NDTV is reshaping newsroom around multimedia and editorial plurality: Rahul Kanwal

NDTV is reshaping its newsroom around a multi-platform, impact-led model that combines decentralised editorial judgement, greater investment in core reporting and extensive use of artificial intelligence at the back end, CEO and Editor-in-Chief Rahul Kanwal told exchange4media in his first major interview since taking charge.

At the centre of the strategy, Kanwal said, is an effort to strengthen journalism and storytelling across Hindi, English, regional channels and business news. “That is the core, it is the most important part of what we do, and it receives the bulk of our resources, energy and effort,” he said.

Kanwal said the network is applying a 360-degree multimedia approach spanning television, YouTube, digital and social media. The newsroom’s output, he added, must create an impact that is visible across Instagram, X, LinkedIn, television and YouTube. The first priority in rebuilding NDTV, he said, has therefore been to ensure that its journalism connects with audiences, followed by strengthening its presence on YouTube, social media and digital platforms.

The editorial structure being envisaged is deliberately plural rather than centrally scripted. Describing NDTV as a “big tent of ideas, opinions and shades”, Kanwal said editors, anchors and reporters should be able to bring different perspectives to a story. He rejected the practice of an Editor-in-Chief determining a common line that every journalist must repeat.

“Reporters must report what they see around them; their journalism should not be dictated by someone sitting in an air-conditioned studio,” Kanwal said. A central command circulating a line on WhatsApp for everyone to echo, he added, “is not journalism. It is propaganda.”

This approach, according to Kanwal, also requires getting senior newsroom talent out of studios and onto the ground. Referring to NDTV’s coverage of the NEET protests, he said the network deployed its anchors, editors and reporters at Jantar Mantar to listen to protesters and amplify their concerns, while also reporting violence where it occurred. Journalism, he said, should neither reflexively support the government nor automatically side with protesters, but examine competing claims and report all sides.

AI will play a substantial role in the operating model, but primarily behind the scenes. NDTV is using it in news processes, graphics, editing and the repurposing of content into different formats, including vertical and horizontal video. Kanwal, however, ruled out AI anchors, arguing that the final delivery of news must remain human because audience trust is built around real journalists and their judgement.

His decision to stay away from a daily anchor role is also part of the newsroom design. Kanwal said an Editor-in-Chief who anchors a prime-time show risks concentrating a disproportionate amount of newsroom energy on that programme. His focus, he said, is instead on guiding the larger organisation and hiring people “smarter than I am” who can build strong individual brands.

The strategy ultimately brings television, app, website and social platforms under “one NDTV—one brand and one identity”, with trust, direct audience relationships and credible reporting forming the connective tissue.