Newslaundry Interviews

The news media is in a crisis. Already struggling with falling revenues and eroding credibility, the media has been left to battle for survival by the Covid pandemic and its economic fallout. Is there a way of this crisis? If there’s, where does it lead?

To discuss the challenges facing the news media and how they can be dealt with, Newslaundry organised a webinar in partnership with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Abhinandan Sekhri of Newslaundry is joined by Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and political communication professor at the University of Oxford; Ritu Kapoor, co-founder of the Quint and a member of the board at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism; Anant Goenka, executive director of the Indian Express; and Avinash Pandey, CEO of the ABP News Network.

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Hasina Kharbhih is the founder of the Impulse NGO Network, a civil society organisation based in Shillong, Meghalaya, which works to combat human trafficking in Northeast India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. INGON, as it’s popularly known, has helped rescue and rehabilitate thousands of trafficked women and children over the past two decades.

In this interview with Snigdha Sharma, Hasina explains the origin of the “impulse model” that uses a multidisciplinary approach to combat human trafficking.

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

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Indian television news has acquired an unsavoury reputation over the past few years owing to the bombastic anchors and their primetime rants peddling bigotry. Now, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, as advertising revenues, the chief source of income for mainstream media, dwindle, can TV news survive in its current form?

To discuss this and much more, Roli Pulse, the digital arm of Roli Books, organised a webinar with three of India’s most prominent news professionals – Barkha Dutt, Faye D’Souza and Abhinandan Sekhri.

D’Souza, the former executive editor of Mirror Now, described the business model of TV news as “point and shoot” journalism where accusations were hurled with little evidence. “A journalist who cares about ethics at this point, facts and fact-checking is an inconvenience.” D’Souza said. “Let’s be honest. Your viewer is no longer your customer. Your advertiser is your customer.”

D’Souza, as also Sekhri, praised the quality of Dutt’s journalism during the coronavirus lockdown. The former NDTV star anchor who now runs Mojo Story has travelled thousands of kilometres to tell the stories of migrant workers who have been walking home after being stranded in alien places by the lockdown, without food or a source of income.

Dutt complained that journalism had become formulaic, with stale studio panel discussions and the “privileging of anchors over reporters”. She said the initial responses to her new project indicated there was “certainly an audience for raw, authentic, content from the ground”.

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Following up on their last webinar, “Is TV news dead”, Roli Books brought together another panel to debate the other aspect of the topic, “Television News: Relevance and Credibility in Today’s India”. Abhinandan Sekhri, co-founder of Newslaundry, was joined by Nidhi Razdan, executive editor of NDTV, and Saahil Menghani, news reporter and anchor.

Razdan argued that the continued popularity of television news showed that it was still popular. “It is not dead, simply because viewership has gone up massively since the pandemic began.” She later added, “There are actually more people watching television today after the pandemic started, many more people.”

In response, Abhinandan pointed to the absence of “news” in the primetime shows aired by some of India’s most popular TV channels. “Even if they get 100 percent of the viewership, I would still say that TV news is dead,” he added. “Because what they are watching is not news.”

Menghani argued that the coverage of the Delhi carnage and the coronavirus pandemic had narrowed the “gap in credibility” between television and digital media. Discussing Barkha Dutt’s coverage of the migrant crisis, Menghani said “one individual singlehandedly changed the narrative, rather set the agenda for most of the news channels. That excludes NDTV because from day one, they have been getting it right.”

They also discussed the business model of TV channels, the lack of pushback from advertisers, the entertainment aspect of TV “news”, and layoffs in the media industry during the pandemic.

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For over a month, India and China have been locked in a tense border conflict in eastern Ladakh. The standoff turned violent early this week, leading to the killing of 20 Indian soldiers. Grim as the situation is, it is not quite clear what exactly is happening on the ground, and what it means for relations between the two countries. 

To demystify the conflict and explain its strategic and political implications, Mehraj D Lone spoke with Happymon Jacob, one of India’s foremost strategic affairs experts. Jacob teaches at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s School of International Studies, and writes extensively on India’s strategic and foreign policies, the Kashmir dispute, and disarmament. He is the author of The Line of Control: Travelling with the Indian and Pakistani Armies and Line on Fire: Ceasefire Violations and India–Pakistan Escalation Dynamics. 

In this conversation, held before the faceoff turned violent, Jacob argues that the ongoing conflict is not a usual border transgression. It needs to be seen in the larger geopolitical context of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, potential presence of Chinese soldiers in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, India’s recent declarations about retaking Aksai Chin. 

As to how India should respond, he says its policymakers must realise that “China doesn’t believe in a peaceful rise anymore”. From a military perspective, he adds, “it’s not all that easy for India to dislodge Chinese soldiers from Ladakh” but it has the upper hand along other parts of the Line of Actual Control. 

He also talks about dealing with China economically, diplomatically, and in the maritime space, while looking for avenues of cooperation. 

Jacob also talks about the BJP government’s foreign policy, the abrogation of Article 370 and the introduction of a new domicile policy in Jammu and Kashmir. 

Tune in! 

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To sink or to float is the question. In India, as elsewhere, the internet revolution has compelled newspapers and magazines to transition to digital. The transition has been slow, however, and most newspapers and magazines are still primarily in the print space. Will the pandemic hasten it?

To discuss this, Roli Pulse, the digital arm of Roli Books, in association with Newslaundry, organised a webinar with Anant Goenka, executive director of the daily Indian Express, Anant Nath, editor of the Caravan magazine, and Abhinandan Sekhri, co-founder of Newslaundry.

Goenka argued that the “major problem isn’t the lack of money being invested, but some major policy issues, like that of news aggregators in digital media, that we need to delve into and grapple”.

Nath said, “Aggregators like Inshorts make revenue from our content but they also give us customers. And it’s also a nuanced question as to what sort of liability they should be taking.”

Addressing the question of objectivity in journalism, Nath said, “The demise of the local paper has led to the demise of transparency and accountability in local governments.”

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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 special episode of NL vs NL, Newslaundry subscribers Jefferson Simon, Dhruv Pandey, Saloni Dangwal, and Umesh Getta debate which ideological system works the best – capitalism, socialism, communism, or libertarianism? 

Jefferson bats for libertarianism, Dhruv for capitalism, Saloni for socialism, and Umesh for communism.

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

Write to us at [email protected], or reach out to Dhruv, Jefferson, Saloni, and Umesh.

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THIS IS JUST A TEASER.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW: https://bit.ly/NLInterviewDigvijayaSingh

Digvijaya Singh is a senior Congress leader, Rajya Sabha MP, and the former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. In this interview, he sits down with Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri to discuss Jyotiraditya Scindia’s exit from the Congress, recent defections in Madhya Pradesh, his political ambitions, and when he thinks Rahul Gandhi will return as president of the party.

On Scindia’s defection to the BJP, a move that toppled the state government in Madhya Pradesh, Digvijaya says, “I am seriously telling you, I never, never expected Jyotiraditya Scindia to defect. In fact, till March 4 or 5, I was in touch with him. But after that, he suddenly switched off his phone.” He reiterates that relations between him, Scindia and Kamal Nath were very cordial.

On being asked about toeing the “soft Hindutva” line during his tenure as Madhya Pradesh chief minister, Digvijaya says he belongs to a religious family and has no qualms in owning up to his religion. “At the same time, my religion, or my ‘sanatan dharma’, is equal respect to all religions,” he adds. “This is what I believe in.” He believes there is some sort of understanding between the communal Hindu and the communal Muslim, and they feed off each other.

The conversation also spans fake news, the future of Indian politics, and where this might head in a post-Covid world.

Watch the full interview on www.newslaundry.com

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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, Meghnad S and Newslaundry subscriber Vaibhav Agarwal debate whether religion is beneficial to society or not.

Meghnad thinks it has, Vaibhav disagrees.

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

Write to us at [email protected], or tweet to Vaibhav and  Meghnad.

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Hardik Mehta is a filmmaker. He’s known for the documentary Amdavad Ma Famous, which won him the National Award, and the recently released Kaamyaab, a cinematic homage to the Hindi film industry’s “side actors”. He also co-wrote the web series Paatal Lok, which is currently playing and earning rave reviews.

Hardik sat down with Abhinandan Sekhri to talk about how he came upon the idea of making a film on the supporting actors who had iconic presence in the 1980s and 1990s but then slipped into oblivion. Hardik also talks about the struggle of finally getting a theatrical release for Kaamyaab, just a week before the coronavirus pandemic forced cinemas to shut down.

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

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