Praveen Tayal, a resident of Hansi, a small town about 20 km away from Hisar district in Haryana, belives “journalists are no longer trustworthy”. Tayal, an industrialist and president of the Hansi Trade Association, captures the sentiment of many in the North Indian state. “Electronic media is completely in decline. They no longer have credibility; their surveys fail 100%, and their election reporting is false. Nowadays, people watch YouTube more because it shows local news. Everyone is becoming a journalist on YouTube,” he says.
In a rapidly evolving media landscape, trust in mainstream journalism is waning, giving way to news creators on YouTube and Facebook that resonate deeply with local audiences. Haryana, a state at the heart of India, is witnessing a quiet revolution led by individuals determined to fill the void left by legacy media.
Social activist Santosh Dahiya from Kurukshetra echoes Tayal’s concerns, critiquing the mainstream broadcast media for focusing on news that aligns with the ruling government’s agenda. “Mainstream broadcast media only picks up news that benefits the ruling government’s political agenda. Local media, however, highlights issues embedded in our state and relevant to us,” says Dahiya, a professor of Physical Education at Kurukshetra University and a former Jannayak Janta Party candidate in the 2019 state election.
Filling the Gap: Independent News Creators in Haryana
Arun Kumar is a news creator who runs K9 Media from Gohana city in the Sonipat district of Haryana. Before starting his news channel, Arun worked with Dainik Bhaskar and a few broadcast channels, including ETV, News18 and Haryana News, as a reporter from Sonipat. However, one incident in which his news package was declined by Janta TV for being anti-establishment pushed him to work independently.
“I covered a rally where farmers showed black flags to then-Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. Janta TV refused to air it, asking me to submit a ‘simple’ news instead. That’s when I decided I couldn’t continue suppressing the truth and quit to focus on K9 Media,” he recalls.
Kumar had set up K9 Media on YouTube in 2013 as an infotainment channel, but the experience with Janta TV changed his mindset and pushed him to turn it into a full-fledged news channel. Today, K9 Media has amassed a following of 9.15 lakh on Facebook and 5.18 lakh subscribers on YouTube.
His journey wasn’t without challenges; it took him six years to reach one lakh subscribers on YouTube. In the beginning, the internet was slow and news-centric videos were still considered an anomaly. “We launched it early but it took time to gain momentum in our towns and villages. It was only after Jio was launched that the internet became easily accessible and we could grow our viewership. I could see that the internet was going to be a big breakthrough in the coming times,” the 34-year-old adds.
The first video Kumar posted on his YouTube channel is of the public speech of former Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana Digvijay Chautala on the imprisonment of his grandfather late former Chief Minister of Haryana Omprakash Chautala in 2013 which has over 6.5 lakh views.
“TV has a restriction as they can’t show the whole speech and that speech was so captivating that I wanted more people to view it so I uploaded it on my YouTube channel. I didn’t even know one could earn from it back in 2013 but as soon as the channel got monetised in less than a year we realised it could also become a medium of revenue,” says Kumar who used to make barely Rs. 15,000-20,000 as a reporter and now makes over a lakh rupees in a month through social media platforms.
Kumar has covered several milestone events in Haryana politics including the transitional rally of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) through Gohana in 2018, the emergence of the Jannayak Janta Party which added to his credibility, viewership and subscribers but the turning point for his channel was the coverage of farmers’ protest in 2020, according to Kumar.
“We highlighted the violence during the farmers’ protests, showing that tear gas was used on farmers, and nails were installed on roads to puncture vehicle tyres, among other things. However, the mainstream media didn’t show these realities to the public. They had to cater to the government’s advertising budget, which restricted them from presenting the complete truth from the protest ground. In contrast, we didn’t face such limitations. We only had to adhere to community guidelines on open platforms, and we made sure to follow those,” he explains.
Another news creator, Sarvesh Kukra of Ekmat Post from Hansi also saw exponential growth on his channel while covering the farmers’ protest. “Everyday functioning of the state was at a halt. People wanted real-time updates, and we provided live coverage of ground realities. Many of our protest videos went viral,” says Kukra.
Ekmat Post has over four lakh followers on Facebook and 3.8 lakh subscribers on YouTube. It boasts more than 10 crore views on YouTube alone, with the most viral video from the farmers' protest at the Ghazipur border on the Delhi–Meerut Expressway garnering over 1.2 crore views.
Media consumption has undergone a tectonic shift as trust in mainstream press declines, while social media platforms gain popularity for news. A 2023 report by Logically Fact revealed that people in India trust YouTube and WhatsApp more than traditional media for fact-checking. The Global Fact 10 Research report found over 22% of consumers disillusioned with all media, with remaining trust leaning toward social platforms over mainstream outlets.
Kukra, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) in Delhi from the 1996 batch, took a gamble with doing news content on social media that he says worked successfully for him. Earlier he would draw a salary and a commission from the marketing of the newspaper but now he does news as he likes and earns revenue not only from social media platforms but also by doing promotional videos for small brands across Haryana. “But I maintain a balance. It’s important to do promotional videos too to run the business but I don’t give in to political pressures,” he adds.
Former reporter for Dainik Bhaskar, Amar Ujala and Punjab Kesari over three decades before launching Ekmat Post to cover Haryana politics in 2018, Kukra recalls being offered to work with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s think tank. Without revealing names, he states that he denied the offer.
“They said that I should become pro-BJP but I refused. I cover news for both the BJP and Congress then how can I just talk about one when I’m covering the politics of Haryana?” asks Kukra.
Women in Male-Dominated Fields
While most of these news web channels are owned and started by men, women either work within these independent news channels as anchors but rarely own such news channels on social media. However, 26-year-old Ankita Singh co-owns City Big News which has a whopping 7.38 lakh followers on Facebook and 1.15 lakh subscribers on YouTube.
Singh completed a bachelor's and a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from Om Sterling Global University in Hisar and is now pursuing a PhD on the impact of social media on journalism.
Widely recognised in all of Hisar, she is the face of the channel and does several live shows on Facebook. However, it wasn’t an easy journey for her as she had to deal with a patriarchal family that didn’t approve of women working in front of the camera. She recalls the day she went out to buy vegetables with her father and the seller recognised her. Her father told her he was proud of her.
“During the COVID-19 lockdown, I was out on the streets reporting live from Hisar, and that’s when I gained credibility and popularity. Initially, it felt strange to be the only woman covering incidents amidst a crowd of male reporters, but I gradually overcame that hesitation. I started enjoying the thrill of being both an anchor and a reporter,” shares Singh. She adds that speaking in Haryanvi in her videos has helped her connect deeply with her audience.
However, this fame has come at a heavy price for Singh as she was accused of spreading misinformation during the lockdown for covering lack of safety measures in a hospital in Hisar.
“I had done a live from the hospital and shown that no one was wearing masks and safety gears. Dainik Bhaskar had also covered the same news but the hospital only filed a complaint against me because I didn’t have the backing of a large media group,” she recalls adding that she had a hearing last week and there would be a hearing again next month. “I’ve been dealing with this case for five years now,” she adds.
All’s Not Well for Independent News Creators
This is a huge challenge between traditional media groups and independent news-centric web channels as mainstream media provides its people with a safety net from legal charges while usually, independent media owners struggle with legal matters all alone affecting their mental, financial and psychological well-being.
Singh adds that one year after the case was filed, there was a conversation of an out-of-court settlement in which the hospital asked her to delete the video and never cover their news again but she refused. “However, that video went missing from her channel including a few other COVID-related videos without her awareness,” she says.
Dr Harish Kumar, a professor of Journalism & Mass Communication at MDU, Rohtak feels that working as a journalist has gotten tougher as compared to the old days. “While these news creators are the voice of the people they are also bound by the guidelines of foreign social media platforms who decide what they can show, how they can show, how long they can show it for and how much they can earn from their content,” Kumar says.
News Creators and Journalistic Ethics
While the independent news creators in Haryana have built their credibility among the locals and the state by covering local issues but when it comes to journalistic ethics of sensitivity and essentially nuanced and intersectional reporting in gender or caste-based issues, we found a sense of disinterest.
A journalist, from the group we interviewed for this article, hesitated from being identified as an OBC (Other Backward Classes) and asserted that he never brings caste politics into his coverage because he is apprehensive of giving this idea to people that he would only speak for his community. Kukra also avoids covering politics from the lens of caste or gender issues.
Dr Kumar says, “There are already very few people from marginalised sections who work in journalism, and those who are in the profession often avoid speaking about social inequalities because their livelihood depends on this work. Discussions on these issues are rarely allowed, especially in smaller towns, where this is more common because your location and identity are known to the general public. In government spaces, it’s possible to challenge such matters because you are relatively secure, but media is not a safe space for such conversations anymore.”
He also critiques the sudden influx of independent news creators in Haryana who aren’t trained in the profession and shares, “Now, even someone with basic understanding feels they can be a journalist and cover news, and this has happened because journalism has moved beyond just language to focus on dialects. People watch news in Hindi or English but don’t relate as much; however, when they hear it in their own dialect, they feel their community is being represented.”
No Match in Revenue And Ads
The Haryana government now includes social media channels in its advertising strategy to promote its developmental initiatives acknowledging the shift from traditional to digital media and providing a new revenue source for these platforms. However, channels must meet certain criteria to qualify for government ads. The policy requires six months of analytics reports and a minimum of 100 uploaded news-centric videos for empanelment. Channels are categorised based on their six-month average Unique User Count, ranging from 15,000 to 50 lakh users. Empanelment can be revoked if channels post content deemed anti-national, obscene, or harmful to communal harmony and national integrity.
“The emergence of digital media has had a profound impact on traditional media, with the decline of traditional newspapers and television, and the rise of digital-first media outlets,” reads the policy.
Jind-based Satyadev Sharma, who founded Satya Khabar in 2016, underscores the importance of government ads for independent channels “Everyone wants to grow their work, and if the government is giving ads to mainstream channels, then why not to us? As independent media, we also need funds, and we too have a right to government ads as web channels. We've worked hard to establish ourselves in the media.”
Sharma runs four Facebook pages – Satya Khabar with 9.2 lakh followers, Satya Khabar India, Satya Khabar Haryana and Satya Khabar Hindi with 10 lakh followers each all separately empanelled with the government policy. His YouTube channel has over 4.28 lakh subscribers.
On whether government ads restricts him or changes his perspective in covering the state government, he says, “It’s not from their side, but a kind of moral obligation arises in a person’s mind. If someone helps you, you naturally think about them a little. This is just human nature.”
Both Ekmat Post and K9 Media are also empanelled in the policy.
“A few of us who run web channels got together and went to the Department of Information, Public Relations and Languages (DIPRL) to seek government ads because up until this policy was executed, only mainstream media had had this opportunity,” shares Kukra.
The news creators revealed that so far the government ads of the BJP came in just before the state elections that happened in October last year and resulted in a third consecutive victory for the political party.
An insider from the Haryana government’s Directorate of Information, Public Relations & Languages who wants to remain anonymous says that the ads for TV are regular and higher priced than for web channels. “Just as ads are broadcast on TV, videos are also shared on web channels. However, the volume is much lower because ads are placed regularly in newspapers and on TV, while web channels are typically given ads only on special occasions.”
The rates for web channels are much lower compared to TV and newspapers. Another key difference is that web channels are required to pin ads for up to a month, whereas on TV, once an ad is played, it’s gone. Since web channels create more content, I feel their reach is greater,” they say.
A major difference between mainstream media, including print and broadcast, is that they have a variety of revenue models apart from government ads. They rely upon content monetisation, subscription models, syndication, and advertising, and this multifaceted approach allows them to generate greater income. However, independent news creators generate income from platform monetisation and promotional ads. Unlike mainstream outlets, they lack the infrastructure or scale to explore alternative monetisation strategies, making them more vulnerable to fluctuations in ad revenue and limiting their ability to diversify income streams.
While the new creators we interviewed shared that they make anywhere between one to three lakhs per month through government ads, platform monetisation and local promotional ads, it is nowhere close to the revenues of mainstream news media which is largely funded by large and powerful corporate houses such as Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Adani Enterprises. They also receive advertising revenue, the main source of which is the government – under Narendra Modi. A 2024 EY report suggests that the Indian Media and Entertainment Industry grew by INR 173 billion (8.1%) to reach INR 2.3 trillion (US$27.9 billion).
In an era where digital platforms are reshaping news consumption, the rise of independent social media news channels in Haryana reflects a broader shift in public trust and accessibility. These platforms have bridged gaps left by legacy media, offering real-time, hyper-local updates while navigating unique challenges like legal vulnerabilities and limited institutional support. Yet, as they gain credibility and financial stability, the responsibility to deliver nuanced and ethically sound journalism becomes paramount. Without improved safety and security measures for independent news creators safeguarding them from attacks, and court cases, the lack of nuanced reporting will greatly hinder absolute public interest journalism.