US Ambassador Criticizes Indian TV News for Chaotic Debates, Questions Reporting Accuracy

US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor has publicly criticized the style and accuracy of Indian television news, describing prime-time debate shows as increasingly chaotic and some reporting as far removed from the facts.

Speaking at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum, Gor said he enjoys watching Indian news channels in the evenings but finds the programmes grow more disordered as the night progresses.

“I love getting home in the evening and putting on the Indian shows… and the later it gets, the crazier the shows become,” he remarked. “At 6 pm you have eight people arguing on the show, but by 10 pm it’s really good. There’s 12 people on there and they are all speaking at the exact same time and you can’t hear a single one of them.”

He added that panelists appear to have been trained to keep talking without pause: “They must train, because it’s unbelievable that nobody gets interrupted. They just keep going no matter what.”

On the quality of reporting, Gor said he once believed the United States had a significant fake-news problem. “But some of the things that get reported here are just nowhere close to the mark,” he observed.

In the same address, the ambassador recounted an episode from the G7 summit in France in June 2026. He said India’s Ministry of External Affairs had requested that media be allowed to cover the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump but that no questions should be taken. Gor said he conveyed the request to Trump, who initially agreed. After the leaders’ opening remarks, however, Trump invited questions from journalists, turning the interaction into an unscripted 45-minute press conference.

Indian government sources later described discussions on media arrangements for VVIP visits as standard practice and said New Delhi had simply communicated its usual approach for such events.

The ambassador’s comments have drawn widespread attention in both Indian and international media, with some political figures using the G7 anecdote to renew criticism of the Prime Minister’s limited engagement with unscripted press interactions.