Somit Sen at Maadhyam Season 5 by Parul University!
On 11 September 2026, Somit Sen, Senior Editor at The Times of India, spoke at the Samvaad session “Reinventing the Newsroom” at Parul University’s 5th edition of the media festival Maadhyam. An alumnus of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, Sen started his career on beats that leave no room for error: crime, politics, and civic issues, and now reports on mobility, infrastructure, urban development, and energy, using data. He decided to give a speech while walking around the stage and told the students that journalists were the labourers of society and that their profession was questioning.
Print is not dead, but it is no longer alone.
Somit Sen placed the present moment in a history of disruptions, noting that The Times of India has absorbed computers, television, and the internet across the decades, and that today a story reaches his desk only after it has already appeared on WhatsApp, YouTube, and Instagram. The change, he said, is the future, not a problem, and in an age of short videos, critical and analytical thinking matters more, not less.
Read, read, and read!
His advice to future writers was simple and repeated.
“Read, read, and read.”
He encouraged students to read fiction, biography, and most of all the newspaper, from the city pages to the editorial page, in order to gain general knowledge, ideas, leadership, and confidence in speaking. He also discussed the fact that print is now digital distribution, as a story needs to be effective in print, newsletters, and social channels, and how the explainer has become a tool adopted by newsrooms to explain difficult rules and policies.
A story must be watertight!
Sen was clear on standards. A reporter facing an unverified claim should take the complainant’s version, make a genuine effort to reach the other side, and publish a combined account.
“A story has to be watertight.”
If the other side declines to comment, the story can still run, as long as the reporter has tried. On mistakes, he was candid that everyone makes them, that a mistake is corrected, and that the real danger lies in claims that were never true. On bias, he said a newsroom writes about a subject, not a party, covering institutions when they do good and when they do wrong.
Why journalism and what it demands?
Somit Sen made his case for the profession: Here, you can be a superstar from day one; here, the newsroom is as flat as a football team and every day brings a new story. He was just as forthright about its heft, talking about the experience of reporting in the wake of a major terror attack in Mumbai and how a reporter has to keep their composure while covering such events. He did not fail to mention the practical and hands-on nature of the departments at Parul University while reviewing them in the concluding remarks. Explore the BA and MA in Journalism and Mass Communication at Parul University. Build your skills in storytelling, reporting, and digital media. Take the first step towards a rewarding career in journalism and media.
