A Youtuber called Dhruv
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: May 08, 2024 -

The importance of media as an effective platform for disseminating information to a wider audience is such that it has come to be regarded as the fourth pillar of democracy, the other three being the legislature, executive and judiciary.

However, with the mainstream media, particularly the news channels, in the world’s largest democracy, becoming more of a cheerleader of the ruling dispensation without daring to critique and hold the government accountable even if its policies and programmes are not in the interest of the people, there has been a boom in online journalism.

Disappointed over the manner in which the national mainstream media is functioning today, many journalists, who were working for some of the top news channels in the country, have even given up their lucrative positions and shifted their focus towards catering to the need of growing online news audience who are hungry for opinionated but unfiltered political contents.

These online journalists or news content creators, as they like to recognise and call themselves, have been serving as an alternative to the mainstream media when it comes to providing news not influenced by the dominant narrative of those in power.

Free from the shackles of revenue generated from the advertisements doled out by corporate houses, on whom most mainstream media houses and new channels depend, these online journalists are independent and, thus, have been able to speak the truth, so to say.

However, this venture is not without danger if one does not tread cautiously. Following an amendment made in the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 in 2008, which reinforces the power of the government to not only block internet sites and contents but also criminalised sending messages deemed inflammatory or offensive, one needs to be extra careful before posting anything online in India today.

Otherwise, he or she could land in the jail, and there have been many such cases in the country, of late.

Despite this lurking peril, it is interesting to see that a Youtuber by the name of Dhruv Rathee seems to have adopted a resolute stand to take on the ruling dispensation single handedly with his videos projected on big screens at public places and launching five new channels in Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Bengali to expand the reach.

Although not a journalist in the true sense of the term as he started his Youtube channel in 2014 mainly to share educational contents and his travel experiences, the 29-year-old Youtuber from Rohtak in Haryana but based in Germany is today at the centre of a political storm after one of his viral videos titled, ‘Is India Becoming a Dictatorship?’, uploaded just before the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, set the social media abuzz.

It’s true that Dhruv Rathee has been diligently posting politically charged but well-researched contents for nearly a decade now, but this one viral video has created waves not just on the internet but also in the political circle of the country making it difficult for the political party/parties in power as well as those in the opposition to ignore him.

More than the efforts being made by the grand alliance of the opposition parties to take on the government, it seems Dhruv Rathee has done a better job in enlightening people with his “breaking down of complex issues in simple words” in follow-up videos like ‘Dara Hua Director? Arvind Kejriwal arrested. Dictatorship Confirmed?’, ‘Electoral Bonds: The biggest scam in history of India’, ‘India Needs jobs. Reality of Unemployment Crisis’, “How millions of Indians were brainwashed’, and the latest, ‘Reality of Aurangzeb, Shivaji Maha-raj and Modi’.

It’s no wonder Delhi chief minister and national convenor of Aam Adami Party (APP) Arvind Kejriwal, who is currently lodged in Tihar jail under judicial custody in connection with a money laundering case (inked to the scrapped Delhi excise policy, had to apologise in the Supreme Court for retweeting one of Dhruv Rathee's videos through his social media handle.