In an interview to mark the publication of his book Editor Missing: The Media in Today’s India, Ruben Banerjee – the former editor-in-chief of Outlook magazine and all the associated publications of the Outlook Group, who was abruptly sacked almost a year ago in September 2021 – has revealed the full story behind his summary dismissal.In a 30-minute interview with Karan Thapar for The Wire, Banerjee explains there were two separate but connected events that lay behind his sacking. First, was the publication in May 2021 of the issue of Outlook with a cover caption claiming the government was missing. This was at the height of the delay second wave of COVID-19, when many would have agreed with that description. However, Outlook’s proprietors, the Rahejas, found this objectionable and when the issue went up on the magazine’s website, the cover was omitted. Ruben Banerjee says that enormous pressure was brought to bear by the government on the Rahejas as well as Outlook Group’s CEO, Indranil Roy.The second event that is connected to Banerjee’s sacking happened four months later, when Outlook’s proprietors insisted on changing the balance in the newsroom away from print to digital. Although Banerjee had great experience with digital media, he had reservations about what was being done to the Outlook newsroom because, he believed, the intention was to stop the magazine from doing stories that would embarrass the government such as a proposed issue on the Pegasus expose. As Ruben Banerjee puts it: “I was being undercut and undermined.”In a particularly poignant moment, Banerjee describes what it was like to wake up as editor-in-chief of all the Outlook Group publications but end the day summarily sacked. This was despite the fact that in the previous three years, he had also received three promotions, taking him from editor of Outlook to editor-in-chief of all the group publications.In the interview, Banerjee explains why he believes newspapers, news channels and magazines are unable to stand up to pressure. He identifies three reasons why such institutions often buckle under government diktats.Speaking more broadly about the character of Indian journalism today, Ruben Banerjee says it needs balance and objectivity and it must give “both sides of a story”. As he put it: “We should be balanced and objective, giving both sides of a story. We should have the grace to accept and acknowledge if someone – no matter how opposed we are to that person – does something good. We ought to also have the courage to stand up and criticize that person if he or she does something wrong.”However, Banerjee accepts that there are times when treating both sides of a story as equal and equally valid becomes virtually or close to impossible. Examples of this are when there are calls for genocide or lynching of Muslims like Mohammad Akhlaq and Mohammad Afrazul or when leading politicians indulge in dog whistles such as ‘Abba Jaan’ and the ’80:20′ allegations.In this context, the interview also discusses what has happened to Mohammed Zubair, one of the founders of Alt News, who is not so much being prosecuted as persecuted for having exposed BJP spokespersons and thus embarrassed the government.The above is a brief precis of Karan Thapar’s interview with Ruben Banerjee for The Wire. Please see the video for a better understanding of not just his sacking but also the problems that ail Indian media today.