Ownership Pattern Affecting the Content of 24x7 News Channels in India: A Critical Analysis

News  Media;  especially  the  24X7  TV  news  channels  in  India  are  facing  constant  criticism  for  practicing  favoritism  as  a  standard operating  procedure,  since  2014  general  election.  2014  witnessed  republican  India's  first  intensively  televised  elections.  As  of  March 2014, statistics  released by  I & B Ministry  suggest that there are 792 TV channels in India in which 392 are the news and current affairs channels. These channels le ft n o stone unturned  in order  to get  scoop, br eaking news,  surveys and  special programs  during elections. However the  intent as  well content  of coverage  was always  under deep  scrutiny by  one or  other section  of the  society. This  paper aims to present  the facts  behind such  a disturbing  perception. Is  the influence  of corporate  ownership eaten  the scope  of objective  reporting? Or,  our  society  is  functioning  in  such  a  way  that  they  would  like  to  see  everything  in  white  or,  black  and  there  is  no  scope  for  gray? That  means  either  you  are  in  support  of  a  popular sentiment  or  you  may  face  the  threat  to  be  labeled  as anti-social or worst  anti­ national.  However,  there arc sections who just want news to  be  back  without  any  aggravated  views.  This paper aims to critically analyze all these aspects of contemporary electronic news channels.