By Krishnanshu Panda –
Featured photo: Shishir Agarwal on ground in rural areas of Madhya Pradesh. P.C. Ground Report
During the 2024 heatwave in northern India, journalist Anumeha Yadav visited Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital to report on the new heat ward and the surge in heatstroke cases. She found that most patients were daily wage workers fighting a lone battle far from home. The hospital register only showed their names with barely any addresses against their records, since few were from Delhi. The news story, which garnered tens of thousands of views, was published in The Migration Story, an Indian news startup.
“That story was among our most-read stories because the reporter visited the hospital and identified who the patients were and where they came from,” said Roli Srivastava, founder of The Migration Story, which covers India’s vast internal migrant workforce. She noted that the heatwave story’s success stemmed from telling human stories of climate change rather than just reporting record high temperatures.
In 2024, India had about 398 million rural internet users, according to the country’s Ministry of Communication, showing a significant digital penetration in rural regions. “Liberal and reformist government policies and rising consumer demand have driven India’s telecom boom, paving the way for digital journalism and rural reporting over the past decade,” said Akanksha Shukla, associate professor at the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.
Another digital news platform driving impact with grassroots reporting is Ground Report, founded by Pallav Jain and Komal Badodekar. It reports on environmental issues from the margins of India, especially in Madhya Pradesh state.
“We decided to visit villages to understand people’s daily struggles with the motive to do grassroots journalism, not TRP [Television Rating Point] journalism,” said Wahid Bhat, associate editor at Ground Report. Launching the news platform came with challenges and team members had to spend from their own pockets to report on stories.
Deviating from the Mainstream
“The people who want to do grassroots journalism have identified that the financial structure of big newsrooms does not allow for it. With cheaper internet, a new space is being created for it,” said Shishir Agrawal, hindi editor at Ground Report. Startups like Ground Report and The Migration Story are only a few on the growing list, which includes People’s Archive of Rural India, 101Reporters, Village Square and East Mojo. Shukla notes in the Handbook of Digital Journalism that the establishment of Gaon Connection in 2012 by Neelesh Mishra paved the way for this phenomenon. “Digital news startups are seeing saturation in urban settings; hence, they are moving to rural areas, not for philanthropy but due to the growth potential,” she added.
Ground and rural reporting are also mainstays on The Migration Story website, which publishes nearly 10 to 12 stories every month. Roli Srivastava pointed out, “Grassroots reporting is critical for us, we wouldn’t be The Migration Story if we weren’t doing ground reports.” As mainstream media continues to focus on beats like crime and politics, these startups are making a nuanced space for themselves.
According to Srivastava, the journalism industry in India offered a mixed bag, “If mainstream newspapers are talking crime and politics, we come in with ground reports. Even if mainstream print media does not focus on ground reports, it does not turn them into villains.”
Holding the Fort amid Declining Press Freedom
Deviating from mainstream narratives and holding power accountable often comes at a cost. The Indian Media Trends and Patterns report 2023, released by Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, showed that 78% of the digital journalists who were surveyed had faced online harassment multiple times.
“There has definitely been an increase in harassment of journalists, with a disproportionate targeting of women journalists and journalists from minority communities. Anybody giving an opinion dissenting from the mainstream view is an easy target,” said Prasanth Sugathan, legal director at Software Freedom Law Centre, a legal services organization dedicated to defending digital freedom.
With journalists from digital news startups facing the brunt of harassment, the problems go beyond online abuse and hate. For Shishir Agrawal, reporting from the Meghnagar Industrial area in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, turned hostile. “I spent about eight or nine hours with two sources reporting on water pollution,” he recounts. “Suddenly, we realised 10 to 12 people were following us. When we tried to leave, they surrounded us. We had to run away.”
Many ground reporters across the country face physical violence, hostility and digital harassment like doxxing. Wahid Bhat is an Earth Journalism Network grantee associated with USAID. “Recently, people on social media circulated a list of journalists selected by the Earth Journalism Network, which included my name along with a colleague’s,” he said. Bhat’s name was highlighted on social media as a Kashmiri Muslim, accusing him of receiving funds from the US and working for them in India. “These things happen and you can’t change them.”
Sugathan added, “When it comes to doxxing, it can escalate online abuse into real-world threats and violence. Constant online trolling and abuse can also affect journalists’ ability to tell these stories on digital platforms.”
In such cases, journalists could set the criminal law in motion by registering a complaint with the police. But these measures are often ineffective. “In many cases, when these attacks are from anonymous handles, even police find it difficult to track them. Especially for independent journalists, not backed by an organization, it requires a lot of resources, creating a big problem.”
Mitigating the Threats and Driving Impact
The World Press Freedom Index 2025, recently released by Reporters Without Borders, classified the global state of press freedom as a “difficult situation” for the first time in the index’s history. Despite an improvement by eight points, India still ranked 151 out of 180 nations. As violence against journalists grows, newsrooms, especially digital news startups, are taking measures to mitigate harassment and threats.
The Migration Story said that they made sure that basic principles of journalism were followed, like contacting government officials and giving them time to respond. “We ensure that we send the email for an official response early. We uphold the right to reply, we are very particular that we won’t carry a story without an official version,” Srivastava added.
Ground Report established a system where editors check with reporters every evening to know if they have faced any issues. “When I go somewhere, I share my location with my editors so they know where to come and find me if I am not responding during the evening check,” said Agrawal.
The Software Freedom Law Centre has created several resources that citizens and journalists can access to train on mitigating various forms of harassment. “We have created a network of lawyers called the Digital Defenders Network. Spread across India, we provide them training on digital rights issues and what can be done,” said Sugathan.
Despite the many obstacles, stories published by digital news startups are leading to an impact on the ground. In 2024, the Ground Report produced a two-part video about fishermen losing their livelihood due to the floating solar project in Omkareshwar. “Within 15 days of publishing that, local administration and a US-based organization in India reached out, wanting to help the affected people,” shared Bhat. “When we see people talking about our reports and the government acting on them, we feel like pushing more and doing better. That is why we are still surviving.”
Edited by Nikita Mandhani