Reporters Without Orders

This week, host Nidhi Suresh is joined by Newslaundry’s Supriti David and independent journalist Samrat X.Samrat discusses his piece analysing the recent violence in Shillong, Meghalaya. He details how the police’s killing, allegedly in a fake encounter, of a surrendered militant leader sparked widespread protests that culminated in violence on the streets. Samrat also analyses the trajectory of insurgency in the state and how a militant group that had not been heard of in Shillong for over a decade and a half appears to come alive again.Supriti talks about her report on what journalists in Afghanistan are saying about the ongoing crisis in the country. There is a deep sense of fear and uncertainty among these journalists, she explains, and quotes Afghanistan’s ministry of information and culture as saying that at least 51 media houses have closed owing to the violence.This and a lot more as they talk about what made news, what didn’t, and what shouldn’t have.Tune in.Subscribe and avail our Independence Day offer: https://bit.ly/NewslaundryIDayOffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, host Basant Kumar is joined by Shivangi Saxena and Ashwine Kumar Singh of Newslaundry.Shivangi talks about her report on an August 8 gathering at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar where the participants called for the wanton killing of Muslims in India. She recalls speaking with Uttam Upadhyay, one of those shouting for murder. “The Muslim community is a danger to the Hindu dharma,” Shivangi says Uttam told her. “For Hinduism to continue Islam needs to be eradicated. And in order to eradicate Islam we need to boycott the Muslims financially.”  She reflects on how scary it was to report in such an environment and how she had to keep her personal feelings in check to report. She was shocked, Shivangi says, after learning that the mob had cornered another reporter, Anmol Preetam, and demanded that he shout the slogan “Jai Shri Ram”.Ashwine and Basant discuss their story about how some people burst firecrackers near Indian hockey player Vandana Katariya’s family home in Uttarakhand after her team had failed to earn a medal at the Tokyo Olympics. They found that the incident was likely rooted in personal animus and casteism as sections of the media had reported, Basant says. “We did not meet anyone who told us casteist comments were made, though some speculated that the bursting of firecrackers was done out of jealousy,” adds Ashwine.They also talk about the tax raids on Dainik Bhaskar and the Hindi paper’s journalism, how the Delhi police have acted in the last two years, and a lot more as they talk about what made news, what didn’t, and what shouldn’t have. Tune in.Subscribe and avail our Independence Day offer: https://bit.ly/NewslaundryIDayOffer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, host Ayush Tiwari is joined by Newslaundry’s Nidhi Suresh and Akanksha Kumar.Nidhi discusses her report on the alleged rape and murder of a Dalit child in Delhi Cantt area, reconstructing the timeline and narrating what the victim’s mother told her. Nidhi says the media mustn’t overlook the fact that this is also a case of caste violence.Akanksha discusses her report on the alleged “mass conversion racket” that the Uttar Pradesh police claim to have busted early this year. She talks about how the case of Umar Gautam and Jahangir Kasmi, two of the Muslim men arrested in the case, is equal parts political stunt and equal parts media witchhunting.Akanksha points out how the constitutional right of religious conversion has been demonised and how she tried to tackle it in her report. She recalls her conversations with a few people who changed their religion and how they are angry with the media for scrutinising their personal decisions and even vilifying them.This and a lot more as they talk about what made news, what didn’t, and what shouldn’t have.Tune in Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, host Basant Kumar is joined by the Wire reporter Dheeraj Mishra and Newslaundry’s Ayush Tiwari.Dheeraj talks about his report on the Ken-Betwa link project in Bundelkhand. The project aims to solve the region’s prolonged issue of water scarcity. Dheeraj explains that the problem lies with the government’s claim that the Ken river has surplus water at all – a claim that “isn’t backed up by any independent researcher or independent institute”. He also tells the panel that the project will require over 6,000 hectares of forest land, which will include the Panna tiger reserve.Basant and Ayush talk about their report on the Adityanath government spending Rs 160 crore on advertisements on TV news channels between April 2020 and March 2021. Ayush expresses his gratitude to journalist Umashankar Dube, who had filed the RTI that revealed this information. He also says he was “surprised by the results”. This and a lot more as they talk about what made news, what didn’t, and what shouldn’t have.Tune in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, host Akanksha Kumar is joined by Aishwarya Iyer, a reporter with the Quint, and Monika Mondal, an independent journalist.They talk about Aishwarya’s documentary Silencing Rape, which tracks the lives of four sexual assault survivors for over a year in Uttar Pradesh’s impoverished Bundelkhand region. Reflecting on what she gathered from this reporting experience, she says, “As a society we have a long way to go. I honestly don’t have much hope.” Uttar Pradesh is also facing a “hidden water crisis”, particularly in Muzaffarnagar. In this context, Akanksha highlights Monika’s report on the Third Pole that tells us how sugar mills are responsible for the degradation of groundwater in the region. Monika collected water samples from a Muzaffarnagar home which the Third Pole had analysed in a lab. The water was found to contain the Coliform bacteria and very high levels of inorganic salts such as calcium, magnesium, sodium. “There are so many patients with tuberculosis there, so many patients who have gastrointestinal diseases, so many patients with kidney diseases. So if you go there, every house has some problem, every house has a patient,” Monika says.This and a lot more as Akanksha, Aishwarya and Monika talk about what made news, what didn’t, and what shouldn’t have.Tune in.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, host Nidhi Suresh is joined by Ayush Tiwari and Sidharth Singh of Newslaundry.In February 2021, the I&B ministry’s Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity presented, in the parliament, data on the Narendra Modi government’s ad spending. It shows that Republic TV and Times Now, the most watched English news TV channels in the country, got fewer ads than NewsX, India Today, and BTVI. This data doesn’t match the numbers the government had previously released under the Right to Information Act, however, nor with those maintained by the channels themselves. Ayush discusses his report on this discrepancy.Nidhi asks Ayush why he thinks the Modi government is hesitant revealing its actual expenditure? Ayush has no answer to why but says, “The fact that they gave numbers that didn’t reflect the actual expenditure raises several questions because, at the end of the day, this is money collected from taxpayers.” Ayush adds that the ministry is conveniently blaming news channels for whatever discrepancies there might be in how it is calculating spending.Sidharth talks about his report on gender representation in Indian newsrooms. Two years ago, Newslaundry published a report in partnership with UN Women, Gender Inequality in India Media, which found that women held barely five percent of newsroom leadership positions. According to preliminary findings from Gender Inequality in Indian Media 2021, the numbers have not really changed for 2019-20.Comparing the two reports, Sidharth says, “Unfortunately, we aren’t really seeing great leaps and strides as far as gender representation is concerned.” Ayush weighs in by talking about gender representation in Newslaundry compared to other news major organisations.This and a lot more as they talk about what made news, what didn’t, and what shouldn’t have.Tune in.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, host Ayush Tiwari is joined by Newslaundry reporters Nidhi Suresh and Tanishka Sodhi.Nidhi discusses her report on Ayesha Alvi, who was compelled to move court after getting threats for converting to Islam. In this context, Nidhi talks about Deep Shrivastava, a reporter at News 18 who was allegedly mentioned by Alvi in her petition and who filed a criminal defamation case against Nidhi after her report was published.Tanishka talks about her report on a protest outside St Peter’s Church in Mumbai where Stan Swamy’s funeral took place on July 6. The Jesuit priest, an undertrial in the Bhima Koregaon case, died while in police custody.This and a lot more as they talk about what made news, what didn’t, and what shouldn’t have.Tune in.RecommendationsAyushUnderstanding India Through Its LanguagesVista Kicks: Gotta Get AwayNidhiThe ScreamTanishkaThe song of a caged bird: A tribute to Fr Stan Swamy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Basant Kumar is joined by Newslaundry reporter Akanksha Kumar and freelance journalist Anand Dutt.Anand discusses his report on the alleged killing by the security forces of an Adivasi youth in Jharkhand and details the plight of the state’s Adivasi communities. On the media coverage of the killing, he explains why such atrocities rarely get wide coverage.Akanksha talks about her reports on the Uttar Pradesh police arresting five Muslim men and accusing them of running a “racket” to mass convert Hindus to Islam. Emphasising the viciousness of the mainstream media’s reporting on the case, she points out that the Muslim men have been subjected to a media trial. Basant links the rhetoric around alleged conversions by Muslims to the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly election. This and a lot more as they talk about what made news, what didn’t, and what shouldn’t have.Tune in. Recommendations Anand The Life and Times of Jaipal Singh Munda Akanksha The Night the Oxygen Ran OutThe Queen's Gambit Basant How Tejasvi Surya fashioned himself as the saviour of HinduismSherni Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, hosted by Nidhi Suresh, Newslaundry reporters Ayush Tiwari and Basant Kumar discuss their investigation into the shady land deals of the Ram temple trust in Ayodhya.Talking about the involvement of Harish Pathak, an absconding fraudster, in one of the deals, Ayush says, "This man sells the land in front of the mayor, who should have actually done something for the absconding happening in his presence.” Basant details the history of land deals in Ayodhya involving disputed property.Concluding the discussion, Ayush says, "This is plain corruption in the name of faith." This and a lot more as they talk about what made news, what didn’t, and what shouldn’t have.Tune in.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, host Akanksha Kumar is joined by Diksha Munjal, Tanishka Sodhi and Shivangi Saxena of Newslaundry.Diksha and Tanishka talk about their report on sugarcane workers in Beed district of Maharashtra and how the pandemic has affected them. They talk about a woman who had to resume work just a day after her husband’s death to repay their debt, a rise in hysterectomies and the local government’s help through “guidance or margdarshan”. Akanksha and Shivangi talk about their ground reports from Dausa and Alwar in Rajasthan about  vaccine hesitancy, lack of health infrastructure, increase in child marriages, and the revival of "nata pratha" where a woman is married to a man from the same family after her husband’s death. Comparing the Rajasthan government's response to Covid to Uttar Pradesh's, Akanksha argues that the Ashok Gehlot government made smarter policy decisions which found appreciation in the mainstream media. The UP government’s centralised approach and local policy decisions, in contrast, attracted criticism.Tune in. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.