Thread by @thecaravanindia

🧵 From Adani–NDTV to sycophancy that often results in comical visuals, TV news in India increasingly resembles the theatre of the absurd. How did we get here?

Our latest #CaravanCollections—with in-depth stories on the biggest news outlets—helps explain: bit.ly/3WpyHjI

From 2015, Krishn Kaushik’s (@Krishn_) definitive profile of NDTV, which was among the first in-depth reports that highlighted the Roys’ convoluted maze of financial transactions.

bit.ly/35DcMfq

From 2012, “Fast and Furious,” Rahul Bhatia’s (@rahulabhatia) profile of Arnab Goswami, a former NDTV anchor who was “possessed of an acid personality that singed the newsroom often.”

bit.ly/3aqzZSF

From 2020, Christophe Jaffrelot (@jaffrelotc) and Vihang Jumle (@vihangjumle) demonstrate that the debates on Republic TV have been consistently biased in favour of the Modi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ideology.

bit.ly/3gPws5g

From 2017, Nikita Saxena (@nikita1712) and Atul Dev’s profile of Rajeev Chandrashekhar, a BJP politician who was a major investor in Republic TV, and his massive media empire that straddles languages and states.

bit.ly/37ADCVE

From 2016, “Our Man in the Studio,” Atul Dev and Praveen Donthi’s profile of the India TV editor-in-chief, Rajat Sharma, who, as one veteran editor put it, was “the only journalist Modi trusts.”

bit.ly/2YxDbId

From 2018, Nikita Saxena’s (@nikita1712) profile of Anjana Om Kashyap and Aaj Tak. “The story of Aaj Tak is the story of how Hindi journalism collapsed,” a senior Hindi editor told Saxena. “And Anjana is one part of that story.”

bit.ly/2RgMmL6

From 2022, Aathira Konikkara’s (@aathira_vk) profile of the India Today group. Konikkara writes that the group’s standards began to slide long before its founder, Aroon Purie, handed over control to his daughter, Kalli.

bit.ly/3XNOo5p

From 2013, Rahul Bhatia’s (@rahulabhatia) report on the journey of Network18, Raghav Bahl and Reliance’s inroads into news media. As the 2014 elections were coming into view, Bhatia noted, “Bahl’s network has begun to tilt noticeably rightward.”

bit.ly/3HDU10n

From 2022, Hartosh Singh Bal’s (@HartoshSinghBal) comment piece arguing that what we should really be asking is why people like Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani should have any stake in the journalistic enterprise at all.

bit.ly/3FlqTti