Print journalism is in a state of crisis. The circulation of newspapers in India seems to have stagnated in relation to population growth, meaning the proportion of people reading printed news has dropped. More readers are turning to free online news sources and circulation growth is failing to keep up with demographic expansion. Given India’s vast population – nearly ten times that of Japan it is concerning that India has only as many newspapers with over a million in circulation as Japan.

If this decline in print journalism is not addressed, it could as well pose a serious threat to the fundamental values of our democracy. The potential consequences of this decline are too grave to ignore. There is no such thing as free news, just as there is no such thing as a free lunch. Free online news is not truly free; it comes with hidden costs, such as algorithms similar to those on social media – that prioritize sensationalist stories, fuelling misinformation and polarization.

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‘Brain rot’, named Oxford Word of the Year 2024, is defined as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.” The usage of the word saw an increase of 230 per cent in its frequency from 2023 to 2024. Oxford University Press’s announcement of the Word of the Year sparked debate about the potential negative impact of excessive online content consumption on mental health, particularly in children and young people.

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