Breaking Down the News
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Breaking Down the News
Rajdeep Sardesai on media and politics in a post-truth world
You think because you see him on television every night, you know what Rajdeep Sardesai is all about.
Well we can guarantee that unless you were at Algebra last night, you don’t.
He couldn’t have lived up to Algebra’s intent any better – in turn provocative and insightful, self-deprecating and sharp, as he took blunt questions about why media has abdicated its role as challenger to power and has, instead, become voice of political agenda. Wryly pointing out that it’s the era of the “cockroach editor”, one whose primary impulse is to outlast all else, he argued that as long as primary funding for media continued to come from advertisers rather than subscriptions, there would be no shift in the agenda-led, one-sided discourse in mainstream media.
Sidestepping Shoma’s question as to why he didn’t take these courageous positions while still running a TV network, he argued that the trust format in which the BBC is funded, or a Jeff Bezos style hands-off entrepreneur, is what was needed to clean up the Indian media landscape.
Rajdeep had the audience energised, and the buzz as we broke to refresh our drinks pointed to the chord he struck with the packed hall.
Watch the full session above.
