CobraPost Sting Operation 136 expose Indian Media Yellow Journalism

Islamabad |WebDesk 

Cobrapost  Sting Operation 136 expose Major India outlets and Media Houses Including Hindustan times, Zee News, India Today, Indian Express, Times of Inda, Sting, Money Lobbying for Sectarian Violence.

Days after Cobrapost, a website that is known for sting operations, ran a detailed series on how several media outlets in India were allegedly ready to strike deals with the right-wing to promote the Hindutva agenda ahead of the 2019 General Elections, the accused media houses responded to the allegations.

Two months ago, the first series of stings, known as Operation 136, was released. Part 2 of the series was recently published, which shows how the heads of these media houses alleged agreed to polarise voters before the 2019 General Election.

Cobrapost released 49 videos that were shot by its undercover reporter Pushp, who called himself 'Acharya Atal'.

For the sting, the reporter  approached the media houses pretending to be a pracharak with links to the RSS and BJP seeking to spread the 'Hindutva agenda' and 'thrash their (BJPs) rivals' through sustained campaigns, 

where the organisations were offered anything between a few crores to Rs 500 crore as ad spend.

Some of the organizations that were part of the sting include The Times of India, India Today, Network 18, Hindustan Times, Star India, The New Indian Express, ABN Andhra Jyothy, Red FM, Zee News and Open Magazine.

The sting was named Operation 136 because India was placed at a 136th position in 2017 World Press Freedom Index..