Decoding the Narrative: Umesh Upadhyay on Western Media Bias & India’s Story | The Literature Lounge

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About This Podcast

This episode of The Literature Lounge was a sobering audit of the stories we are sold.

Author Umesh Upadhyay, a veteran journalist with four decades across print, radio, TV, and digital, unpacked his book Western Media Narratives on India from Gandhi till now. He dissected the persistent lens of bias, born from his experience watching the skewed portrayal of India during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A conversation about who controls the narrative, who inherits it, and the cost of a silent media.

Key Takeaways:

The hidden history behind today’s headlines
The politics and racism embedded in Western coverage
Indian media’s complicity in a flawed narrative
Isolation as inspiration: writing a book during a lockdown
How a legacy of bias stretches from Gandhi to the Ram Mandir
The paradox of JNU: a past beacon vs. a present symbol
Why Indian success stories are often met with Western skepticism -A practical toolkit for readers to challenge dominant narratives
The future of India’s story and who gets to write it

Episode Timeline

0:00

: Introduction: A forty-year witness to the media machine

4:58

: The first rebellion: Convincing parents to choose the road less taken

12:51

: The blueprint of bias: Exposing Western media’s consistent lens

15:20

: Following the money and power: The politics behind the bias

21:38

: JNU: The seismic shift of an intellectual hub

23:04

: The racism of low expectations: Resenting Indian success

27:46

: Case study in division: The Ram Mandir and media’s role

33:29

: Looking ahead: The next chapter for India’s story

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