The unequal ‘war’ between independent media and ‘Godi media’ [read Modi or pliant media] that has continued in India for over a decade has now become even more lopsided, with the most vocal critic of the latter ceding ground after running out of options. Ravish Kumar, that unyielding but unlucky senior executive editor of New Delhi Television Limited’s NDTV India, is now out in the cold after resigning from his position in the face of a takeover of his organisation by the pro-government Adani group of companies.

Mr Kumar has since launched his own YouTube channel where he continues to practice his brand of journalism, albeit with limited means and resources. Although he has not thrown in the proverbial towel and continues to soldier on, the fact that he has had to relinquish a coveted position in mainstream media can only be characterised as a great setback to independent-minded journalists in India. What’s even more tragic, his example may well result in the stamping out of all small fires of independent journalism still burning in the media.

Mr Kumar himself coined the term ‘Godi media’ for most Indian television channels because in his opinion they took whatever information was doled out to them by the government at face value. Instead of questioning the government’s plans and policies they acted like its toadies. As a result, they only echoed whatever the authorities said; in the process their content and agenda and tone and tenor all became similar.

He was so appalled by the situation obtaining in the media that he repeatedly urged the audiences to stop watching the channels as they were churning out either useless stuff or filth. This was undoubtedly a brave slogan to raise because television people usually would want to attract audiences, not to exhort them to switch off their TV sets.

Ravish Kumar was born on December 5, 1974 in a village in Bihar, arguably the most backward of India’s 28 states. It’s obvious, therefore, that whatever he achieved during his outstanding career was not given to him on a platter but he had to work hard to earn a place under the spotlight.

In the speech he gave at the time of his resignation from NDTV India, he described the start of his career at the channel thus: “In August 1996, I joined NDTV formally as a translator. But even before that, my work at NDTV was to read all the hand-written letters viewers sent … My work was to make a report out of those letters and hand it to the producers of every show. I was a daily-wage worker back then and got paid accordingly.”

Speaking about his meteoric rise at the channel, and finally his resignation, he said: “I used to translate many reports and stories of correspondents from English to Hindi. Then I became a reporter and produced a daily report called Ravish ki Report… Someone whose work was to read letters became the group editor. That was possible only on NDTV. And today, that person tenders his resignation.”

In a longish article posted on eNewsroom India, an independent, non-profit news website based in Kolkata, he elaborated on why he chose to become the conscientious objector of Indian media. “Importantly, for the last 10 years, ‘Godi media’ anchors have been in the PM’s service, casting journalism in the gutter in the process,” he wrote. “Yet the same PM said he owes them nothing. This is the boast of a leader who did not hold a single press conference in nine years, a leader who was not questioned by ‘Godi media’ for nine years.

“It’s impossible to take the media out of Modi, and Modi out of the media. These sections of the media remain silent towards him. If they speak, they speak only for him… The decade of 2014 to 2024 belongs as much to ‘Godi media’ as it does to Modi. These channels have different names but the same content.”

Mr Kumar pointed out that before 2014, it was believed that TV channels were facing a lack of funds. “News channel owners, who usually weren’t journalists, were running out of funds and the business model was flawed… (So) a myth was created from the market itself for this poor content.

“Now, this myth has been busted. The new owners of Big Media are (multi-billionaires) Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani… Given the volume of channels and the money they both have between them, the ghost — a lack of funds — that haunted the media until now must go away. But why aren’t we seeing the effect of these funds on content?

“Why aren’t their wealth and business acumen improving the poor state of TV journalism, especially when these expenses are lower than their other businesses? What examples have Ambani and Adani’s channels set in journalism? What have they done that’s new ― or even spectacular?

“These are my questions, and the answers are simple. There are two essential and basic conditions for good journalism: courage and questioning. Without courage, you cannot question. Without questions, courage has no meaning.

“This is the biggest change in the mainstream media over the last 10 years. Their content isn’t influenced by the owners; it’s influenced by the ‘unknown owner’ of these owners. We cannot expect these channels to ask questions like The Telegraph. Merely opening a channel doesn’t make one a journalist.”

Mr Kumar obviously feels that the ‘Godi media’ only specialise in assailing the minorities and have developed a penchant for creating a loud noise about everything Pakistani. They spend so much time on xenophobic and communal matters that they can’t find enough to focus on the basic problems faced by ordinary Indians.

What’s strange and curious about the Ravish Kumar saga is that over the years he has been awarded a number of prestigious awards both at home and abroad. So, one got the impression that his brand of journalism had many admirers, and therefore, many takers. Despite those accolades, however, he is out in the cold today.

He was twice awarded the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award. He was given the Gauri Lankesh Award for Journalism and the Kuldip Nayar Journalism Award and was also named as the journalist of the year by the Mumbai Press Club. The prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, which is also called the Asian Nobel Prize, was conferred on him in 2019.

Mr Kumar was awarded the Honorary Title for Freedom of Expression for his independent journalism by the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Université libre de Bruxelles in Brussels on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, 2023, that is after he had resigned from NDTV India.

He resigned from the Hindi news channel on Nov 30, 2022, a day after the channel’s founders and promoters Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy resigned as directors of the RRPR Holding Private Limited. Mr Kumar has written several books, mostly in Hindi.

Can we Pakistanis draw lessons from what Mr Kumar describes as the demise of Indian media? Well, Pakistani news outlets are considered to be livelier as they do manage to criticise our civilian rulers, and roundly so. However, our journalists generally shy away from taking on what is commonly referred to euphemistically as ‘the establishment’.

So although we did have the story of Talat Hussain — who was ousted from mainstream media in retaliation for his journalism and had to launch his own YouTube channel like Mr Kumar later — the crucial difference between the two cases is that the Indian premier is deemed ‘untouchable’ on his own while criticism of Imran Khan was a “no-no” only until such time as he was the ‘establishment’s baby’. Stripped of the establishment’s blessings, every Tom, Dick and Harry is free to assail the former prime minister now.

Put differently, Modi has assumed ominous proportions due to his own machinations and narrative, and that of his party’s, rather than due to a ‘third force’ acting on his behalf. Also, Indian army chiefs are not immune to media scrutiny but Pakistani top brass often is. As I said earlier as well, civilian politicians can easily be condemned in Pakistan, but it’s difficult to subject an army chief to a similar fate no matter how many serious mistakes he may have committed.

However, what seems to be common between Indian news anchors and their Pakistani counterparts is their failure to highlight the citizens’ basic problems, like increasing inflation, as enthusiastically and religiously as they cover every political nuance of every political party. Politics is covered round the clock, often at the expense of issues of far greater importance to the public. It follows then that Pakistanis too need a Ravish Kumar, who would call a spade a spade.

Nizamuddin Siddiqui teaches journalism at the Hamdard University. All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the author