Indian journalism, once considered a noble pursuit of truth, has arrived at a moment of deep crisis. It is no longer just the shrinking credibility of newsrooms or the increasing ideological bias in content that plagues the profession. The very pipeline that feeds the news industry—the journalism schools and young aspirants—are now being shaped by an environment that undermines the fundamentals of the craft.

Traditionally, journalism education was rooted in the five Ws: who, what, where, when, and why. These were the pillars upon which the profession stood, emphasizing objectivity, balance, and fact-based storytelling. However, in recent years, journalism schools have subtly begun signaling to students that taking an ideological position is not just acceptable but in many cases, advantageous. The logic is simple yet dangerous: to survive and thrive in polarized Indian newsrooms, one must align—either implicitly or explicitly—with the political and editorial stance of the organization.

This shift is now deeply embedded in the training culture. Aspiring journalists, eager to land internships and jobs, quickly observe that ideological conformity is often rewarded more than journalistic rigor. Instead of being encouraged to challenge power with questions, many are instructed—formally or informally—that editorial obedience and ideological alignment open more doors than fearless storytelling. The consequence is a generation of journalists who are more focused on maintaining favour with their employers than with the public they are meant to serve. The headlines, news selection, and even commentary seen today are stark reflections of this trend—often loud, polarizing, and selective, rarely focused on nuance or balanced perspectives.

The ideological bias in Indian media has also contaminated the academic institutions meant to uphold journalistic ethics. Many journalism schools across India have not only failed to resist this trend but have, knowingly or unknowingly, become enablers. With visiting faculty often drawn from practicing journalists who themselves have chosen sides, the classrooms have turned into ideological grooming centers rather than centers of inquiry and learning. This atmosphere is neither nurturing nor intellectually stimulating, and it certainly does not inspire courageous journalism.

At the same time, the journalism industry is confronting a second, equally formidable challenge: technology. Over the past decade, rapid technological evolution has altered nearly every newsroom. Newsrooms, which once employed layers of staff for reporting, editing, layout, production, packaging, and distribution, are now turning to automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to manage these tasks with fewer people.

AI tools today can write news stories, generate headlines, edit grammar, design page layouts, and even suggest visual elements. Chatbots and AI-based writing assistants are already replacing junior sub-editors and content creators in several newsrooms. With platforms like ChatGPT or Google`s Gemini, even a person without formal journalistic training but with basic language skills and internet literacy can produce reasonably good content. This emerging reality poses a direct threat to the traditional role of journalists, particularly those who have not been trained in or exposed to these technologies.

Unfortunately, most Indian journalism schools remain outdated in their curriculum. Courses continue to focus on conventional reporting formats, basic editing, and news writing, which is essential, but it requires much deeper integration of AI, machine learning (ML), data journalism, or automation tools in the syllabus. As a result, students graduating from these institutions are ill-equipped to meet the expectations of modern tech-savvy newsrooms. They are neither digitally savvy nor technologically prepared, and this skills gap leaves them vulnerable in an already unstable job market.

The economic stress facing media organizations compounds this issue. Many outlets are already operating under tight budgets and declining revenues. Cost-cutting has led to regular layoffs and the collapse of the once-sacrosanct idea of job security. In such an environment, hiring becomes extremely selective and unless young journalists bring in cross-functional skills—technology, data analytics, visual storytelling—they may not make the cut. Journalism is no longer just about writing or reporting; it’s about being a tech-enabled communicator who can manage a story from concept to dissemination across platforms.

What makes the situation graver is the steady migration of top-tier students away from journalism. The best minds are now entering fields like corporate communications, digital marketing, and content strategy. These sectors offer higher pay, better working conditions, and less ideological toxicity. They also recognize and reward creativity, strategic thinking, and research-based writing. Journalism, by contrast, appears to offer lower financial rewards, greater stress, and a culture that often demands ideological loyalty over merit.

Take for instance the case of a well-known digital marketing firm in Bangalore which recently recruited content creators with journalism backgrounds at twice the starting salary offered by legacy newspapers. Their job: to write well-researched, informative long-form content for business clients. No ideological framing was needed—only quality and originality. Meanwhile, a major Indian news organization laid off its entire digital copy desk, citing integration of AI tools and cost optimization.

This hollowing out of the journalism talent pool is creating a vicious cycle. With fewer bright minds entering the field, the overall quality of discourse suffers. Poor reporting, lazy editing, and shallow analysis erode public trust. The vacuum is often filled by unverified or sensationalist content, circulated through social media, which further blurs the line between information and propaganda. In the long run, this threatens not just the credibility of media but also the health of our democracy.

Media schools must urgently recognize their role in this ecosystem. They need to reimagine their mandate—not merely to place students in jobs but to prepare them for the journalism of the future. This requires a complete overhaul of the curriculum. AI, data visualization, digital storytelling, ethics in the age of misinformation, and tech-enabled investigative journalism should become core components. Collaboration with news tech companies, hands-on labs for AI content generation, and faculty training programmes are essential.

Yet, such reforms require vision, investment, and leadership—qualities that are currently in short supply in many educational institutions. Until this transformation takes place, journalism students will continue to be the victims of a system that is outdated at best and exploitative at worst. The tragedy is that this isn’t their fault. They enter journalism with passion and curiosity only to find themselves in a profession that is structurally unprepared to support or sustain them.

The future of Indian journalism depends not just on brave reporting but on building a pipeline of future-ready journalists. That pipeline starts in the classroom. Unless we repair what’s broken there, we may soon be left with a media landscape populated by ideological echo chambers, tech-driven content mills, and a generation of journalists who never learned what journalism really meant.

(The writer is the founder of www.nyoooz.com and a National Award-winning journalist for online news
innovation)