Indian “independent media” has perfected the art of moral exhibitionism. It preaches ethics, scolds television journalism, and positions itself as the last remaining conscience of the profession. But scratch the surface and a far uglier truth emerges: its principles are conditional, its outrage selective, and its ethics partisan. Nowhere is this rot more clearly exposed than in Newslaundry’s shameless double standards on so-called “soft” questions.
When India Today Asked Putin If He Was Tired
When India Today reporters asked Vladimir Putin whether he ever gets tired after long days of work, Newslaundry went into full sneer mode. On NL Tippani episode 264, the hosts mocked the exchange as cringe, servile, and emblematic of “godi media” sycophancy.
The host said, “First, listen to sister Anjana Om Modi.”
Anjana is seen saying to Kalli Purie, “So this is the strength of the India Today Group [music] that we don’t stop anywhere. We don’t get tired anywhere. And even after midnight, if you see the entire team standing strong in front of you like this, there is a passion behind it, which you and Arun ji have created with great hard work at the India Today Group. And before this, India Today Group owner Kalli Purie was surrounded by questions about fatigue.”
Purie asks Putin, “Sir, we have been shadowing you for three days and we see how hard you have been working, as hard as our Prime Minister. Do you ever take a break? And are you going to get a break in the New Year and Christmas?”
The fatigue question was framed as proof of journalists prostrating themselves before power, mistaking flattery for inquiry. The message was unambiguous: this is not journalism; this is bootlicking.
Yet when Newslaundry’s own reporter asked KK Shailaja, a sitting CPI(M) cabinet minister and global Left darling, “are you a little tired by any chance?”, the entire moral framework flipped. The very same kind of question — personal, empathetic, bordering on admiration — was suddenly recast as sensitive, humanising, even courageous journalism. Her exhaustion was treated as proof of virtue. Her workload became a badge of sincerity. Audiences were told they were witnessing “truth to power”.
Amazing hypocrisy:
Newslaundry mocks India Today for asking Putin if he gets tired
But watch Newslaundry in 2021 asking CPI(M)’s Health Minister in Kerala if she gets tired!
The first is “godi media”
The second one is “best journalism” pic.twitter.com/bq5OP1wZcH
— Abhishek (@AbhishBanerj) December 12, 2025
The ridicule was relentless. The implication was clear: asking a powerful leader about fatigue is not journalism – it is fawning.
A fatigue question does not magically transform from sycophancy into journalism depending on the accent, ideology, or party affiliation of the person being asked. It becomes one or the other solely based on who is in the chair. When the subject is a BJP leader, a foreign strongman, or a geopolitical adversary, such questions are derided as grovelling. When the subject is a Left icon or a progressive mascot, the same questions are celebrated as empathy. In Newslaundry’s universe, power is not defined by office, authority, or responsibility — it is defined by political convenience.
What makes this hypocrisy especially grotesque is Newslaundry’s relentless posture of moral superiority. This is an outlet that has built its brand on ridiculing others for access journalism, for soft framing, for admiration disguised as inquiry. And yet, when it interviews its ideological allies, it cushions them with reverence, context, and emotional warmth. Even when serious issues arise — such as political killings in Kerala — accountability is blurred into abstractions, responsibility dissolved into history lessons, and power gently excused as circumstance. The questions may sound tough, but the answers are never cornered. Scrutiny is simulated, never enforced.
Contrast this with the standards Newslaundry applies to everyone else. A television anchor nods too much and is accused of selling his soul. A foreign leader is asked about exhaustion and it becomes a punchline. But when Newslaundry itself indulges in the same rhetorical tenderness, it is applauded as feminist, independent, brave journalism. This is not a minor contradiction. It is a structural lie at the heart of its editorial identity.
Even The Wire’s Karan Thapar, whose interviews often lean sympathetic in framing, does not pretend otherwise. His recent interview on Zohran Mamdani seems to drift into soft hagiography.
Newslaundry does. It condemns in others what it excuses, even celebrates, in itself.
This is not “speaking truth to power”. It is deciding which power deserves scrutiny and which deserves sympathy. Friendly power is humanised. Unfriendly power is moralised against. And the audience is expected not to notice.
But once you notice it, the entire performance collapses.
What remains is not independent media, but ideological media with better branding, enforcing one standard for enemies and another for friends and calling that ethics.
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