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 already blurring.

This and 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. 

Download the Newslaundry app.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:05:50 - Headlines 

00:18:41 - Models of news

01:08:15 - Journalists and digital commentators

01:40:09 - Final thoughts and recommendations 

Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters 

Produced and recorded by Aryan Mahtta, edited by Hassan Bilal and Umrav Singh.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.