- Digital media in Assam is challenging mainstream monopolies following a leaked audio controversy involving Prag News owner Sanjive Narain and unethical allegations.
- Narain denies claims of bribery, while digital editors condemn his derogatory remarks and demand formal recognition from the Press Council of India.
- While mainstream outlets remained silent, digital platforms and social media influencers led public discourse regarding media ethics and illegal drug trade allegations.
- The development highlights the rising influence of alternative media and the urgent need for regulatory frameworks to monitor and support digital journalism.
By Nava Thakuria
Has digital journalism come of age in Assam of northeast India, at least in challenging the monopoly of news channels in disseminating particular information, while the mainstream media outlets feel shy to do the same? Condemning a Guwahati-based satellite news channel owner for terming a digital platform editor as an ordinary journalist, a large number of alternate media outlets have collectively scolded the said news channel proprietor for his derogatory comments and warned him not to underestimate them. As the issue gains more public attention, the digital media owners celebrate the incident as an opportune moment to raise voices for recognition from the authorities including the Press Council of India (PCI). The development started with an audio WhatsApp clipping that recorded the conversation between two individuals speaking in Assamese. A limited video showed a mobile phone where the name of Prag News owner was displayed. The issue came to a wider public notice as journalist Sushil Patowari, editor of Ishan News, raised some serious questions over the audio in his digital platform regarding the journalistic ethics followed by the news channel owned by Sanjive Narain. Patowari even hoped that the Prag News family would definitely come with a clarification that the conversation was not meant for any unethical practices. It was also quickly picked up by other news portals and digital platforms.
Facing the heat Narain organized a formal press conference and denied all allegations against him, but admitted that he had a conversation with Ghosh. He asserted that their chat was related to an outstanding payment for a luxury vehicle owned by Ghosh. It was not related to any news item which Ghosh wanted to be dropped by Prag News in return for money (which Ghosh finally agreed to send through an identified person). Narain also added that Ghosh was reported as an illegal drug dealer by his own news channel (Prag News) on a number of occasions. Finally he vowed to take legal actions against all the news portals for wrongly projecting him following the conversation. Amazingly, Ghosh surfaced in the debates a day later and claimed that the Prag News owner repeatedly asked for money from him. The conversation that went viral was about an amount which Narain demanded to drop the second part of a damaging news item on him from telecasting in Prag News, he claimed, who introduced himself as a law abiding businessman. Meanwhile, social media users started pouring their comments primarily questioning Narain for his irresponsibility to maintain a warm relation (Narain was heard talking to Ghosh with an adorable Assamese address Tumi in the leaked audio clipping) with an individual, who his news channel very often termed as illegal businessman.
Many socio-political activists denounced the news channel owner for his alleged relation with the anti-social elements. They also urged the law-enforcing agencies to meticulously probe the incident and take proper actions so that a drug-free Assam could be made possible in near future. Apprehending that a dark world of illegal drugs had already emerged in Assam, they questioned who would take the lead to erase the menace. One digital platform owner even lodged a complaint at Paltan Bazar police station in Guwahati on 14 October 2026 asking for a probe into the conversation between Narain and Ghosh. When the mainstream media outlets in Assam by and large avoided the development (reasons best known to them only), thousands of social media influencers have built a strong storyline against the menace of illegal drugs as well as the practicing media ethics by Guwahati-based media outlets. On various occasions, the media observers admitted that anyone with the basic knowledge of a language and a little bit of skill can raise his/her voices now-a-days. Very often a collective voice from the social media users may challenge the narrative set by the traditional newspapers and news channels. Lately even, the mainstream media outlets start entering into digital space to tap an extra opportunity amid the shrinking traditional media markets across the country.
Should it not be the time to recognize the digital platforms offering them due space in the PCI so that those outlets can be monitored and also encouraged in need.
