How Indian journalism evolved since 1977: Kushal Mehra of Carvaka podcasts talks to Shekhar Gupta

Shekhar Gupta about where Indian journalism stands and how it has shaped over the years, in conversation with Kushal Mehra on The Cārvāka Podcast. He further addresses issues like whether journalism can be neutral and how old-school journalism is adjusting to the new challenge from digital media. Watch:
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[@krishnakarthik6]

I'm a paid subscriber of both Carvaka Podcast and The Print 😀 A true centrist!

[@pranav2916]

Print Is Centrist

[@krishna_o15]

😂 paid to see memes on AIM

[@vishvajitkumar9497]

@Rohit Kumar but i think is Shekhar Gupta Centrist if the Print is not.

[@memeforlifedebo8668]

@@pranav2916 and Taliban is progressive

[@satyavaani365]

Print is centrist 🤔🤔👏🏼👏🏼

[@nothing21797]

Next "Meme Review " with Shekar Gupta ji 😅😂

[@indicaedits8692]

😂😂😂😂😂And also burkha for Shekhar sir.

[@smitaj2209]

Ha ha .. I bet he’ll have a straight face though

[@YS-hl1hy]

That would be a dream come true.

[@srajandikshit7590]

Karwao bhai

[@ShubhamBa]

Woowww.. Kushal has one of the best Indian postcast channel.

[@cookie365]

I'm thankful to the Carvaka podcast for bringing SG and asking him questions on these topics. I always wanted to know his opinion on it. I have huge respect for him and I'm very proud he represents my city!

[@welingkartr416]

Shekhar Gupta rails against "citizen journalism" and evangelises the need for "trained journalists". All of that's fair enough, but how many of these people who were trained to become journalists, turned out to be trained poodles for some party or the other? What's so great about these so-called journalists, anyway? There are zillions of cases of these trained Indian journalists, TV anchors playing out their biases, botching up reportage. Just because we are forced to read their opinions, watch them on TV, doesn't make them experts on every topic under the sun.

[@jdragon8184]

@@welingkartr416 true darbari journalist is the best word for indian media which is always associated with ideology , party , $$ corporate dealing with facts , huge media houses dont even stick with their employee for they need atleast their media house backing them up for thier research

[@dishanknayal6118]

@@welingkartr416 no person who is working in a field that he/she has studied for would ever say that 'a degree is useless, it doesn't define u' ...

[@welingkartr416]

@@dishanknayal6118 I didn't say "degree is useless". I am saying this idea that only trained journalists are the best and citizen journalists do not make the grade is utterly wrong. So many of these "eminent journalists" who spent years studying journalism in India and abroad, worked for some of the biggest Indian media houses, turned out to be pet poodles of one party or the other.

[@dishanknayal6118]

@@welingkartr416 I am in complete agreement with u ... u didn't say but many so called influencers and entrepreneurs say that a degree is useless...a person who has invested a lot of time and effort to get a degree and credentials will be mostly be against a person who just came into his field without any formal training...that's what Mr Gupta is doing here...its like him and arnab goswami would be poles apart in teams or ideology but just imagine a citizen journalist enters and start attracting their viewers and revenue...these guys would be like 'let's get rid of him first...we will sort out things later'

[@ishanbajpai6940]

Cannot believe THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED!!

[@ayansarkar6774]

So refreshing to see 2 adults speaking in a civil manner discussing issues of the day!

[@nirjharrajawat2222]

Great to see two different schools of thought having a wonderful conversation and making an attempt to understand each other better.

[@AbhishekPandey-jt7co]

SG is kinda mix like majority of common atleast in public optics. Like he has very far right progressive lining for economics

[@mastrammeena328]

This proves that sg is right winger He should do podcast with Akash banerjee or Dhruv Rathee to balance

[@AbhishekPandey-jt7co]

@@mastrammeena328 😁

[@yj9032]

@@AbhishekPandey-jt7co WTF is a far right progressive? You are applying American scales to Indian measurements which is totally nonsensical.

[@yj9032]

@@mastrammeena328 They are very sensible people. They do great job exposing the lies of BJP.

[@libshastra]

About Diversity, the West sees diversity as a salad bowl and advocates for that model everywhere (It's kinda rich to insist that's the only true model of diversity). BBC describes Indian diversity as a thali, neatly segregated and that doesn't mingle together. I believe, diversity in India is neither a salad bowl, nor a thali - it's a sandwich. Layers, mixed together with each other's flavor and texture contributing to the entire package of a sandwich and yet each layer maintains it's distinctions. This is a good interview. P.S : Please feel free to comment with your favorite Sandwich recipes 😋

[@rishav2463]

This is a really nice description. Kudos!

[@shrinivasj610]

Its a thali

[@libshastra]

@@rishav2463 I came up with that analogy when my significant other (she's not Indian) asked me about the Pew survey and how BBC called it a thali.

[@rishav2463]

@@libshastra Indian or not Indian does not matter mate, it's impossible to understand what India really is, there is a contradiction for everything that you can think of. A truly fascinating country.

[@libshastra]

@@rishav2463 the contradictions exists because things aren't studied or researched as much they should be. Pew survey is starting to address that under researched aspects of India.

[@ankushdixit294]

Kushal is one of the very few who talks sense out here.

[@mrgyani]

At first I was like, why is Shekhar on his channel - but I saw the interview, and it was actually good. He talked his mind freely. People on both sides of the spectrum MUST WATCH this..

[@sambhavraichand2601]

There are multiple spectrums not just two

[@lookintoit4537]

Both are centre right.

[@soumyabratasahoo3649]

@@lookintoit4537 Plz don't divide Politics in Left and Right especially in India.

[@okay850]

Why a person is wrong question.Ideas must be exchanged n not live in separate silos

[@jessythomas7284]

Nice partnership. This is a great day for both The Print and The Carvaka podcast. Iam a subscriber of both. Watching with great interest from 🇦🇪

[@TheBakuganmaster99]

I'm curious. How did u start watching indian media even tho u're not indian?

[@iArpanMishra]

This is so cool of you SG!

[@phonebackup6969]

Hats off to Shekhar Sir's professionalism with all his patience through the technical glitches..he is such a great interviewer and an equally great interviewee..always a pleasure when he is so generous with his time

[@mandy28887]

Wow I didnt realize youtube podcasts and the Print can collaborate in this way.

[@jatishah]

Both of you should come together, and do such show every week. This will help to spread more awareness on the various topics from both sides. Really good one

[@sandipsg4u]

Why dont you send a journalist in rural west bengal to find out what is happening @sekhar gupta

[@mohantysobhi]

Why don't you read and amplify local journalism from Bengal?

[@jitupattnaik6140]

@@mohantysobhi Khela Hobe apologists have come.

[@mohantysobhi]

@@jitupattnaik6140 sounds like you've learnt a new word :) good for you.

[@jitupattnaik6140]

@@mohantysobhi Yes i have, especially my maternal family, who came to India surviving Noakhali, with the hope of freedom. But all that has shattered when a state machinery unleashed carnage, death and mayhem upon Hindus in their own homeland, refreshing memories of their own flight. And if that wasn't enough, a "miserable woman" declares celebration of "Khela Hobe"on the anniversary of 'Direct Action day'. So yes it was a lesson for me and I am not happy. But you can stay happy.

[@rutvikrs]

@@mohantysobhi are you saying that unironically? Ffs look at America and their fetish for guns. And you expect people to "move on". 😂

[@manu1166662222]

I love both of them 🙏🙏 Nice discussion 👍👍 Never thought they will come on same platform 🙏

[@nitinkkhemka7020]

A real treat for ppl like me who follow both Kushal & Shekhar ji ... both almost always have a balanced view of matters they discuss ... be it politics or current affairs.... grt work. Best Wishes

[@cookie365]

36:30 Amazing insights coming from the cricket grounds explaining Caste system and experience with meritocracy!!!! I'm amazed SG!

[@tejamysore3699]

I LOVE the caste-meritocracy debate framed in the sports context. The reason it works is because the 'reservations' is at the grass-root level. No one is promoting a fast bowler of a lower caste ABOVE someone else who is quantifiably better (like it happens in education and jobs)

[@thirdeye776]

@@tejamysore3699 Exactly. It has now become a bane in democracy that to get votes, they are doling the reservations. For example in last elections in 2021, the following thing was done in TN by the then AIADMK government. Vanniyar which are the single largest caste(Kshatriya) in TN and the pre-dominant caste in the northern TN. Already due to the various fighting by Dr Ramadoss and PMK, they were moved from BC to MBC category a few decades back. To get more of their votes, what happened was atrocious. They were given 10.5% reservations for "them alone" in the MBC pool and rewarded their ally PMK. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservation_policy_in_Tamil_Nadu#1990_-_present Which means not only are they guaranteed 10.5% they are also in the lower "merit" category especially in education. It is one of the reasons that despite this pandering, ADMK lost as other BCs and MBCs were pissed off. The current DMK Govt is also pandering to that and keeping that stupidity going. indianexpress.com/article/cities/chennai/tn-government-justifies-provision-of-10-5-reservation-to-vanniyars-7448211/ SG as usual is thinking he is saying something intelligent. May be some "citizen journalist" can make him realize his "intelligence". :-)

[@blueeight5573]

Merit based system created gems like Joy Shah and Anurag Thakur

[@vaishalichakravarty5950]

Thank you Kunal and Shekhar for doing this podcast. This is another Cut The Clutter!

[@abbii7280]

That's what I want people of different school of thought talking on issues from thier own perspective in a much civilised way .

[@akshay-iq3qn2jp2c]

I have some issues with mr gupta on certain things .....but one thing i like about him is that he doesnt put a facade and is outspoken about wat is right and wrong........good conversation ....i like kushal too

[@AditVats]

I'm too drunk. Seeing Kushal Mehra with Shekhar Gupta.

[@smitaj2209]

Lot of respect for Shekhar 🙇🏻‍♀️. And Kushal is doing some great work. And this podcast was so good that you couldn’t miss a minute

[@byron-ih2ge]

Left: shekhar sir bhi sanghi nikle😂

[@kartikaytiwari7387]

Wow man, right is finally getting representation. this is why we respect gupta ji

[@vinodpillai]

A masterclass in journalism. It was a pleasure listening. Thank you

[@innigaadu]

51:36 the user who asked the question NAILED IT

[@tapemaj]

For once - SG doing “ talk the walk “ 😀 . Other side of the interviewer .. Well done Carvaka . Walkover 👍

[@jayantjolly]

Someone mentioned SG's Carvaka podcast in yesterday's CTC comment section!! Already saw this video over there!! Very enjoyable!!

[@bharatpandit4796]

A excellent interview! A rare one for Shekhar Gupta! I admire the quality of earthiness in him.

[@greencrossexportpvt.ltd.1607]

@the Print TEam....Personal request. Kindly arrange an off the cuff with Rajiv Malhotra. One Indian Philosopher needs to interviewed

[@TheEpijay]

I remember the time in India, circa 1971-2 when my favorite high school english teacher, EJ Montville, was conducting classes in journalism at Bahadurshah Zaffar Marg, Delhi, for the likes of the nascent India Today mentioned in this video conversation. Indian journalism has indeed come a long way..

[@ankushsaini8973]

Liked it very much...the gyaan by SG and the questions by the KM

[@dktiwary1862]

Watched this already on Kushal's Channel. 👍👍

[@osyl8]

Great discussion! Thanks Kushal and Shekhar.

[@chanahyingchan5070]

Respect to both speakers. Sincere and honest opinion and the difficulty of being a neutral journalist. Question is ,are journalist willing to put their livelihood on the line for the sake of the truth.

[@adityajoies]

Two Journalists that I really admire are Shekar Gupta and HR Ranganath from Karnataka. Good podcast.

[@rram6875]

This is the weirdest crossover.

[@mastrammeena328]

Yeah these don't even know what carvaka is and just put the name because it looks cool lol Carvakas ko aaj k time pr ye desh#$drohi bol dete

[@VSM101]

@@mastrammeena328 He actually does an of you think a Charvak is a western Atheist then your an idiot.

[@dipeshbhattarai8286]

@@mastrammeena328 😂😂 lol you won't be commenting random shit if you were topper,( maybe you cheated or others were too stupid) And also those who actually have those credits dont boast about themshelves like you😂😂 Pathetic liar you are

[@mastrammeena328]

@@dipeshbhattarai8286 bhai aapki baat shi h bhai m inka follower tha, ye logo ko bewkoof banate h, isiliye bas jagruk kr rha tha aapko, inse poocho to ek baar ki mimansa aur charvaka philosophy m kya similarities h, nyaya philosophy ka sutra kya h? bhrata moorkh na bano

[@SriM0]

@@mastrammeena328 these are all discussed by him in the Carvaka podcast. Hindus of today know about all this.

[@drShivaR]

Amazing collaboration. Lots to learn.

[@sarthakthapliyal4710]

I enjoyed this talk a lot. One can take down notes from this podcast/ Some really enlightening pointers given out by Shekhar Sir.

[@mohantysobhi]

I've never seen someone who can explain caste, politics, history, anthropology... literally everything.... with cricket metaphors. SG is genuinely a national treasure :D

[@natalkumar6132]

Great to see Carvaka with Print . Good work by both Kushalji and Shekharji .

[@PritiAnand1BSG]

What a pleasure to listen to you, Shekhar 💐💐

[@ashoo1807]

Now this is one sane cultured and humane discussion! 👍🏽to both.. SG 🤘🏽

[@jararacain]

Fantastic conversation!

[@sibabratakakati3838]

I am a regular viewer of Shekhar's "Cut The Clutter".He is honest and objective about all issues taken up by him

[@12saurabhsharma]

What a fabulous discussion. 👏🏻👏🏻

[@devpr0nerd631]

oh! Sham Sharma gang member is here

[@nidhidholakiya261]

Superb collab

[@unbiasednewsdigitalpublica7718]

Awesome Conversation/Views By Shekhar Gupta Ji 👍🙏

[@Drganguli]

Good to see dialogue between these two public intellectuals

[@randomindian4446]

Very nice podcast... And a great insight from SG. 👍🙏

[@lord_britu]

After watching National interest, I was pleasantly surprised to see SG again for the 2nd time on the day!

[@smoothoprk]

Love the clarity in thought & viewpoint

[@akashtiwari5729]

Worth every minute 💜🌟

[@dineshkumarsnair7964]

Technology has flattened many barriers existing at various industrial spheres including Media to such an extent that, a die hard hard copy avatar name Mr SekharJI is swearing by digital... Great going! All the best..and one more thing.. " Celebrate Divesity".. Wonderful..

[@rajx7120]

Shekhar ji, I understand you are not neutral, and neither am I. But I like your objectivity.

[@AbhishekPandey-jt7co]

I think most of the common people don't give a rat ass about ideology and they stand somewhere in the middle. Like most people support left lining welfare schemes but don't support their land reforms ideas.

[@rajx7120]

@@user-se2pl5hd5s I don't prefer to take any generic position for all humans. Even in this case.

[@PushpendraSingh-kz1wd]

Wonderful discussion!

[@AbhishekPandey-jt7co]

Glad to see Shekar has no hesitation joining with someone he might simply ignore becoz of lower fan base

[@pramod_p5]

kushalmehra@icici army assemble

[@tresajessygeorge210]

THANK YOU GREAT DISCUSSION...!!!

[@ananth224]

Last 5 mins were ❤

[@ravivyas9437]

Really good conversation!

[@zehahahha]

Damn....kushal Mehra hit big time...

[@wishphysics]

That's why i like shekhar gupta and for news only watch the print because they shows objective truth.

[@architjain30]

Such an amazing conversation! I wish more print journalists were objective. Sg is indeed a national treasure but almost everyone else is heavily heavily biased in print. I want to pay but i just can't get myself to

[@SBALAK9753]

Shekar please include language also in the list of things you mentioned. Language is an integral part of every Indian and now tends to divide us more than any other things you mentioned. While religion, caste etc divides us but they are spread across. But language has a fixed area of India and is not shared across. Any linguistic split in India will divide India more than any other differences. So language should be tread with more delicacy than we encounter today. We must protect all our languages because of that. Respect all our languages first and fund their development. You cannot create one language nation in India.

[@vikrant7424]

So, it took 3 days for utube to recommend this video, even when I am a subscriber of 'The Print'. I might disagree with Shekhar ji on many things but I like 'his kind' of journalism. Meanwhile, it's an amazing podcast with Kushal.👍

[@shivalithakur4067]

Nowadays even comedians are also journalist

[@satapathyrk]

even upper cast also agrees that meritocracy should be the parameter. All lecture on cast by SG based on his myopia of upper cast controls everything & responsible for favoritism.

[@Indrauta]

Yes

[@OnkarShrma]

Wonderful discussion Sir. 👍

[@yuvrajsingh-pw1st]

Maybe I am not on the shekhar side on his opinion on caa/nrc but overall this whole podcast was so nice.

[@avnishthakkar5547]

Shekharji, Excellent candidness and acute views on emergence of new trends in journalism. I admire your style of journalism. I sometimses wonders when people from my ideology background compares you or stag you with other hyfenated media. You are trying to walk rope. Sometimes you fall opposite to my opinion but never doubt Print's integrity.

[@nandkishoreprakash9417]

Informative. Would like to know more about ThePrint's internal policies to ensure journalistic integrity and accuracy in reporting and opinion-writing.

[@karanbhakuni8051]

Shekhar Gupta Sir you are truly amazing ❤️

[@SBALAK9753]

Good analogy that the Indians are in two bunkers shooting at each other while the real truth seekers are in the middle vast terrain getting the bullets and being vulnerable. The India of today has been polarized by our politicians and the public is now clinging to those politicians and the media seem to exploit this also. The Print is a shining example of what a media should do. Indian people should get the wisdom to discern the truth and not get polarized.

[@architjain30]

Goddamn i forgot to blink for a long time. I love SG, i wish we had a ton of such journalists

[@animeshon97]

This is great. SG is my go to guy for news.

[@ankushdixit294]

This is great!

[@gurmindergill1427]

great discussion enjoyed it alot

[@snr5950]

Thanq Kushal for providingyr platform to Sekhar to vent out his frusterations....

[@Noname-oq9mk]

Kushal op

[@trex9773]

Who know kushal from sham Sharma show??

[@vineetsinghgusain701]

Kushal is going goods . Gr8 podcast

[@srinathkrishnan8375]

Shekhar Sir, please have a yearly print magazine. Put in all the great stories in the country. Make it beautiful with pictures. All high end. We will buy. You can also make a digital copy and have them in digital space.

[@teenbull2907]

51:41 the laugh is so lively

[@bondinthepond]

@SG - the old uncle ji giving gyan explanation you gave for cut the clutter @52:15 , that’s the term we use in the family as well - “what is uncle saying today “. You are the ‘Uncle’ who clarifies doubts.

[@ghettomaster1000]

Thanks for this quality content.

[@yahoosomeone]

Since I am a subscriber of Print & sometimes listen to Carvaka also I may come in between Morcha or Chamcha. 😀 I do hve a question to SG: What role Editors Guild of India plays to stop 'that' type of news reporting especially on TV or even to stop spread of fake news?

[@greencrossexportpvt.ltd.1607]

I must admire the topics covered by The Print. @Shekhar ji. Do you think Sir that Indian Journalism has moved in the direction of US Journalism wherein certain media outlets openly support the BJP & Certain media outlets openly support the Congress & Left. Has Indian mainstream journalism taken this direction?

[@libshastra]

Yup. I think the US has picked up a lot of stuff from us. Naked praise of politicians wasn't a feature of US news networks until recently but it was present in Indian news network.

[@jevinpauly2667]

@@libshastra CNN and MSNBC doing open Chaatugiri for Biden has kind of come undone by the Afghan shitstorm but yeah that was extremely cringe to watch when it was happening.

[@pramod_p5]

@@libshastra ha? I think you just started watching US media recently lol. 2000s is something that was okish, by the time of Obama it was already highly polarized. Fox vs CNN is older than Republic vs NDTV. Btw you haven't even seen NYTs scandals, they collaborated with Nazis, Japanese bombings, USSRs communists and hid truth most of the time (The Grey lady winked (book) and Mr. Jones (movie), by the way book is reviewed with author by the guest Kushal Mehra in his Carvaka podcast.)

[@gauthampai896]

@@libshastra no dude it was present. there were people the media establishment clearly liked and disliked. recent example is between Obama and trump. If you ask someone they probably will have a bad impression of trump while the opposite is true for Obama

[@pramod_p5]

lol it was always like that, most of the journalists were in the hands of politicians, (Radia tape scandal - 2008 or something). I think it has just been democratized as Gupta said, you hear from both sides nowadays and pick up more news in the sense, else unless it was big enough, most of the MSMs back then never covered it.

[@sharadchandakacherla8268]

why this video has such less view count, its a gem

[@bharatsinghbisht6798]

I salute you Kushal Mehra sir

[@rishiraaj.580]

Nice Conversation 👍

[@apurvavaidya12]

This is Gold

[@sudhanshu149]

Ooooo Bhai saheb 🔥🔥🔥

[@PB-hf9of]

I understand Guptaji still has the remnant of Congressness in him, but still he the most impartial and logical journalist in India at this moment. Journalist is not neutral but presentation can be neutral. Another thing is meritocracy is good but if you see , by chance, it imbalance the system and you then bring in partiality into it that’s when it goes wrong. Because there is a statistical and scientific truth of genetics as well

[@Cryptic_Chai]

15:38 to 16:05 that's what neutrality is Sir. That's being real and true. 💯 On no side.

[@naiyayika]

He knows economics. That's why he's pro land acquisition bill and farm bills. That's why I love him. Unlike some leftists who know nothing about all of this. And bjp is pathetic in explaining.

[@rigpandey2452]

Collab we didn't expect But we are luck that we got 💖💖💖

[@ishansharma9106]

Sherkhar Gupta is Awesome!