N. Ram, a journalist and media manager for over five decades has seen Indian journalism through its ups and downs. He recalls the Emergency, when there was censorship and most of the media simply succumbed to government pressure.
What he sees today is different. “It was a dictatorship then but it was not ideological. Today’s media management is toxic,” he says. He also talks about the ‘weaponisation of the arms of the state” by introducing new laws and regulations, such as cancelling the non-profit status of digital news outfits such as the Reporters Collective.
However, he sees hope, he says in this podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia. He points to the vast diversity of Indian media and the emergence of independent digital platforms which will be difficult to control for the state.
