Q&A: A new documentary tells the story of India’s news crisis
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In 2018, Vinay Shukla, an Indian documentary filmmaker, approached Ravish Kumar, a high-profile TV personality in the country, to be a part of his latest film, While We Watched. Shukla, who is known for his observational documentaries, had grown disturbed by India’s polarized media landscape. An ardent fan of newsroom dramas, he wanted to set up his cameras in the offices of NDTV, a network, where Kumar worked, that was known for maintaining high journalistic standards in a country where many media outlets were turning into mouthpieces for the government of Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP.
Shukla had noticed that Kumar was a rare anchor in India not to have fallen in line with Modi’s political agenda. Instead, he was almost “chastising” his audience and urging them to question Modi’s tactics, Shukla said. His film ended up chronicling Kumar’s work and family life as he navigated a spiraling world of disinformation …
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