CJP protests: media revenue shrinks, student unemployment soars

The Story in Brief

In an interview with Frontline, media scholar Arvind Rajagopal argues that the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests at Jantar Mantar expose the decay of India's mainstream media and the desperation of educated youth. Rajagopal notes that the combined revenue of six listed news media companies grew from Rs 6,300 crore in 2014 to Rs 7,700 crore a decade later, below inflation, meaning the industry shrank in real terms. He points out that NDTV's turnover is just 0.07% of the Adani Group's, and TV18's is 0.015% of Reliance's, reducing news channels to political rent rather than businesses.

Rajagopal links the student-led protests to massive youth unemployment: by the 2026 State of Working India estimate, over 40% of graduates under 25 are jobless, and unemployment in India rises with education. He says students, seeing no material chains to lose, used social media for horizontal mobilisation but found physical presence at Jantar Mantar essential because a body cannot be shadow-banned. The government's response of stigmatisation and lathi-charge, he says, confirms the movement's power.