NL Hafta

In this week’s episode, Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Madhu Trehan, Anand Vardhan, Manisha Pande, and journalist and author Salil Tripathi.The discussion kicks off with speeches and controversies in Parliament this week. This includes the super-viral speech by MP Mahua Moitra as well as the chants of “Vande Mataram” during various swearing-ins.The panel then talks about the recent case of lynching of a Muslim man in Jharkhand who was beaten up and forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram”. Abhinandan found the coverage of this case to be “deeply problematic” and noted that “what-aboutery has become almost a legitimate argument” on primetime shows. Anand talks about the culture of mob justice in India and how it’s fueling communal lynchings.Moving to the water crisis in Chennai, the panel discusses its effects as well as the solutions that could help alleviate this problem. Anand discusses the urban/rural divide on this issue while Salil talks about steps taken in other countries that have had an actual effect on the water crisis.The podcast wraps up with Abhinandan bringing up the controversy around BJP MP Kailash Vijayvargiya and his son BJP MLA Akash Vijayvargiya who was filmed beating up a government official with a cricket bat. The panel observes the lacklustre questioning by the media and the relative impunity with which politicians in India operate with..For this and more, tune in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chandaresh Narayanan brings you the buzz from the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup. In this podcast, sports journalist Chandresh Narayanan talks to former Indian wicket-keeper Kiran More.Kiran describes his experience of playing at previous World Cups and admits that the biggest disappointment in his career was when Australia defeated India back in 1987. He confesses that he subsequently shaved off his moustache and never grew it back. Chandresh and Kiran discuss India’s recent encounter with Pakistan, and Kiran says it’s all about the mentality of the teams which makes all the difference. They also talk about India’s chances at this World Cup, with Kiran calling the current bowling line up as the best in India’s cricketing history. This and a lot more, so listen up! 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 elections. 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. He says they've spun stories around Modi similar to those about Indira Gandhi. On the other hand, voters laughed when asked about Rahul Gandhi.Anand talks about the possibility of underestimation bias and its associated risks. Manisha critiques the media for not having focused adequately on the schemes rolled out by the government and the responses to them. Saurabh quickly pins it down to the “gyaan ka bojh” of the journalists that keeps them from preparing before going to report on the field.The panel tries to analyse whether the media influences voters and the narrative. Madhu refers to Tavleen Singh’s article and Swati Parashar’s article in Indian Express, both of which talk about the need for the upper classes to accept that this is the new India and the realities associated with it. She stresses the need to “decolonise the mind” and not try to manufacture a mandate that pleases Western ideals of liberalism. Abhinandan points out the fallacy in taking one argument and positioning it to be “the definitive argument” while ignoring the existence of the spectrum. Manisha thinks the media has mass reach which is why politicians want it under their control. Anand believes that the news is an “accelerator” of pre-established views.Listen up, there’s more! 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 episode of NL Hafta, host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Madhu Trehan, Raman Kripal, Anand Vardhan and Nistula Hebbar, The Hindu's Political Editor.The panel talks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's “One nation One Election” proposition, encephalitis-related deaths in Muzaffarpur, Anjana Om Kashyap’s controversial reporting from Bihar's Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital and more. Nistula shares anecdotes from a recent parliamentary session. Doctor’s strike, and Sanjiv Bhatt's life imprisonment is also discussed.Listen to the full Hafta 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, 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. Moving to Narendra Modi's speech after his victory, Abhinandan says, "The one thing that I thought was a bit cringe-inducing was his mocking the term ‘secularism’. Even if he is saying he is only mocking those people who use it as a badge ... clearly, he was mocking the term.”A letter from a subscriber 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.” She asks the panel, “How can one generation completely remove all of that deficit?” The discussion continues with Madhu and Anand chipping in with their opinions.Going back to the elections, Abhinandan asks what the big takeaways were. Manisha says, "Of course, exit polls were super interesting this time. When the Axis poll came up with the 360 figure ... they got a lot of flak on Twitter. It turned out they were correct.” Among other things, Christina weighs in on the political scenario in Tamil Nadu while Anand talks about the results in Bihar.This and a lot more, so listen up! 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, 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 asks Supriya for her views on the share of women's sports stories in newspapers 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. The panel also discusses 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.Listen to the full Hafta here: https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/06/15/hafta-228-reportage-on-female-athletes-doctorsstrike-aligarh-murder-case-and-more Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.