You may have gotten tired of hearing us talk about why the media needs to be independent.

But hey, this isn’t just a slogan – it’s a warning. And events unfolding in the southern state of Telangana show exactly why the media must be independent.

In Telangana, two journalists were jailed. For running a television news story built entirely on gossip. It had no documents, no evidence, and no named sources, and it ended with journalists in jail and a raging political battle. Not a sting, not an investigation, just sleaze on prime time. 

And beneath that sleaze lies something far more dangerous – a supposed battle over business interests and power, fought using television studios as weapons.

What’s playing out in Telangana is not an isolated controversy. It is a textbook example of what happens when media houses are owned by politicians and businessmen, and journalism and journalists become collateral damage. Let me explain.

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Produced by Megha Mukundan, script by Dhanya Rajendran, camera by Ajay R, edited by Nikhil Sekhar ET.

This report was republished from The News Minute as part of The News Minute-Newslaundry alliance.