Tharoor derides Indian Express for scant regard for accuracy or veracity; lust for clickbait headlines

New Delhi: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday lamented the present state of journalism in India, saying the "usual standards of utter unreliability” have become a norm now.

"I write this thread in sorrow, not in anger. You cannot blame anyone for being themselves. This is sadly what our journalistic culture has become: scant regard for accuracy or veracity, lust for clickbait headlines, breathless obsession with the speculative and the trivial,” he said on X.

Tharoor specifically mentioned The Indian Express for "doing two somewhat shameless things. It took an innocuous statement…and made a headline out of it in English and left me dealing with the mess”.

For the past several days now, Tharoor has been in the news following an opinion piece in The New Indian Express that praised Kerala’s industrial growth under the present Left Front government. The remarks prompted strong reactions from his party colleagues in Kerala.

Soon after, Tharoor appeared on a Malayalam podcast for The Indian Express, which translated it in English and quoted him as having said that he has other options if the Congress doesn't need his services in Kerala.

However, Tharoor is clearly heard saying that he wasn’t talking about political options. “Don’t think I don’t have options to spend my time. Options are always there. I have writing, books, speeches, and invitations from around the world. There are so many conferences I’m invited to that I can’t attend because of politics and Parliament,” he said in Malayalam.

Many news organisations followed The Indian Express in writing that Tharoor was exploring other political options.

Tharoor further accused The Indian Express of running a “fake news story claiming I had decried the absence of a leader” in the Kerala Congress. "When I challenged this claim, I was provided with an English translation of my Malayalam interview even though I had asked for the original video clip."

The Indian Express later published a corrigendum,  saying it had inaccurately translated Tharoor’s remarks regarding the absence of leaders in the Kerala Congress.

"While the newspaper got a huge amount of attention, no one spares a thought for the days of abuse, insult, calumny that came my way over something I hadn’t actually said.

"The episode has merely added to my profound scepticism about Indian journalism altogether, which has again maintained its usual standards of utter unreliability," he wrote.

1/5 A rather important thread that i hope will be read in our country’s journalism schools:

The last few days have offered an object lesson in how the news is “made“. @IndianExpress wanted to draw attention to their new Malayalam podcast, so they did two somewhat shameless… pic.twitter.com/K1SAGdfMB3

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) February 27, 2025