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Shailaja Bajpai

Shailaja Bajpai

Indian Express

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Not just Delhi’s AQI, IQ level of TV news anchors is in the ‘very poor’ category

Delhi's air pollution barely got airtime on TV. The debates were all about BJP vs AAP

23.10.2025 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

TV news isn’t telling which way Bihar Assembly election will go — only who is unhappy

If it’s 'Mahagathbandhan mein Mahabharat’ for the opposition RJD-Congress, it’s ‘NDA mein Dangal' for the ruling BJP-JDU coalition.

16.10.2025 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Suryakumar Yadav beats Trump’s Gaza plan on Indian TV news. No global event can match cricket

Indian TV channels need not report extensively on war zones. But why don’t they have at least one bulletin of international news each day, prime time?

02.10.2025 5

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

ThePrint is widening its lens. New shows on AI, economy, bureaucracy—and fresh newsletters

The latest additions to ThePrint’s properties will improve your understanding of the India we live in, whether it's through the prism of AI or civil...

30.09.2025 6

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Watch Bigg Boss 19 if you have nothing to do than watch men and women with nothing to do

The moment Salman’s Saturday and Sunday show time ends, the oxygen is sucked out of the Bigg Boss house. All that’s left is toxic dioxide.

25.09.2025 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Suryakumar Yadav was big news for TV anchors—his handshake snub to birthday wishes to Modi

On ABP News, Sandeep Chaudhary asked if it’s money or the bid to host the Olympics that forced India to play against Pakistan.

18.09.2025 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Coup, conspiracy & the foreign hand—What Indian TV news channels saw in Nepal this week

‘Gen Z v/s Govt’ TV news coverage went for two days—not sure about the source of the telecast from Kathmandu since no credit was given.

11.09.2025 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Superman Modi to superpower meeting — Indian TV anchors script a Tianjin blockbuster

Tango, triad, trinity, troika — TV news pulled out every T-word from its dictionary and paired it with Tianjin to target Trump on tariffs and trade.

04.09.2025 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

ThePrint at 8. Readers are evangelists, critics, and asserting their ‘right’

We welcome criticism and accept it in the spirit it is made: to help us improve ThePrint.

30.08.2025 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Nikki’s death deserved facts. What we got was a carousel of theories from TV news

The death by fire of Greater Noida’s Nikki Bhati has been a puzzle surrounded by a maze of conflicting claims and evidence. Worse,...

28.08.2025 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

KBC completes 25 years. No violence or weeping bahus, just Amitabh Bachchan and his questions

When facts have all but disappeared from political and social discourse, Kaun Banega Crorepati values them — and pays you to get them right.

21.08.2025 8

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Biting terror, doggone dilemma, urban menace. Indian TV war over Delhi street dogs

News channels were also in two minds about removing stray dogs to the government dog pounds. NDTV took credit for it and CNN-News 18 called...

14.08.2025 2

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Real Smriti Irani would give Tulsi Virani a tight slap

It’s odd to see Smriti Irani's Tulsi Virani in the second season of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi cry so much, and beseech the powers that be to...

07.08.2025 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

‘More careful than colourful’—ThePrint’s reporting on the Air India crash put facts first

The common thread in ThePrint's reporting—from the ground and Delhi—is the effort to stick to verified facts and clearly attributed views....

30.07.2025 30

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

‘Very, very big news…massive, massive development’—How TV covered Jagdeep Dhankhar resignation

Television news anchors were caught smack in the middle of their 9 pm debates when Dhankhar publicly announced his resignation, so they didn't have...

24.07.2025 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Crime stories dominated Indian TV news headlines—murder, suicide to execution

The fate of Nimisha Priya, the Indian nurse in Yemen accused of killing her business partner, was comprehensively covered by television and newspapers...

17.07.2025 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Hindi TV news channels’ favourite villain the Muslim is back—Mitthoo Mian to Muharram

From conspiracies to feed onions to kavadiyas to UP’s ‘conversion king’ Jamaluddin – Muslims made news for all the wrong reasons this week.

10.07.2025 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

India’s news channels turned Shefali Jariwala’s death into spectacle and speculation

Shefali Jariwala’s sudden death has been attributed to heart failure. No mischief is suspected. But her dying and the cause(s) of her death have...

03.07.2025 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Expert voices in public spaces—what ThePrint Speakers Bureau offers

ThePrint Speakers Bureau offers an opportunity to engage with experts from diverse fields, like RSS intellectual Seshadri Chari, TMC MP Sagarika...

30.06.2025 4

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Indian TV news moved from Sindoor to Midnight Hammer faster than a cross-border Rafale strike

When it's war, India's TV news has one strategy—repeat animation, old experts, new explosions.

26.06.2025 4

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Grisly Meghalaya honeymoon horror or Modi govt anniversary? TV news chased Sonam all week

TV reporters asked Raja’s family, “What punishment do you want for Sonam?” and by Wednesday, his mother and brother were calling for the death...

12.06.2025 8

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

TV news is always enthusiastic about a ‘war’—India-Pakistan, Putin-Zelenskyy, Kannada-Tamil

What’s clear is that TV new coverage of modern warfare is more eye-catching: boots on the ground have been replaced by flying machines, allowing...

05.06.2025 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Pahalgam, Pakistan generals, pitches—what readers wrote to us in May

Quite often, I receive backhanded compliments that are actually complaints.

31.05.2025 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

No ceasefire in TV news studios. Anchors have sindoor running in their veins too

There’s so much aggression on air that fellow TV anchors are fighting each other on live TV.

29.05.2025 8

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

How Modi set the mood for TV news, op-eds—Pahalgam to Operation Sindoor

We seesawed from grief and battle cries of “war” to welcome relief as the PM went from vowing vengeance in Madhubani to calm, composed, steely...

15.05.2025 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Rafale’s Sindoor strike thrilled TV war rooms—’Painted Pakistan red’, ‘Dharam bata diya’

As Indian missiles hit Pakistan, news anchors erupted with joy. From ‘Sindoor ka badla’ to ‘Rafale trailer’, this is how Indian TV covered the...

08.05.2025 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Modi govt rapped BBC for ‘militants’. That leaves NYT, AFP, AP, and the rest

Calling terrorists ‘militants’, ‘gunmen’, ‘armed men’, ‘attackers’, or ‘assailants’ hurts our sensibilities and reminds us that...

01.05.2025 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

How ThePrint’s small newsroom brought you Pahalgam from every angle, minus the noise

We had to deploy our resources intelligently to tell readers what had happened in the attack, what happened thereafter, and what may happen in the...

29.04.2025 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

‘For one death, 10 necks’—India’s news TV calls for revenge after Pahalgam terror attack

As expected, Arnab Goswami of Republic TV was the loudest and most extreme in his reactions: “Enough democracy...(let’s have) army rule in Kashmir…"

24.04.2025 4

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

IPL in 12 languages—bland English, spicy Punjabi, juicy Haryanvi. Which one’s your favourite?

What has made the outrageous exploits of IPL players on the field so much fun are the verbal antics of the commentary team in the box.

17.04.2025 7

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

If you want real news on TV, watch business channels. There’s no spectacle, noise, hype

Business news channels offer what general news channels seldom do: information and informed opinion without any fireworks.

10.04.2025 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

TV news went looking for violence during Eid. They found pyaar, mohabbat

The usual sensational headlines accompanied the build up to the Waqf Bill debate in the Lok Sabha—with ‘war’ being the most common description...

03.04.2025 30

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

‘Aurangzeb’s gang’—how TV news made a bad Nagpur situation worse with sensational coverage

When Mahakumbh stampede happened, TV news downplayed it. In Nagpur, they did the opposite.

20.03.2025 40

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Dubai pitch to Mumbai airport—India’s Champions Trophy win is an endless celebration on TV

After the match, Part II of the cricket drama begins—`yeh dil maange more’—and thanks to BCCI, sports channels, news channels, and social media,...

13.03.2025 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Trump shows how to make headlines—and Indian TV channels show what to make news out of

Maybe we needed to be diverted by happy images of PM Modi enjoying the company of beautiful animals or by the Congress leader's critical comments on...

06.03.2025 6

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

You can now own a piece of ThePrint. Great speeches tote bags to Cut the Clutter hoodies

Five tote bags with quotes from BR Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee are on offer. 'People can choose...

04.03.2025 4

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Live Maha Kumb coverage, govt’s PR blitz—after stampede, misinformation trivialised failure

The public relations campaign for the Maha Kumbh stops at nothing. The message is loud and clear: A ‘dubki’ at Sangam is an absolute must for the...

20.02.2025 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

TV news was incensed at Ranveer Allahbadia’s ‘cringe’ remark—only to telecast it ad nauseam

Anchors like Navika Kumar, Arnab Goswami, Zakka Jacob, and Vasudha Venugopal ran lengthy reports on Ranveer Allahbadia. CNN News 18 devoted three...

13.02.2025 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

TV coverage of Delhi polls was about freebies, potholes & sewers. No Hindu-Muslim politics

A reporter on Mirror Now hit the spot when she said, "Delhi is the only place we report on problems—the open drains, sewage, garbage."

06.02.2025 7

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

12 hours after Maha Kumbh stampede, TV news back to ‘unshakeable faith, excellent arrangement’

Watching television on Wednesday morning you would have thought that nothing had happened just six hours earlier.

30.01.2025 6

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Inside ThePrint’s mailbox—readers bring us praise, critique, and everything in between

One minute, I am being questioned about the “Razakars and their oppressive rule”. Next, a reader demands an app for the website. Another reader...

29.01.2025 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Trump’s return—US media scrambled for words, Indian TV news divided between fear & fascination

All the trumpeting of Trump 2.0 on Indian news channels was soon muted by Trump’s executive orders on illegal immigration and ending birthright...

23.01.2025 30

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

TV news covered religion with no Hindu-Muslim angle this week

With the focus on ‘Rituals, Reverences, Rites,’ news channels barely have time for other stories. The Delhi Assembly election campaign...

16.01.2025 20

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

TV news showed a glimmer of balance in 2024—once. Then it went back to BJP-Modi bias

Midway through 2024, Hindi and English news channels found their sense of balance. Once Congress lost Haryana and Maharashtra, they went back to...

02.01.2025 9

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

ThePrint’s in-depth ground reports are now multimedia-interactive. 2025 vision board

In the last 18 months, ThePrint has continued to track events in Manipur by sending reporters and photojournalists. This is how things have changed...

28.12.2024 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

TV news has an ‘Allu vs Revanth’ war on its hands—it’s hunting for conspiracy, ‘photo proofs’

For TV news this week, ‘Allu Arjun vs Revanth Reddy’ was a clash of the titans of Telangana politics and Tollywood—and they were not going to...

26.12.2024 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

New temples, old Hindu-Muslim script. Sambhal is Hindi TV’s latest prime-time theatre

Since the communal disturbances last month, Sambhal and its temple trouble have remained in the news. Still, the non-stop coverage of the Hanuman...

19.12.2024 7

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

At first, Bangladeshi media denied attack on Hindus. Now, India’s TV news stands vindicated

The indignation became shriller as news channels replayed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s remarks last week on ‘Babur, Bangladesh...

12.12.2024 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

Adani again? Rahul Gandhi’s strategy is hurting INDIA bloc, and TV news can’t stop laughing

Today’s news headlines reflect a very different Rahul Gandhi, Congress, and INDIA compared to June, when his every step and word were closely...

05.12.2024 10

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai

There is hunger for ThePrint’s brand of journalism—Why we went live in Marathi, Tamil

You may well ask, what prompted ThePrint to offer its content in Indian languages? Because it’s the logical next step in our relationship with the...

30.11.2024 7

ThePrint

Shailaja Bajpai