Newslaundry Podcast

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande and Anand Vardhan are joined by The News Minute’s Dhanya Rajendran and digital creator Akash Banerjee aka TheDeshbhakt.On sustainable and profitable revenue models for news, Anand says that the subscription model might be prone to the problem of becoming “a groupspeak”, where “financial influences have been insulated, but the editorial leadership has a view” that becomes the identity of the platform. Abhinandan responds to this, saying, “This is not the limitation unique to the subscription model, but a limitation of the human condition.” Dhanya adds to the subject, saying the paywall adds a lot of pressure on reporters, who judge the value of their work based on whether it goes behind paywall or not.On the difference between journalists and digital content creators, Akash says creators are appropriating information available through journalistic platforms. Dhanya says that the line between commentators and journalists is a

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, and Shardool Katyayan are joined by journalists Monideepa Banerjie and Nidhi Suresh.Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal, and Anand Vardhan are joined by award-winning business journalist and author Sucheta Dalal.Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, and Manisha Pande are joined by sports journalist and author Rudraneil Sengupta and senior Bangladeshi journalist, Farid Hossain.Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, and Anand Vardhan are joined by veteran journalist Neerja Chowdhury and Times of India Kerala resident editor Viju B.Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Raman Kirpal are joined by Mint’s consulting editor Puja Mehra.Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Raman Kirpal were joined by Anisha Sheth, associate editor of The News Minute, and Anuradha Bhasin, executive editor of Kashmir Times.Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Newslaundry’s Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal, and Shardool Katyayan were joined by The Hindu’s foreign correspondent Sriram Lakshman and its diplomatic affairs editor Suhasini Haidar.Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, YouTube creator and Newslaundry’s former editor Meghnad is the host, joined by Newslaundry’s Raman Kirpal and Anand Vardhan, Supreme court advocate Vrinda Grover, and journalist Aditi Phadnis.Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Newslaundry’s Raman Kirpal and Shardool Katyayan are joined by The News Minute’s Shabbir Ahmed and senior journalists Hridayesh Joshi and Arati R Jerath.Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal and Shardool Katyayan are joined by senior journalists Andrew Whitehead and Nirupama Subramanian.Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Anand Vardhan are joined by senior journalist and author Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay and EastMojo’s Karma Paljor. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Raman Kirpal are joined by The News Minute’s Dhanya Rajendran and Sudipto Mondal to discuss the Lok Sabha 2024 results. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, and Anand Vardhan are joined by The Caravan’s editor-in-chief Hartosh Singh Bal and investigative journalist Aruna Chandrashekhar.On the final phase of elections, Hartosh says “it’s baffling” that the voting date in Punjab coincides with the 40th anniversary of Operation Blue Star. He says because of the strong anti-BJP sentiment in Punjab, the state remains a political battleground primarily for the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, despite the “quadrangular fight” after the split between the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP.The conversation then shifts to the issue of natural resource mining in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Odisha. Aruna describes them as “sacrificed zones”, regardless of the governing party. She says that due to the Congress's “neglect”, the locals had turned to the BJP.On the rise in temperatures in Delhi and other metropolitan cities, Aruna says the environmental crisis has been triggered by urbanisation, reduced green cover, and in

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Jayashree Arunachalam and Prateek Goyal are joined by journalist Faye D’Souza.On the polls in Maharashtra, Faye says there is “a lot of goodwill” for the Thackerays. “Eknath Shinde does not enjoy that goodwill because of what was done to the Thackerays.” She adds that there was confusion about election symbols because of the split within the NCP and the Shiv Sena. “A lot of voters did not know the difference between their symbols.”The panel then discusses the elections in Delhi and the alleged Swati Maliwal assault case. Raman breaks down the arithmetic of Delhi polls. “In 2019, the BJP’s margin of victory was 25 percent and above.” Abhinandan says that the coming together of the AAP and the Congress is “statistically not enough” to defeat the BJP in the national capital.On the Porsche car crash incident in Pune, Jayashree says the story is getting traction because it “appeals very much to India’s upper middle class sensibilities”. Talking about the ba

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Jayashree Arunachalam and Anand Vardhan are joined by advertising guru and columnist Santosh Desai and multimedia artist Anurag Minus Verma. On the impact of political advertisements, Santosh says it has “never” been a significant player, as ads “simply fail” to reach an audience “beyond a certain comfort zone”. Anurag says influencer and meme marketing agencies instead have become “very important” in communication strategies.The conversation moves to the elections in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi and Rae Bareli. Manisha, who reported from the two constituencies, says that unemployment is a “really big concern”. She says that while people are talking about it from village to village, it is not a sign of anti-incumbency. “A lot of them say Modi should focus on this [employment] in his third term.”On the temporary bail of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and his speech about Prime Minister Narendra Modi retiring before turning 75, Anand says, “It is a ploy to co

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri and Raman Kirpal are joined by journalists Girish Kuber, Sunita Aron, and Sudipto Mondal. On Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech accusing the Congress of receiving money from industrialists Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, Sudipto says this news is not headline material but rather “gossip material”. He adds that the talk on the ground is “nahi mila kya is baar”, suggesting that the corporate houses put their weight behind the Congress in this election.On the elections in Maharashtra, Girish says, “There is no state-wide agenda in these polls. There are 48 constituencies and 48 election agendas.” Sunita points out the BJP’s big challenge in UP. “The BJP has set a target of 75 seats, but after Rahul and Akhilesh came together, there is better chemistry and coordination [in INDIA bloc].”The panel then discusses the BSP’s prospects and the sacking of its leader and Mayawati’s nephew, Akash Anand, from the post of national coordinator. Sudipto counters Abhinandan’s

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, and Anand Vardhan are joined by in-house reporter Tanishka Sodhi and The News Minute’s Anisha Sheth.On the alleged sexual abuse tapes involving JDS’s Prajwal Revanna, Anisha says the scale of violence is unheard of in Karnataka, “even though the state has had its share of sexual scandals”. Anand notes that several victims were party workers, and there is a need to examine political parties as workplaces.The conversation then shifts to the politics in Bihar and Baramati, both set to poll on May 7. Tanishka says the two Pawar factions are in fray in Baramati but, “sympathy for Sharad Pawar cannot be denied”.Abhinandan then brings up Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent speeches. He says Modi’s “Congress will take your buffalo” and “steal your mangalsutra” are the BJP’s “Hail Mary”.This and a whole lot more. Tune in!We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. Check out the Newsla

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Jayashree Arunachalam and Shardool Katyayan are joined by The News Minute’s Pooja Prasanna and lawyer Vakasha Sachdev.On the Karnataka polls, Pooja says the JDS and BJP are “better allies” than the Congress and JDS since “their target base does not overlap. Both parties bring something new and fresh to the table”. She adds that the “myth of the Vokkaligas being secular is nonsense”.The panel discusses the inheritance tax debate, with Vakasha saying the tax has a solid rationale behind it “from a social justice perspective”. Jayashree says the matter escalated into a controversy because people are “conflating a lot of things, like what Modi said about the Congress taking away people’s money”. Shardool adds, “Most of the people arguing about this tax won’t have to pay it because it applies to the creamy layer of society.”Vakasha then explains why the PMLA is problematic. On the state of the Indian judiciary, he says over the years, “we’ve had our justice system consta

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, and Anand Vardhan are joined by political analyst Suhas Palshikar, tech expert Madhav Deshpande, and professor Shruti Kapila.On the robustness of the election voting machines, Suhas Palshikar says EVMs have “definitely lost the credibility that they initially had”. He cites Lokniti-CSDS data. Madhav says “major technological change” in 2013, with the introduction of VVPAT has made EVMs a “different beast”.  The panel then discusses the manifestos and poll promises. Shruti says the BJP manifesto is “very weird” and that “it wants to lower the temperature on Hindutva”. Anand calls it the manifesto of a party that is “very sure of a renewed mandate”, unlike the Congress manifesto, which is trying to “tick too many boxes”. This and a whole lot more. Tune in!We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media.&n