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@article{184533,
        author = {Dr. Lokesh Yogi},
        title = {Short-Form Video Platforms and the Crisis of News Credibility in India},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {4},
        pages = {1963-1969},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=184533},
        abstract = {— India's news consumption is changing as a result of short-form video platforms like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. A Bain & Company analysis estimates that by 2020, there were over 200 million short-form video viewers in India, and by 2025, that number is expected to increase to between 600 and 650 million. These sites are among the fastest-growing digital media platforms in the nation, with active users spending about an hour a day on them, according to the same survey. Additionally, according to a RedSeer survey, indigenous applications already draw over 250 million users, with almost two-thirds of them living in tier-2 and lower cities, underscoring the medium's profound societal reach.

Even with this quick expansion, there are still serious doubts regarding the reliability of the news. Television is still seen as the most reliable news source, according to national surveys like those by the Reuters Institute and Axis My India, while short-form video platforms are ranked far lower. Short films' algorithmic, entertainment-driven, and extremely viral nature increases the likelihood of inaccurate information, hyperbole, and decontextualized reporting.

Using a mixed-methods approach, this article analyses these dynamics by integrating case studies of misinformation occurrences that disseminated between 2023 and 2024, content analysis of viral short-form news videos in different Indian languages, and a nationwide poll of young respondents between the ages of 18 and 30. According to the study, short-form video promotes engagement and democratizes access to information, but it also makes India's journalism's continuing credibility issue worse. The growth of these platforms runs the danger of increasing public mistrust of news and compromising the integrity of democratic information flows in the absence of more robust fact-checking, algorithmic transparency, and focused media literacy initiatives.},
        keywords = {Short-form video platforms, News consumption, Youth media habits, News credibility, Misinformation, Digital media in India, Algorithmic amplification},
        month = {September},
        }