Moral courage is something tremendous to witness. Its accompanying emotion is quite often irrepressible rage. India’s youth are on the streets, and they are demanding accountability from an elected government.What is more striking though is the degree of rage, disgust and scorn that many parts of India’s news media are facing. From slam poetry that derides the sycophantic nature of some news outlets, to posters that poke fun at the ‘cozy’ relationship many journalists are accused of having with ruling politicians.The ongoing students’ movement is markedly different from protests in the past because of the lock-step link young students are pointing to between the Modi government and mainstream news media.These are often confusing terms, and generally speaking, mainstream or traditional media refers to the more established newspapers and TV news channels – of which India has plenty. At last count, nearly 900 private satellite TV stations were on the air, around half of them devoted to news coverage.‘Godi’ media now making its way into the global lexiconIndeed, much of young India’s anger is directed at television news channels with the term ‘godi’ or lapdog media now making its way into the global lexicon. But this struggle is being led by a generation that has neither built an appetite for appointment viewing with TV news, nor has a strong newspaper diet. More than half of those in India between the age of 18-24 now say social media is their main source of accessing the news. So why is the movement focussed so keenly on taking on India’s TV news media and its reportage from the last 12 years?One part of the answer could lie in the fact that most young people are ‘social first’; their access to news, engagement with it and interest around it is built via third party platforms like Instagram, YouTube and others. They have neither the connection that previous generations did with mediums like television, nor the veneration towards TV news anchors who, certainly in India, have for a long time enjoyed superstar status; crowds jostling around them as they reported on the field, people waiting in line for a selfie or an autograph with these same TV journalists. Young audiences are social first, crave authenticity and demand accountability in reporting.The other, more complex part for journalism to face and accept is the breakdown in the public-journalism contract. Not only have young people seen a complete blanking out of the issues that affect them most deeply; a lack of jobs, a cost of living crisis and a lack of social welfare mechanisms, they have also seen over the years, systematic discreditation of their wants and asks on news channels whose role is, or should be speaking about what the public wants.As many TV bulletins have told their viewers: there was no COVID crisis, there was no emergent learning crisis – most Indian schools were closed for nearly two years, despite clear evidence showing most children could not access online learning and there is today no jobs crisis as young students stumble from a failed education system to a broken testing mechanism into a hollowed-out employment market.The news media, in this case particularly so India’s TV broadcasters, will have to answer with honesty how much air time has been spent in the last decade reporting on any of these issues. It is not surprising that across all age groups in India, more than half say they avoid the news sometimes or often.What does today’s news say about my life and my needs, a young Indian may ask. What, indeed?Social media platforms on the other hand have been fertile and familiar ground for many young people. The current movement is seeing powerful videos, memes and lots more content distilling and amplifying the anger of young protesters on the streets of India. Social media and its unique syntax is second nature to young people; they have grown up with it and if anyone knows how to use it effectively it is them.Was there impartiality in the reportage over the last decade?Keep the politics aside, many seasoned journalists are now imploring of the young students. But India’s youth is well within its right to turn that question back to parts of India’s mainstream media. Was there impartiality in the reportage over the last decade that can stand the test of not shilling for one side versus the other?Was there an effort to voice and channel the anxiety that India’s next generation is feeling about their economic prospects? Who should journalism be accountable to, and where is the space for the public to seek that accountability.Between January 2012 and February 2024, there were 805 government-imposed internet shutdowns across India, resulting in the highest number of internet blocks in the world so far. In 2025, India imposed 65 internet shutdowns; still amongst the top nations globally in enforcing the most internet shutdown. If dissent and criticism has been visible, it is clear from the number of blackouts where that has been – not on television news channels, but on the fast flowing, ever-changing internet.The clash between young students and the ruling government may continue, flare up or be resolved. The greater breakdown of trust has occurred between a section of the media that has much more power, access and platform than any one of those young students on the streets right now.Which direction Indian journalism now moves in order to repair the public-journalism contract will determine the future of India’s news ecosystem. What will India’s media choose, and who from this generation of young Indian audiences will choose them.Mitali Mukherjee is Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Oxford University.