An association representing 21 of India’s established news organizations has asked the country’s Supreme Court to strike down provisions of a new privacy law, warning that it would cripple investigative journalism and force newsrooms to close.

The challenge brings some of India’s most powerful media organizations into a legal battle that had until now been led largely by free-speech activists and smaller independent news outlets.

The media coalition includes Network18 and NDTV, owned by the billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, respectively. Critics have derided both as “Godi media,” a pejorative term for news outlets perceived as overly deferential to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Their involvement adds a new dimension to the dispute. A challenge once driven by journalists who have often found themselves at odds with the government now has the backing of media companies controlled by two of India’s most powerful businessmen, whose perceived proximity to Mr. Modi has long raised questions about the independence of their news outlets.

At a hearing on Tuesday, lawyers for the Digital News Publishers Association said the law would make it nearly impossible for journalists to do their jobs, and called it a “complete regime of pre-censorship.”

The publishers argue that the privacy law, set to take effect in May 2027, treats news organizations like ordinary commercial businesses, requiring journalists to obtain explicit permission from people before reporting on them.

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