In India and across the world, journalists are finding that they must please a robot before they can get their story to an audience.
An editor tells a reporter the algorithm liked their story. (Illustration by News Decoder)
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The message arrived in a WhatsApp group filled with aspiring journalists.
“Female reporters wanted. Freshers can apply. No journalism degree required.”
For a young journalism graduate from Kashmir region of India, it felt like the opportunity she had spent years waiting for. Mehak Bilal had entered journalism hoping to tell stories from one of the world’s most militarised and misunderstood regions — a place where everyday lives are often overshadowed by headlines about conflict.
“I thought journalism meant representing my community and giving voice to people whose experiences are ignored,” Bilal said.
Instead, within weeks of joining a social media-based news platform, she discovered she had entered something very different from the newsroom she had imagined and trained for.
There were no editors debating story ideas, no newsroom meetings, no written contracts and no training on ethics, verification or media law. Her performance was measured almost entirely by one metric: views.
Cyber newsrooms
Across India, particularly in digitally-connected regions such as Delhi and Kashmir, hundreds of Instagram pages, Facebook channels and YouTube-based “newsrooms” have emerged in recent years.
Presenting themselves as digital news organisations, these platforms have created new opportunities for young reporters at a time when traditional newsroom jobs are shrinking. But interviews with women journalists suggest many operate without editorial standards, labour protections or institutional safeguards.
Journalists are expected to produce as many as five stories a day. And they often face relentless online harassment without any support from their employers.
For Tabia Aslam, earning a journalism degree in Kashmir meant overcoming family fears as much as academic challenges. It was difficult convincing her parents to let her study journalism because they viewed the profession as dangerous in a conflict region.
“I believed journalism was about representing my community and telling stories that people outside Kashmir rarely hear,” Aslam said.
The algorithm as editor
University classrooms taught her ethics, accountability and the importance of questioning those in power. But when she joined a newsroom as an intern, she says the ideals she had learned quickly collided with reality.
“I asked an official a question that was ethically correct and exactly what we had been taught in college,” she said. “After the interview, my cameraperson complained to the editor. The next day my editor called me and said, ‘If you can’t work like this, then leave.’ That was the moment I realised that even asking the right question could cost you your career.”
She left the internship within weeks.
“Today many editors care more about Facebook and Instagram views than whether young reporters are learning journalism,” she said. “We are expected to produce three stories a day, no matter the quality. I entered this profession to serve the public, but many platforms measure success only through engagement. That has made many young journalists lose faith in the profession.”
Unlike traditional newsrooms, where editors decide which stories deserve attention through verification, editorial judgement and public interest, many digital-first platforms allow social media algorithms to shape editorial priorities.
For reporters, success is increasingly measured through likes, comments, shares and watch time.
Counting the clicks
Reporter Toha BashirI said she was given bonuses if a video she produced registered a certain number of views. Playing to the algorithm even affected how she was expected to dress and what questions to ask in interviews.
She said that the pressure to attract viewers extends beyond story selection.
“My editor told me not to wear a hijab or an abaya while reporting because, according to him, it wouldn’t attract viewers,” Bashir said. “They decide everything — our dress, where we stand, what questions we ask and sometimes even how we should speak on camera.”
She believes that stories are often chosen because they are emotionally charged rather than because they serve the public interest.
“Sometimes we are told to interview people who appear mentally distressed because those videos receive more engagement,” Mehraj said. “Whether the story has any public value becomes secondary. The priority is whether people will watch.”
These accounts have not been independently verified, and many of the page owners did not want to tell anything about this. One of the local social media page owners said this is a trend and we only follow trends. He says only few have professional degrees and nobody knows them.
The gatekeepers are gone.
For the young reporters, the profession they dreamed about has become almost unrecognisable.
In the past, editors acted as journalism’s gatekeepers, deciding which stories mattered based on evidence, public interest and professional ethics.
Today, many reporters say that role has increasingly been assumed by recommendation algorithms — software designed not to identify what is important, but what is most likely to keep audiences scrolling.
In this new economy of attention, journalism risks becoming just another form of content creation. Around the world, journalism is being reshaped by platform algorithms, shrinking newsroom budgets and the growing expectation that reporters should also be creators, influencers and entrepreneurs.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the world’s largest organisation representing more than 600,000 journalists in more than 140 countries, has repeatedly warned that digital platforms have fundamentally altered newsroom expectations.
New protections are needed.
While social media has expanded opportunities for reporters to reach audiences directly, the federation says employers have failed to provide adequate protections for journalists navigating increasingly hostile online spaces.
The IFJ has urged media organisations to adopt newsroom-wide social media policies, provide digital safety training and treat online abuse as a workplace issue rather than an individual’s responsibility.
The organisation has also found that many women journalists either never report online harassment or receive little institutional support after doing so, highlighting the lack of protection in an increasingly digital profession.
The pressures described by the IFJ closely mirror the experiences of the women interviewed for this story. Their salaries are tied to engagement. Their appearance is scrutinised. Their professional judgment is frequently overridden by the pursuit of clicks, likes and shares. Researchers say these are symptoms of a larger transformation in journalism itself.
The Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, which tracks global trends in journalism, has documented how reporters are increasingly expected to build personal brands across Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and X while simultaneously producing journalism.
Media by metric
As news organisations compete for audience attention on digital platforms, metrics such as engagement and follower growth are increasingly influencing editorial strategy.
The result, Nieman researchers argue, is that the boundaries between journalism, influencer culture and content creation are becoming blurred. Reporters are no longer evaluated solely on the quality of their reporting but also on their online visibility and ability to attract audiences. The consequences are particularly severe for women.
According to a 2020 study by UNESCO and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), 73% of women journalists worldwide have experienced online violence while carrying out their work.
The abuse ranges from misogynistic insults and coordinated trolling to threats of rape and death.
Many respondents said the harassment had affected their mental health, professional confidence and editorial decisions, with some avoiding controversial subjects altogether or reducing their online presence.
Targets of harrassment
A more recent global survey by UN Women suggests the problem is worsening. Three out of every four women journalists reported experiencing online violence, while 42% said the abuse later escalated into offline harassment or physical threats, demonstrating that digital attacks increasingly translate into real-world risks.
The shift extends beyond India.
During Bangladesh’s 2024 student-led protests, citizen journalists and street reporters played an important role documenting demonstrations that were sometimes overlooked by mainstream media.
Smartphones allowed ordinary citizens to broadcast events in real time, demonstrating how social media can strengthen public-interest reporting when traditional institutions are constrained.
Yet the same technologies have also fuelled a parallel ecosystem where viral content often overshadows verified reporting. In Nepal, many young women who entered journalism have gradually shifted towards content creation because it offers greater financial stability.
Compromising on ethics
One Nepalese journalist left the profession after repeatedly being asked to compromise ethical standards. Instead, she became a travel content creator who writes about nature, not news.
“Many times I was told to do things that were not ethically right,” she said. “If I can’t do justice to my education and profession, what is the point? Content creation pays better, but journalism should never become entertainment.”
Senior editors across the region believe social media journalism has undoubtedly expanded access to information, particularly in underserved communities where mainstream media rarely invest resources. But they argue that journalism cannot survive without editorial accountability.
Surav Yadav, a senior editor based in New Delhi said that citizen and street journalism have an important role in documenting everyday life and amplifying local voices, but professional journalism requires verification, ethics and public responsibility.
“Anyone can switch on a camera and upload videos,” Yadav said. “But journalism is one of democracy’s pillars. Stronger policies are needed to ensure that platforms presenting themselves as news organisations follow professional standards instead of simply chasing engagement.”
Protecting the next generation of journalists
The rapid expansion of India’s social media newsrooms has undoubtedly created opportunities for thousands of young people who might otherwise never enter journalism.
For many graduates facing a shrinking job market, these platforms provide their first chance to hold a microphone, report from the field and reach audiences. Yet opportunity without protection comes at a cost.
When algorithms determine editorial priorities, appearance influences professional success and salaries depend on viral engagement, journalism risks drifting away from its traditional purpose of informing the public.
The women interviewed for this story insist they are not opposed to digital journalism. They welcome new technologies, social media storytelling and direct engagement with audiences.
What concerns them is the disappearance of the editorial values that once distinguished journalism from entertainment. As platforms increasingly replace publishers as the gateways to information, the question confronting journalism is no longer simply how news will be distributed.
It is who — or what — will decide which stories deserve to be told. For generations, that responsibility belonged to editors guided by ethics, verification and public interest. Today, many young journalists fear that responsibility is quietly being transferred to algorithms optimised not for truth, but for attention.
And if that transition continues unchecked, the future of journalism may depend less on those who report the news than on the invisible systems deciding what the world chooses to watch.
Questions to consider:
1. What is an algorithm and why is it important in what you get on social media?
2. Do you think a robot is a better judge of what you want than a human editor?
3. Can you think of a time when someone told you that no one would be interested in a story you wanted to tell?
Seerat-un-Nisa is a freelance journalist based in India. She covers environment, climate change, women’s empowerment and education.