NL Hafta

This episode of Reporters Without Orders has our in-house reporter Amit Bhardwaj joining our host Cherry Agrawal, along with special guests Vishakha Saxena from Asia Times and Arunabh Saikia from Scroll.in.The discussion kicks off with Cherry asking the participants to comment on the Supreme Court’s decision to extend the deadline to publish the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to July 30th. Arunabh comments on how the government is planning to establish the number of citizens in Assam and how it will affect them. “It’s a complicated process," he says, which necessitates one to “establish their connection to someone who was there before 1971...this could be anything from your father or grandfather’s name on a voter list before 1971.” Speaking about the verification processes, Arunabh explains that the process is long, as different states need to send in their data in the case of migrants. “It’s clear to everyone in the state that this could be horrific…because currently illegal migrants are being held in detention camps.” Arunabh remarks that it is a “bleak future ahead”.Citing a report by The Hindu on the Citizen Amendment Bill, Cherry asks if this Bill is the method by which the “government is trying to change the definition of illegal migrants”. She also asks about the possible impact of the Bill, if passed, on the NRC list.Arunabh responds, “They are kind of changing who a foreigner is in India. If the Bill is enforced, then the NRC process becomes largely redundant…what it does is, it makes six years of a gigantic bureaucratic process largely redundant.” He also remarks that it is “essentially an anti-Muslim Bill.”The panel also discusses the local and national media's coverage of the NRC.  While Arunabh feels that the quantity of coverage was sufficient, he says that “the coverage could have been better” in terms of the quality. According to him, the issue of illegal migrants in Assam is an “immensely complex one. There are multiple academic interpretations." He adds,  "It is definitely xenophobic to a certain extent, but there was also an element of class struggle."Amit joins in. He asks Arunabh if there is a tendency to cover bizarre comments made by leaders instead of covering issues of governance and the “morally corrupt” appointment of officials, citing the Tripura governor’s recommendation of a BJP member to be appointed to the government.Arunabh agrees, he adds that there is much more to be covered in Tripura other than Biplab’s statements. Perhaps its harder to find these stories as “covering corruption requires the reporter to be underground, go through paperwork…it requires real digging which a lot of us find hard to do”, he adds.Now over to Vishakha, who feels that the June 26 Thomson Reuters survey which found that India was the most dangerous country for women was “quite under-reported and the reaction to it was also quite conflicting". Cherry disagrees, pointing to prime-time debates about the survey on news channels such as NewsX and CNN-News18.While there can be some contention about the methodology, because of the small sample size of 550 experts, the report should rather have been used as a trigger for a larger debate, Cherry says.“We don’t need any Thomson Reuters report or any UN report to realise what is happening in our country," comments Amit.Vishakha, Amit, and Arunabh also weigh in on gender equality in the newsroom. Then there are Amit's remarks about PM Modi’s recent goof-up in his speech in Maghar which was under-reported. There's more, listen up!

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

Abhinandan and Rajyasree discuss the latest biopic in town, Sanju, with Samar Khan from Mumbai. Khan, who is a former journalist, says, “It is a well-made film. It follows Rajkumar Hirani's theory, where he finds good in everything that is bad with the world."

Rajyasree is not as much a fan of the film and says, “I thought the film was quite badly made. It is not a fictional film, considering all of Rajkumar’s films have been fictional films. This is a biopic, that has been promoted as a biopic. I understand if you present some facts, especially about a person you have worked with successfully, with a rose-tinted view. This entire thing about hoisting all responsibility of all of Sanjay Dutt’s actions on other people, he took drugs because of someone else who tricked him into it."

In response to Rajyasree's comments, Abhinandan says, “In a biopic, you see shades of grey in everybody. However, in this case, he just came across as a caricature villain from a fictional film.” Talking about Anushka Sharma’s character, he says, “I don’t know if there is one such writer who starts crying every time Sanjay Dutt tells a story. It was a completely ridiculous character.”

Sen also discusses the criticism of Karan Johar for trying to remake Sairat. “There has been a lot of criticism for Karan Johar because he is making this film called Dhadak, which is starring Sridevi’s daughter and Ishaan Khatar, and I could not understand why he is getting trashed because when I saw the trailer and then the promos and songs, it looks like a Karan Johar film.”

Talking about the nature of biopics, Abhinandan says, “After you watch a biopic, it says based on true events, but the next line is that similarities are coincidental. I don’t understand that. If you are making a biopic, then every character and every event should be true in that. Now, there is this new convention that the central character will be real, the rest we’ll make shit up as we go along.”

Talking about another film based on a real person, Rajyasree says, “Soorma is the story of this hockey player called Sandeep Singh who made a comeback after he gets shot and he’s put in a wheelchair and how he makes a comeback. I quite liked the trailer, and I quite liked Daljit Dosanjh." In response, Abhinandan says, “Daljit looks the part, but the thing that is of concern to me is the whole ‘based on true events’. That means that probably one event was true, but the rest will be nonsense. These are the kinds of things that piss me off. Either you say that the film is a figment of my imagination and I’ll enjoy it."

Rajyasree also discusses Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster 3 by saying, “Tigmanshu Dhulia is directing it for the third time. I felt the trailer was like the first two films. I can’t make out the difference. And Jimmy Shergill has to stop playing a villain. Even he has to be tired of it.” And then there’s the new biopic of Jaggi Vasudev which will be directed by Shashank Ghosh and produced by Rhea Kapoor, and of course, approved by Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Foundation.

Abhinandan closes by talking about an Everest Masala ad with Amitabh Bachchan. “It has this little boy and his mother…I thought that ad was really good.” There’s this and more. Listen up.

Abhinandan and Rajyasree discuss the latest biopic in town, Sanju, with Samar Khan from Mumbai. Khan, who is a former journalist, says, “It is a well-made film. It follows Rajkumar Hirani's theory, where he finds good in everything that is bad with the world."

Rajyasree is not as much a fan of the film and says, “I thought the film was quite badly made. It is not a fictional film, considering all of Rajkumar’s films have been fictional films. This is a biopic, that has been promoted as a biopic. I understand if you present some facts, especially about a person you have worked with successfully, with a rose-tinted view. This entire thing about hoisting all responsibility of all of Sanjay Dutt’s actions on other people, he took drugs because of someone else who tricked him into it."

In response to Rajyasree's comments, Abhinandan says, “In a biopic, you see shades of grey in everybody. However, in this case, he just came across as a caricature villain from a fictional film.” Talking about Anushka Sharma’s character, he says, “I don’t know if there is one such writer who starts crying every time Sanjay Dutt tells a story. It was a completely ridiculous character.”

Sen also discusses the criticism of Karan Johar for trying to remake Sairat. “There has been a lot of criticism for Karan Johar because he is making this film called Dhadak, which is starring Sridevi’s daughter and Ishaan Khatar, and I could not understand why he is getting trashed because when I saw the trailer and then the promos and songs, it looks like a Karan Johar film.”

Talking about the nature of biopics, Abhinandan says, “After you watch a biopic, it says based on true events, but the next line is that similarities are coincidental. I don’t understand that. If you are making a biopic, then every character and every event should be true in that. Now, there is this new convention that the central character will be real, the rest we’ll make shit up as we go along.”

Talking about another film based on a real person, Rajyasree says, “Soorma is the story of this hockey player called Sandeep Singh who made a comeback after he gets shot and he’s put in a wheelchair and how he makes a comeback. I quite liked the trailer, and I quite liked Daljit Dosanjh." In response, Abhinandan says, “Daljit looks the part, but the thing that is of concern to me is the whole ‘based on true events’. That means that probably one event was true, but the rest will be nonsense. These are the kinds of things that piss me off. Either you say that the film is a figment of my imagination and I’ll enjoy it."

Rajyasree also discusses Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster 3 by saying, “Tigmanshu Dhulia is directing it for the third time. I felt the trailer was like the first two films. I can’t make out the difference. And Jimmy Shergill has to stop playing a villain. Even he has to be tired of it.” And then there’s the new biopic of Jaggi Vasudev which will be directed by Shashank Ghosh and produced by Rhea Kapoor, and of course, approved by Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Foundation.

Abhinandan closes by talking about an Everest Masala ad with Amitabh Bachchan. “It has this little boy and his mother…I thought that ad was really good.” There’s this and more. Listen up.

Abhinandan and Rajyasree discuss the latest biopic in town, Sanju, with Samar Khan from Mumbai. Khan, who is a former journalist, says, “It is a well-made film. It follows Rajkumar Hirani's theory, where he finds good in everything that is bad with the world."Rajyasree is not as much a fan of the film and says, “I thought the film was quite badly made. It is not a fictional film, considering all of Rajkumar’s films have been fictional films. This is a biopic, that has been promoted as a biopic. I understand if you present some facts, especially about a person you have worked with successfully, with a rose-tinted view. This entire thing about hoisting all responsibility of all of Sanjay Dutt’s actions on other people, he took drugs because of someone else who tricked him into it." In response to Rajyasree's comments, Abhinandan says, “In a biopic, you see shades of grey in everybody. However, in this case, he just came across as a caricature villain from a fictional film.” Talking about Anushka Sharma’s character, he says, “I don’t know if there is one such writer who starts crying every time Sanjay Dutt tells a story. It was a completely ridiculous character.”Sen also discusses the criticism of Karan Johar for trying to remake Sairat. “There has been a lot of criticism for Karan Johar because he is making this film called Dhadak, which is starring Sridevi’s daughter and Ishaan Khatar, and I could not understand why he is getting trashed because when I saw the trailer and then the promos and songs, it looks like a Karan Johar film.”Talking about the nature of biopics, Abhinandan says, “After you watch a biopic, it says based on true events, but the next line is that similarities are coincidental. I don’t understand that. If you are making a biopic, then every character and every event should be true in that. Now, there is this new convention that the central character will be real, the rest we’ll make shit up as we go along.”Talking about another film based on a real person, Rajyasree says, “Soorma is the story of this hockey player called Sandeep Singh who made a comeback after he gets shot and he’s put in a wheelchair and how he makes a comeback. I quite liked the trailer, and I quite liked Daljit Dosanjh." In response, Abhinandan says, “Daljit looks the part, but the thing that is of concern to me is the whole ‘based on true events’. That means that probably one event was true, but the rest will be nonsense. These are the kinds of things that piss me off. Either you say that the film is a figment of my imagination and I’ll enjoy it."Rajyasree also discusses Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster 3 by saying, “Tigmanshu Dhulia is directing it for the third time. I felt the trailer was like the first two films. I can’t make out the difference. And Jimmy Shergill has to stop playing a villain. Even he has to be tired of it.” And then there’s the new biopic of Jaggi Vasudev which will be directed by Shashank Ghosh and produced by Rhea Kapoor, and of course, approved by Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Foundation.Abhinandan closes by talking about an Everest Masala ad with Amitabh Bachchan. “It has this little boy and his mother…I thought that ad was really good.” There’s this and more. Listen up.

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

भाजपा अध्यक्ष अमित शाह का वंदे मातरम को लेकर कांग्रेस पर तुष्टिकरण और बंटवारे का आरोप, आपातकाल की वर्षगांठ, मीडिया संस्थानों से नोटबंदी के दौरान एक सहकारिता बैंक (जिसके निदेशक अमित शाह थे) में पांच दिनों के अंदर 745 करोड़ रूपए जमा होने की खबर का हटाया जाना, झारखंड के खूंटी में पत्थलगड़ी आंदोलन, स्विस बैंकों में पैसे जमा होने की गति बढ़ना व अन्य मुद्दे इस हफ्ते न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री चर्चा के मुख्य विषय रहे.

मीडिया विजिल के संस्थापक व वरिष्ठ पत्रकार पंकज श्रीवास्तव चर्चा के विशिष्ट अतिथि थे. उनके साथ पैनल में मौजूद थे न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री संवाददाता अमित भारद्वाज. न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के कार्यकारी संपादक अतुल चौरसिया ने चर्चा का संचालन किया.

भाजपा अध्यक्ष अमित शाह का वंदे मातरम को लेकर कांग्रेस पर तुष्टिकरण और बंटवारे का आरोप, आपातकाल की वर्षगांठ, मीडिया संस्थानों से नोटबंदी के दौरान एक सहकारिता बैंक (जिसके निदेशक अमित शाह थे) में पांच दिनों के अंदर 745 करोड़ रूपए जमा होने की खबर का हटाया जाना, झारखंड के खूंटी में पत्थलगड़ी आंदोलन, स्विस बैंकों में पैसे जमा होने की गति बढ़ना व अन्य मुद्दे इस हफ्ते न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री चर्चा के मुख्य विषय रहे.

मीडिया विजिल के संस्थापक व वरिष्ठ पत्रकार पंकज श्रीवास्तव चर्चा के विशिष्ट अतिथि थे. उनके साथ पैनल में मौजूद थे न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री संवाददाता अमित भारद्वाज. न्यूज़लॉन्ड्री के कार्यकारी संपादक अतुल चौरसिया ने चर्चा का संचालन किया.

In this episode of Hafta, the big question that the panel discusses is whether sting journalism is real journalism. BJP by poll losses and the violence that erupted in Shillong is also discussed. Al Jazeera's sting operation on match-fixing in cricket is another issue that engages the panel in a heated debate. The panel also discusses arrests made in connection with Bhima Koregaon violence and the water crisis in Shimla.

The panel consists of Abhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Trehan, Manisha Pande, Anand Vardhan and our guest, NDTV's Sunetra Choudhury.

BJP’s evident loss in the by poll is critically considered by the panel, when Abhinandan asks, “Is it something that needs the kind of coverage that it did? Is it any indication of who the people will vote for?” Madhu feels the 2019 elections are going to be the “dirtiest elections”. She suggests not to make much of these by polls and adds, “In politics, things can change on a dime." Sunetra Choudhury talks about the excitement built around the by poll results. She says, “We are looking at each and every by poll with bated breaths saying, ‘okay whats going to happen here’…interesting to see how people are getting involved’." Manisha agrees with Madhu and adds, “I wouldn’t read too much into by polls."

Abhinandan moves onto the sting operation carried out by Al Jazeera to expose match-fixing in cricket. He says, “I lost interest in it." He wonders, “What was so great about this sting operation?” Anand, despite being a cricket fanatic agrees that the sting was “low on substance” and says it didn’t come up with a conclusive outcome. He, however, also feels that the sting had “good production values”. Madhu talks a little about the Cobrapost and Al Jazeera sting in relativity. She feels that the Cobrapost sting is “not journalistically correct”. Sunetra talks about the two Bengali newspapers that refused to engage with Acharya Atal (Cobrapost's undercover reporter) and how those organisations are a “benchmark” for journalism.

The panel shifts their attention to the communal clashes between the Khasi tribe and the Punjabi settlers in Shillong. Known to many as the ‘musical town’, Sunetra shared her anecdotes from Shillong and tension that has spurred over the years. She adds, “I spent every summer there, for 21 years of my life, …curfews were very very common because of this kind of tension between various communities.” Manisha informs the panel of Shillong's long-standing history of tension. She says, “The first major riot was in 1979 by Khasi mobs directed at minorities." Abhinandan feels, “Northeast is a little more complicated because in any case they feel let down by the rest of India." Anand restrains his views and says, “Any tribe (from Shillong) can...say you don’t know much about our tribe.”

The Ugly Indian Tourist, an article published by Open magazine is next on the panel's agenda. The article is discussed because Abhinandan feels it has created a lot of flutter. "I think it is an interesting article because I see both sides." The controversy is about the article having racist content.

Moving on, the panel discussed the unrest in Kashmir. Manisha said that many [news organisation] have used the headline “mows down”, which she felt was problematic. She thought that in this case, the CRPF personnel in the vehicle had to just “negotiate its way through this violent". She says, "And you must also remember...some men were saying they were upset they could not pull him [the driver] out of the jeep," adding, "you must remember it was exactly a year ago that a policemen Ayub Pandith was lynched to death in the same area and his eyes were gouged out. It was a brutal gruesome lynching. I mean it is this kind of pressure that officers are operating under. Mob fury is very scary even if you have a gun. You have like 50 people approaching…I think it is really this situation where the driver was trying to negotiate through.”

In this episode of Hafta, the big question that the panel discusses is whether sting journalism is real journalism. BJP by poll losses and the violence that erupted in Shillong is also discussed. Al Jazeera's sting operation on match-fixing in cricket is another issue that engages the panel in a heated debate. The panel also discusses arrests made in connection with Bhima Koregaon violence and the water crisis in Shimla.

The panel consists of Abhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Trehan, Manisha Pande, Anand Vardhan and our guest, NDTV's Sunetra Choudhury.

BJP’s evident loss in the by poll is critically considered by the panel, when Abhinandan asks, “Is it something that needs the kind of coverage that it did? Is it any indication of who the people will vote for?” Madhu feels the 2019 elections are going to be the “dirtiest elections”. She suggests not to make much of these by polls and adds, “In politics, things can change on a dime." Sunetra Choudhury talks about the excitement built around the by poll results. She says, “We are looking at each and every by poll with bated breaths saying, ‘okay whats going to happen here’…interesting to see how people are getting involved’." Manisha agrees with Madhu and adds, “I wouldn’t read too much into by polls."

Abhinandan moves onto the sting operation carried out by Al Jazeera to expose match-fixing in cricket. He says, “I lost interest in it." He wonders, “What was so great about this sting operation?” Anand, despite being a cricket fanatic agrees that the sting was “low on substance” and says it didn’t come up with a conclusive outcome. He, however, also feels that the sting had “good production values”. Madhu talks a little about the Cobrapost and Al Jazeera sting in relativity. She feels that the Cobrapost sting is “not journalistically correct”. Sunetra talks about the two Bengali newspapers that refused to engage with Acharya Atal (Cobrapost's undercover reporter) and how those organisations are a “benchmark” for journalism.

The panel shifts their attention to the communal clashes between the Khasi tribe and the Punjabi settlers in Shillong. Known to many as the ‘musical town’, Sunetra shared her anecdotes from Shillong and tension that has spurred over the years. She adds, “I spent every summer there, for 21 years of my life, …curfews were very very common because of this kind of tension between various communities.” Manisha informs the panel of Shillong's long-standing history of tension. She says, “The first major riot was in 1979 by Khasi mobs directed at minorities." Abhinandan feels, “Northeast is a little more complicated because in any case they feel let down by the rest of India." Anand restrains his views and says, “Any tribe (from Shillong) can...say you don’t know much about our tribe.”

The Ugly Indian Tourist, an article published by Open magazine is next on the panel's agenda. The article is discussed because Abhinandan feels it has created a lot of flutter. "I think it is an interesting article because I see both sides." The controversy is about the article having racist content.

Moving on, the panel discussed the unrest in Kashmir. Manisha said that many [news organisation] have used the headline “mows down”, which she felt was problematic. She thought that in this case, the CRPF personnel in the vehicle had to just “negotiate its way through this violent". She says, "And you must also remember...some men were saying they were upset they could not pull him [the driver] out of the jeep," adding, "you must remember it was exactly a year ago that a policemen Ayub Pandith was lynched to death in the same area and his eyes were gouged out. It was a brutal gruesome lynching. I mean it is this kind of pressure that officers are operating under. Mob fury is very scary even if you have a gun. You have like 50 people approaching…I think it is really this situation where the driver was trying to negotiate through.”

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So, here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode where we discuss Saifuddin Soz's remarks, #Emergency, Vijay Mallya's letter to the Prime Minister and more.

You can listen to the full Hafta here (https://www.newslaundry.com/2018/06/29/hafta-178-saifuddin-soz-emergency-vijay-mallyas-letter-to-the-prime-minister-and-more).

NL Hafta has gone behind the paywall, but we love our listeners. So, here's a little sneak peek into the complete episode where we discuss Saifuddin Soz's remarks, #Emergency, Vijay Mallya's letter to the Prime Minister and more.

You can listen to the full Hafta here (https://www.newslaundry.com/2018/06/29/hafta-178-saifuddin-soz-emergency-vijay-mallyas-letter-to-the-prime-minister-and-more).