Ravish Kumar: Ramon Magsaysay Award winning news anchor resigns with parting shot at pro-government media

Popular television news anchor Ravish Kumar has resigned from his position as the senior executive editor at one of India’s oldest and most well-respected news channels, NDTV.

Kumar, a 47-year-old Hindi language journalist and recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, had worked at NDTV India, NDTV’s Hindi language channel, since 1996 and is well known for his hard-hitting ground reporting and anchoring laced with satire.

He produced several popular shows like “Hum Log”, “Ravish ki Report”, “Des Ki Baat” and “Prime Time” for the channel.

On Thursday, he publicly announced his resignation in a 24-minute video posted on his YouTube page, which has more than a million subscribers.

The video became viral and has more than a million views.

In it, Kumar made an emotional appeal in Hindi to his viewers to continue to support journalists who question people in positions of power, laying emphasis on the “serious threat to democracy” in the country.

He described how the Indian media landscape has warped and become increasingly more populated with pro-government voices of pliant journalists.

Kumar also warned viewers to watch out for “jagat seths” or billionaires of the world promising to provide viewers unbiased news, but who actually “pocket a dollar and give a penny” to the people.

The journalist’s departure comes on the heels of the resignations of Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy – who founded NDTV – as directors of RRPR Holding Private Ltd, a holding company named after them.

The news of the resignations comes in the backdrop of billionaire businessman Gautam Adani’s bid in August to acquire a controlling stake in NDTV by acquiring RRPR, which holds a 29.18 per cent in the news channel.

On Monday this week, RRPR Holding revealed that it had transferred shares constituting 99.5 per cent of its equity capital to Vishvapradhan Commercial (VCPL), an Adani Group subsidiary.

The acquisition of an Indian news channel by a billionaire tycoon considered close to the country’s right-wing Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi shocked newsrooms and the journalistic community across India.

Kumar’s resignation from NDTV India is now being perceived as the further ceding of India’s corporate media landscape to government-friendly voices.

NDTV India and Kumar were part of a tiny news space critical of the current federal government.

The journalist accused pro-government television channels of destroying the “essence of journalism” in India. He said this was “a time when every good thing about the profession is being systematically destroyed”.

“A lot of channels with different names are running in the country but all of them are part of the ‘Godi media’ nexus,” said Kumar in his usual calm demeanour, referring to the Hindi term used to label media outlets as pro-government.

“The people who are part of the system that is destroying the ecosystem of journalism are themselves claiming to be journalists,” he said and gave credit to people “holding the fort for truthful journalism”.

“At a time when democracy is threatened, when the judiciary is questionable, it is the people who have backed truthful journalism and have got our back.”

Kumar’s resignation from NDTV was first announced in an internal email by NDTV’s CEO on Wednesday that praised him. “Few journalists have impacted people as much as Ravish did,” it said.

“This reflects in the immense feedback about him — in the crowds he draws everywhere; in the prestigious awards and recognition he has received, within India and internationally.”

Kumar’s reportage on India’s historic transformations has been praised as being ethical and honest. In his emotional farewell, he also recounted the beginning of his career at NDTV as a letter reader. “It was only possible at NDTV that a letter reader could become the group editor of the channel who is resigning today,” he said.

Several colleagues from NDTV India, besides others, expressed sadness over Kumar’s resignation.

“The platform doesn’t matter, his massive viewership will follow him wherever he goes,” tweeted Karuna Nundy, a Supreme Court advocate.

One Twitter user said his resignation marked the “end of an era” and “be effectively considered as the end of TV journalism in India.”

“Indian TV news will see many anchors but there will only ever be one [Ravish Kumar],” another user said.

Kumar’s shows were in the vernacular Hindi, so there are fears “a large section of Hindi audience will not get to see sensible news on prime time on India’s television,” as one social media user noted.

Kumar has promised to continue working for the people and asked viewers to “support my work, which will now be through my new YouTube channel and Facebook page.”

Kumar ended his video message with a glimmer of hope.

“We should remember we are from a country that brought the British Empire to its knees. There is no reason for me to believe that you will never come out of this Godi Media mindset,” he said.

“I believe you cannot be chained in that mindset forever.”

“Importance of Ravish Kumar on TV’s prime time amidst a pool of hateful anchors was something else,” tweeted journalist Kaushik Raj.

Press freedom in India has eroded over the years. According to the World Press Freedom Index released in May this year, India’s ranking dropped to 150 from last year’s 142 among 180 nations.