As global journalism adapts to rapidly evolving media technologies, it is transforming journalistic workflows and requiring new skills. However, studies on how digital shifts play out in regional contexts remain sparse, creating a critical gap in local digital media scholarship. This study examines the skill demands, gaps in journalism education, and evolving newsroom challenges faced by journalists in India's Punjab. Semi-structured interviews with local journalists from ten leading Punjabi digital newsrooms are our primary methodological tool. We found that local journalists are compelled to operate as multi-skilled professionals, often without formal training or newsroom support. A critical disconnect exists between classroom training and newsroom expectations, with media professionals expressing concerns about the lack of core competencies and platform literacy among new journalists. Although mobile journalism is on the rise, newsrooms lack a defined policy or motivation for integrating AI into their workflows. The pressure for speed over accuracy leads to sensationalism and is eroding editorial autonomy and marginalising investigative journalism. Drawing on field theory and boundary research, the study concludes that Punjab's digital media represent an all-in-one newsroom where journalists' role dilution leads to professional disillusionment. The paper contributes to the regional scholarship of digital journalism in South Asia.
SHREE et al. (Tue,) studied this question.