12/11/2025
When News Loses Its Soul
In the past few days, two very different incidents — one about a film legend, another about a national tragedy — have exposed the deep rot in our media ecosystem.
On one hand, major TV channels and social platforms flashed “breaking news” that actor Dharmendra had passed away, triggering panic and grief across the country. Within hours, his family had to publicly deny the rumours, calling out the “irresponsible reporting” that violated their privacy and dignity. The veteran actor, very much alive, became a victim of our media’s endless hunger for clicks and TRPs.
Almost simultaneously, newsrooms went into frenzy over the car explosion near Delhi’s Red Fort. Even before the police, NIA, or NSG had confirmed details, headlines screamed of “terror links,” “foreign hands,” and “high alert operations.” Social media amplified unverified videos, some even recycled from old incidents abroad. Amidst the noise, facts struggled to breathe.
These two episodes are not isolated mistakes — they represent a pattern.
Today’s news industry thrives on urgency over accuracy, emotion over ethics, and spectacle over substance. The editorial judgment that once defined good journalism has been replaced by algorithmic instincts: be first, be loud, be viral.
The media’s job was once to inform society, not inflame it. But our screens have turned into echo chambers of outrage — where breaking news has no time to be verified, and opinion has no patience for balance. Anchors perform, reporters speculate, and newsrooms compete for attention in a market that rewards noise more than truth.
When a respected actor’s life becomes fodder for fake death alerts, when national security stories are turned into entertainment programming, it is not just a professional lapse — it is a moral collapse.
And it demands introspection.
In moments like these, one is forced to ask: What happened to credibility?
When the very institutions meant to keep power accountable become addicted to the power of attention, democracy itself stands weakened. Trust, once broken, takes generations to rebuild.
News was once called the first draft of history.
If we continue down this path of reckless reporting and unverified sensationalism, we will not be recording history — we will be distorting it.
