Hafta 477: Electoral bonds, seat-sharing for Lok Sabha, Ramnath Goenka awards

This week, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal and Anand Vardan are joined by Dhanya Rajendran, co-founder of The News Minute.

On electoral bonds, and the Trinamool Congress being its second-largest recipient, Anand says, “One factor [which determines this] is which party is seen as remaining in power for more time. Power magnets in a region.”

The conversation moves on to the seat-sharing arrangements for the Lok Sabha polls. Talking about Tamil Nadu, Dhanya says the BJP has “almost sidelined the AIADMK” and has become “confident of forming an alliance in Tamil Nadu without the party, which was not possible five or 10 years ago”.

On the Adani group funding the Ramnath Goenka Awards, Abhinandan says, “It’s complicated. For new journalists, it is a motivating factor, it builds morale.” Raman says it’s okay to receive awards funded by conglomerates as long as they do not interfere in the outlet’s coverage. He adds that The Indian Express’s coverage of the Hindenburg Research report accusing Adani group of stock manipulation was “relentless”.

This and a lot more. Tune in!

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Timecodes

00:05:20 - Headlines

00:17:02  - Electoral bonds

00:38:28 - Tamil Nadu, Bihar seat-sharing

00:53:15  - Adani sponsoring Ramnath Goenka Awards

01:13:55   - Letters

01:35:11   - Recommendations

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

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