India’s Free Press Just Became Less Free

At least once a day, Ravish Kumar would take a break from writing his primetime news show for New Delhi Television (NDTV) and step out for a cup of tea. At a kiosk in the shadow of a tall office building, he would snack on samosas and gossip about national politics with fellow journalists puffing out rings of smoke.

A star with one of India’s leading independent TV networks, Kumar remained a down-to-earth journalist from a humble background who was popular with his colleagues and audience alike. But last month Kumar’s 26-year-long association with NDTV ended abruptly, not long after Gautam Adani—the third richest man in the world behind Bernard Arnault and Elon Musk—became the majority shareholder in the company.

“The Roys [NDTV’s founders] never asked me what topic to debate on the show or what line to take,” Kumar told Foreign Policy. “I would tell my producer at five in the evening whatever it is that I intended to discuss. I had no pressure. But how can a channel, bought by a corporat[ion] whose success is seen to be linked to contracts granted by the government, now criticize the government? It was clear to me I had to quit.”

Adani’s acquisition of NDTV stock and Kumar’s subsequent resignation have set up a David vs. Goliath narrative with an uncertain outcome.

Adani’s wealth has grown exponentially since Narendra Modi became prime minister, from $7 billion in 2014 to an estimated $147 billion now. He has expanded what had originally been a coal business into ever more areas—infrastructure, defense, data centers, urban water management, and green energy, among others. He is widely seen as the government’s preferred business partner. Opposition parties accuse Modi of unfairly going out of his way to help Adani, as their influence has continued to grow in tandem. (Modi has denied any accusations of corruption.)

Kumar’s greatest asset is his command over Hindi, which allows him to reach and connect with the masses. Since quitting, he has already started a popular YouTube channel. He has earned acclaim for not restraining his criticisms of the country’s richest man and its most powerful politician, at a time when many independent journalists have stopped short of speaking truth about those in power for fear of online harassment by Modi’s supporters or getting dragged to court under a legal pretext.

“Journalists are sent legal notices by government departments under any pretext now,” a former NDTV employee told Foreign Policy on the condition of anonymity. “If nothing else you will be charged with sedition.”

Kumar too is worried he might be attacked by supporters of the ruling party or embroiled in a false legal case. “There is a threat to life but there is also a threat to make life hell,” he told Foreign Policy.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Adani said taking over NDTV was a “responsibility,” and that it was time India had a global news media brand along the lines of Al Jazeera and FT. “Independence means if [the] government has done something wrong, you say it’s wrong,” Adani told the Financial Times. “But at the same time, you should have courage when the government is doing the right thing …. You have to also say that.”

Kumar said Adani revealed his expectations when he said he wanted the government’s achievements to be applauded. “Mr. Adani said if you criticize the government you must have the courage to praise it,” he said. “I am asking Mr. Adani if he will ask the government whether it has the courage to face criticism.”

Kumar added that shifting NDTV’s focus to covering international news would reduce the time and attention required to discuss government’s policies on domestic issues. “When petrol prices are jumping and people don’t have jobs, we are going to talk about what’s happening in Germany and Japan?” he said. “It won’t look like there is a conflict of interest, but pay attention to how focus will shift from domestic issues to propaganda about how India under Modi is viewed in the world.”

Many in India share Kumar’s concern that news networks must not come under the control of big corporations, which in turn bank on the government’s goodwill to grow their businesses.

“Unlike entrepreneurs like Musk who is in tech and space and can afford to take on the U.S. president, as he does—in India, even post liberalisation, most businesses, especially the big businesses, need government approvals,” Abhinandan Sekhri, a former content provider to NDTV and co-founder of news website Newslaundry, told Foreign Policy. “There is hence a cause for concern that companies who own the media potentially use their influence in some sort of a quid pro quo. … They need to be in the good books of the government to get approvals.”

NDTV is India’s first private 24/7 news network and among its last independent news channels. Media experts and senior journalists in India told Foreign Policy that Adani’s purchase of a large share of NDTV stock from a company linked to Mukesh Ambani, another of India’s richest people, is a worrying sign about the relationship of Indian media to both politics and big business.

“Ambani is one of the biggest players in the media industry,” Hartosh Singh Bal, political editor of Caravan magazine, said. “What earthly sense does it make for him to let Adani acquire NDTV?

“The speculation is that Ambani has been politically coerced to let go of this holding. Why? Whoever pushed for the change was not happy with the way things were at NDTV. It is well known that Adani is very close to Modi. Their rise has been simultaneous.”

Kumar is so far the only senior journalist at NDTV to tender his resignation on moral grounds. He is now living with the financial repercussions. He says he owns the home he lives in and has a car but confesses that his mother has been worried about maintaining their living standards since he quit. He told Foreign Policy that he still has nice clothes, but he no longer has enough money to send his daughter abroad for higher education.

Foreign Policy’s conversations with NDTV’s current and former employees suggest that some in the network are possibly looking forward to a cash inflow that could finally mean a pay raise. Employees at NDTV have rarely received raises, since the network had been struggling to stay afloat prior to Adani’s arrival.

A current employee and senior NDTV correspondent spoke to Foreign Policy at length and said there was an atmosphere of confusion in the newsroom about how Adani’s acquisition of NDTV shares would change daily journalistic decision-making. He said Adani might not fiddle around with daily editorial work to keep NDTV’s reputation for independence intact. “We actually don’t know if he will change the tone of the channel in a way that doesn’t make business sense for him,” the correspondent said. “We must wait.”

Kumar and several other senior independent Indian journalists express little doubt Adani will influence NDTV’s news coverage. But they were sympathetic to the lower-level NDTV employees who need the source of income and have nowhere else to go, since most other news organizations have already self-censored.

There are nearly 400 news channels and more than 100,000 registered newspapers and publications in India, but few critically analyze the government’s policies. According to Newslaundry, most prime time anchors focus on sensationalist discussions around Hindu-Muslim tensions rather than issues such as unemployment, with Kumar having been an exception. And India dropped to 150 out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) press freedom index this year. RSF cited “concentration of media ownership” as demonstration of how press freedom was in crisis in the world’s most populous democracy.

With Elon Musk having bought Twitter and Jeff Bezos the Washington Post, the ownership of media brands by billionaires is something of a global trend. Yet Adani’s purchase of a controlling share of NDTV stock is especially concerning since there are few other outlets in the Indian news landscape that can muster the strength to stand up to the government.

Now, that era may have ended. Kumar remains a reminder of a time when Indian media could be expected to challenge the government, before news channels either actively advertised the Hindu nationalist government’s ideology or just quietly toed the line.

Foreign Policy reached out to NDTV management to ask how the news team intends to ensure its editorial integrity, but did not receive a response before publication. Kumar, for his part, has pushed ahead; his YouTube channel already has 3.2 million subscribers.