'The Broken News': Twisted truth or true journalism?

As an aspiring journalist, I am always interested in journalistic stories and am constantly searching for such stories to educate myself about ethical journalism. With that being said, I recently finished watching "The Broken News", an exceptional journalistic story-based web series.

"The Broken News" is a ZEE5 Global web series starring Sonali Bendre, Jaideep Ahlawat, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Indraneil Sengupta, and Taaruk Raina, among others, that premiered on June 10 of this year. The series is a remake of the popular British series, "Press".

The show highlights the competition between two Mumbai-based Indian news networks, Awaaz Bharati and Josh 24/7, that have conflicting philosophies. When confronted with an apocalyptic event, the active and fiery journalists try to maintain a sense of balance in their lives.

It depicts the lifestyles, deceptions, passions, and conflicts faced by a bunch of active journalists from both news channels. Awaaz Bharati is the news station led by Amina Qureshi, played by Sonali Bendre. Qureshi is a highly reputable editor who chooses to believe in journalistic ethics, even though the channel is perpetually on the verge of bankruptcy.

Snippet from the series

Josh 24/7, on the other hand, is India's number one news channel, according to TRPs. Although the station focuses on sensationalist news, it rarely cares to fact check its pieces. Josh 24/7 is led by Dipankar Sanyal, portrayed by Jaideep Ahlawat.

Radha Bhargava, played by Shriya Pilgaonkar, sits in the middle of these two extreme journalists. The show depicts their whole lives, as they struggle to strike a balance between life and work, all the while dealing with the constant pressure of the mainstream media.

While it might seem that Dipankar Sanyal and his channel is simply hungry for relevancy and money, and that Awaaz Bharati is focused on journalistic integrity, the in-depth complexities of each character and the challenges they face throughout the series, is beyond reproach.

I watched the series with a friend, and while I was contemplating over the character of Radha Bhargava, and siding with the philosophy Dipankar Sanyal, my friend was torn between picking either side. There are constant conflicts throughout the show, with the ending almost being a cycle that ends where it originally started. The series ended by hinting when we can expect season 2. 

In the past week, the web series has garnered a lot of attention, receiving a 7.4 rating on IMDB. According to Wion News, "The Broken News", which is directed by Vinay Waikul, has amassed over 100 million streaming minutes and six million views in the week following its debut. 

You can watch "The Broken News" web series on ZEE5 Global.