Why are some Indian journalists called "presstitutes"?

October 01, 2026

See what is actually called the broker media, darbari media, dalla media, Lutyens media, the media brokered by the government (in the common term, the Chamcha) media.

In 2008, the Left withdrew support from the UPA government over the USA nuclear deal. The Manmohan Singh-led government and super-PM Sonia Gandhi effectively became a minority. It will have to take a vote of confidence. On behalf of the government, Sonia Gandhi's personal secretary Ahmed Patel and Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, who came out to bat for them, entered the field with a bag of money. Rajdeep Sardesai was then the editor-in-chief of CNN-IBN. His appointed journalist conducted a sting operation. The sting operation made it clear (when it was later carried out) that the government was buying MPs in exchange for money. But Rajdeep Sardesai did not run it as soon as he got the tape. If he had run it, the government would have fallen in the confidence vote. The Manmohan Singh government somehow survived the vote of confidence on 22 July 2008 by a narrow margin of 275-256 votes. If only 10 votes had gone one way or the other, the government would have fallen just like Vajpayee government fallen with mere one vote. If the tape of that sting operation had been played before the trust vote, there would have been a strong wind against the government. It would not have been possible to save the government. But Rajdeep Sardesai kept it with him for a long time in the name of examining the tape. After everything was settled, he played the tape in August. By then, the Manmohan Singh-led government led by Sonia Gandhi was out of danger.

This is called the Dalal Media. This Rajdeep Sardesai's wife is a Rajya Sabha MP from the Trinamool Congress and she is a hard-core naxalite. Rajdeep Sardesai is a strong opponent of the BJP and a journalist who is somewhat inclined towards the Left because his wife is leftist (most people in Bengal are leftist and communist). This is an example of the real ‘dalal media’ (or in simpler terms, Chamcha Media). Rajdeep Sardesai was thus suitably rewarded by UPA government with Padma award.