The First Debashish Aich Memorial Discussion: A Report

On 21st June, 2025, Groundxero, an alternative news media platform based in Bengal, organised a commemorative event marking the one-year death anniversary of their late colleague and dedicated journalist, Debashish Aich (affectionately known as Bachchu Da). The event titled “Sankhaloghu Sampradayer Biruddhe Kromobordhoman Ghrina o Hingsha: Mulsroter Gonomadhyomer Bhumika” (The Role of Mainstream Media in the Rising Hate and Intolerance Towards Minority Communities) aimed to honour his legacy and uphold his commitment to grassroots reporting, which consistently brought to light the everyday struggles of marginalized communities, an issue often overlooked by mainstream media houses.  

The gathering at the Bengal Theosophical Society hall highlighted Aich’s enduring relevance in today's context of heated religious communal politics through discussions and reflections. Among the speakers were Pratik Sinha, editor of Alt News, a platform dedicated to combating misinformation in media;  Snighdhendu Bhattacharya, an independent journalist closely documenting minority issues; and Afroja Khatun, a professor and activist who writes extensively on the condition of Muslim women, drawing from her own lived experiences. 

The event began on an emotional note. Before the invited speakers were called up on stage, Debashish Aich’s niece, Shabnam Aich, reminisced about her uncle. Since he was older, she affectionately called him “Boro” (the elder one). Despite their family bound relation, their bond was more like that of close friends. Their conversation often revolved around the small, everyday details of life. From her uncle, she learned that in this age of opinions, one must speak responsibly, verifying facts before talking. It becomes the fundamental duty of every responsible citizen. Our statements should be constantly and consciously verified, to avoid misleading others. This is the virtue she believes Aich had, in both his professional and personal life. For journalist, researcher, and author Debashish Aich, going as close as possible to the scene of incident and observing it firsthand was not just a duty, but a passion. 

Afroja Khatun expressed her frustration with the mainstream media’s insistence on taking sides on religious lines, especially following the recent Pahelgam attacks. Despite the fact that both Muslims and Kashmiri Pandits were targeted in the army crackdown, instead of the concerned terrorist troops, TV news channels and social media were filled with reports of “Muslim hunting”. She criticized the hasty launch of Operation Sindoor which was carried out without a proper understanding of the situation. The escalating communal tension, she argued, has severely limited Muslim communities’ access to livelihood and housing. The very air of targeting individuals solely based on their names, she emphasised, violates constitutional principles. Reflecting on her participation in the Triple Talaq Bill debates and movement around 2010, she noted that while the central BJP government claimed to champion Muslim women empowerment, by allowing the arrest of their husbands, the support was merely superficial. No substantive changes have led to the improvement of women’s actual conditions. Her movement and ideology, she clarified, are not about applauding the government for hollow gestures of upliftment. Instead, they focus on creating tangible conditions within the community to reconcile the demands of empowerment within lived realities.

Where the audience unanimously agreed on mainstream media's failure to fulfill its role, Pratik Sinha, editor of Alt News deliberated, shifting the talk from mere criticism to providing constructive solutions for improving journalism. He argued that the concept of minority is no longer one-dimensional, as discrimination now extends from religion to gender, culture and linguistic lines, necessitating new strategies to counter systemic biases. Sinha pointed to the decline of mainstream media's credibility, particularly after NDTV’s shares were acquired by the Adani Group. According to him, government and capitalist influence have reduced news content to sensationalism and conspiracy theories, prioritising the wealthy over public welfare. He criticised TV channels for completely submerging their integrity, while print media, since slower in production, having a day at hand before publication, tries to correct itself as far as possible, to avoid humiliation. In his view, digital media is now the most viable platform for ethics journalism. In such a sad condition of mainstream platforms exploiting digital spaces to spread misinformation, he asserts that the alternative media must leverage these to uphold factual accuracy. He emphasised professionalism and crowd funding as sustainable models to ascertain that call. To build a credible alternative media ecosystem, Sinha highlighted two major challenges: ensuring fair employee salaries and covering legal costs. Citing Alt News as an example, he advocated for open licensing, arguing that true people's journalism must make its content accessible to the public. 

The final speaker of the day was independent journalist, Snighdhendu Bhattacharya. He primarily criticized mainstream media being controlled by the Adani and Ambani groups, as well as their daily sensational reporting. He said that it is our responsibility to make as many people as possible aware of the fact that unverified information, manipulated footage, and even deliberate lies are spread by these regular TV channels to influence public opinion. This tendency was particularly noticeable during the recent Pahelgam attack and the subsequent Operation Sindoor. He also mentioned how, in media trials, bearded and fez-wearing conservative imams are brought as the only representative of the Muslim cohort, and shamelessly attacked by Hindutva supporters in front of the camera, impacting the larger public sentiment. All of this is not just a recent phenomenon. This trend has been ongoing since 2014 and has now taken on even a clearer form. Like Pratik Sinha, he reminded everyone that these media outlets are tied to the hem of capitalism's skirts for advertising revenue. To counter today's established media, Snighdhendu recommended relentlessly criticising mainstream TV channels and their anchors with fact-based arguments and challenging them with pointed questions. Additionally, he also advocated for building a long-term solidarity of alternative digital news platforms. 

This meeting, held in remembrance of honest, responsible and fact-based journalism of Debashish Aich, thus upheld the pledge to identify deceitful and manipulative media outlets and consistently pose a thorough critique through not opinion-driven arguments but research-based work. 

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This report was prepared by Olivia Banerjee and Kunal Roy.