NL Hafta

In this week’s episode, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Madhu Trehan, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande and journalist Supriya Nair.The podcast opens with the panel discussing the ongoing doctors’ strike all over the country following the attack on doctors by a deceased patient’s relatives in West Bengal.Abhinandan references a study, which will be unveiled at August's The Media Rumble, on the share of women's sports stories in newspapers. He asks Supriya for her views since she's a sports columnist with Mumbai Mirror. Supriya says even though there are prominent female sports journalists, the coverage of women’s sports in general is quite low. However, things are improving, she says, especially after recent victories of women athletes like PV Sindhu.The panel moves to the attacks on journalists across India, from the attack on Amit Sharma in UP, to the arrest of Prashant Kanojia, to the attack on a group of journalists in Karnataka. They discuss partisanship in journalism and how loyalties now determine facts. Madhu says that “journalism has been reduced to a fish market”.Newslaundry’s Ayush Tiwari also pays this week's Hafta a visit to talk about his ground report on the Aligarh murder case. He recalls how the village of Tappal has become a hot spot of communal violence and how the police did a commendable job of calming them down.The podcast wraps up with a discussion between Abhinandan and Supriya on the difference between a game and a sport, and whether cricket is a sport or not. Abhinandan says, “There needs to be a certain sense of athleticism in order for a game to be a sport, carrom could be a sport.” Supriya retorts: "So your argument is that cricket is not a sport just because a few athletes are fat?”For this and more, tune in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Madhu Trehan, Manisha Pande, and investigative journalist Josy Joseph.The podcast kicks off with Joseph talking about the ₹1,000-crore civil defamation suit that Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways filed against him after the release of his book, A Feast of Vultures: The Hidden Business of Democracy in India. The book, he says, is a product of 15 years of investigation into government records available in the public domain. In response to Abhinandan’s question about what he thought of the coverage of the Jet Airways crisis, he says, “I think the Jet Airways collapse and Naresh Goyal to me in many ways capture the crisis of Indian democracy...the crisis that we see when you have the Prime Minister of the country on a daily basis assaulting the basic constitutional commitment to scientific temperament.” He also believes that our country is not an imperfect democracy, rather a "democracy in crisis".The panel also discusses Narendra Modi’s interview with The Indian Express. Manisha says, “[It is] one of his best interviews that I have read...you really get a sense of this guy and he has so much disdain for the media, every answer is a potshot at the media...in that one interview you really get an insight into how much he hates the media.” Madhu also speaks of Modi's "shenpa" and why he needs to get over it”.The panel also talks about the centrality of Mani Shankar Aiyar in the political discourse despite his negligible impact on Indian politics. They also deconstruct the implications of Priyanka Sharma’s arrest on free speech. Joseph says the lack of codification of law has to be tackled urgently to prevent a breakdown of institutions. Manisha says, “At least [journalists] should have a standard understanding of what constitutes free speech and we should push back every time a case like this comes."They also talk about a potential rethinking of the BJP’s extremist politics in light of their response to Pragya Singh Thakur’s recent comment on Nathuram Godse.For this and more, tune in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode, Manisha Pande wears the host’s hat and is joined by Newslaundry’s Raman Kirpal and guests Nitin Sethi and Hridayesh Joshi to discuss climate change and environment reporting in India, among other topics.The discussion kicks off with Nitin discussing his latest story in Business Standard on how Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali has crept into the Aravalli hills. The area bought spans across 400 acres which amount to “one-third of a village”. Nitin says the land is forested land which cannot be used for commercial purposes. In the context of environmental journalism, Hridayesh talks about how locals and committed on-ground reporters who take journalists to ground zero and give them all the information are not mentioned in the national media. Discussing Arvind Kejriwal’s announcement to make bus and metro rides free for women in Delhi, Raman thinks it’s a “good idea” and “definitely political”, though it does not solve the issue of security.Listen to the full Hafta here: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/06/07/hafta-227-environmental-journalism-patanjali-in-the-aravallis-uttarakhand-forest-fires-and-more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode, Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by the regular gang of Madhu Trehan, Manisha Pande and Anand Vardhan, and special guest Saurabh Dwivedi, journalist and founder of news website The Lallantop.The discussion kicks off with Abhinandan asking Saurabh whether there was a Modi wave before the election. Saurabh recounts realities he noticed on the ground in states like Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, saying people have glorified Modi to a point where they don't know their own candidates. Manisha critiques the media for not having focused adequately on the schemes rolled out by the government and the responses to them. The panel also tries to analyse whether the media influences voters and the narrative.Listen to the full Hafta here: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/06/01/hafta-226-analysing-the-modi-wave-media-and-the-voters-and-more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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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, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Madhu Trehan, Manisha Pande, Anand Vardhan and Christina Thomas Dhanaraj, co-founder of the Dalit History Month collective.The podcast begins with Manisha describing the election week that went by and the BJP’s enormous victory. After a recap of the election results announced on May 23, Abhinandan and Manisha highlight some of the keynotes, including Rahul Gandhi’s loss in Amethi, and Atishi and the Aam Aadmi Party’s loss in Delhi. A letter from a subscriber then sparks a discussion on the idea of affirmative action and its application over generations. Christina says: “No one seems to get the basic point that none of the problems gets solved in one generation. And two, there is something called ‘inter-generational deficit’. We are talking about 2,000-year-old oppression.”Listen to the full Hafta here: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/05/25/hafta-225-lok-sabha-election-results-2019-affirmative-action-and-more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

इस हफ़्ते की चर्चा ऐसे वक़्त में आयोजित हुई जब राजनीति के गलियारों से लेकर पान की दुकानों तक संभावित चुनावी परिणामों की ही चर्चा हो रही है. इस बीच साध्वी प्रज्ञा सिंह ठाकुर ने एक विवादित बयान दिया, जिसमें उन्होंने गांधी के हत्यारे नाथूराम गोडसे को देशभक्त बता दिया. ये मामला काफ़ी विवादों में आ गया और यहां तक कि पीएम मोदी को भी इस पर अपनी प्रतिक्रिया देनी पड़ी. पश्चिम बंगाल में इस पूरे हफ़्ते अमित शाह के रोड शो और उसमें हुई हिंसा के बाद बवाल खड़ा हुआ, जब ईश्वरचंद्र विद्यासागर की प्रतिमा गिरा दी गयी. वहां की स्थितियों को देखते हुए चुनाव आयोग ने 1 दिन पहले ही चुनाव प्रचार को रोकने का आदेश दे दिया. इसी क्रम में सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने पश्चिम बंगाल की भारतीय जनता पार्टी की कार्यकर्ता प्रिंयका शर्मा को कंडीशनल बेल दी, जिन्हें ममता बनर्जी की एक फोटोशॉप्ड इमेंज शेयर करने की वजह से गिरफ्तार कर लिया गया था. इसी बीच कांग्रेस के मणिशंकर अय्यर ने मोदी के ऊपर की गयी ‘नीच’ की टिप्पणी को एक लेख के द्वारा जारी रखा, साथ ही सैम पित्रोदा ने 84 सिंख दंगों पर ‘जो हुआ सो हुआ’ बोल कर कांग्रेस की परेशानी भी बढ़ा दी, जिसके बाद राहुल गांधी को इसके लिए सफाई देनी पड़ी. दूसरी ओर नरेंद्र मोदी ने इंडियन एक्सप्रेस में दिये साक्षात्कार में कहा कि मेरी छवि को किसी खान मार्किट की गैंग ने नहीं बनाया, बल्कि 45 साल की तपस्या से मैं यहां पहुंचा हूं. इसलिए इसे कोई खान मार्किट गैंग ख़त्म नहीं कर सकता. इसके अलावा, ईरान-भारत संबंधों, आने वाले मानसून और संभावित सरकार को भी चर्चा के विषयों में शामिल किया गया.चर्चा में इस बार तेज़-तर्रार युवा पत्रकार राहुल कोटियाल और अमित भारद्वाज शामिल हुए. साथ में वरिष्ठ लेखक-पत्रकार अनिल यादव ने चर्चा में शिरकत की. चर्चा का संचालन न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के कार्यकारी संपादक अतुल चौरसिया ने किया.अतुल ने बातचीत शुरू करते हुए सवाल उठाया, साध्वी प्रज्ञा की जो राजनीति है, और जिस तरह की विचारधारा से वह आती हैं, उसमें गांधी और आज़ादी की लड़ाई से जुड़े अन्य नेताओं के प्रति घृणा का भाव दिखता है. जब ऐसा कोई बयान आया हो तो उसमें कोई आश्चर्यचकित होने वाली बात दिखती है?जवाब में अनिल ने कहा- “देखिये, इसमें मुझे कोई आश्चर्यचकित होने वाली बात नहीं दिखती, लेकिन इस बयान के बाद उस बड़ी विडंबना की ओर इशारा मिलता है, जिससे आरएसएस और भारतीय जनता पार्टी को अपने जन्मकाल से ही दो-चार होना पड़ता है. आप अगर देखेंगे तो पायेंगे कि आरएसएस ऐसे मौकों पर अपने आप को एक बड़ी विचित्र स्थिति में पाता है. उसके पास ऐसे बहुत से नायक हैं, जो उसने उधार के लिए हुए हैं और वह उनके बारे में बता भी नहीं सकता और उनको इग्नोर भी नहीं कर सकता. इस मसले के साथ-साथ बाक़ी विषयों पर भी चर्चा के दौरान विस्तार से बातचीत हुई. बाकी विषयों पर पैनल की राय जानने-सुनने के लिए पूरी चर्चा सुनें. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Reporters Without Orders, host Cherry Agarwal speaks to Newslaundry correspondents Ayush Tiwari and Prateek Goel about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Delhi, the electoral climate in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and more. Ayush also speaks about his report on Atishi’s pamphlet. The panel discusses Modi’s interview with News Nation, a report on cyclone Fani and how Dalits in Puri were turned away from cyclone shelters. They also talk about Prateek’s ground report from Madhya Pradesh: #MadhyaPradesh: In this village, caste determines the distance you travel to fetch water.Prateek, while answering Cherry’s question on loan waivers in Madhya Pradesh, talks about how farmers in the state are unhappy with the Congress government as they've failed to deliver on their poll promise. Prateek also talks about how the regional media didn’t cover important issues in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. For all this and more, listen in. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more 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 episode, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Madhu Trehan, Manisha Pande, and investigative journalist Josy Joseph.The podcast kicks off with Joseph talking about the ₹1,000-crore civil defamation suit that Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways filed against him after the release of his book, A Feast of Vultures: The Hidden Business of Democracy in India. The book, he says, is a product of 15 years of investigation into government records available in the public domain. In response to Abhinandan’s question about what he thought of the coverage of the Jet Airways crisis, he says, “I think the Jet Airways collapse and Naresh Goyal to me in many ways capture the crisis of Indian democracy...the crisis that we see when you have the Prime Minister of the country on a daily basis assaulting the basic constitutional commitment to scientific temperament.” He also believes that our country is not an imperfect democracy, rather a "democracy in crisis".The panel also discusses Narendra Modi’s interview with The Indian Express. Manisha says, “[It is] one of his best interviews that I have read...you really get a sense of this guy and he has so much disdain for the media, every answer is a potshot at the media...in that one interview you really get an insight into how much he hates the media.” Madhu also speaks of Modi's "shenpa" and why he needs to get over it”.You can listen to the full Hafta here: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/05/17/nl-hafta-224-priyanka-sharma-the-khan-market-gang-mani-shankar-aiyar-and-more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this new segment, the NL Hafta panel devotes some time to going through emails from subscribers and non-subscribers, triggering interesting debates and providing them with valuable feedback.This week's #HaftaLetters saw a variety of issues brought to the forefront, such as the Left and Right in Indian politics, especially in the context of journalism. One letter even suggested that “Right-wing journalism is an oxymoron”. Topics ranged from the burqa ban to elitism in journalism. Specifically, centrism was brought up more than once, provoking a detailed discussion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.