In the summer of 2020, India had no shortage of stories. 

The country was emerging from what was described as the world’s harshest lockdown, one that had triggered the largest internal migration since Partition and, it later emerged, had been enforced without consultation within the government. The economy was about to record its first recession in four decades, driven not so much by the pandemic as by the lockdown itself, which contracted the economy by nearly 24 percent in that quarter. Petrol and diesel prices were hiked every single day between June 7 and June 21. 

On June 14, Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput died by suicide following a bout of depression. 

Two days later, on June 16, 20 soldiers were killed during clashes with Chinese forces in Ladakh, the first combat deaths on that border in at least 45 years.

So what did two of India’s most-watched English news channels — Times Now, operated by Bennett Coleman and Co Ltd, and Republic TV, independently set up by anchor Arnab Goswami with initial funding from a former BJP minister — choose to focus their primetime debates on across May, June and July?

This is what ‘Godi media’ looks like in practice. 

The overall tone and tenor of these primetime debates can be captured by the headlines running across May, June, and July of 2020:

➜ “Congress accuses NDA of exploiting migrants for train fares. Is Party faking fear?”

➜ “Rahul Gandhi lauds pictures of 'Azad'. Sacrifice of........

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