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Event Report

Is COVID-19 Transforming Journalism?

July 26, 2020

NIICE Nepal organized the talk on "Is COVID-19 Transforming Journalism" and invited Prof. Shyam Tekwani for the event. Shyam Tekwani is professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies where he specializes in political violence, terrorism and counterterrorism; security dynamics of South Asia and the role of media in security. His research interests include the role of media in conflict, new media and security sector reforms. Professor Tekwani’s extensive background in the media as a journalist reporting conflict and insurgency in the Indo-Asia Pacific includes his exclusive reportage of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka which he covered exhaustively since its inception in 1983. His move to academics converged with the parallel shift of insurgencies and propaganda to the Internet in the early-90s and his early academic work focused on the use of new media technologies by terrorists and insurgent groups. Professor Tekwani has been studying terrorism and insurgency for over thirty-five years. He has taught courses and lectured widely across countries at universities and institutions, including the last decade at the School of Communication Studies in the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. A native of India, Professor Tekwani earned a B.A.(Honors) in history and comparative religion from Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, and an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in Photography from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore. Professor Tekwani has authored and co-authored several books, book chapters, articles and opinion pieces. Some of his publications include: (ed.) Media and Conflict Reporting in Asia (2008); “Online Networks of Terrorist Groups and their implications for Security: A Case Study of Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (2007)”; “Embedded Journalists – lessons from the Iraq War”(2005); “The Internet in the 2004 Sri Lankan Elections” (with Randy Kluver, 2007); “Two Indias: The Role of the Internet in the 2004 National Elections” (with Kavitha Shetty,2007); “The Media, Information Revolution and Terrorism in Southeast Asia”(2004); and “The Tamil Diaspora, Tamil Militancy, and the Internet” (2003). Professor Tekwani is currently completing his book, Serendip to Sri Lanka on the Tamil Tigers and the ethnic war in Sri Lanka.

The fatal COVID-19 virus has not spared any sector and has brought a huge transformation in all sectors, including journalism. This, however, is inevitable in a constantly developing world and such levels of transformation varies from country to country.

In his opening remarks, Prof Tekwani placed before us four pointers that has summarized the whole conundrum in short. These are mentioned as follows: COVID-19 is indefinitely transforming journalism; This transformation has led to a large spread of fake news; There are greater safety risks for on field journalists; The media is threatened because of lack of ethics in journalism.

Over the course of the webinar, Prof. Tekwani elaborated on these points and had a fulfilling conversation with aspiring as well as practicing journalists in today’s post COVID scenario.

It is apparent that the print media was the most affected by the emergence of the COVID-19 virus, due to its factor in easily transmitting the virus by way of newspapers and magazines being delivered to your houses. There has been a generational change in the field of journalism after CIVID-19, claims Prof. Tekwani.

Moreover, after the emergence of COVID-19, the volume of information around the globe has increased by ten times, making it extremely difficult to check facts. This has led to a world where it is difficult to differentiate between authentic and fake news, leading us towards a bad example of journalism ethics.

It was interestingly brought up by Prof. Tekwani, that crisis situations in the field of journalism is not at all new. After every crisis, the industry transformed drastically, but always stood up and moved forward with the dynamic world. COVID-19 is no different. To quote an example, Prof. Tekwani relied on the 9/11 attacks that happened in the United States, wherein the journalists in the field struggled to provide authentic news due to the plethora of fake information and news circulation. What is most saddening, according to the speaker, is the fact that people from the journalism industry itself are encouraging the spread of fake news and disinformation just in order to gain visibility and clicks.

However, this attitude of the new media has left the general public scared with no open windows to breathe through. One of the golden rules of journalism, as Prof. Tekwani stated, is to remain honest throughout the process to represent a media one can trust. Thus, instead of abandoning its job to be honest, the media should focus on creating a more trustworthy industry wherein the limits and ethics of journalism have been clearly defined. This would not only help the journalism as an industry, but it will also play a big role in reducing uncalled panic amongst the general public.

One of the most shocking facts that has been revealed by Prof. Tekwani is the inevitable fact that 1/3^rd of the journalists will be losing their jobs in the industry due to recession after the pandemic. This is largely because the COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged social distancing and virtual media the most, rather than print media houses. The journalism industry, however, is constantly changing in this dynamic order of world.

Prepared by Poulomi Chatterjee, Intern at NIICE, Nepal