By Nanditha Subhadra
Once the fierce Fourth Estate that exposed the Emergency’s horrors, unearthed the Bofors scandal, and held the powerful accountable through fearless investigations like Tehelka’s match-fixing and defence deals exposés, Indian media has tragically degenerated into a shadow of its former self. What was once a vibrant watchdog of democracy has, in large part, become a subservient tool in the lap (“godi”) of political and corporate power. Today, vast sections of mainstream media no longer speak truth to power – they amplify it, distort it, or bury it for personal gain. The public, whose faith once rested on journalists as guardians of truth, now views them with suspicion, contempt, or outright ridicule.
And now, the very audience that “godi media” betrayed is walking away – forever.
The Collapse in Numbers
In the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, India ranks 151st out of 180 countries. The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 records that only 43% of Indians trust most news most of the time – one of the lowest figures globally. But the more devastating statistic is: television news viewership has been falling 8–12% year-on-year since 2020. Prime-time TRPs of the loudest “national” Hindi channels have crashed from 2020 peaks of 1.8–2.2 to barely 0.4–0.7 in 2025. Print circulation of even the largest dailies has shrunk 35–40% in the last decade. Advertising revenue for traditional news media dropped 22% between 2021 and 2024 alone.
Meanwhile, independent journalists and creators who were once forced out of newsrooms – Ravish Kumar, Ajit Anjum, Abhisar Sharma, Punya Prasun Bajpai, Faye D’Souza, Dhruv Rathee, Akash Banerjee, and dozens of regional voices – now command audiences that dwarf the old giants. Ravish Kumar’s YouTube channel alone has over 12 million subscribers and routinely gets 3–10 million views per video. Dhruv Rathee’s election breakdowns in 2024 crossed 40–60 million views each. The combined monthly reach of the top 20 independent Hindi YouTube news channels now exceeds the entire prime-time viewership of the top 10 Hindi TV news channels.
The shift is irreversible: the same public that once had no choice but to swallow doctored debates and communal venom now has unlimited choice – and is choosing truth over TRP.
The Corporate-Political Capture
Two conglomerates – Mukesh Ambani’s Network18 and Gautam Adani’s AMNL – control more than 70 television channels and digital platforms reaching over 800 million Indians. Their newsrooms have become damage-control units rather than broadcasting studios.
State-level media is owned by ruling-party politicians or their business proxies. Government advertising worth tens of thousands of crores is weaponised: obey and get paid, criticise and starve.
The Rise and Coming Fall of “Godi Media”
Prime-time has become a loyalty contest. Farmers were “Khalistanis”, anti-CAA protestors were “jihadis”, every bridge collapse became an “anti-India conspiracy”. Paid news packages are sold openly during elections. The formula delivered TRPs for a few years – but the audience has finally had enough.
As viewership bleeds out, advertising revenue is following. Major consumer brands now spend 4–6 times more on YouTube and Instagram creators than on traditional news channels. If the current trend continues, industry projections estimate that by 2030, digital-independent creators will capture 60–70% of all news-related advertising in India. The screaming anchors who once ruled living rooms will be shouting into a void.
Violence and Impunity
India remains one of the deadliest places for journalists. Rural reporters are murdered for exposing sand mafia; women journalists receive rape threats from troll armies; reporters in Kashmir and Manipur are jailed under UAPA. But even this intimidation is losing its edge: the moment a journalist is forced out of a newsroom, they start a YouTube channel or newsletter and instantly reach a larger, more engaged audience than their former employer ever gave them.
Can Indian Media Be Saved?
The old, captured mainstream media probably cannot be saved – and it may no longer deserve to be. Its extinction is already in motion, driven not by regulation but by the purest market force: the audience has voted with its remote and its smartphone.
The future belongs to reader- and viewer-funded, fiercely independent platforms: The Wire, Newslaundry, Scroll.in, The News Minute, Khabar Lahariya, Gaon Connection, and hundreds of regional and language creators who are proving every day that honest reporting can survive and thrive without billionaire owners or government ads. They are still small, still harassed, still under-resourced – but they are growing exponentially precisely because they refused to kneel.
The watchdog never died. It was simply locked inside crumbling corporate kennels. The public has now opened the gate and is feeding the real watchdogs directly.
The lapdogs of “godi media” are barking louder than ever – because they can sense the bowl is being taken away. Their extinction is not a tragedy; it is justice. And on the ruins of their TRP empire, a new, genuinely free Indian journalism is already rising.
