How Indian authorities ‘weaponised’ a New York Times report to target the press

A journalist wears a sticker during a protest against a press crackdown in New Delhi, India, on October 4, 2023. © Arun Sankar, AFP

NewsClick, a defiantly critical news site, has been in the Indian government’s sights over the past few years. But there was little to show after extensive financial probes – until the New York Times published a report which enabled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration to use the press to attack the press. 

Shortly after breakfast time on Tuesday, October 3, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta was outside his home in Gurgaon, a suburb of the Indian capital New Delhi, seeing his son off for the day when the police showed up at his place.