Newslaundry Podcast

Time Codes:0:57 - Headlines5:45 - Pegasus snooping49:30 - Afghanistan crisis1:24:15 - Tokyo Olympics1:34:24 - Subscriber emails1:54:13 - Recommendations This week, Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal and Manisha Pande are joined by Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of the Wire, and Happymon Jacob, author, commentator and JNU professor. Siddharth talks about his organisation's reporting on the revelations that dozens of Indian activists, politicians and journalists – including the Wire editor himself – were targets or potential targets of surveillance using the Israeli spyware Pegasus. In this context, Manisha explains the dangers that such surveillance poses to journalists and press freedom in the country.Happymon analyses the Taliban’s rapid advance in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of American troops after 20 years of war. If the situation doesn’t change soon, he predicts, “it’s only a matter of time before the Taliban take power in Kabul.Amid public health concerns given the coronavirus pa

This week on NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Mehraj D Lone of Newslaundry are joined by Vivek Kaul, author and journalist. Vivek discusses his NL Sena investigation on India’s Covid data, pointing to inefficient health systems and the suspiciously low positive case rates in states such as Uttar Pradesh. To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal, and Anand Vardhan of Newslaundry are joined by independent journalist Anumeha Yadav. Anumeha analyses the various aspects of the Bhima Koregaon case in the wake of the activist Stan Swamy’s death in custody. Anand opines that "in this particular case, a lot of things have come down to freedom of expression". The conversation also spans the media’s coverage of Swamy's death. To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal, Anand Vardhan and Mehraj D Lone are joined by Hartosh Singh Bal, political editor of the Caravan. Hartosh begins the discussion by laying out the sociopolitical context of the communal campaign whipped up by politicians and sections of the media over the marriage of a Sikh woman with a Muslim man in Kasmir. Drawing parallels with the rhetoric around Uttar Pradesh’s anti-conversion law, he says, "The timing of it is what I want to emphasise, it is no mere coincidence.”To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Jayashree Arunachalam of Newslaundry are joined by public health physician Jammi N Rao.Talking about the controversies surrounding Bharat Biotech's Covid vaccine, Covaxin, Jammi notes that the company hasn’t provided the final data yet, so “nobody can assess it". Moving the discussion to the mega vaccination drives conducted on International Yoga Day, Jayashree says, "In our long list of PR focussed disasters, this is a lesser evil.” In this vein, Raman talks about the Narendra Modi government’s supposed reclamation of yoga and argues that it’s mostly been reduced to a publicity exercise. To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on NL Hafta, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Mehraj D Lone of Newslaundry are joined by data journalist Rukmini S.Rukmini explains her recent findings about actual Covid death tolls in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Talking about the key insights she gleaned from looking at the data, she says, "Instead of hanging on to the notion of exceptionalism, India should have actually focused on why it was that these numbers were low." To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, Jayashree Arunachalam and Anand Vardhan are joined by legal affairs expert Bhabna Das.They begin the discussion by reviewing a Goa court's judgement in the Tarun Tejpal rape case. Remarking on the court's observations about the behaviour of the former Tehelka editor's accuser soon after the incident, Bhabna asserts that "any judge has their own inherent biases and stereotypes but they must divorce that from what the law says".To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande and Jayashree Arunachalam are joined by filmmaker and writer Rajesh Rajamani.The discussion begins with the controversy over tennis player Naomi Osaka's refusal to do a press conference at the French Open, and the nuances of sports journalism. To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on NL Hafta, it’s an all-Newslaundry panel of Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone, and Anand Vardhan.The conversation starts with the unrest in Lakshadweep after a series of proposed laws were introduced by administrator Praful K Patel. On the draft Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation, Anand says, “If the implications are the way that it changes the cultural texture of a particular land, then it is absolutely a bad policy.”To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande and Mehraj D Lone are joined by Leena Gita Reghunath, an independent journalist based in Kerala.Leena starts the discussion talking about Pinarayi Vijayan's new ministry, especially the controversy over KK Shailaja's exclusion despite her laudatory work as the health minister. While noting that she was dropped in line with the governing Marxist party’s policy to not retain any of its previous ministers, Leena argues, “There is something Shailja has proved and not to be rewarded for that, politically, sends out a very bad gender message."To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone and Anand Vardhan are joined by Dhanya Rajendran, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the News Minute.Dhanya begins with MK Stalin taking oath last week as chief minister of Tamil Nadu. She talks about how the ceremony took place even as the second wave of Covid has hit the country. Dhanya also talks about Karnataka’s Covid emergency and the state government’s problematic approach to it.To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, and Jayashree Arunachalam are joined by journalist and writer Samrat X.Samrat begins by explaining the nuances of the recent post-poll violence in West Bengal. On the courts stepping in with respect to the poor handling of Covid in the country, Jayashree says, “It baffles me that it’s been four weeks and we still see SOS messages, oxygen shortages, and health aid being stuck at customs.” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone, and Anand Vardhan are joined by Banjot Kaur, a health reporter at Down to Earth.Banjot Kaur begins by explaining the scientific and public health aspects of the ongoing Covid surge in India. "The surge might start decreasing in mid-May, but due to healthcare collapse it won't be seen directly," she says. She also opines on why the Covid curve did not swing up during the Bihar election last year and the farmer protests around the turn of the year and after. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande are joined by Arunabh Saikia of Scroll.Arunabh elaborates upon his recent report on India's oxygen crisis and what caused it. The Narendra Modi government, he explains, planned to set up 150 oxygen generation over eight months ago but only a few of them are up and running. "They only take four to six weeks to set up and we couldn't even do that, it talks a lot about our response,” he says. To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on NL Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone, and Anand Vardhan are joined by Dr Madhu Gupta, a professor of community medicine at PGIMER, Chandigarh.The conversation begins with India’s Covid situation. On vaccine supplies, Abhinandan asks about India’s export of vaccines and whether developed nations are hoarding supplies. On the surge in Covid infections in the country, Madhu says, “Even when everything came back to normal, the virus was still there. So, it wasn’t just the health community but the people as well who became complacent.”To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal and Jayashree Arunachalam are joined by Kavita Murlidharan, an independent journalist.Kavita speaks about what’s driving the assembly election campaign in Tamil Nadu. "It's difficult to understand the mood of the people this time because we don't have Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha. They have been driving the elections in Tamil Nadu for the last 50 years. There's no clear replacement yet," she says.To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on Hafta, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Raman Kirpal, Anand Vardhan and Mehraj D Lone of Newslaundry, and Shoaib Daniyal of Scroll.Shoaib begins by discussing the ongoing Bengal election, which he’s covering for his news platform. The panellists also discuss the Myanmar coup and India's role as the crisis-struck country’s neighbour. "India has its part in not antagonizing the affairs in Myanmar," Anand argues, while quoting Aung San Suu Kyi's observation that “India, being a great regional power, must shoulder responsibility”.To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on NL Hafta, it’s an all-Newslaundry panel of Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone, Jayashree Arunachalam, and Raman Kirpal.In context of the recent Newsance episode, the panel discusses a recent ad of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna. Manisha, speaking to the woman in the advertisement, found out that she has not been given a house to live in. A picture of her was taken while she was working as a labourer and that was used without her prior permission. “The story came to us after it went to media outfits in Bengal. No one wanted to carry the story that shows  a woman in the prime minister’s ad,” shares Abhinandan, emphasising how important it is to keep news media free. Raman further shares that he did not see any print or TV media covering this story, except NDTV.To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Jayashree Arunachalam, Anand Vardhan and Raman Kirpal are joined by veteran journalist and political commentator Aarti Jairath. Aarti discusses the complexity of the Indian elections and the need for a “grey area” while reporting on it. “One of the temptations that should be resisted is to jump to the conclusion,” she says. The panel follows up on the saga of Bollywood stars in politics. Aarti emphasises Mamta Banerjee's weakness of “glamour girls” and Jayashree brings out the comparative of star power in Tamil Nadu politics. To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on NL Hafta, it’s an all-Newslaundry panel of Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Mehraj D Lone, Jayashree Arunachalam, and Raman Kirpal.In the light of Mithun Chakroborty joining BJP in Kolkata, Abhinandan lauds his “amazing success story”. “His entire rise has been phenomenal. Govinda was called the poor man’s Mithun,” he added. Manisha also points out how the BJP used left rally’s pictures as their own and circulated them to show the number of people that had turned up for Modi’s rally.To listen to the full episode, subscribe to Newslaundry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.