Indian News

In the nation that is technically the largest democracy in the world, you would expect it to have much freedom like press, religion, etc. However, it's really not the case. So what country are we talking about? We're talking about India, which has a ranking of 136 on the World Press Freedom Index. Yikes.

There's a developing story from Cobrapost, a news outlet that has many undercover stings. Apparently, there is bias toward the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the dominant Indian Party, from many media groups. There are reports of executives and journalists taking in money just to push a political agenda. Cobrapost has named its story "Operation 136", referencing its stance on the WPFI. It reports how leading news organizations are not only causing disharmony but are also rigging electoral outcomes in favor of parties, all in the name of money.

According to an undercover Cobrapost reporter, Pushp Sharma, he approached over 25 Indian media organizations with a fake deal where he played the role of a wealthy ashram (Hindu monastery) who wanted to pay money to make sure that the BJP would continue its reign. Basically, he outlined a "plan" for the outlets to follow and told them he would provide money for them, and all but like two considered the offer. Video recordings are on the Cobrapost site, but the only problem that many people have is whether or not these conversations are being taken out of context. It's very tough for a weaker news organization to try to take over the big guys.

Now if this really is true, then we have a big problem because this kind of corruption may be exposed around the world. That's right, I'm talking about fake news. You never know if the news outlets in America are also rigged.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-44280188https://www.cobrapost.com/