How real is the change that social media and TV news cacophony exhibits?

The cacophony on TV would have us believe that the character of India has changed, but this narrative too is distorted

We live in a world where opinion is sacred and facts are dispensable. At the Trump White House, they talk about alternative facts. And anyone who watches Indian news channels will see an alternate reality unfold.

The economy, we will learn, is booming. Covid is under control. India’s most powerful neighbours live in terror of us. Muslims are practising a new kind of warfare called “love jihad”. The Hathras victim was a liar. And the biggest problem facing India is the massive cover-up of the brutal, drug-related murder of Sushant Singh Rajput.

The rise of the bogus fact has been