Newslaundry Interviews

Tired of loud frothy-mouth, potty-mouth debates on primetime TV? Tired of sad character-limited fights on Twitter where you don't really learn anything? 

We have something that might excite you. Newslaundry presents a new podcast: NL vs NL. 

Let's make debates great again!

In this episode of NL vs NL, Manisha Pande and Newslaundry subscriber Aishwarya Mahesh debate whether workplaces should provide sick leave to their employees who might be battling mental health issues.

Manisha thinks they should, Aishwarya disagrees.

Listen and tell us who you agree or disagree with, and why. 

Write to us at [email protected], or reach out to Manisha and Aishwarya.

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Can comedy and satire be tools of social change? How does this ecosystem interact with a large democracy like ours? When the perception of what is offensive changes from person to person, how do we define an “offence”? Are Indians too easily offended?

To discuss these themes, Roli Pulse, the digital arm of Roli Books, in association with Newslaundry, brought together comedians Vir Das and Aditi Mittal, and Newslaundry co-founder Abhinandan Sekhri, in the sixth and final episode of this specially curated video series on the media landscape.

On whether social media has made acceptable certain things that were once unacceptable, Aditi says, “Social media has enabled people to coagulate around things that are socially unacceptable — things that are bigoted, racist, sexist...And so people know now that if I say something ridiculous, I will get an invitation to Bigg Boss. And for a whole lot of people, that is a valid route to infamy.”

As consumers of social media, Aditi adds, “we are the monsters that we are fighting. When we hate-share stuff or cringe-watch stuff, we’re adding to it.”

Vir says, “If [something] is offensive, does that mean it should not exist, or does it mean it needs to be modified? Is it the only thing that’s offensive?” He also points out that what is defined as offensive changes “every five years or four years or three years or two years..."

Listen.

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Tired of loud frothy-mouth, potty-mouth debates on primetime TV? Tired of sad character-limited fights on Twitter where you don't really learn anything? 

We have something that might excite you. Newslaundry presents a new podcast: NL vs NL. 

Let's make debates great again!

In this episode of NL vs NL, Meghnad S and Newslaundry subscriber Abhishek Bagga debate on whether safetyism contradicts liberal values. 

Meghnad thinks it does, Abhishek disagrees.

Listen and tell us who you agree or disagree with, and why. 

Write to us at [email protected], or reach out to Meghnad.

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

N Venugopal Rao is a writer and the nephew of Varavara Rao, the poet who has been arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case. Varavara was arrested two years ago along with 12 other activists. He has been repeatedly denied bail and has been in poor health for the past month, testing positive for Covid on July 16.

In this interview with Newslaundry’s Manisha Pande, Venugopal explains how the family was allowed a 20-minute long video call with Varavara by Mumbai’s Nanavati Hospital, where he was shifted for treatment. Varavara appeared both physically and psychologically unwell during the call. 

Regarding his uncle’s involvement in the Bhima Koregaon case, Venugopal points out how the Elgar Parishad event, which preceded the violence in December 2017, had been organised by retired Justices BG Kolse-Patil and PB Sawant, who have already stated that they were the “main organisers and sole funders”. Varavara had never even visited Pune until the Pune police came to take him to jail in November 2018, Venugopal says.

Varavara’s bail plea will be heard by courts today. The family is requesting bail on three major grounds: his age, health, and vulnerability to Covid. The plea was filed before he tested positive for the virus. 

Watch. 

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Vivek Kaul is an author, columnist and commentator, known for his Easy Money trilogy on the history of money and banking and the fundamental issue behind the global financial crisis. His latest book, Bad Money: Inside the NPA Mess and How It Threatens the Indian Banking System, focuses on the layers within layers of India’s non-performing assets problem.

In this interview with Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Vivek kicks off by explaining how Vijay Mallya, Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi have become the “poster boys” of the NPA mess in India, even though there’s an entire list of defaulters in the Parliament which hasn’t been spotlighted.

To watch the full unedited interview, subscribe to Newslaundry.com

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Ziya Us Salam is a journalist and author. Presently the associate editor of Frontline, he has been associated with the Hindu for over two decades. His latest book, Inside the Tablighi Jamaat, delves into the religious organisation accused by the governing establishment and the mainstream media of spreading “corona jihad” in India.

In this conversation with Newslaundry’s Mehraj D Lone, Ziya begins by explaining the roots of the Jamaat, which is arguably India’s largest Muslim organisation. Its members were not intellectuals, he says, but poor, illiterate peasants who were barely able to recite a few verses from the Quran.

Describing the Jamaat’s spiritual and ritualistic aspects, he says, “They never encourage youngsters, or senior members who come to them, to under the Quran.” In the context of his own experience with the organisation, Ziya says it rejected his proposal to distribute the meaning of the Quran in English, Hindi and Urdu, since the Jamaat focuses on reading the Quran to learn about the afterlife, he says, not to understand it.

Will the recent backlash and allegations of “spreading Covid” change the Jamaat’s refusal to take a political stand? They live in a “social, political vacuum,” Ziya replies. “I don’t think they will change with Covid. They did not speak in 1992, they did not speak in 2002, they didn’t speak up in 2013. There is no likelihood that the Tablighi Jamaat will undergo any major change post Covid in 2020.”

Watch.

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Tired of loud frothy-mouth, potty-mouth debates on primetime TV? Tired of sad character-limited fights on Twitter where you don't really learn anything? 

We have something that might excite you. Newslaundry presents a new podcast: NL vs NL. 

Let's make debates great again!

In this episode of NL vs NL, Newslaundry subscribers Dhruv Thakkar and Yash debate on whether traditional currency should be replaced by cryptocurrency. 

Yash thinks it should be, Dhruv disagrees.

Listen and tell us who you agree or disagree with, and why. 

Write to us at [email protected], or reach out to Dhruv and Yash

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

Nitin Pai is the director of the Takshashila Institution, an independent centre for research and education in public policy. In the episode of NL Conversations, he speaks with Meghnad S about policy, ideology and technology.

Talking about “liberal nationalism”, he believes it can only exist in India, for elsewhere people will argue that it’s not possible to be “liberal” and “nationalist” at the same time. “Indian nationalism can work on a global scale because it does not insist on a single language, race and religion.”

Nitin also discusses various ideologies and whether they make sense in today’s world. He complains that “we have become a society with no compassion” but maintains that the society is still “capable of looking after its weak”.

Talking about India’s education system, he argued that it is important to think critically in today’s age of technology and complains that “the test system has killed education in this country.”

Tune in!

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

Tired of loud frothy-mouth, potty-mouth debates on primetime TV? Tired of sad character-limited fights on Twitter where you don't really learn anything? 

We have something that might excite you. Newslaundry presents a new podcast: NL vs NL. 

Let's make debates great again!

In this episode of NL vs NL, Chahak Gupta and Newslaundry subscriber Agastya Sreenivasan debate the uncomfortable question: is reservation desirable?

Chahak says they are, Agastya disagrees.

Listen and tell us who you agree or disagree with, and why. 

Write to us at [email protected], or reach out to Agastya and Chahak.

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

Check out Stop Press and susbcribe at https://stoppress.substack.com/

In the latest episode of NL Conversations, Newslaundry’s Chitranshu Tewari speaks to Gautam Mishra, joining in from Melbourne. Gautam is the founder and chief executive officer of Inkl, a bundle news subscription platform that unlocks coverage from premium publishers like the New York Times and the Economist with a monthly subscription of just Rs 250. 

Talking about the upsurge in demand for bundle news subscriptions, Gautam speaks at length about the longevity and breadth of news in 2020. “Twenty years ago if you were from Delhi, it was fine for you to mostly concentrate on news from Delhi, but today you cannot do that,” he points out.

He adds: “If you want to know what’s happening with Brexit, you would want to know it from the Brits. If you want to understand what’s happening in Hong Kong, you actually need to get it from the South China Morning Post.”

Defending Facebook and Twitter on being unable to police “fake news”, Gautam says, “Facebook and Twitter are open networks and anytime you have an open network, that, by definition...means anybody can publish anything.” He says the Australian Competition Commission’s decision to make big tech pay directly to the publishers is “completely ridiculous and nonsense”. “When somebody has cancer, you can’t just cure it by giving a band-aid,” he says.

Tune in!

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