Ravish Kumar

“The media understands the system only on the basis of ministers and governments. It seldom sympathises with the people who work within that system.”

“I am an ordinary citizen and quite insignificant, but I am also a vigilant and committed journalist.”

“Democracy provides the space for open criticism.”

“In the film 'PK', questions have been raised about the theatrics surrounding religion, but it is not limited to a particular faith. In the end, the film teaches us, every religion says love one another and trust one another.”

“If I cannot speak or write about it, I struggle with the truth. When I speak out in an effort to process what I observe and attempt to stretch myself beyond my many inadequacies, people ask me am I not afraid of the government? I am scared of my inadequacies.”

“When NDTV produced its programmes on 24 hours with leaders on the campaign trail, its biggest draw was the exposure of what the leader is like in their home and at their dining table.”

“Definitely there has been a decline in journalism. It wasn't there at all when you fought an election, won, lost and came back to become an editor. That must have been the golden age of journalism.”

“By the end of my BA, I was still not good in English, but I went on to enroll for an MA in History.”

“I have an aluminium trunk that I came to Delhi with. God has given me a lot in the last 27 years, but that trunk remains with me. I can return to Motihari with that trunk but I have my family to support.”

“We live in an 'eventocracy'. This is a new form of democracy where there is nothing greater than the event. Any policy announcement has so many events that people have begun to believe in the arrival of an avatar.”

“Hindi journalism is too dogmatic. I often wonder how it can be modernised.”

“It is common knowledge that social media today is fertile ground for trampling all over the decency of language. This is done not just by members of your party and your supporters but also those from the opposition. And their numbers are increasing every day.”

“A scared journalist produces a lifeless citizen. If our news is scared of the government, it is great injustice to readers and viewers who have been cheated in the name of news.”

“The walk of migrant workers towards their home is a march against the stripping of their democratic rights. With their walk, they are defying the system, walking on roads which they are not allowed to tread.”

“I always wear an earpiece for security reasons. For someone who often gets chased, it's not an indulgence.”

“After 25 years in the profession, I have understood that being a reader or viewer is a task of great responsibility.”

“Hitting someone with a shoe is in principle anti-Dalit. If you investigate stories about hitting someone with a shoe, you will find that this sort of language was used only by those who were upper-caste.”

“I live surrounded by threats. I must stay alert. I am a law-abiding citizen; have never broken any rule while driving. But if someone clicks a photo or shoots a video, I have to be suspicious of their intentions.”

“Anchors aren't just creating fiction; they're becoming characters in the fiction they themselves create. In the world of TV channels, facts are presented like fiction, so governments aren't inconvenienced; fiction is presented like fact, so governments stay happy.”

“A good reader or viewer is a person who is alert about her newspaper or news channel. A good reader or viewer will never waste her hard-earned money in watching or reading just anything. She is serious. She will have to think if the news she is consuming is journalism or sycophancy.”