‘Ownership of media is not immaterial’: Rahul Gandhi tells reporter

The ownership of the media is not immaterial to how the media functions, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi told a press conference in Ernakulam on Thursday.

Gandhi, who is leading his party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, made the remark when a reporter from a media organisation that recently had a change in its ownership asked him a question. “I believe you have a new owner,” Gandhi told the reporter. “That's what I'm talking about. That's just an example of what I was saying.” He went on to say, “Ownership of newspapers is not immaterial at all. Ownership of newspapers defines what newspapers do.”

Bharat Jodo Yatra, which involves a march on foot from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, is an attempt by the party to reach out to the public and reorganise itself. It began on September 6.

Read Newslaundry’s series on the ownership of some of the country's largest media conglomerates.