From Print to Pixels: The State of Journalism in South Asia with Kanak Mani Dixit and Sushant Singh
The event explores the dynamic transformation of the media landscape in South Asia which is divided by national boundaries but united in the challenges it faces. Kanak and Sushant discuss how traditional print journalism is adapting to the digital age, highlighting the challenges and opportunities presented by new technologies. The talk also delves into the impact of these changes on journalistic practices, the overall quality of news reporting in South Asia and its effect on democracy in the region.
Speakers
Kanak Mani Dixit, 68, is a writer and journalist as well as a civil rights and democracy activist. He is the Founding Editor of ‘Himal Southasian’ magazine and an active campaigner for subcontinental regionalism. He is active in the conservation of built heritage and open spaces. As heading Nepal’s only public bus transport company, Dixit is involved in developing a public transportation system for the Valley. A long-time trekker, Dixit also writes on themes related to travel, culture and environment. Having suffered from a fall while trekking in 2001, Dixit helped start the Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Centre. He heads the main archives of the Nepali language, the Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya. Believing in the power of non-fiction film, he helped start and chairs the Film Southasia Festival of Documentaries started in 1997. Dixit is also a translator, an author of political and geopolitical commentary, and a popular author of books for children. His writings are archived at www.kanakmanidixit.com.
Sushant Singh is an Indian journalist who is the Consulting Editor at The Caravan magazine in New Delhi. He co-founded The India Cable, a daily newsletter from India and is a columnist for The Telegraph (Kolkata) and The Morning Context. His work has recently appeared in many global publications, including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Walrus, Kiev Independent, and Tagesspiegel. He was earlier the Deputy Editor of The Indian Express newspaper in India where he covered strategic affairs and national security. In 2018 and 2019, he was awarded the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism.
Sushant was a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in India from 2020 to 2024. He was a visiting lecturer at Yale in Fall 2019 and the Henry Hart Rice Fellow in Fall 2021, returning as a lecturer in 2023. A former Indian military officer with two decades of uniformed service, he has worked as an Observer with the United Nations in Cote d’Ivoire. He is the author of “Mission Overseas: Daring Operations by the Indian Military” and the co-author of “Note by Note: The India Story 1947-2017”. He is currently working with Steven Wilkinson on a new book on India’s changing defense structure.