NL Hafta

Episode 28 of Reporters Without Orders features our host Cherry Agarwal, along with Rohin Verma, two-time Ramnath Goenka award-winning Rahul Kotiyal, and Atul Dev of The Caravan.Atul begins by explaining the gist of his latest story -- a profile of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. “There are a whole bunch of charges against (Indian CJI Dipak Misra) in the impeachment motion that was eventually rejected by Venkaiah Naidu…I look at his entire career, I examine how these charges came to be, how these charges came to public light. Then I also look at his family history…There’s an analysis of his High Court and Supreme Court judgments and coming up to right now, with everything that has transpired in the Supreme Court in the past year…”Cherry then asks Rahul why he chose to explore the story of communal violence in Uttarakhand. "It’s been 18 years since Uttarakhand was created, and it was an area of Western UP which was never communally charged up. However, these increased in the past few years. Almost a dozen big incidents like that of shops being burnt and destroyed."“In the hilly districts of Western UP, no place has a Muslim population of higher than 3 per cent, but even there people have the fear that their sources are being taken over by a foreign other," explains Rahul. He then remarks on the Right-wing's tying of this mentality to the mass migration of Rohingya Muslims to the region. “If you look on-ground, you will hardly find any Rohingya over there. This narrative is spreading really fast on social media.”After Rahul remarks about the lack of analytical or critical local coverage of the event, Cherry comments, “It’s up to the local media to take a side.”On the writing process (a 23-page story), Atul says, “You just have to sit down and get done with it.” He also reveals the role of the newsroom in the creation of the story. “After I give them the story, I think 7 or 8 people are actively involved for a whole month…”“In the end, everything that I had found, I was able to put down," adds Atul. On being asked if he was fearful about writing on the sitting CJI, he comments, “There is no fear per se but it’s more difficult to find people who are going to talk to you.”The panel then moves on to the Hindi media’s coverage of a Dalit groom getting on a horse for the first time at his wedding procession. “What should have caught everyone’s eye is that even now someone has to fight to get a horse, just because they come from a particular community," a panelist adds.“Looking at this and the Chamandih story, it appears as though neither development nor weddings can happen without the caste angle," adds Rahul.The panel then discusses subscriber models and how to produce sustainable and constructive story-telling. For more, listen in!

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

Episode 28 of Reporters Without Orders features our host Cherry Agarwal, along with Rohin Verma, two-time Ramnath Goenka award-winning Rahul Kotiyal, and Atul Dev of The Caravan.

Atul begins by explaining the gist of his latest story -- a profile of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. “There are a whole bunch of charges against (Indian CJI Dipak Misra) in the impeachment motion that was eventually rejected by Venkaiah Naidu…I look at his entire career, I examine how these charges came to be, how these charges came to public light. Then I also look at his family history…There’s an analysis of his High Court and Supreme Court judgments and coming up to right now, with everything that has transpired in the Supreme Court in the past year…”

Cherry then asks Rahul why he chose to explore the story of communal violence in Uttarakhand. "It’s been 18 years since Uttarakhand was created, and it was an area of Western UP which was never communally charged up. However, these increased in the past few years. Almost a dozen big incidents like that of shops being burnt and destroyed."

“In the hilly districts of Western UP, no place has a Muslim population of higher than 3 per cent, but even there people have the fear that their sources are being taken over by a foreign other," explains Rahul. He then remarks on the Right-wing's tying of this mentality to the mass migration of Rohingya Muslims to the region. “If you look on-ground, you will hardly find any Rohingya over there. This narrative is spreading really fast on social media.”

After Rahul remarks about the lack of analytical or critical local coverage of the event, Cherry comments, “It’s up to the local media to take a side.”

On the writing process (a 23-page story), Atul says, “You just have to sit down and get done with it.” He also reveals the role of the newsroom in the creation of the story. “After I give them the story, I think 7 or 8 people are actively involved for a whole month…”

“In the end, everything that I had found, I was able to put down," adds Atul. On being asked if he was fearful about writing on the sitting CJI, he comments, “There is no fear per se but it’s more difficult to find people who are going to talk to you.”

The panel then moves on to the Hindi media’s coverage of a Dalit groom getting on a horse for the first time at his wedding procession. “What should have caught everyone’s eye is that even now someone has to fight to get a horse, just because they come from a particular community," a panelist adds.

“Looking at this and the Chamandih story, it appears as though neither development nor weddings can happen without the caste angle," adds Rahul.

The panel then discusses subscriber models and how to produce sustainable and constructive story-telling. For more, listen in!

सुप्रीम कोर्ट में धारा 377 पर जारी सुनवाई, शशि थरूर का थिरुवनंतपुरम में हिंदू पाकिस्तान संबंधी बयान, मानव संसाधन व विकास मंत्रालय द्वारा अंबानी के जियो इंस्टिट्युट को इंस्टिट्युट ऑफ प्रॉमिनेंस का दर्जा दिया जाना, रामगढ मॉब लिंचिंग के दोषियों को केन्द्रीय मंत्री जयंत सिन्हा द्वारा स्वागत किया जाना व अन्य इस हफ्ते न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री चर्चा के प्रमुख विषय रहे.राजकमल प्रकाशन समूह के संपादकीय निदेशक सत्यानंद निरुपम चर्चा के विशिष्ट अतिथि थे. इसके साथ पैनल में न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के संवाददाता अमित भारद्वाज और रोहिण कुमार भी शामिल रहे. चर्चा का संचालन न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के कार्यकारी संपादक अतुल चौरसिया ने किया.

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

सुप्रीम कोर्ट में धारा 377 पर जारी सुनवाई, शशि थरूर का थिरुवनंतपुरम में हिंदू पाकिस्तान संबंधी बयान, मानव संसाधन व विकास मंत्रालय द्वारा अंबानी के जियो इंस्टिट्युट को इंस्टिट्युट ऑफ प्रॉमिनेंस का दर्जा दिया जाना, रामगढ मॉब लिंचिंग के दोषियों को केन्द्रीय मंत्री जयंत सिन्हा द्वारा स्वागत किया जाना व अन्य इस हफ्ते न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री चर्चा के प्रमुख विषय रहे.

राजकमल प्रकाशन समूह के संपादकीय निदेशक सत्यानंद निरुपम चर्चा के विशिष्ट अतिथि थे. इसके साथ पैनल में न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के संवाददाता अमित भारद्वाज और रोहिण कुमार भी शामिल रहे. चर्चा का संचालन न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के कार्यकारी संपादक अतुल चौरसिया ने किया.

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So, here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode where the panel discusses everything from judges’ vacation terms, Section 377, Jayant Sinha’s garlanding of convicted lynchers who were out on bail, to the SC-Centre Taj Mahal tussle, the misogynistic adultery law, Netflix’s Sacred Games and 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 where the panel discusses everything from judges’ vacation terms, Section 377, Jayant Sinha’s garlanding of convicted lynchers who were out on bail, to the SC-Centre Taj Mahal tussle, the misogynistic adultery law, Netflix’s Sacred Games and more.

In this week’s Hafta, Rituparna Chatterjee, Consulting Editor, Reader's Digest and India Today magazine, joins Abhinandan Sekhri who was missing from last week's podcast. Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Anand Vardhan are also on the panel.

The fallout between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the People’s Democratic Party, in addition to Arvind Kejriwal’s nine-day-long protest, is discussed in depth by the panel. The Airtel controversy over a customer refusing services from a Muslim customer care executive is also debated upon. The killing of Rising Kashmir editor-in-chief Shujaat Bukhari has left our panel in complete dismay. The suicide of Rohit Vemula is revisited as well.

Abhinandan begins the discussion with the murder of Shujaat Bukhari and asks, “Why is this getting so much traction and not other murders?” Raman talks about the incident taking place in a conflicted area like Kashmir. He says, "He is confounded about “what really triggered his killing?”

Rituparna quotes Shujaat from his interview in 2006, “You don't know anymore who your enemies are” and talks about the reality of this statement in today’s times. Manisha talks about the tendency of being “labelled as an India sympathiser” if one is a moderate or reports against the militants in Jammu and Kashmir.

Rituparna moves on to discuss the BJP pulling out of an “unlikely alliance” with People's Democratic Party. Anand refers to this move as a “standard tool for coming out of any confusion when you are in a coalition”. Abhinandan questions the timing of this decision. Raman states, “Almost the entire youth of Kashmir have been radicalised,” adding, “withdrawing from the PDP has more to do with politics."

The “tussle” between the Delhi state government and the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi has received varied responses from the panel. Abhinandan asks, “What do you make of what happened and where we are?”

Anand observes, “I think the AAP was in it for retrieving political capital of a contrarian party...the moral capital which had suffered substantial erosion with its apologies, with giving tickets to people who in public perception were not deserving of Rajya Sabha seats...” He adds, “The AAP also went on an obfuscation because the blocking of ministerial work is an afterthought. It still didn’t address the original allegation of (alleged) violence against the topmost bureaucrat of Delhi.”

Rituparna says that the Congress has yet again ‘missed the bus’.  She points out that the coalition drive of the Congress cannot work in Delhi with the AAP because it’s a ‘natural rival’.

Raman says, “I found IAS officers -- former and the serving -- all of them were trying to explain that we’re not on a strike.”

Abhinandan comments, “AAP’s whole template is to make an event a talking point and then that goes viral...” He adds, “They (AAP) have been unable to create[turn] any event [into a talking point] since they’ve formed the government.”

The panel discusses a recent Twitter row that involved Airtel and a customer. The customer denied the services of a particular customer support executive since the Airtel personnel interacting with her was a Muslim. Rituparna says, “Brands need to immediately hire people to handle a crisis of this sort...because the crisis of this sort is only going to increase.”

The panel also discusses Rohit Vemula’s mother's case who was allegedly offered money to speak against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and more.

In this week’s Hafta, Rituparna Chatterjee, Consulting Editor, Reader's Digest and India Today magazine, joins Abhinandan Sekhri who was missing from last week's podcast. Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal and Anand Vardhan are also on the panel.

The fallout between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the People’s Democratic Party, in addition to Arvind Kejriwal’s nine-day-long protest, is discussed in depth by the panel. The Airtel controversy over a customer refusing services from a Muslim customer care executive is also debated upon. The killing of Rising Kashmir editor-in-chief Shujaat Bukhari has left our panel in complete dismay. The suicide of Rohit Vemula is revisited as well.

Abhinandan begins the discussion with the murder of Shujaat Bukhari and asks, “Why is this getting so much traction and not other murders?” Raman talks about the incident taking place in a conflicted area like Kashmir. He says, "He is confounded about “what really triggered his killing?”

Rituparna quotes Shujaat from his interview in 2006, “You don't know anymore who your enemies are” and talks about the reality of this statement in today’s times. Manisha talks about the tendency of being “labelled as an India sympathiser” if one is a moderate or reports against the militants in Jammu and Kashmir.

Rituparna moves on to discuss the BJP pulling out of an “unlikely alliance” with People's Democratic Party. Anand refers to this move as a “standard tool for coming out of any confusion when you are in a coalition”. Abhinandan questions the timing of this decision. Raman states, “Almost the entire youth of Kashmir have been radicalised,” adding, “withdrawing from the PDP has more to do with politics."

The “tussle” between the Delhi state government and the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi has received varied responses from the panel. Abhinandan asks, “What do you make of what happened and where we are?”

Anand observes, “I think the AAP was in it for retrieving political capital of a contrarian party...the moral capital which had suffered substantial erosion with its apologies, with giving tickets to people who in public perception were not deserving of Rajya Sabha seats...” He adds, “The AAP also went on an obfuscation because the blocking of ministerial work is an afterthought. It still didn’t address the original allegation of (alleged) violence against the topmost bureaucrat of Delhi.”

Rituparna says that the Congress has yet again ‘missed the bus’.  She points out that the coalition drive of the Congress cannot work in Delhi with the AAP because it’s a ‘natural rival’.

Raman says, “I found IAS officers -- former and the serving -- all of them were trying to explain that we’re not on a strike.”

Abhinandan comments, “AAP’s whole template is to make an event a talking point and then that goes viral...” He adds, “They (AAP) have been unable to create[turn] any event [into a talking point] since they’ve formed the government.”

The panel discusses a recent Twitter row that involved Airtel and a customer. The customer denied the services of a particular customer support executive since the Airtel personnel interacting with her was a Muslim. Rituparna says, “Brands need to immediately hire people to handle a crisis of this sort...because the crisis of this sort is only going to increase.”

The panel also discusses Rohit Vemula’s mother's case who was allegedly offered money to speak against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and more.

This episode of NL Hafta features Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Trehan and Raman Kirpal, who are joined by Jaskirat Singh Bawa of The Quint as they discuss everything from judges’ vacation terms, to Jayant Sinha’s garlanding of convicted lynchers who were out on bail, and more.The panel first debates whether a 2-month break for judges is an indulgence. “The judiciary is stuck in a colonial condition. The vacation is from the colonial times, where the government moved to Shimla….It’s a matter of what you adjust to," says Madhu. “Having reported from the SC for 5-6 years, it is definitely an indulgence for the duration of time. Sure, a vacation could be well-deserved for the judges who are actually working 9 to 9…I can say for sure that none of the stakeholders who are actually involved…will support reductions in their vacation time, adds Jaskirat.The panel then discusses the ongoing Section 377 hearing at the Supreme Court. Speaking about the Centre’s reluctance to take a stand on the issue, Madhu says, “I would think that their inkling is to always veer towards the conservative, because their assumption is that their vote bank is more conservative.”Jaskirat expresses his views of Justices Singhvi and Mukhopadhyay, who reversed the Section 377 ruling in 2013: “They refused to recognise that criminalising this act is leading to misuse of it by the executive.”“Even if they agree to decriminalise 377, it is going to open a Pandora’s Box after that, because right now, they think we’re only dealing with decriminalising Section 377 and not talking in terms of gay marriage and other stuff," adds Raman.The panel then discusses the Supreme Court’s upholding of the death penalty for the perpetrators involved in the Nirbhaya rape case of 2012.In terms of the media coverage it got, Abhinandan points out, “It was a recurring theme across channels, if death comes after six years, is it still justice?” This is followed by a discussion on the Yakub Memon trial, death row, and the panel’s views on the death penalty.Next, the discussion moves to BJP politician Jayant Sinha’s garlanding of six persons who had been bailed from prison after being convicted of lynching in Jharkhand.The panel also offers their thoughts on why he would do such a thing. Jaskirat says, “At the end of the day, closer to the elections, they have to be active or closer to their vote base.” Madhu agrees, adding, “All the decisions are being taken with 2019 in mind.” Raman, feels the same, “The idea is to polarise and that is why it is happening.” On the other hand, Abhinandan feels it is a case of a son rebelling against his father.Abhinandan then suggests some explainers on the issue of ‘eminent status’ being granted to the proposed Jio Institute. For more on this, the SC-Centre tussle on the Taj Mahal, the misogynistic adultery law, and Netflix’s Sacred Games, listen in!

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

The latest episode of Reporters Without Orders features our host Cherry Agarwal, along with Rohin Verma, Amit Bhardwaj and our special guest Abhishek Dey from Scroll.in.

Kicking off the discussion, Amit says Jio got quite some coverage. “Jio is like any other telecom network in the country, why do you have to show it [as much] or give wall-to-wall coverage to whatever is happening during the launch? I think a small package or a couple of online stories would do, unless Jio is paying a lot of money.”

Cherry adds, “In that case, they should have been putting a disclaimer, if it was about money in return for coverage.”

Speaking about an event that was under-reported, Amit says, “Around 14,000 political activists and bandh supporters were on the streets and were detained by Jharkhand police. Majorly, none of the news channels gave it coverage during the day.”

Abhishek speaks about the media's coverage of mob lynchings fuelled by WhatsApp rumours about child-lifters in Assam. “There are two things which are operating [contributing], primarily, one is the fear of the outsider, and the other would be technology. The victims in all these cases are outsiders.”

Abhishek also speaks about how the idea of a child-lifter that was traditionally used to control the behaviour of children is now manifesting into a mob culture. "When we look into these kinds of things, we should always correlate them with development indices," he adds. “The solution should be designed in the context of the people which it is aimed for," comments Cherry.

Rohin feels that lynching doesn’t seem to be an issue for the general public. “Jo humare regional akhbaar hai, unme iss tarah ki khabrein aa nahi rahi hain, aur bohot kam aa rahi hain, toh logon ke liye lynching koi bohot badi samasya nahi hai.”

He adds, “WhatsApp ka iss tareekey ka prabhav hai ki padha-likha aadmi bhi apni padhai ko galat manta hai aur WhatsApp ko sahi manta hai. [The impact of WhatsApp is such that even educated people attach more value to WhatsApp over their own learning].”

To which Cherry states, “I think it underlines the importance of making media literacy a part of school curriculum.”

Rohin then speaks about a report that no one seems to be covering -- a story about the displacement of villagers of the Mahadalit community from Chamandih village in Bihar’s Gaya. The villagers were evicted from their land by Indian Railways. The story received no local coverage, save for a small piece in Dainik Jagran.

For this and more, listen up!