The institution of journalism and public trust has suffered irreparable damage in all of this, even as some journalists rose in stature and power. (There have been cases in which some of these journalists went on a spree of self-publicity putting up hoardings at important sites in Lucknow to announce their journalistic excellence.)

With a changed regime, all eyes are now on the Yogi government and how it would interact with journalists. Will it continue down the same path and cultivate its own set of scribes, bestowing on them similar favours? Or will it find other ways to ‘manage’ the media? It’s still early days to see a clear pattern but for the sake of journalism and news consumers, one hopes journalists, rather than fixers, lead newsrooms.