‘News organisations can learn a lot from creators when it comes to forging a genuine connection with their audience. Too often, journalists publish their piece, dust off their hands and move on to the next. It’s essential to understand that information no longer works top-down.’ – Sruthi Gottipati
Journalist. Lecturer. Media executive. News creator. Sruthi Gottipati built her journalism career as a reporter for legacy news powerhouses, then shifted to covering underreported stories as a freelancer.
That was before building Brut, one of India’s most influential English-language social media platforms.
Last month, she launched Spot On – a public-interest news site aimed at India’s massive youth population.
She chats to the World Editors Forum about her new venture, and her role in developing a media ecosystem that accommodates the rising influence of news creators…
You are a distinguished journalist with some high profile posts and assignments – including an interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi – what stands out as a career high point?
Distinguished might be a stretch, but I am lucky to have reported from around the world at key moments, like interviewing the FARC guerrillas as they lay down their arms in Colombia, to covering the electoral crisis in Congo.
In France, I witnessed the 2015 terror attacks, and in India I followed the story of the 2012 Delhi gangrape, as well as the astonishing rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi – and indeed, the interview with him was a high point.
It happened after he was announced as the BJP’s election campaign head but before he was elected prime minister for the first time.
And it was a rare interview with him.
I think for journalists it’s vital that we don’t treat scoring interviews with powerful figures as a win in itself. It’s great, of course – but the real job is to hold them to account fairly. This interview was telling; it revealed how the person who would go on to have the most important job in a country as diverse as India felt about minorities.
What made you leave a traditional newsroom?
Well, there’s only so much you can watch of colleagues getting laid off through no fault of their own, or see reporters assume inordinate personal risk to get the story since diminished newsrooms can’t really support them.
We’re losing the best and brightest of journalism – which serves such a critical role in society – to other professions because they can’t pay their mortgage and feed their kids on their paychecks.
For me, the turning point came in 2017 when an incredibly talented reporter was murdered.
My goalpost then shifted – from getting my byline for breaking stories into vaunted legacy publications – to developing sustainable media that can connect with millions.
Your experience and career trajectory is atypical; how would you describe yourself? And, do you consider yourself a journalist or creator? What are the differences, if any, to you?
I guess I’m a journalist who kind of moved into strategy, growth and business development when I became an executive contributing to C-suite meetings at my last company.
Now I’m embracing the role of founder with Spot On.
I’m not too hung up on labels. What matters more is having a clear mission and striving toward accomplishing it.
Previously, I set out to build a profitable, influential media brand, which I did. My new north star is to make public interest news accessible and engaging to young Indians at a time it’s needed the most.
I think there’s a lot of grey area now between journalists and creators. Journalists are having to act more like creators to disseminate the news effectively, and creators are increasingly covering news topics – and reaching a massive audience doing so.
The point is to have quality news engage the public, however you choose to identify yourself.
What is Spot On; Who is it aimed at – and why now? How does it differ from Brut?
Spot On is a public interest media company meeting Gen Z where they are with independent news coverage. We produce audience-centric video journalism tailored for social platforms.
We’re launching now because India is undergoing a pivotal moment, with majoritarianism on the rise, and press freedom at historic lows. We want to amplify the urgent but underreported narratives essential to any democracy. And we want to inform young audiences who are underserved by traditional media.
Brut is a terrific example of the power of sparking social conversation among youth through video.
I now want to apply this distribution model to build for the burgeoning creator era. The editorial formats I used to grow Brut India in 2017 and 2018 won’t cut it in 2025, so we need to constantly innovate to stay ahead of the curve for a new generation.
What legacy newsroom practices do you hold on to – and what were you happy to leave behind?
We don’t want to be afraid to speak directly and authentically to Gen Z. That means talking to them and not at them, doing away with the kind of voice of authority we’re taught in journalism school in a misplaced attempt to sound objective.
Unfortunately, younger audiences tend to think you’re not being upfront or that you have an agenda when you speak like that.
We want to still stay true to all values of journalism upheld in newsroom practice: Transparency, accuracy, truth, accountability, integrity.
I think focusing singularly on balance as a principle may be a bit overvalued.
While we obviously want to stay away from confirmation bias and always question our assumptions, we’re not going to promote junk science, succumb to false equivalence or give equal weight to perspectives that are not rooted in fact.
We’ll listen carefully to different points of view, even if they differ from our own, and our research and reporting will define our approach. But we refuse to hide behind obfuscation. Our goal is to speak with clarity, credibility and courage.
What can new organisations learn from creators, and what should creators learn from trained journalists?
I think that question is a really important one, and a space that Spot On is pushing for to develop a better digital news ecosystem.
News organisations can learn a lot from creators when it comes to forging a genuine connection with their audience. Too often, journalists publish their piece, dust off their hands and move on to the next. It is essential to understand that information no longer works top-down.
I don’t blame reporters who may already be juggling too many things with shrunken news budgets.
Creators undoubtedly can learn a lot from journalists when it comes to just that relentless rigour – the tireless fact-checking, verification, and research that journalists will pour into a story to get it right. It’s instructive for creators who are maybe a bit too focused on clicks and views.