Teaching Digital Journalism in Indian Classrooms: Curricular and Pedagogical Perspectives

The proliferation of the internet and the digitalisation of text, video and audio has given rise to digital content which is accessible to the users on mobile phones, tabs, laptops and television sets. This accessibility has blurred the lines between the private and public spheres in the larger network society. The traditional model of one-to-many communication has transformed into many-to-many communication, which has further altered the practice of journalism. The role of the journalists and the audience has changed significantly in this context. The processes of newsgathering, production and distribution have been digitised and the rise of social networking sites has reconfigured the role of journalists and journalistic organisations as gatekeepers. These news actors disseminate news via social media platforms. Desktop publishing, digital video cameras, video/text editing software and computerised graphics/animation have also made the news production processes relatively affordable. The transformation of news distribution and consumption practices shaped by interactivity has led audiences to become active participants in news consumption who also store, alter and share the news. This audience performativity, thus, is active and agentic. This transformed ecology of journalism practices has had a deep and profound impact on journalism education. This chapter aims to study the redefined paradigm of journalism education in Indian classrooms in the context of digital journalism practices over the last decade. The chapter will study the evolution of digital journalism curricula from a theoretical and praxis-based lens. It will also map the trajectory of pedagogical practices that have shaped the teaching of digital journalism in Indian classrooms. This would be done through a detailed analysis of curriculum sourced from the leading journalism schools in the country. The analysis will be complemented with insights from some personal conversations with journalism faculty members, students and working journalists. The chapter also aims to build a framework for future directions in teaching digital journalism in Indian classrooms through this study.