N Ram, the ‘veteran journalist’ and chairman of The Hindu Group, and also a card-carrying Communist, recently delivered a scathing indictment of Indian television news during his interview with Karan Thapar for The Wire. With the air of a seasoned professor lecturing errant students, he catalogued its sins: sycophancy, biased coverage, lack of scrutiny, and a descent into becoming a propaganda machine. His analysis was sharp, his tone, dismissive. There’s only one problem: the mirror he so confidently holds up to “Hindi/national” media reflects a strikingly similar image in his own backyard – an image in which he is not a mere observer, but a central character.
His checklist of sins is precise. But this mirror he holds up to the Hind/national media reflects a damning image back at his own turf—the Tamil Nadu media space where Ram is not a critic, but an established pillar.
On Sycophancy and Nexus: The Pot Calls the Kettle Black
Ram scorns national media for cutting live to rallies with “sycophancy without a shadow of a doubt.” Where is this scrutiny for Tamil Nadu’s channels, which operate on a simple binary: fawning loyalty to the ruling DMK or slavish devotion to the opposition AIADMK?
The “nexus between big media houses and the government” he identifies in Delhi is a textbook definition of the Chennai media-political complex. To lament this nexus while being a central figure in a media group often perceived as leaning towards the state establishment is the height of selective outrage.
Guess who is TN CM Stalin’s walking partner? Well, you may have seen this image often.
On Failure to Criticize: A Local Silence He Chooses Not to Hear
Ram accuses national media of failing to challenge communal “dog whistles” and of being “soft on government, harsh on opposition.” In Tamil Nadu, the script is simply flipped when it comes to centre vs state and replicated when it comes to reporting on the state. The local media is often relentlessly critical of the BJP-led Centre, while the “purposeful interrogation” Ram demands for Narendra Modi is conspicuously absent for Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister.
He asks why the media did not attack the Election Commission’s “arrogant” responses. But where is his own outlet’s relentless crusade against the Tamil Nadu government’s own institutional opacities or allegations of corruption? The bias is for a different team, but the failure of scrutiny is identical.
On Ignoring People’s Issues: The Tamil Nadu Blackout
Ram laments that national media focused on “Modi vs Rahul” instead of “unemployment” and “education.” Yet, Tamil Nadu media is often dominated by the same political soap operas – AIADMK’s internal squabbles, film star entries, and caste calculations. Where is the relentless focus on the state’s own unemployment crisis or the quality of its social schemes? The drama is local, but the neglect of public issues is just as profound.
On Poor Debates and Lack of Analysis: A Tamil Translation of Tutu-Mein-Mein
The “tutu-mein-mein” shouting matches he derides have a perfect Tamil translation. Tamil news debates are spectacles of high-decibel theatrics, where little light is shed. Well, he can talk to his fellow partners at the Press Club and get better debates organised. And on his point that media did not analyze party manifestos, where is the forensic analysis in Tamil media on the fiscal feasibility of the state’s notorious freebie culture?
The Unasked Question: Why Does Ram’s Critique Stop at the Vindhyas?
Ram says Indian media functions as a “propaganda machine rather than independent media” and is about “manufacturing consent.” This is not a Hindi/national media phenomenon; it is exactly the same in his backyard too. The consent is just manufactured for a different political project.
The most poignant question for Ram is the one his entire lecture avoids: Why did his profound critique stop at the banks of the Yamuna? Why not closer home, near the Cooum?
A true champion of journalistic integrity would have the courage to turn the lens inward. Until he does, his words are not a diagnosis—they are a performance of selective sanctimony. He is quick to point out the “sycophancy” in his neighbor’s house while ignoring the identical “nexus” in his own.
N. Ram’s tirade against “propaganda media” is the height of irony — a sermon on virtue from the pulpit of hypocrisy. A lifelong DMK-Communist stooge masquerading as a moral guardian of journalism, he has whitewashing Stalin’s draconian regime while sermonising about media ethics. In spirit and substance, he is Goebbels of the Dravidian Model.
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