> NYTimes seemed to have an OK local bureau, but I noticed they seemed to lag on the Sri Lanka story pretty hard, so I'm definitely curious how empowered they are to get close to the stories
They are completely out of the loop.
Their bureau is small (around 10 people covering all of South Asia), their bureau chief is viewed as an out-of-touch Westerner who was shifted to Delhi after the fall of Kabul, and they have been frozen out (along with the BBC) because the PIB disliked their reporting on the 2019 election, Shaheen Bagh, and the CAA protests.
When Indian Policymakers meet with American stakeholders at events like the US-India Business Conference at Stanford [0] or the India Study Tour [1], NYT reporters or affiliates are not invited but WSJ [2], The Economist [3], FT [4], or Nikkei [5] are given the red carpet.
Since you were in India during 2018-21, you must have watched Season 1 of Paatal Lok - their B-story about media consolidation is eerily close to the truth.
There's a reason India's press freedom rankings aren't the greatest.
They are completely out of the loop.
Their bureau is small (around 10 people covering all of South Asia), their bureau chief is viewed as an out-of-touch Westerner who was shifted to Delhi after the fall of Kabul, and they have been frozen out (along with the BBC) because the PIB disliked their reporting on the 2019 election, Shaheen Bagh, and the CAA protests.
When Indian Policymakers meet with American stakeholders at events like the US-India Business Conference at Stanford [0] or the India Study Tour [1], NYT reporters or affiliates are not invited but WSJ [2], The Economist [3], FT [4], or Nikkei [5] are given the red carpet.
Since you were in India during 2018-21, you must have watched Season 1 of Paatal Lok - their B-story about media consolidation is eerily close to the truth.
There's a reason India's press freedom rankings aren't the greatest.
[0] - https://www.hoover.org/events/usibc-50th-anniversary-bay-are...
[1] - https://indiafoundation.in/event-reports/india-study-tour-of...
[2] - https://www.wsj.com/news/author/walter-russell-mead
[3] - https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/11/27/meet-the-road-buil...
[4] - https://www.ft.com/content/55cd3608-7f2a-485a-be17-37735947d...
[5] - https://asia.nikkei.com/politics/middle-east-crisis/india-in...