'Supposed' alternative media, NewsClick, The Wire, only react to issues: Journos claim

By A Representative
Speaking at an event, Journalism at Risk: Discussion About Attack on Freedom of Speech and Expression, held at the HKS Surjeet Bhavan, Delhi, several speakers highlighted the need to develop real alternative media amidst “on-going attacks by the Indian state against journalists and independent media.”
Senior journalist Anil Chamadia, pointing towards how a people's journalist stands alone in journey, elaborated on how today legitimacy of a journalist is attached to how big the media house is, which is ironically owned by big corporations. Currently, he noted, media houses create journalistic pieces “which are essentially packages meant for mass consumption”, and which “actively hide the issues of Dalits, Adivasis, etc.”
Regretted Chamadia, this packaged media is “not countered by supposed alternative media, like The Wire or NewsClick, which only react to issues. Instead, a real alternative, which is creative, not reactive should be created. Such media, he argued, should inspire “discourse among masses on pertinent issues...”
Mandeep Punia, a freelance journalist, spoke about the apathy and partisan nature of media, stating, what is dubbed the godi media raises issues which are subservient to a corporate-state nexus. Insisting on the need to promote alternative media, he said, people's journalists should be activist in their approach.
Organised by advocacy group Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), moderator Prof N Sachin, who is with the Delhi University, paid homage to deceased journalist Shashikant Warishe who was murdered recently for reporting against a refinery project in Ratnagiri. He said, journalism is at risk, expressing concern over disappearance of reports on people's issues.
Bhasha Singh, who is with “Newsclick”, highlighted how the Hindutva fascist nature of the state subtly hides the corporate loot of resources and the role of capital. She said, the dominant godi media has crafted narratives that centre around Hindu-Muslim conflicts, ignoring the plight of workers, peasants and the ongoing rampant corporate loot. She highlighted how the conflict in Manipur was similarly crafted to serve the Hindutva project.
Prashant Tandon, a broadcast journalist and media expert, spoke of the need to differentiate between what he called "corporate democracy" and "cosmetic democracy," especially in India, where Article 19 has so-called reasonable restrictions existing in jurisprudence along with acts like UAPA which actively make way for legal curtailment of journalists.

He suggested that India must establish an umbrella law specifically to protect press freedom, adding, USA and European Union, which may not be perfect, offer good points of reference for such a law.
Independent journalist Udey Che said, the issues raised by people's journalists, many of whom operate on social media, don’t have any stable source of income. He regretted Facebook and YouTube are seeking to regulate them.

He stated, there is not much difference between rule of BJP and Congress in terms of press freedom, giving the example of how under the Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh hundreds of journalists face charges. He demanded that if people's media has to survive, it must be backed by people. Such media must be established in each city.
Writer, speaker, anchor, interviewer, teacher and commentator Paranjoy Guha Thakurta elaborated on the nature of social media as a weapon of big corporates like Meta and Alphabet behind Facebook and Google which have captured narratives in society. He urged the youth to reduce the entrapments of social media and engage in a critical fight against the new state of emergency in India which has become all pervasive.
Sandeep Rauzi, speaking about the rapid fall of India in Press Freedom Index under the current regime, said, attack on press freedom has become symptom of general curtailment of democratic rights all over India. He narrated how journalist Rupesh Kumar Singh was incarcerated after having a vast body of work dedicated to working class issues.
He wondered why the alternative media has been reduced to a call for defeating BJP. This takes away the introspection of Congress rule which does nothing to curtail capitalism's role in Indian society.
He urged, people's media as well as workers' organisations should set up labour beats to directly report the issues of working classes, on which there is no media discourse. He added, all such journalists should come together and collectively combat the state repression.

Comments

Covishield controversy: How India ignored a warning voice during the pandemic

Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD * It is a matter of pride for us that a person of Indian origin, presently Director of National Institute of Health, USA, is poised to take over one of the most powerful roles in public health. Professor Jay Bhattacharya, an Indian origin physician and a health economist, from Stanford University, USA, will be assuming the appointment of acting head of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA. Bhattacharya would be leading two apex institutions in the field of public health which not only shape American health policies but act as bellwether globally.

Growth without justice: The politics of wealth and the economics of hunger

By Vikas Meshram* In modern history, few periods have displayed such a grotesque and contradictory picture of wealth as the present. On one side, a handful of individuals accumulate in a single year more wealth than the annual income of entire nations. On the other, nearly every fourth person in the world goes to bed hungry or half-fed.

Thali, COVID and academic credibility: All about the 2020 'pseudoscientific' Galgotias paper

By Jag Jivan The first page image of the paper "Corona Virus Killed by Sound Vibrations Produced by Thali or Ghanti: A Potential Hypothesis" published in the Journal of Molecular Pharmaceuticals and Regulatory Affairs , Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2020), has gone viral on social media in the wake of the controversy surrounding a Chinese robot presented by the Galgotias University as its original product at the just-concluded AI summit in Delhi . The resurfacing of the 2020 publication, authored by Dharmendra Kumar , Galgotias University, has reignited debate over academic standards and scientific credibility.

'Serious violation of international law': US pressure on Mexico to stop oil shipments to Cuba

By Vijay Prashad In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has tightened over the years. Without any mandate from the United Nations Security Council—which permits sanctions under strict conditions—the United States has operated an illegal, unilateral blockade that tries to force countries from around the world to stop doing basic commerce with Cuba. The new restrictions focus on oil. The United States government has threatened tariffs and sanctions on any country that sells or transports oil to Cuba.

The 'glass cliff' at Galgotias: How a university’s AI crisis became a gendered blame game

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan* “She was not aware of the technical origins of the product and in her enthusiasm of being on camera, gave factually incorrect information.” These were the words used in the official press release by Galgotias University following the controversy at the AI Impact Summit in Delhi. The statement came across as defensive, petty, and deeply insensitive.

When grief becomes grace: Kerala's quiet revolution in organ donation

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Kerala is an important model for understanding India's diversity precisely because the religious and cultural plurality it has witnessed over centuries brought together traditions and good practices from across the world. Kerala had India's first communist government, was the first state where a duly elected government was dismissed, and remains the first state to achieve near-total literacy. It is also a land where Christianity and Islam took root before they spread to Europe and other parts of the world. Kerala has deep historic rationalist and secular traditions.

When a lake becomes real estate: The mismanagement of Hyderabad’s waterbodies

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava* Misunderstood, misinterpreted and misguided governance and management of urban lakes in India —illustrated here through Hyderabad —demands urgent attention from Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), the political establishment, the judiciary, the builder–developer lobby, and most importantly, the citizens of Hyderabad. Fundamental misconceptions about urban lakes have shaped policies and practices that systematically misuse, abuse and ultimately erase them—often in the name of urban development.

Activists warn of gendered impact of VB-GRAMG Act, seek return to MGNREGA framework

By A Representative The All-India Feminist Alliance (ALIFA), along with the Agrarian Alliance and Workers’ Forum of the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), has written to President Droupadi Murmu urging her to call upon Parliament to repeal the newly enacted Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 (VB-GRAMG Act) and restore and strengthen the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Stray dogs, an epsilon (ϵ) problem: Of child labour, and the art of misplaced priorities

By Bhaskaran Raman The Greek alphabet ϵ (epsilon) is used in maths and science to denote a quantity which is not zero, but extremely small *** Since the Supreme Court's interim order on the issue of stray dogs came out on 07 Nov 2025, there have been a range of opinion pieces speaking for the voiceless. Most of them take the stance that there is a "problem" with stray dogs, but that we need a humane solution. I agree with this broadly, but I think we need new terminology to talk about this.

Search This Blog