ACJ Convocation: Norman Pearlstine says journalism will evolve in ways unclear but need for factual info will endure

Awardees at the ACJ Journalism Awards, 2024 along with Sashi Kumar Chairman, MDF & ACJ, Priya Menon, member award jury, Manoj Kumar Sonthalia Chairman and Managing Director, The New Indian Express Group, Norman Pearlstine Veteran American Journalist, N. Murali Trustee, MDF, Kalpana Sharma Chair, Award Jury, and Harikrishna Katragadda Member, Award Jury, in Chennai on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: R. Ravindran

Faced with restrictive government actions and the onslaught of technology and AI, journalism will evolve in a way yet unclear but the need for factual information will endure, veteran American journalist Norman Pearlstine said on Saturday.

“This information assists people in leading better lives through reporting that exposes wrongdoing and offers utility, guiding them toward success and happiness,” Mr. Pearlstine said, delivering the Lawrence Dana Pinkham Memorial Lecture 2025 at the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ).

Governments in both India and the U.S. – two of the world’s largest democracies – were becoming increasingly authoritarian and have sought to restrict press freedom; their attacks on journalists, along with unfounded claims of ‘fake news’, this has contributed to the decline of trust in the media, he emphasised, speaking at the convocation of the batch of 2024 of ACJ. “Democracy and press freedom are inextricably linked, and the struggle to preserve both in the face of government antipathy toward journalists and journalism is a greater problem today than at any time I can remember,” Mr. Pearlstine maintained.

Both governments, he said, pursued authoritarian control over the media and the actions of the leaders of both nations –– were being mirrored by supporters across the countries.

In 2024, Reporters Without Frontiers ranked India 151 out of 180 countries in the Press Freedom Index while the U.S. stood at 55, he said. While the U.S. was ranked better than India, it lagged behind several countries known for corruption and the ranking could fall further if President Trump continued to attack and demonise the press.

Touching upon the disruption caused by technology, Mr. Pearlstine said new technologies that have broadened the range of voices disseminating news have also resulted in greater fragmentation, increased misinformation, a decline in trust in government and journalism and a heightened inability to reach consensus on politics and policies. AI, he said, could assist publishers in saving money with streamlining of copy desks and quicker and more efficient fact checking.

N. Murali, Trustee, Media Development Foundation (MDF) and Director, The Hindu Group of Publications, said digital media has overtaken legacy media as a source for news. In this chaotic media scene, journalism did not represent diversity, pluralism and independence since media ownership is concentrated in the hands of a few business houses.

Sashi Kumar, Chairman, MDF and ACJ, said while the media has been facing external threats from increasingly authoritarian states, the business side, too, is at a crossroads since traditional revenue models were gradually running dry. Responding to the changing scenario and the advent of new technology, the ACJ, he said, has moved away from silos of print, broadcast and new media to an integrated media journalism curriculum, that is platform-neutral.

Manoj Kumar Sonthalia, Chairman and Managing Director, The New Indian Express Group, launched the ACJ Alumni Association’s website.

Nalini Rajan, Dean of Studies, ACJ, and Khushboo Narayan, Dean, ACJ-Bloomberg Programme, spoke.