From Newsrooms to Think Tanks: An MCDM visit to Gateway House
10-September-2026
Mumbai has always had a reputation for getting things done. But as Gateway House puts it, “Delhi has power, but Mumbai has talent.” For the first time, the MCDM batch of Xavier Institute of Communications stepped into the world of foreign policy and geopolitics with a field visit to Gateway House – Indian Council on Global Relations, a Mumbai-based foreign policy think tank.
On 10th September 2026, the visit was organised by Ms Richa Pinto, guest faculty at XIC, giving students an opportunity to move beyond the classroom and engage with professionals from journalism, research and diplomacy. It offered the batch a closer look at how global affairs are researched, understood and communicated.
Founded by Neelam Deo and Manjeet Kripalani, making it particularly significant as the first think tank in India founded by two women. The institution functions as an idea incubator, taking research and perspectives and making them useful for policy conversations.
For journalism students, however, geopolitics can often feel distant and abstract. Manjeet Kripalani challenged that perception with a simple idea: foreign policy is not an abstract concept; it is about human beings. And that, in many ways, is also where journalism begins.
The students interacted with journalists and researchers who brought different perspectives to the table. One of the journalists, Sifra Lentil, spoke about the changing relationship between journalism and research. Both fields, she stressed, need to remain current. While a journalist’s responsibility is to get the facts and content right, a researcher must go a step further understanding language, context and nuances.
She also offered a reminder that remains relevant in the age of instant information: “The library was the internet, and still is.” Despite the abundance of digital information, the ability to research deeply remains central to credible journalism.
Students also engaged with Amit Bhandari, discussing questions around foreign policy and diplomacy. Ambassador Bhatia from Delhi and Lt. General Narasimhan from Coimbatore joined virtually, answering students’ questions and offering insights into the realities of diplomacy. One key takeaway was the distinction between what foreign policy can do and what journalism can not do and where the two intersect.
Across these conversations, one message kept returning: numbers matter. Whether it is a journalist building a story or a think tank building an argument, facts, figures and evidence form the foundation of credibility.
For the MCDM batch, the visit was more than a field visit. It was an opportunity to understand how a rapidly changing world is interpreted, researched and communicated. In a profession where every global development eventually reaches people, understanding geopolitics is also about understanding the human stories behind it.
By Tanisha Pandey (MCDM)
Photographs by: Nalin Sharma