It had been hours since the end of the broadcast. Yet, the channel’s editor-in-chief sat staring at the Mumbai skyline from the contemplation nook in the studio. The view wasn’t real, though. Just like the shows the channel put out, the skyline was also a huge facade. As he heard the cleaning crew come in to make the studio ready for the next day, the editor wondered how he’d gotten to this point. He used to be the king of his industry; now he’s merely a town crier. He used to have the loudest voice in the room; nowadays, all he can manage is a whimper. He used to be the star of his own story; now he’s merely an extra in someone else’s.

* * *

If any time this year you’ve a exchanged knowing looks with your spouse about the possibility of your children falling victim to Love Jihad, or felt your body fill up with irrational rage the second someone merely mentions JNU or even wondered whether Rahul Gandhi watching only two-and-a-half episodes of a Netflix show is an indication of larger commitment issues, then congratulations, you’re a regular viewer of our news channels. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, welcome to news television in 2017.

That’s right.

News television in India reached a new level of depravity as some of the so-called journalists of our English news channels gave up any pretence of being fair harbingers of information and completely embraced their role as government-approved propagandists. Instead of being the ones to speak truth to power, they are now its cheerleaders. Instead of questioning our leaders, they now write fan-fiction about them.

Their new purpose isn’t to simply keep their viewers enraged; it’s to make them feel like they’re under siege. It’s to make them feel insecure. To make them afraid of the big bad bearded wolf threatening to huff and puff and blow their house down and make them wear a skullcap. Some of these propagandists like to claim that they are the way they are because they practice adversarial journalism. Nothing could be further from the truth! Adversarial journalism doesn’t serve the powerful, it questions them. Not only are these propagandists legitimising hate under the guise of “just asking questions,” they’re actually creating permanent chasms between communities that will be hard to reconcile.

Their brief is to obfuscate, not report. To blatantly lie without any compunction.  To create an alternate reality for their viewers. To make sure there are so many versions of events competing with the actual truth that people don’t even know what to believe anymore. Because when nothing is truthful, people cannot question those in power.

What used to be the fringe is now mainstream. What used to exist mostly in Internet comment sections now resides above the fold. There are no conspiracy theories, no rumours, no made-up concepts that are too ridiculous for our news channels. What used to be dismissed as the rants of a crazy person are now streamed into our screens all day. The inane is the new normal.

The anchors on these channels aren’t reporters, they’re low-life henchmen. Getting their hands dirty so that the bully-in-chief doesn’t have to. Whenever the government has to create a distraction for the public from actual news, like a bad jobs report or a Supreme Court ruling against it.

They’re also deployed whenever the government wants to take on anyone who dares to speak out against them. The purpose is to make an example out of the dissenter, so as to stop other people from doing the same. That’s what power does. Makes the cost of speaking out so high that it turns anyone willing to do so into a cautionary tale.

Of course, the audience they cater to doesn’t really mind that their beloved politicians and media personalities think so little of them. All they want is a constant affirmation of their biases. They’re happy and satiated as long as someone is yelling at their perceived enemies.

* * *

Now, usually, whenever one tries to talk about this issue on social media or real life, there will always be one person who will reply to whatever you’ve said with a very smug “I don’t follow them!” That’s great, buddy. Why didn’t anybody else think of that? Maybe if we just pretend that a large part of one of the supposed pillars of our democracy is now dotted with power’s useful idiots, it’ll all go away.

We get it. The continuous existence of these channels is a complete farce, but we shouldn’t dismiss their shenanigans as a mere source of amusement. They serve an entire ecosystem of people who are fed a daily diet of hate and lies, and don’t bode well for our polity. Running away from the truth isn’t going to make it better.

The agitprop is so insidious that the most popular websites and social media accounts in 2017 were those who actually spend all their time sifting through the propaganda and fake news to debunk them with facts. They do so much and yet are only able to see the tip of the iceberg. We need to keep countering the propaganda to the best of our abilities.

* * *

While each channel is broken in its own, unique way, the most enthusiastic participants in this farce reside on our two top-rated English “news” channels, Times Now and Republic TV.

When the wise folks at Times Now lost their founder-editor last year, they decided to fill the Arnab-shaped hole in their programming schedule with three cheap imitations of the original. So, every night, the trio of Rahul Shivshankar, Navika Kumar and Anand Narasimhan combine their powers of shamelessness and delusion, with the ability to shout to as they pretend to do the news. They’re like Siamese triplets joined at their insufferable personalities.

However, despite their best efforts, they are no match for the master.

Arnab used to be a parody of a journalist, now he’s a parody of a parody. He used to act like he was power’s scrooge, but he has now become one of its dispensable minions. He doesn’t mind questioning people’s patriotism, religion, dignity, or honesty when it comes to serving his purpose. He’s okay with crossing the line of human decency to score a few brownie political points. Yet, the minute even a small question arises about people on his side, he suddenly turns into the most strident upholder of journalistic standards.

However, if anything defines the empty shell that he is, it’s his channel’s most recent MUST SEE SUPER DUPER EXCLUSIVE HARD HITTING INTERVIEW with Vijay Mallya. The split-screen image on the screen showed Arnab yelling into a phone, while on the right side, one of his reporters were running after Mallya, with Arnab on speaker. The chyron read, “ARNAB CONFRONTS VIJAY MALLYA.”

* * *

The funniest part is that the minute the political air starts to change direction and the current dispensation begins to lose its grip on power — and that will happen one day, no matter how far in the future — these low-lives will turn on their current masters faster than you can change the channel. They will pretend to have always been the upholders of civil discussion and secular and liberal values. And people will let them because they have short memories.

* * *

The editor pulled out his phone and wistfully began to scroll through his old videos.  Remember when he used to be able to talk over everybody? Now he has to sit by and let the supporters and spokespeople of the ruling party make their points. He’s had to make nice with all those people he used to find contemptible and those who used to call him names on his own show because they’re all part of the same propaganda daisy chain. He had an uneasy feeling that he had jumped from the top of the mountain into an abyss of no return. He closed his eyes, letting the darkness engulf him.