News has a problem with young audiences.
It is not that Gen Z does not care about politics, society, culture or what is happening around them. The problem is that they have become very good at scrolling past it.
A serious headline appears. Swipe.
A two-minute news package begins. Swipe.
Then a sarcastic reel about exactly the same issue appears—and suddenly, people stop.
It is this contradiction that sits at the heart of Do Record, a new digital media initiative that is experimenting with a different way of telling stories.
Instead of trying to make every story sound like traditional news, Do Record is interested in making news feel more human, more intimate and, when the subject allows it, more entertaining.
The idea is simple: if the way people consume information has changed, perhaps the way stories are told needs to change too.
Journalism, but with a little less stiffness
Do Record’s storytelling philosophy is built around a combination of raw visuals, human intimacy, internet culture and sarcasm.
Sarcasm, in particular, plays an interesting role.
For a generation that has grown up communicating through memes, reels and internet humour, sarcasm can sometimes be more effective at opening a conversation than another serious-looking headline.
The intention is not to make serious issues funny for the sake of entertainment. It is to use humour to make people curious enough to engage with the issue in the first place.
Because sometimes the best way to make someone think about a serious problem is to first make them say:
“Wait… they actually said that?”
For Do Record, that reaction can be the beginning of a larger conversation.
The platform wants to explore subjects that matter without wrapping every story in the familiar seriousness of conventional news.
The rawness is intentional
There is another important part of the Do Record identity: intimacy.
The platform is interested in the moments that conventional news formats can sometimes lose—the pauses in a conversation, an unexpected reaction, the surroundings, a person’s hesitation, the small details that reveal more than a perfectly rehearsed answer.
The camera does not always need to stand at a safe distance.
Sometimes it needs to get closer.
That is what Do Record means by raw storytelling.
Not poor production. Not careless journalism. Not “we forgot to edit this.”
The idea is that the production can be polished while the emotion remains real.
In an online world where almost everything is filtered, edited and packaged, there is something powerful about allowing people to simply exist inside a story.
Behind Do Record is Athar Salik
The person building this experiment is Athar Salik, a young media practitioner whose own journey has moved across journalism, filmmaking, digital content and performance.
Athar is currently pursuing an MA in Media and Cultural Studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, after completing his undergraduate degree in Electronic Media from Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication.
His professional experience includes an internship at ABP News, where he experienced the working environment of a professional newsroom.
But his interests have never been limited to conventional journalism.
Athar has worked across video production, editing, scripting, anchoring and voice-over, and is also currently learning acting. He has written poetry and continues to explore performance and storytelling as creative forms.
That combination is important to understanding Do Record.
For Athar, storytelling isn’t restricted to one medium.
A story can be reported.
It can be filmed.
It can be performed.
It can be narrated.
Or, sometimes, it can be delivered with a little sarcasm and a camera.
From the newsroom to independent storytelling
Athar’s interest in filmmaking has also taken him beyond digital content.
He worked as a Sub Editor on KAMRA, a film that received an Honourable Mention at the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Student Video Contest 2026.
Experiences like these have shaped his understanding of storytelling—not simply as the process of delivering information, but as a way of creating a relationship between the audience and the subject.
That philosophy is now being carried into Do Record.
And the platform is already beginning to find an audience.
Some collaborative Instagram videos involving Do Record and Athar Salik have crossed 269,000 and 141,000 views, offering an early indication that this style of content can travel beyond a small circle of followers.
But the numbers are not being treated as the destination.
They are simply proof that people are willing to stop scrolling when something feels different.
A media brand still finding its voice
Do Record is not positioning itself as a finished media organisation.
It is young. It is experimenting. Its audience is still growing.
And that may actually be its biggest advantage.
There is no pressure to copy an existing newsroom formula.
Instead, Do Record has the freedom to ask questions that established media organisations sometimes struggle to ask:
What happens when journalism speaks the language of the internet?
What happens when a serious issue is introduced through sarcasm?
What happens when documentary storytelling becomes more intimate?
What happens when young audiences are not treated simply as consumers of news, but as participants in the conversation?
These are the questions Do Record is beginning to explore.
For Athar Salik, the ambition is not to simply create another media page that posts whatever is trending.
It is to gradually build a brand with a recognisable point of view—one where stories feel closer, conversations feel less scripted and even difficult subjects can be approached with curiosity, humour and honesty.
Do Record is still at the beginning.
There are no grand claims of having “revolutionised journalism” here. The platform has a long way to go, and its real test will be whether it can consistently produce stories that people remember after they have finished scrolling.
But the experiment has begun.
And perhaps the most interesting thing about Do Record is that it isn’t asking audiences to stop consuming the internet.
It is trying to make them look at it differently.
