Reporters Without Orders

In the final episode of the podcast, all the Newslaundry reporters come together to share their thoughts. They share their experiences about how they managed to do some of their stories despite several hurdles. They also shed light on what a reporter should and should not do while reporting. While this podcast takes a pause here, they talk about preparing to return with a brand new format, with fresh ideas, and a different vibe.  

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:57:25 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Pratyush Deep

The Chronicles of the 4.5 Gang

Sumedha Mittal

Materialists

Shivnarayan Rajpurohit

The Fake Sheikh

Anmol Pritam

Uttarakhand : Hindu Rashtra की टेस्ट लैब बनती देवभूमि

A Man of Action

Basant Kumar

From Cinema to Literature: Imtiaz Ali and Manav Kaul on Good Storytelling | Jaipur Bytes Podcast

THE CASES THAT INDIA FORGOT

Avdhesh Kumar

Rashtra Nirman Mein Adivasi

Produced and edited by Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Anil Kumar.

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

This week, host Basant Kumar is joined by Newslaundry’s Sumedha Mittal and Pratyush Deep.

Sumedha talks about her report on Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Her investigation revealed that even after this massive exercise, the ECI has conferred wrong house numbers to lakhs of voters. This, she says, creates the perfect opportunity to fill the lacunae with fake voters. After the ECI’s SIR, over 1,000 voters in Bihar were grouped under a single non-existent house. Her investigation highlights that whatever mistakes were there in the electoral roll are still on the list even after the SIR.

Pratyush’s report highlighted Assam’s 3,000-bigha land row and the controversy around it. While the story played out on social media, with claims that the land was being handed over to the Adani Group, Pratyush’s report reveals that it is, in fact, Mahabal Cement that had ownership of the land.

In another report from Assam, Pratyush follows the complainants behind recent FIRs against journalists, who ostensibly had links to the BJP or the RSS student wing ABVP.

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:05:06 - Loopholes in SIR

00:23:30 - Illegal land allotment

00:33:54 - FIRs against Journalists

00:44:25 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Sumedha

EP-339 | Political Pressure, TRP War, Media Credibility & Influencers vs Journalists | Kalli Purie

Pratyush

The Rebel Army Behind One of the World’s Major Rare Earth Supplies

Basant

Saare Jahan Se Accha

Produced and edited by Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Anil Kumar.

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

This week, host Anmol Pritam is joined by Newslaundry’s Avdhesh Kumar and Ashish Anand.

Avdhesh discusses his report on a protest against the Supreme Court’s August 11 order to remove all stray dogs from the Delhi-NCR region. Disheartened dog lovers protested at Connaught Place, where protesters were confronted by the Delhi Police, who detained them. Avdesh says that this is the first time that religious slogans have been heard in such a protest.

Talking about his other report on UP police’s new model of “justice”, called Half Encounter or Operation Langda, Avdesh mentions how the police shoot suspects in one of their legs to capture them alive. Once hit, the accused collapses, and the police arrest them. He says people are framed in a false case, and the police script a fake encounter to appear real.

Ashish shares his experience reporting from ground zero in Uttarakhand’s Dharali village, which was cut off after multiple floods hit the region. There was no road and phone connectivity, the power supply was cut off, and the supply of essential goods had come to a halt. He describes the trials of the residents, whose homes were destroyed and relatives went missing.

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:04:28 - Protest for Dogs

00:06:51 - Uttarakhand disaster

00:23:54 - Half Encounter

00:36:50 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Ashish

Meiyazhagan

The Hunt for Veerappan

Pyaasa

Avdhesh

'We finally feel accepted’: Gujarat village ends Dalit haircut ban; elders back move

Anmol

A Man of Action

Produced and edited by Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Naresh Kumar.

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

This week, host Shivnarayan Rajpurohit is joined by Newslaundry’s Avdhesh Kumar and Sumedha Mittal.

Avdhesh talks about his first story in the series ‘Half Encounter’, or what the Uttar Pradesh Police call “Operation Langda”, which is a practice where police shoot suspects in the leg to capture them alive. Once hit, the accused collapses, and the police make the arrest.

“Hemant, a young DJ from Mathura, was wrongfully picked up by UP police and shot in the leg,” says Avdesh, who elaborated on the details of the fake encounter. He said 9,467 suspects were shot in the leg by UP police under the operation since 2017. 

Sumedha discusses her report, which reveals that the LG of Jammu and Kashmir spent Rs 70 crore on print ads, with Rs 12 crore worth of ads given to just five newspapers. “There is a concern over the discrimination in how ad money is distributed in Kashmir. The top three dailies that received the most ad money had overwhelmingly pro-LG Manoj Sinha and pro-Modi coverage,” she said.   

Avdesh also talks about his coverage of the recent protests by SSC students and teachers over multiple last-minute exam cancellations, the selection of a blacklisted vendor, failure to issue admit cards on time, and poor administrative coordination.

Timecodes:

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:10 - Half Encounter Story 

00:16:21 - Kashmir Newspaper Ads 

00:26:11 - SSC protests 

00:31:08 - Half Encounter

00:32:30 - Recommendations 

Avdhesh

Annihilation of Caste - Dr. BR Ambedkar

Insurance scams: मरे हुए 'ज़िंदा', ठगे गए परिवार, कहां तक फैले हैं घोटाले के तार?- ग्राउंड रिपोर्ट

Sumedha 

Saiyaara

Shivnarayan

Exclusive: India’s e-waste mirage, ‘crores in corporate fraud’ amid govt lapses, public suffering

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

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

This week, host Pratyush Deep is joined by Newslaundry’s Drishti Choudhary and Sumedha Mittal.

Drishti reported on how elite societies in Delhi have encroached on public footpaths. During visits to several gated colonies, she found that sidewalks next to posh homes were taken over by landlords – with parked cars, potted plants, guard booths, and other structures eating into public space. In some cases, the encroachments even forced roads to become one-way. She pointed out the stark double standard: while the government is quick to demolish slums and informal settlements, it turns a blind eye to violations by the well-off.

Sumedha discussed her report on the detention of Bengali and Assamese migrant workers in Gurugram in makeshift centres. She found that Bengali-speaking Muslims, especially those living in slums across Delhi and Gurugram, have been detained on suspicion of being undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants. Families allege that police arrived at midnight, demanded identity papers, and in some cases picked up individuals despite them showing valid documents – including voter IDs, Aadhaar cards, and passports. No formal notice was given.

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:02:38 - Elite encroachment

00:25:45 - Detained migrants

00:33:20 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Sumedha

F1

H-Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars

Drishti

Superman

Pratyush

Pedestrian zones as driveways, parking lots: The elite encroachments Delhi won’t touch

Produced and edited by Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Anil Kumar.

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

This week, host Basant Kumar is joined by journalist Umesh Kumar Ray and Anmol Pritam.

Umesh shares his experience of reporting from ground zero in Bihar, where the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is underway ahead of the assembly elections. The way this massive exercise is being carried out, he says, is burdening the state’s people who are forced to prove their citizenship, creating a panic-like situation.

Anmol talks about his report on the chaos that unfolded after a piece of onion was found in a meal served to the Kanwariyas at the Baba Balaknath Dhaba in Muzaffarnagar, which triggered ​​vandalism of the dhaba, resulting in smashed chairs, tables, fridges, fans, and glass panels by the mob. The owner claimed that the Kanwariyas not only vandalised the dhaba but also brutally attacked their staff with hockey sticks, with a 40-year-old staff member ending up with a broken leg.

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:26 - SIR in Bihar

00:21:28 - Kanwariyas and Chaos

00:35:56 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Anmol Pritam

Uttarakhand : Hindu Rashtra की टेस्ट लैब बनती देवभूमि | Ground Report

Basant Kumar

The RSS Does Not Exist Mapping the hidden structure of an unaccountable organisation

Produced and edited by Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Anil Kumar.

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

NL Team

This week, host Anmol Pritam is joined by Newslaunndry’s Prateek Goyal, and Basant Kumar.

Reporting from Bhiwandi, Maharashtra, Prateek uncovers a chilling case of alleged police brutality that led to the death of Sadiq Ali Jafri. While the police claim Jafri died of natural causes, his wife and family allege he was killed in a police chokehold as part of a deliberate cover-up. They say the family was harassed in the aftermath – Sadiq’s father was jailed for over a year, one brother remains behind bars, and his wife, Saiba, is now battling a hostile system in her fight for justice.

Prateek’s investigation reveals how the police allegedly tampered with the postmortem report and fabricated witnesses to shield themselves. This harrowing story is part of Newslaundry’s NL Sena series on police impunity.

Meanwhile, Basant reports from Gujarat, uncovering how Muslims remain trapped under the Disturbed Areas Act. In Vadodara, he tells the story of Onali, a local who has spent years fighting to take possession of land he legally purchased.

Onali and his brother-in-law bought a plot in Champaner Darwaza, Fatehpura, back in 2016. But when Onali applied to the deputy collector’s office for permission to transfer the property, as required under the Disturbed Areas Act, his request was denied. He has since been caught in a relentless loop of court hearings and police visits, struggling to claim what is rightfully his.

Onali believes the opposition from local Hindu residents is the key reason behind the continued deadlock.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:02:29 -  How Muslims struggle to buy property in Gujarat

00:09:01 - I can’t breathe: Maharashtra man’s ‘last words in police chokehold’

00:35:04 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Prateek

The Hunt

Basant

Eleven

How Muslims struggle to buy property in Gujarat

Anmol

How Muslims struggle to buy property in Gujarat

Produced and edited by Tista Roy Chowdhury, recorded by Anil Kumar.

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

NL Team

This week, host Sumedha Mittal is joined by The Caravan’s Sunil Kashyap, and Jatinder Kaur Tur.

Jatinder reports from Kashmir, where three bodies of locals who were in police detention surfaced in the Veshaw River. Following the Pahalgam terror attack, Kashmiris felt being suspected and criminalised. Amid rampant arrests and deaths, families like that of Nazir Ahmad Magray – whose 20-year-old son was taken in a night raid by the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s Special Operations Group – have been left shattered.

“We are talking about three brothers [and one man] who went missing and there was no believable story from the police. It is said that they drowned in Veshaw river or naala, which was completely dry and no one could have drowned there,” says Jatinder.

Meanwhile, Sunil's report uncovers an unseen, unheard truth from Bihar. At Bodh Gaya’s Mahabodhi Mahavihara – a sacred Buddhist site – Buddhist monks and Dalit-Bahujan groups are protesting the Bodh Gaya Temple Act of 1949, which mandates Hindu involvement in managing the temple. This stems from centuries of Hindu appropriation of the site, despite its centrality to Buddhism. “The Hindu Sangh sees Buddhism, not Islam, as its biggest ideological challenge,” says Sunil.  

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:02 - Kashmir police silences questions as bodies emerge from the Veshaw River

00:20:59 - The Bodh Gaya Protest

00:45: 37 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Jatinder 

How to Forgive

Sunil

In 6 months, Fadnavis seat added 29,219 voters. Poll staff claim lapses

A flurry of new voters? The curious case of Kamthi, where the Maha BJP chief won

Sumedha

A border ran through it: The life and lonely death of an 80-year-old Kashmiri man

Produced and edited by Saif Ekram and Tista Roy Chowdhury, recorded by Anil Kumar.

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

This week’s host Shivnarayan Rajpurohit is joined by Newslaundry’s Prateek Goyal and Basant Kumar.

Prateek talks about his report on the increasing interference of Hindutva outfits in the Christian schools of Madhya Pradesh. The situation, he explains, has worsened to such an extent that it has led to FIRs against school authorities, and even raids, and vandalism in schools. Even teachers are threatened by students, Prateek adds. 

Basant reported from ground zero in Ahmedabad, where the Air India plane crashed killed more than 270 people. He shares his experience of talking to families who lost their loved ones and how difficult it was for the authorities to match DNAs of the people who got killed in the crash with their families. Another report from Ahmedabad looked at how the everyday lives of 17 people, who weren’t passengers, were also cut short in an instant in the plane crash.

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:00:56 - Vandalism in Christian schools

00:06:15 - Ahmedabad plane crash

00:33:20 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Prateek

Air India crash: Casualties that weren’t passengers

Basant

In 6 months, Fadnavis seat added 29,219 voters. Poll staff claim lapses

Produced and edited by Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Anil Kumar.

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