The coverage of the late actor's death has been nothing but shameful in English media, but we don't speak enough of what's going on in other languages. Which - let's not forget - most people read. Some snapshots from Anandabajar Patrika, the largest selling Bangla daily.

ABP is owned by the 98 yo ABP group, headquartered in Kolkata. They own the liberal darling Telegraph as well as ABP News, since they are good at diversification of their portfolio. Their impact on the Bangla cultural landscape cannot be understated.

I could go on and on - there's 8 pages of this on their website with just one hashtag. This coverage reports 'what netizens say' uncritically, with *zero* information on *who* said netizens are. This coverage reports every 'leak', every conspiracy theory, without questions.

The mainstreaming of tabloid journalism, especially on web, has meant unspeakable vitriol directed not only at the late actor's partner and a few other women involved in the narrative, but also Bengali woman at large. ABP did a pious report on the same, as well.

But what has been their contribution to this torrent of vitriol against women? This report, for instance, cites a Karni Sena worker as a prime witness and goes on to discuss conspiracy theories with relish. Again, no questions asked of the so-called witness itself.

In the name of entertainment journalism, anything goes. With Twitter beat dominating coverage, the particular brand of internet theorising that belonged to the depths of reddit forums and their ilk, is now mainstreamed as 'reportage'.

The average reader, who has little idea of internet subcultures OR organised disinformation machineries, now consumes this both on their morning newspaper AND their WhatsApp forwards. All of it is uncritical.

What do you think this is doing to people?

It is not enough to limit ourselves to English media. That's not where the action is. Read Hindi news. Read Bangla news. Read Malayalam news. Hold these business groups to account. Ask questions of them. Figure out what's going on with journalism in these languages.

And yes, support local news. Support regional journalists when they're targeted by the authorities, or worse, KILLED, as Ratan Singh was in Ballia a couple of days ago. It doesn't matter if you trolled Arnab Goswami or not when this is going on in non-English journalism.