Good guy to crook: Journalists' image in popular culture has changed

Their fall from grace pretty much reflects the abuse and trolling they face on social media.

A Diwali-Bhai Dooj weekend is a pretty good excuse to take a break from our usual fare, boring hard politics, and watch some movies instead. And also do some navel-gazing. As in, taking an introspective view of our profession, journalism.

Today’s editors demand the nutgraf. So here it is. How Bollywood and popular culture look at journalists has changed over the decades — from the quintessential good guy who beat the crooks and also got the girl in the 1950s, to a crook, manipulator, conspirator, cynical TRP-hunter, if not an outright joker.

What brought about the change and why? It