Biography

Bridging worlds, Karishma Mehrotra has worked as a journalist across countries and topics.

Raised in California, Karishma was brought up around issues of the future. Hence, her writing explores much of the same —urbanization and migration, technology, climate. But, she has always aimed to foreground social and political thought in her work. She has written or worked for The Indian Express, The Wall Street Journal, Scroll.in, CNN, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Recently, Karishma spent three years at the Indian Express covering technology, health, migration, and urbanization. In her time focusing on the intersection between technology, politics, and government, she tracked the ruling party’s usage of data and the policing of online speech.

When COVID-19 hit India, she began reporting on the year’s impact on India’s migrant population and labor policies. During her time at the Express, she interviewed Dr. Anthony Fauci about India’s second COVID-19 wave, traveled through rural Bihar during India’s 2019 General Election, and traveled through rural Pennsylvania during the 2020 US National Election. She has transitioned from daily news to long-form journalism with a fellowship writing magazine stories for Scroll.in about the most important or intriguing technology trends of our time — from genetic engineering and renewable energy to virtual currency and facial recognition.

In a ever-luring affair with academia, she completed her Master’s at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London focusing on digital technologies in the Global South. Her dissertation explored the role of “doubt” in media newsrooms and algorithmic information environments, integrating philosophy about artificial intelligence and the mind. Awarded a Fulbright Research Grant, she will begin field research next year examining the impact of the migrant crisis on laborer decision-making in Eastern India.

She is currently learning Hindustani classical singing and loves to oil paint, practice yoga and Vipassana meditation, and read physical newspapers. She often fondly remembers a six-month trip to Ghana where she hopes to travel back soon. Her work is at http://karishmamehrotra.com.