuze and Witschge, Journalism 19:165–181, 2018) has resulted in coverage of multiple innovations, entrepreneurship, new practices and success stories of small revolutions that shape the changing rural landscape. With specific case studies from the government, corporate, NGOs and specialised news agencies in rural India, this chapter traces how rural reporting in recent years has grown and contributed to the country’s development. Based on secondary data analysis and study of archives of digital media portals dedicated to rural reporting,  it highlight the efforts put by government and businesses under corporate social responsibility (CSR) foundations and the work of some agencies like 101 reporters, Gaon Connection and PARI (People’s Archive of Rural India) who have carved a niche in rural reporting in India.