Anamika Chatterjee: The Battle for the Future of Journalism

Over the course of her impressive 16-year career, Anamika Chatterjee has worked for top newsrooms in India and the UAE, demonstrating her exceptional writing and editing abilities in both print and digital platforms.

Her expertise in journalism has led her to delve into a variety of topics, including books, arts, culture, and geopolitics. Her features on renowned authors, such as Pico Iyer and Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah, showcase her dedication to unearthing and understanding the individual behind the public persona. Anamika’s contributions to the field of journalism have been recognized at a global level, as evidenced by her selection for the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences Patna's TEDx event in 2021, where she discussed her mother’s battle with Alzheimer's during the pandemic.

Having worked at India Today and Tehelka (to name a few), Anamika’s dedication and passion for her work earned her a coveted role at Khaleej Times, where she currently serves as the Editor of the weekend magazine, in addition to heading the publication’s pioneering mobile storytelling project in Dubai. Her talent, combined with her unique perspective on the world, make her an essential voice in contemporary journalism.

In an insightful exchange with Machinelab, Anamika delves deep into journalism's future, examining the question of whether conventional journalistic practices can endure in a world where AI technology is rapidly gaining traction…

When did you realize you wanted to be a journalist?

My reasons for choosing journalism was to give a platform to my writing. I started with entertainment reporting at HT Media. I worked with a brilliant team of editors and peers. After my stint with entertainment journalism, I moved to India Today – one of the oldest magazines in the country, it has a legacy of its own. Working at India Today job gave me an eye for detail, exceptional discipline as a journalist – especially when it came to approaching and tackling a story, and immense respect for the legendary journalists I had the privilege of working with.

Journalists back then encompassed what it meant to be a ‘journalist’ in every sense of the word, something which seems almost non-existent today. How did working at India Today refine your approach to journalism?

I think the most important thing that a place like India Today taught me was to respect hierarchies. We had absolute legends as editors, the person who hired me for instance, was a legendary journalist. Each represented the best of the best in their particular beat. They had gone through the grind and expected no less than perfection. Being in that environment teaches you incredible humility and earthiness. Working there gave me a professional resilience which I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of.

Do you feel there’s a lack of resilience in today’s new crop of journalists?

Having done my Masters at one of the top journalism schools in the country, the Jamia Millia Islamia [in New Delhi], we were always told that journalism is not a profession but a calling…

That’s a philosophy in itself…

Over the years I’ve realized that jobs in journalism are not always the best paying jobs, the work-life balance goes off-kilter too – if you’re married and have children – it’s not the kind of job that expects you to draw those lines because breaking news can happen at any given moment. And now with social media, you’re connected all the time. So the reason you’ll get into journalism is because you love it so much that you’ll give a part of your life to fulfill the needs of the job. It’s more than a profession.

But that’s changing isn’t it, especially now with people thinking about mental health…

Yes, the culture of burnout is very real. In our part of the world, I don’t think people take a burnout very seriously – our previous generation says, ‘oh but we had it much worse,’ and they did! But then again they didn’t have the distractions and demands of technology. I mean we have to reconcile with the fact that ChatGPT can replace a human. They didn’t have to worry about this.

How do you feel about AI changing the media landscape?

The more scared we are of technology, the more we will distance ourselves from it. If technology is reducing the time taken for delivery, then you need to use it accordingly. I was reading an article recently and it stated that the human brain is unique in its ability to think, therefore not everything can be replicated by AI. We will always be compelled to reach out for a V.S Naipaul book because of its richness of thought and delivery for instance…

But given how rapidly AI technology is advancing, won’t it eventually start mimicking our thought patterns?

Absolutely, there will come a time when it will play a more important role. The future is inevitable. Whether we like an AI tool or not, the fact is that it’s able to carry out tasks more efficiently. Instead of being fearful of it, what gives me hope is that we can coexist with it – you need the human mind to be able to monitor AI’s output.

But as someone in the field of journalism, what worries me is that now you have an AI anchor, an AI podcast host, and so on! Today you can have an AI persona with zero human touch. But instead of fearing it, we have to look for ways in which we become the differentiators…

So the human-ness must be brought out even more now, more than ever…

Yes, for example, incisive line of questioning when it comes to interviews. Forget AI, not every human being can go through those depths of skilled interviewing. At the end of the day, it’s a very conscientious call, to limit the use of AI tools, you know. Media houses are operating in the age of information explosion, they’re constantly being confronted with the question of what makes them unique in terms of what’s already out there.

Do you think the line between journalism and PR has completely been obliterated?

What I find very interesting about feature stories, for instance, is that you’re required to deep dive into the subject, and when you deep dive into a subject, the critical thinking aspect is switched on. But such kind of journalism has to be supported by the reader – if you want us to be impartial and objective, invest in that kind of writing and thoughts. Invest in us. That’s why most publications are going behind a paywall.

And for us to retain our critical lens and not become a part of the PR machinery, we need the support of the readers who trust our voices. Like this, the division between journalism and PR can be maintained in the long-run.

In all these years in the newsroom, what are some of the main things you’ve learned as a seasoned journalist? What should the new generation of journalists keep in mind?

Younger journalists are now entering into a profession where they will not just be doing one thing – they’ll have to do many things all at once. And they’ll have to be prepared for it. While some aspects of the job are very visible – being in front of the camera for instance – the backend tasks are what will make you.

Also, we must keep in mind that the younger generation has been born into the digital age where everything is incredibly accelerated. What then becomes of one’s observational skills, which are imperative to be a good journalist. Hence, they need to slow down and understand that disconnecting is vital in being an effective journalist. You need time to process what you’re absorbing, you need time to flex your critical thinking skills, real journalism is not an instantaneous process.

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Photo courtesy of: Anamika Chatterjee

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