The challenge is not disruption, the challenge is trust: Bhupendra Chaubey 

Delivering a keynote address at the e4m NewsNext Summit 2025, Bhupendra Chaubey, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Squirrels, called trust and credibility the single biggest challenge confronting Indian media today, arguing that the problem is not the death of legacy platforms but the failure to adapt to a rapidly democratised content ecosystem.

Reflecting on why the same questions return year after year at industry forums, Chaubey said, “In one simple word, it’s about trust, it’s about credibility,” adding that this challenge continues to haunt the media business irrespective of format or platform.

Drawing from his own career trajectory, Chaubey explained his decision to move away from television after nearly two decades across NDTV and Network18, including a long stint leading CNN-News18. “I belong to that section of journalists who’ve moved on from television, identified what the problems were, and decided to chart out my own path,” he said, describing entrepreneurship in media as rewarding but deeply demanding.

Calling out the romanticised narrative around media startups, Chaubey remarked, “Startups make for a great headline, but they really test you. They challenge you and force you to look for solutions out of the box.” According to him, this willingness to experiment is what fundamentally differentiates new-age media from legacy institutions.

Positioning technology at the heart of modern journalism, Chaubey asserted, “The present of the media belongs to technology,” recalling how early in his career he could spend an entire month on a single story with a full production unit, a luxury no longer imaginable in today’s market-driven ecosystem.

Rejecting the narrative that television or news as a business is broken, Chaubey argued that power has simply shifted. “The power which exists today with a YouTuber is perhaps greater than the power which may exist with someone sitting in a studio,” he said, adding that credible storytellers with genuine content are now matching, and in some cases surpassing, traditional broadcast influence.

He noted that the era of volume-driven journalism has ended. “Earlier, it was about how much news you produce. Today, the emphasis is on whether the content is worth someone’s time,” Chaubey said, pointing to platforms like Soch and Think School as examples of how high-quality, information-led storytelling is reshaping audience expectations.

Critiquing newsroom gatekeeping, Chaubey observed, “That era of five editors sitting together deciding the big headline is firmly gone.” He added that meaningful political and policy discourse is increasingly shifting away from television studios to digital-first formats globally, including in markets like the US and Europe.

On opinion-led programming, Chaubey was blunt. “Opinion is cheap and opinion is free,” he said, arguing that audiences are no longer willing to invest time in content that offers commentary without information or data-driven value.

He also highlighted how consumption patterns have changed fundamentally. “You’re sitting in a car or a metro, scrolling down,” Chaubey said, stressing that unless content earns attention in vertical, mobile-first feeds, legacy credentials and past designations offer no protection.

Concluding his address with a sharp provocation, Chaubey questioned the media’s misplaced outrage priorities. Referring to recent comments by the Union Environment Minister on air quality, he asked, “How is it possible that in a country with 800 news channels, such a statement can be made and it does not outrage us?” He urged the industry to reflect on why it fails to outrage over fundamental issues like clean air, while routinely mobilising anger over less consequential subjects.