‘The later it gets, the crazier the shows become’: US ambassador Sergio Gor on the chaos of Indian TV news

US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor appears to have discovered a guilty pleasure familiar to many an NRI uncle: watching Indian television news for entertainment.

Speaking on a range of issues at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum in New Delhi, Gor offered what may be the most diplomatic review yet of Indian prime-time TV – marvelling at the sheer number of people who can shout simultaneously while technically being on the same programme.

“I love getting back home and watching Indian TV news shows. The later it gets, the crazier the shows become. At 6 pm you have 8 people arguing on the show. At 10 pm, there are 12 people who are all speaking at the same time. You can’t hear a single one of them…it’s unbelievable that no one gets interrupted,” he said.

For context: American cable news is no stranger to volume, hostility, or the occasional shouting match. But even hardened veterans of that particular arena, it seems, regard the 10-person, simultaneous-speech format of Indian prime-time as a genre of its own.

Gor also used the platform to say that the Indian Ministry of External Affairs had asked for a “no-questions” arrangement ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with US President Donald Trump at the G7 summit.

The meeting itself took place on June 17 on the sidelines of the G7 summit in eastern France, arriving shortly after three Indian mariners were killed when a commercial vessel came under attack by the US Navy in the Strait of Hormuz – a tragedy Modi raised directly with Trump during their conversation.

According to Gor, the plan was to allow the media in only to record opening remarks, no questions permitted. Trump, briefed in advance, had signed off on it.

“We were behind the scenes, behind the stage, and at one point it was just the president and I, and he asked me, he goes, what the Indians are going to raise. We went over some topics,” Gor said. “And he said, do they have any asks? And the MEA had one ask. He said, and it was, let’s bring in the media, but let’s not do a full press conference,” the ambassador added. “I told the president, I said, the Indians prefer no questions. He said, sure, no problem.”

“So the meeting starts, the press comes in, there must have been 50 cameras, the president is sitting here, the prime minister is sitting there, they both speak for a few minutes,” Gor said.

But once the opening remarks wrapped up, Trump – evidently unburdened by the memory of the earlier agreement – turned to the assembled cameras and asked, “Any questions?” It dissolved into a 45-minute press marathon.

The Indian government has not yet responded to the claim about the no-questions request.

Gor struck a warmer note on the broader relationship, describing Trump and Modi’s bond. He pointed to deepening ties across trade, defence, energy, and space cooperation, along with Washington’s push for more frequent high-level engagement with New Delhi.

He also noted that Trump remembers Modi’s support during his four years out of office, and touched on growing India-US cooperation on future Moon missions, alongside collaboration spanning aviation, the military, pharmaceuticals, and energy. The Quad, Gor said, remains “vitally important,” and is on pace for five ministerial-level meetings this year – a marked jump from zero the year before.

Gor, who had recently visited Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, earlier described the union territory – long contested between India and Pakistan across several wars – as an “important part of India,” a remark that promptly reignited diplomatic friction between New Delhi and Islamabad.

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