Scandals & Public Opinion | Episode 2: Gossip in History

Hosted by Meddhya Singh, this episode features Ms. Apoorva Lakshmi Kaipa in a discussion on the twentieth century as a moment of extraordinary intensity, defined by world wars, collapsing empires, mass media, and rapid social change. In this charged landscape, gossip and scandal did not merely accompany history; they actively shaped public opinion, political power, and cultural norms.As cheap printing and mass-circulation newspapers transformed private lives into public spectacle, scandal became an industry and gossip a tool of influence. From political figures to cinema stars and women’s reputations, the episode explores how newspapers blurred the line between rumour and reportage, reshaping ideas of morality, respectability, and modernity, and asks how scandal came to lie at the heart of modern mass culture.