Newslaundry Podcast

Welcome to the first episode of NL Hafta in 2019! Host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by the regular gang of Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Anand Vardhan, and special guest Dushyant Arora, lawyer and chief editor of News Central 24x7.The conversation starts with Abhinandan asking the panellists their views on ANI editor Smita Prakash’s interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The interview's earned a fair share of commentary and dissent, primarily against the journalist for being too soft on the PM. Anand takes the lead on the issue, saying he does not find it objectionable if a member of the media is respectful to a man in Modi's position. “That is the dignity the office carries, not the individual,” he says. But is it really respect or is it diffidence? Dushyant says, “The dignity of the office … is enhanced with greater questioning.”The panel then discusses the 28 counts of criminal defamation filed by Anil Ambani against various news organisations. Dushyant weighs in with a legal perspective, describin

This week’s Reporters without Orders features host Cherry Agarwal in conversation with Ayush Tiwari, Scroll staff writer Shoaib Daniyal, Newslaundry special correspondent Prateek Goyal, and Indian Express Digital correspondent from Kerala, Vishnu Varma. Conversations range from Triple Talaq to Sabarimala to Bhima Koregaon. Ayush starts off by expressing his disapproval on the lack of coverage on the recent Transgender Persons Bill and its flaws. Shoaib talks about his dissatisfaction over the lack of coverage of Bangladesh's controversial polls which took place last week. The panel discusses the "quid pro quo" relationship between Sheikh Hasina and the Modi government.The discussion moves to the Triple Talaq bill and its peculiar clauses. Shoaib says the Catch-22 is that “although 'talaq talaq talaq’ does not annul the marriage, it can put you in jail”. The panellists then analyse the motivations behind either side of the debate in relation to Muslim women vote banks and male victimisation. They discuss the

It's the first episode of 2019, and our hosts Abhinandan Sekhri and Rajyasree Sen discuss the Saudi Arabia-centric episode of Hasan Minhaj's Patriot Act, Netflix series Selection Day, and the Netflix special of Black Mirror's Bandersnatch, among other things.Rajyasree recommends the controversial Saudi Arabia of Patriot Act for its wit and timing. Both hosts disapprove of Netflix pulling the episode down in Saudi Arabia after a complaint from authorities. “It is a shame because rather than more information reaching places that were behind and Iron Curtained, it seems that the Iron Curtain is extending to places that didn’t have one earlier,” says Abhinandan.They talk about the Netflix series Selection Day, based on a book by the same name by Aravind Adiga. Rajyasree summarises the plot and says she recommends it because you could probably watch the entire thing in a single sitting. She does however think the story was somewhat underdeveloped.Discussing the episode Bandersnatch from the Black Mirror series, Ab

In 1968, Narayan Singh Chauhan joined an uprising that was painting Indian jungles red. Joined by comrades from different parts of the country, he was there to fight feudal lords, emancipate the peasants and crush the state. In his three year-long involvement with the Naxalite insurgency, Chauhan was involved in multiple encounters and also admits to killing a revenue-collector.Tune in to this snippet of Let's Talk About: Naxalism - Part 1 to listen to his story. Listen to the full episode here: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/01/02/lets-talk-about-naxalism-part-1Subscribe to Newslaundry to listen to the full version.You can also listen to all our podcasts on iOS and Android.iOS: http://apple.co/2iZhEq1Android: http://bit.ly/2jTtG3x See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

इस हफ्ते चर्चा का मुख्य विषय रहा नेशनल इंवेस्टिगेशन एजेंसी द्वारा 17 जगहों पर छापा मारकर आईएस के 10 कथित आतंकियों की गिरफ्तारी. इसके अलावा नोएडा के पार्क होने वाली जुमे की नमाज को लेकर पैदा हुआ विवाद, गृह मंत्रालय द्वारा 10 सुरक्षा और खुफिया एजेंसियों को किसी के भी कंप्यूटर डाटा निगरानी की अनुमति और पांच राज्यों के विधानसभा चुनावों परिणाम के बाद आया नितिन गडगरी का बयान भी चर्चा में शामिल रहे. इसके बाद से अटकलें लगाई जा रही हैं कि भाजपा के शीर्ष नेतृत्व में खटपट चल रही है.इस बार की चर्चा में बतौर मेहमान हिदुस्तान टाइम्स के एसोसिएट एडिटर राजेश आहुजा शामिल हुए.  साथ ही न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के असिस्टेंट एडिटर राहुल कोटियल भी चर्चा का हिस्सा रहे. हमेशा की तरह चर्चा का संचालनन्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के कार्यकारी संपादक अतुल चौरसिया ने किया.चर्चा की शुरुआत करते हुए अतुल ने राजेश से सवाल किया, "एनआईए द्वारा की गई कार्रवाई की टाइमिंग को लेकर जो सवाल खड़े हो रहे है कि चुनाव का मौसम आते ही इस तरीके की कार्रवाई खुफिया एजेंसियां करती हैं. आईएम से जुड़े मामलों में भी हमने देखा था कि युवकों को गिरफ्तारी भी होती है लेकिन कोर्ट में वो साबित नही

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode.In this week’s episode, South Asia editor of Asia Times, Saikat Datta joins the regular Hafta gang of Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande and Anand Vardhan to discuss the home ministry authorising 10 central agencies to intercept information on computers, the misinformation surrounding it.The discussion kicks off with Saikat explaining the home ministry order and his experience of examining the surveillance structure and the safeguards that are there. Is it possible to run an operation at such a huge level? The discussion then moves to the miners trapped inside a coalmine in Meghalaya and why it took so long for this to make it to the national news, the rescue operation and the politics around it. Saikat compares the situation of Meghalaya with the movie Kaala Patthar. The panel then moves on to discuss Mamta Banerjee not allowing BJP to carry out Rath Yatras in West Bengal. See

In this week’s NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Meghnad, Raman Kirpal, and Manisha Pande. The panel also features Newslaundry reporters Amit Bhardwaj and Prateek Goyal who are covering the elections from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh respectively.Amit gives us insight into the election rallies in Rajasthan that are being dominated by PM Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath instead of Vasundhara Raje. He says yes when Abhinandan asks whether a reporter gets new insight when on the ground. He adds that people would assume that the fight in the state is between the BJP and the Congress but in as many as 20 seats, the BSP dominates the other two parties.Prateek shares his experience from Madhya Pradesh. He says the people in the state would vote for the BJP despite their dissatisfaction with the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government.Moving on, the panel discusses the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition, which Right-wing groups popularly call "Shaurya Diwas". Abhinandan says that unlike countries like Ge

This week’s episode brings you an action-packed discussion with our hosts Abhinandan Sekhri and Rajyasree Sen on Relatable, season 2 of Making A Murderer, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Kareena Kapoor’s What Women Want, Honey Singh’s Makhna, the trailer of Thackeray and three commercials.Rajyasree and Abhinandan start by exchanging views on Ellen DeGeneres’s Relatable and how she’s hitting hard on the social stereotype against lesbians. They talk about the payment of $20 million Ellen received for the 68-minute show. Moving on, they discuss the Netflix series Making A Murderer Season 2, written and directed by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos. They discuss the American phenomenon of making celebrities out of criminals, to which Rajyasree says, “Although in America, I feel they are a little off, so they don’t have much happening in their own lives. So they get sucked into these kind of things.”The discussion moves on to Kareena Kapoor Khan’s radio show What Women Want on Ishq: 104.8, which is also a video s

एनएल चर्चा अपने 50वें अध्याय पर पहुंच गई. इस लिहाज से इस बार की चर्चा बेहद ख़ास रहीं. 50वीं चर्चा को हमने न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के यूट्यूब चैनल पर लाइव प्रसारित किया.इस बार की चर्चा का मुख्य विषय रहा 1984 के सिख विरोधी दंगों के एक मामले में कांग्रेस नेता सज्जन कुमार को हुई उम्रकैद की सज़ा. इसके अलावा सुप्रीम कोर्ट द्वारा राफेल डील के मामले में हुए कथित घोटाले के आरोपों से जुड़ी सारी याचिकाओं को ख़ारिज करना, दक्षिण भारतीय राज्य तमिलनाडु के नेता एमके स्टालिन द्वारा राहुल गांधी को अगला प्रधानमंत्री पद का उम्मीदवार बनाने की घोषणा और साथ ही फ्रांस में बीते डेढ़ महीने से चल रहे यलो वेस्ट आंदोलन पर हमारी चर्चा केंद्रित रही.इस बार की चर्चा में बतौर मेहमान द वायर की सीनियर एडिटर आरफा खानम शेरवानी हमारे साथ जुड़ी साथ ही साथ न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के ओपिनियन राइटर व स्तंभकार आनंद वर्धन भी इस चर्चा का हिस्सा रहे. इसके अलावा न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के असिस्टेंट एडिटर राहुल कोटियाल भी चर्चा में शामल हुए. चर्चा का संचालन न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के कार्यकारी संपादक अतुल चौरसिया ने किया. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode.In this week’s podcast, our regular Hafta gang of Abhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Trehan, Manisha Pande and Raman Kirpal are joined by Newslaundry subscriber Anushka Shah who is a researcher with MIT Media Lab. The podcast kicks off with a discussion on the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 after Indira Gandhi’s assassination. The team talks about how even today, media coverage of communal riots has been limited to political whataboutery where journalists only cover how a political party accuses the other. They talk about the Delhi High Court’s judgement convicting Congress politician Sajjan Kumar for his role in the riots.Talking about political parties offering farm loan waivers to please voters, Manisha says loan waivers are only a short-term solution and we need to look at the root causes of farmer distress. The panel also discusses the recent court ruling on the Rafale deal and Rajiv Gandhi's role in t

Celebrating the 200th episode of Hafta, we recorded the episode live in the presence of our subscribers, at Anti Social in Delhi's Hauz Khas.For this special episode, journalist and writer Manu Joseph joins our regular Hafta gang of Abhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Trehan, Manisha Pande, and Anand Vardhan.Kicking off the event, Abhinandan talks about the history of NL Hafta and how it has evolved over time. The podcast then moves on to discuss all the news that happened this week, from the Kisan rally in Delhi to the debate over Rahul Gandhi’s gotra, and much more.The Hafta gang begins by discussing which news model is better, one that is advertisement-driven or one that is driven purely by subscribers. The panel deliberates on the pros and cons of both these models.Talking about the problems faced by the advertising model, Manu says: “Advertising is not a flawed model, the human being in itself is a flawed model.” Madhu goes on to say that the subscription model is a huge challenge primarily because the audience onl

This week's Reporters Without Orders features our host Amit Bhardwaj with Rahul Kotiyal, special correspondent Prateek Goyal and Snigdhendu Bhattacharya from Hindustan Times.Amit starts the podcast by asking Snigdhendu about the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Rath Yatra in Kolkata, which was supposed to be hosted on December 7 but was blocked by the Trinamool Congress. They discuss how the whole thing was rebranded from a Rath Yatra to a "Save Democracy" programme.The panel moves on to the rumours surrounding Varun Gandhi leaving the BJP and joining the Congress and how news reports constantly feed these rumours. Rahul adds: “In the Congress, the sky is the limit for Varun Gandhi and he’ll be a threat to Rahul Gandhi if he joins.”Amit talks about Kamal Nath becoming the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and his race for the position. The panel also talks about the cut-throat competition between the two parties and how the BJP's anti-incumbency factor played out in the state. Rahul notes: “The BJP’s strategy is to pr

This week’s episode of Awful and Awesome brings you an action-packed discussion with our hosts Abhinandan Sekhri and Rajyasree Sen on the short film Detour, the new Brexit trailer, Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma and two commercials.Rajyasree and Abhinandan start the podcast with the semi-autobiographical film Roma, written, directed and produced by Alfonso Cuarón. Rajyasree notes that the movie is set in 1971 Mexico and tells the story of characters that are usually ignored by cinema and society. Appreciating the director’s work, Abhinandan says, "There are two things that make cinema survive—the stars and the craftsmen who crafts cinema", and Cuarón is one of those craftsmen who’s keeping it alive. Rayasree believes Roma is all set to win an Oscar.The discussions moves to a Netflix documentary, The Innocent Man, based John Grisham’s book—which Rajyasree notes is Grisham's only non-fiction book—and how the movie portrays the criminal justice system in America in relation to sending people to jail. They then talk abou

इस बार की चर्चा का केंद्र पांच राज्यों में हुए विधानसभा चुनाव में आए नतीजे रहे. इसके आलावा आरबीआई गवर्नर उर्जित पटेल का समय से पहले अपने पद से इस्तीफा देना, नए गवर्नर के रूप में शक्तिकांता दास का पद संभालना, रफेल विमान सौदे पर सुप्रीम कोर्ट का निर्णय आदि विषय इस बार की चर्चा के मुख्य बिंदु रहे.इस बार की चर्चा में बतौर मेहमान न्यूज़ 24 चैनल की पत्रकार साक्षी जोशी और वरिष्ठ पत्रकार हर्षवर्धन त्रिपाठी शामिल हुए. इसके अलावा न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के असिस्टेंट एडिटर राहुल कोटियाल भी चर्चा का हिस्सा रहे. चर्चा का संचालन न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के कार्यकारी संपादक अतुल चौरसिया ने किया.चर्चा की शुरुआत अतुल चौरसिया ने पांच राज्यों के विधानसभा के चुनावी नतीजों से की. उन्होंने पैनल के सामने एक सवाल रखा, “जिस रूप में भाजपा पिछले 4-5 सालों में बदली है, हमने देखा कि हर विधानसभा चुनाव के नतीजों के बाद नरेंद्र मोदी दिल्ली की सड़कों पर विजय परेड निकालते थे. उस दौरान मोदी जो भाषण देते थे उसमें एक विचित्र सी साम्यता दिखाई देती थी. वो अमित शाह को जीत का पूरा श्रेय देते थे बजाय पूरी पार्टी और उसके संगठन के. ये एक अलग तरीके की रणनीति दोनों नेताओं के

In this episode of Hafta, we have Shipra Garg, our subscriber from the United States, and Meghnad joining our in-house panel of Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, and Raman Kirpal to discuss news that made headlines this week.Abhinandan begins the podcast by discussing the recent CBI 'leak'. The panel discusses the role of media in covering a crisis that involves the country’s central investigation agency. They also touch upon CJI Ranjan Gogoi’s statement: “You don’t deserve a hearing.”The panel then talks about the outrage against Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, after a picture of him holding a poster reading ‘Smash Brahminical Patriarchy’ was circulated. Manisha discusses television debates and hashtags like #BoycottTwitter that followed. Shipra adds how this news has also erupted in the US where channels are reporting that “Hindus in India are angry with Jack Dorsey”.Moving on, the panel talks about the death of American citizen John Allen Chau, who was killed by Sentinelese tribe in the Andaman and Nicobar Island

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So, here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode. In this episode of NL Hafta 202, the regular Hafta gang of Manisha Pande, Abhinandan Sekhri, and Anand Vardhan is joined by Saurabh Dwivedi, founder-editor of Lallantop.Saurabh, who travelled for a month in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in the run-up to the elections, has some great insights to share. The team discusses the reasons for Congress’ victory in the Hindi heartland and whether it will have any bearing on the 2019 general election.Saurabh explains how PM Modi failed as a communicator in Chhattisgarh and why his speeches didn’t click with the masses.Anand tells us why political analysis as we see in news media is overrated. Abhinandan says the Assembly results were not Rahul Gandhi’s Pappu-pass-ho-gaya moment, but more a failure of the BJP government.The Hafta gang also discusses the resignation of RBI chief Urjit Patel and his successor Shaktikanta Das. Abhinandan s

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode.This week, Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Meghnad, Raman Kirpal, and Manisha Pande. The panel also features Newslaundry reporters Amit Bhardwaj and Prateek Goyal who are covering the elections from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh respectively.Amit gives us insight into the election rallies in Rajasthan that are being dominated by PM Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath instead of Vasundhara Raje. Prateek shares his experience from Madhya Pradesh, saying people in the state would vote for the BJP despite their dissatisfaction with the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government. The panel discusses the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition and the recent violence in Bulandshahr which led to a policeman being killed. They also looked at how the media, especially television channels, covered the incident.Listen to the full episode here. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this week’s episode, Supreme Court lawyer Mihira Sood joins our in-house panel of Madhu Trehan, Raman Kirpal, and Manisha Pande. The gang goes on to discuss topics like sexual harassment laws in India, the cancellation of singer TM Krishna’s concert in Delhi, and CNN’s lawsuit against the Trump administration.Giving us an overview of the shortcomings of sexual harassment laws in India, Mihira, who is currently researching the feminist movement, gives us some insight. The panel goes on to dig into the ever-increasing trend of “performative feminism” wherein media houses carry stories without any proper journalistic inquiry. Raman calls such stories “the easiest stories to report”.Talking more about the propagandist tendencies of media, Madhu mentions why the current government deserves to get the “Best Media Management” award. The panel further talks about the NDA-friendly media as well as the UPA-friendly media.Moving on, this week’s Hafta crew discusses the recent cancellation of Carnatic singer TM Krishn

This episode of The Awful and Awesome brings you an action-packed week with our hosts—Abhinandan Sekhri and Rajyasree Sen—both of whom discuss everything from a political documentary to a very strange award category.The duo begins by talking about the "Bad Sex award" which is awarded by Literary Review to "an author who has produced an outstandingly bad sexual description in an otherwise good novel". Rajyasree says Japanese author Haruki Murakami also made it to this year’s list, while Abhinandan adds that an Indian author called Anirudh Behl was also part of the same list in 2003. Moving on, they talk about something that’s even more ridiculous in a pop-culture context: the trailer of Rohit Shetty's Simmba, which is a sequel to the Ajay Devgan-starrer Singham. Rajyasree says the trailer does not have a cliffhanger and instead gives away the entire plot. "We should warn you, if any of you go watch the film, then you should be ashamed of yourself,” adds Abhinandan.The hosts then talk about a short film starrin

This week's Reporters Without Orders features our host Cherry Agarwal along with in-house writer, Gaurav Sarkar. Today, we have three guests joining us on the panel: Mumbai-based Parth MN, Haryana-based Jyoti Yadav, and DNA’s Amrita Madhukalya.This episode focuses primarily on the agrarian crisis—including the Kisan Mukti March which took place in Delhi on November 29 and 30.The podcast kicks off with the panel sharing their experiences of interacting with farmers at the rally. Parth talks about how the presence of Opposition leaders in the rally was favourable for the farmers’ movement. “They (farmers) can use the platform to hold the establishment accountable. It is all about holding the establishment accountable. And if and when they come to power, as media we can hold them accountable for the speeches they have made at the rally,” he adds. Jyoti agrees and says it is crucial to politicise the issue as it makes the issue mainstream.The conversation then moves on to discuss how the media covered the Kisan M