Spectacle of obedience: How Indian media lost its soul
Decades of commercial pressure, ideological servitude, and theatrical journalism have reduced India’s media to a caricature
By Iftikhar Gilani
After spending nearly three decades within India’s mainstream media, I say this with great anguish: what we once called journalism has now decayed into a spectacle, shackled by commercial compulsions, ideological obedience, and performative noise. The very soul of Indian media appears to have withered away.
During the recent India-Pakistan standoff, this decline was glaring.
Waves of falsehoods, baseless claims, and war hysteria swept through television screens and mobile phones, all carefully choreographed to please sponsors, promote majoritarian nationalism, and thrill an increasingly polarized audience. The journalism of facts has been replaced by the drama of fiction.
This is not just an internal concern anymore.
Several international news organisations, in private advisories to their staff, have warned against relying on Indian media as a credible source without multiple layers of verification.
That global editors now questioning the trustworthiness of Indian reportage is a damning indictment of how far the credibility of the mainstream media has fallen.
Having served not only in the media but media related bodies like as Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Press Advisory Committee, member of the Central Press Accreditation Council, the Press Council of India, and representing India at the BRICS Media Forum, I have observed the machinery from within.
After all this experience, I can safely write that Indian media was never truly independent. At best, it maintained an illusion of autonomy — a fragile facade of freedom.
Despite being touted as the fourth pillar of democracy, Indian media lacks the structural integrity of the other three — Parliament, the Executive, and the Judiciary — all of which are funded through public taxation. Media, by contrast, survives at the mercy of advertising, left at the mercy of corporate monopolies and government advertisements that see news not as a public service, but as a business tool.
India now boasts around 150,000 registered publications and over 850 news television channels. Yet, the advertising economy — pegged at around ₹900 billion — is insufficient to sustain this vast infrastructure.
There is no sustainable revenue model. Instead, we have a murky TRP (television rating point) system shrouded in opacity. As former Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said, this flawed system fuels sensationalism and fosters “competitive irresponsibility.”
When survival hinges on advertising and TRPs, truth is often the first casualty.
The pattern of media ownership exacerbates the crisis. Barring a few exceptions like the Deccan Herald group in Bengaluru, most national media houses are owned by members of Hindu upper caste trading community — the baniya or Vaishya class — with deep commercial interests.
The Hindustan Times is owned by the group behind Hindustan Motors. The Times of India belongs to the Dalmia Group. Zee News, WION, and DNA are under the expansive empire of Subhash Chandra, who owns over 30 companies including the flagship Essel, engaged in building airports and big building projects. The NDTV, once a darling of Indian liberals, is now owned by Adani Industries. Media, for these moguls, is not a profit centre — it is a power lever.
Many media ventures are run at a loss, but they function as lobbying arms, extracting concessions for their parent companies. Journalism becomes a tool to gain commercial advantage, not inform the public.
Historically, Indian media has aligned itself with the state narrative, especially on matters of national security. Yet, there were moments of defiance.
During the 1999 Kargil War, journalist Harinder Baweja of India Today fearlessly reported on Pakistani soldiers’ severed heads being displayed as war trophies at a brigade camp. Despite being banned from the war zone thereafter, she did not retract her report. Courage, at least occasionally, still flared.
Media post 2014
But since 2014, that flicker has dimmed. Fear, ideological conformity, and market pressure have swallowed editorial independence. What remains is “performative journalism” — drama disguised as news.
Even international platforms like Netflix now self-censor in India, choosing compliance over confrontation. No one spells it out, but fear has seeped deep.
Today, every tragedy is repackaged as entertainment. Journalism has become a circus act, its credibility in tatters. The consequences of this erosion are now playing out on the world stage.
India’s international standing is taking a hit — and ironically, the government is among the first to bear the brunt. Diplomatic delegations abroad are increasingly aware of the damage inflicted by India’s hyper-partisan media.
Back in 2007, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by Congress considered media regulation. Media houses resisted fiercely — not just against state oversight, but any oversight. They championed self-regulation, a system routinely flouted today. Unless self-regulation is brought under a legal framework akin to the Cable Act, it remains toothless and ineffective.
India’s democracy has failed to nurture media institutions that are free from commercial interests. That is perhaps the greatest democratic failure. Today, what dominates is a media aligned with free-market economics and Hindutva ideology. There is little left for the state to censor — the media has preemptively surrendered.
Any attempts to professionalize journalism are thwarted from within.
Media conglomerates run journalism schools but show no interest in raising standards. They flood the market with underpaid, undertrained professionals to ensure cheap labour and prevent demands for fair compensation. For every single reporter needed, twenty are trained — deliberately.
During the recent India-Pakistan conflict, we now know there were no formal instructions issued by the government.
Even the Indian army chief admitted that 15% of his time was spent countering false narratives — many of which were not mere errors, but media inventions. Claims that Indian forces had captured Pakistani towns or that top Pakistani officials had fled were neither official statements nor verified reports. These were fantasies concocted by the media — and that is far more dangerous.
This pattern of misinformation, war-mongering, and blind parroting of the official line now extends to vilification of minorities, glorification of conflict, and sycophantic competition to prove loyalty to the powers that be.
There is an urgent need for comprehensive media reforms to ensure transparency in media ownership, impose restrictions on cross-ownership, and separate broadcasters from producers.
An independent Media Council — comprising members from across the political spectrum — must be established to monitor content, regulate advertisements, and enforce accountability.
Veteran media observers warn that even if Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government were to exit power, the servile precedent set by the media post-2014 will haunt media under future governments.
The expectation of deference will persist. Media houses that refuse to comply may face retribution — just as they do today.
Seema Chishti, editor at The Wire, recently observed at a public event with senior lawyer Kapil Sibal that politicians have now learned: the more pressure they apply, the more pliant the media becomes.
Future governments will only continue the trend of enslaving this fourth pillar of democracy.
To put it bluntly, then Information Minister LK Advani, who took over in 1977 after Indira Gandhi lost elections for imposing emergency in 1975, famously remarked that the media was only asked to bend, but it chose to crawl. Today’s media has gone even further — it has surrendered its spine altogether.
As Kapil Sibal rightly says, this is not merely a media crisis. It is a crisis of democracy itself. When lies replace truth, and spectacle replaces accountability, we are nurturing a hysterical nation — unstable, irrational, and dangerous not just for India, but for the region.
Indian media is no longer building an informed citizenry. It is manufacturing frenzied mobs. The world’s conscientious voices must pay attention before the damage becomes irreversible.
Have Your Say!
Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? Please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@soundvision.com.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a Muslim Network TV’s representative. You can also get in touch in the following ways:
Tweet: @MuslimNetworkTV
We must take charge of our narrative. Research indicates that 92% of their Muslim coverage is negative. Help us change that.
