Modi's billionaire allies are gutting Indian media says veteran journalist

ISLAMABAD: Billionaire-driven media takeovers aligned with the ruling party in New Delhi are dismantling press freedom in the world's so-called largest democracy, according to veteran Indian journalist Sreenivasan Jain. He made the remarks in an interview with journalist Mehdi Hassan on the independent outlet Zeteo. 

Jain spent nearly three decades at NDTV before leaving the network following its 2022 acquisition by Gautam Adani, a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and one of Asia's richest men.

Jain said he and his colleagues concluded the Adani takeover would end their editorial independence the moment the sale was announced. Adani group representatives initially told staff their editorial freedom would be preserved. But within a week of the takeover being formalized in late 2022, new management had assumed control of editorial, production and corporate operations, he said.

The veteran Indian journalist left the network within a month.

'Godi Media'

India has roughly 400 news channels, 100,000 newspapers and countless digital outlets, Jain told Hassan. Despite that scale, he said the government has achieved what he described as unprecedented media consolidation across the sector, comparable in structure to political pressure campaigns seen against media companies in other countries.

Government-aligned outlets are widely referred to in India as "Godi Media," a term coined by journalist Ravish Kumar from the Hindi word for "lap." 

Jain told Hassan that representatives from the Indian prime minister's office communicate directly with these channels over messaging apps to dictate nightly coverage, a level of coordination he distinguished from looser alignments between governments and sympathetic outlets elsewhere.

In 2024, Adani was indicted in New York on fraud and bribery charges, with federal prosecutors alleging he bribed Indian officials to secure solar energy contracts and misled US investors. Adani has denied wrongdoing and was never arrested.

The New York Times reported the decision followed a pledge from Adani to invest billions of dollars in the United States, a characterization the US Department of Justice has disputed, citing no connection between the investment pledge and the case's dismissal.

Media prosecution widespread

More than two dozen journalists have been killed in India since Modi took power in 2014, Jain said. Independent digital outlets, including Newsclick, have faced prosecution under anti-terrorism laws. X (formerly Twitter) is currently contesting takedown requests in court with the Indian government, with roughly 8,000 orders issued against Indian accounts last year, he told Hassan.

Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan was arrested on drug-related charges that were later dropped, following a period in which he had not publicly aligned himself with the government, Jain said. Actor Aamir Khan faced canceled corporate deals and an online backlash after suggesting in 2015 that rising attacks on Muslims had made his family consider leaving India, according to Jain.

A comedian critical of Modi had part of his office building demolished on the grounds of unauthorized construction after criticizing the government, the Indian journalist revealed.

Independent Indian outlets, including Scroll, The Wire, Alt News, Caravan, Article 14 and the Reporters Collective, continue producing investigative journalism, Jain told Hassan. Some critical YouTube channels have surpassed mainstream broadcasters in followers, a trend Jain said worried the government after it lost seats in the last national election.

India's press freedom in 'state of emergency'

Jain told Hassan that press freedom in India has reached what Reporters Without Borders has called an unofficial state of emergency. The pattern of political allies and billionaires acquiring news outlets is not confined to India, he said, pointing to recent ownership changes at major US networks as evidence of a similar trajectory taking hold elsewhere. 

The Indian journalist told Hassan that press institutions in the United States currently retain stronger legal safeguards and greater media diversity than those in India, even as similar consolidation pressures begin to surface.