The study “Reluctant Journalism: How Indian Journalists Navigate the Role Conception-Performance Gap in a Polarized Media Landscape” by Anilesh Kumar from Hong Kong Baptist University and Prashanth Bhat from University of Houston conducted interviews with 25 journalists associated with India’s Republic TV on their perspectives about their role and the pressures of producing polarizing content.
In India, the newsrooms face a market sensationalist and nationalistic turn, which has raised concerns about their role in the democracy. The nationalist narratives in India are shaped Hindu majoritarianism, populist politics, and pro-government messaging, according to Kumar and Bhat’s (the authors) earlier research (2025).
Television news, in particular, have become increasingly jingoistic, and some channels have adopted positions close to state politics. For journalists, this often means adopting ““professional realism” – reconciling internal values with external demands.
The research questions that guided this research were:
RQ1. How do journalists in nationalist newsrooms reconcile their ideals with their work in constructing nationalist narratives?
RQ2. To what extent does the pressure to create polarizing content affect journalists’ perceptions of their professional identity?
Three main themes emerged from the interviews. They were termed: “(i) dissociated association with nationalist narratives (ii) polarizing journalism for polarized times and (iii) journalism as a routine job.” The first was the most prevalent.
Dissociated association means that the journalists disagreed with what they do, and what they believed should be done. Thus, they demonstrated discontent with their roles and commitment to journalistic ideals. Many expressed nostalgia for journalism as a public service.
The theme of polarizing journalism for polarized times refers to the fact that the participants felt that the rise of nationalism in media narratives coincided with broader polarization of Indian society. One interviewee felt that this polarization was linked with the advent of social media.
Journalism as a routine job – theme captured the resentment and fatigue amongst the journalists as journalism has become more and more aligned with the interests of the government. They no longer viewed themselves as agents of change, but had resigned to viewing their work as a “routine job”.
There were also broader issues at work, such as the strategic focus on polarizing content by Republic TV. For example, the demand for divisive narratives in regards for example the “Muslim question” called journalists to work more through “us vs. them” narratives rather than objective reporters.
Overall, the study contributed to theories of journalistic autonomy by presenting a case of how professional realism serves as a coping strategy in nationalist newsrooms. However, the authors were concerned about the effect to India’s democracy and potential exodus of journalists to other countries.
The article “Reluctant Journalism: How Indian Journalists Navigate the Role Conception-Performance Gap in a Polarized Media Landscape” by Anilesh Kumar and Prashanth Bhat is in Journalism Practice. (Free abstract).
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