on channels like NDTV, you have Puri defending himself to news anchor Padmaja Joshi and somehow blaming Rahul Gandhi for even bringing up the subject. And then you have the most unedifying spectacle of the same NDTV anchor Padmaja Joshi arguing with people on her panel that while Epstein was a paedophile, his primary job was of a power broker. The Big Indian Media's Reaction to the Epstein File Revelations Demonstrates How Low it Has Fallen - The Wire
Nothing demonstrates how low the Indian media has fallen that this sort of parcelling of the scandal that is currently rocking the world. At no level, can the bulk of the media ask questions or hold those in power to account. Because, even if you take the media as the basest level of human existence, a story like the Epstein one must excite all journalists. It is salacious at all levels, involves crime and power and involves the world.
And it is a sad lesson in patriarchy that these channels use women to push their propaganda agenda, to the extent of excusing child sex abuse.
by Ranjona Banerji
14/02/2026