Space for dissent shrinking because of billionaire-backed channels, sales targets: Aroon Purie

The entry of billionaire-run news channels, and the pressures of balance sheets and sales targets have shrunk the space for dissent more than the jackboot of state censorship, Aroon Purie, Founding Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India Today Group said at the FICCI Frames 2025 summit on Tuesday.

“The space for dissent is shrinking not because of the jackboot of censor but because of balance sheets and ad sales targets. And today, the problem has taken another form—the advent of billionaire news channels,” he said.

Purie added that news is not a business for large corporations, but a tool for wielding influence. “They have deep pockets and they’re destroying the economic models of news channels. This will be detrimental not just to profitability but also to good journalism,” he added.

Journalistic independence is under constant threat because the industry’s survival depends almost entirely on advertising from corporations and governments. “We’ve all seen it, the hand that gives can also give away,” he said.

Purie added that the broadcasting industry is in a shambles due to the government's lack of foresight and regressive policies. “I believe the role of the government should be to ensure a fair, level-playing field; not to regulate, but to facilitate.”

Furthermore, he said the practice of levying carriage fees continues to strangle the broadcast news industry, which employs more than 1.7 million people. Purie also called out the regulation of prices of channels, like they are essential commodities. “TRAI regulations controlling the price of channels are another hindrance. It is beyond my understanding why the government treats the supply of cable TV as an essential commodity whose price they must regulate like wheat or rice,” he said.

For consumers, he said, news is, by and large, cheap or free, and the publisher or broadcaster gets little of what the consumer pays. “Major newspapers have relied on what I call ‘raddi economics’, i.e., the pricing of the paper is so low that at the end of the week, you get more for it than you paid for it when the raddiwala comes to collect it. So, not only is it free, but you make a profit,” he said.

Purie added that once a newspaper enters a home, it is unlikely to be discontinued; it is the only product that will never go out of production, even if the consumer stops consuming it.

In terms of volume, India is the “undisputed global king” of news media, with over 100,000 registered publications, 900 permitted satellite channels, of which 375 are 24x7 news channels. But in his 50 years in the media industry, he has learnt that disruption never ends.

He said each wave of disruption creates new opportunities, while intensifying audience attention and advertising revenue. “Beneath all the technological disruption lies a deeper, structural problem in the business model of news.”