A reporters’ podcast about what made news and what shouldn’t have.

NL Team

This week, host Shivnarayan Rajpurohit is joined by Sumedha Mittal.

Sumedha’s series for Newslaundry, Broken Ballots, tracked curious deletions and additions of voters to the electoral rolls. Based on data and fieldwork, she found an odd pattern, which she says places a question mark on the Election Commission. She also cautions that this could be “used as exploitation”, regardless of whoever is in power. 

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:02:18 - The Broken Ballots series

00:50:20 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Sumedha

A day with AAP volunteers who reflect the party’s convoluted social-justice politics

Shivnarayan

Vajpayee: The Ascent of the Hindu Right, 1924–1977

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

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

In November last year, there were a flurry of reports in the Indian media on a waste-to-energy plant in Delhi’s Okhla that causes significant health risks to people living nearby. 

All these reports cited the same source – an investigative piece in The New York Times by journalist Maria Abi-Habib. Currently based in Mexico, Maria spent five years, between 2019 and 2024, to report on the story. She found the plant, operated by a subsidiary of the Jindal Group, pumps “as much as 10 times the legal amount of dioxins” into Delhi’s skies, and that its workers say it was “never regulated”. 

In this special episode of Reporters Without Orders, Newslaundry’s Pratyush Deep talks to Maria about how she stumbled upon this story. Her husband had been working on a series on air pollution in India – what Maria describes as “the biggest topic of concern, or should be, for most families and the government”. During the course of it, he met residents of Sukhdev Vihar, where the plant is located.

“They said they have been living there for a while and once the plant started, that is when their health problems started,” Maria says. “So, we decided to take a look and what we found was pretty incredible and also a little bit horrifying.”

Maria also explains the challenges she faced in reporting the story, and why she thinks Delhi’s air pollution crisis persists. 

“It is up to the government to take a look at the story and say why this plant is continuing to get the permission to expand its operations, why this Jindal family subsidiary continues to get more plants,” she says, adding that the group has “seven across the nation”. “If they can’t responsibly manage this plant, then why should they be given others?”

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

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

It’s the New Year special episode with all the Newslaundry reporters in the studio. They talk about the best stories of 2024 and what happened behind the scenes during those assignments.

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

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

This week, host Sumedha Mittal is joined by The Caravan’s Sagar.

Sagar talks about his report on Network18 shifting from public interest journalism to what he describes as appeasing the government. He explains how Network18 changed after Ambani took over and how journalists were asked to defend the prime minister. This led to the resignation, even firing, of several journalists, he explained. 

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:38 - Network18 and Ambani

00:49:18 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Sagar

The In-depth History of Reservation System| Creamy Layer| Subcategorization Ft. Sagar

Sumedha

Unreliable News How Reliance hollowed out Asia’s largest media conglomerate

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

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

This week, host Tanishka Sodhi is joined by independent journalist Akanksha Kumar and the Caravan’s Amrita Singh.

Akanksha reported on the alleged fake encounter of one Bhalchandra Yadav by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force. She delves into the workings of the UP STF, the state of law and order in UP, and a purportedly normalised trend of police encounters in the state.

Amrita’s report was a deep dive on Nita Ambani, wife of billionaire businessman Mukesh Ambani, her life, and her quest for the public eye. She talks about Nita’s involvement in Reliance-Jio World’s major operations and her PR team’s efforts in her positive branding.

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Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:07:37 - ‘Fake encounter’ by UP STF

00:29:06 - Nita Ambani

00:55:17 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Amrita

Joyland

Akanksha

Sehar

Tanishka

‘Trying a different route’: The new path and ‘positivity’ of Shehla Rashid

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.

Avdhesh reported on the nexus of middlemen and Delhi police officials allegedly facilitating the plying of illegal vehicles in the capital. He explains the workings of the network and the organised crime happening in broad daylight. 

He also reported on how Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was stopped from going to Sambhal, where clashes over a mosque’s survey killed five locals. He gave a blow-by-blow account of the aftermath of the Sambhal violence.

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:02:38 - Rahul Gandhi detained on the way to Sambhal

00:02:38 - Aftermath of Sambhal violence

00:25:45 - Delhi police and the middlemen

00:33:20 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Avdhesh

Rajat Sharma & Sudhir Chaudhry Talk Sense on Sambhal! Is TV News Changing? TV Newsance 276

Anmol

Sambhal हिंसा का पूरा सच: परत दर परत | Ground Report

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

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

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

Avdhesh reported on the violence that erupted amid protests against the archaeological survey of Mughal-era Shahi Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal. He delved into how the clashes between police personnel and locals led to the death of six civilians.

Sumedha’s report was on the odd dip in voter turnout in the recently concluded by-polls in UP’s Kundarki assembly seat. She found out that of the 435 booths in the constituency, 154 saw a dip in voter turnout amid allegations of voter suppression, especially in the Muslim-dominated areas.

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:20 - Sambhal violence

00:06:22 - Odd dip in voter turnout

00:25:43 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Avdhesh

Maqbool

Jaun Elia

Sumedha

ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT

Pratyush

Blinded by the Stars: A Gov't Rating Scheme is Helping Coal Miners Pat Their Own Back

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 Dainik Bhaskar’s Rajesh Sahu and independent Journalist Sneha Richhariya.

Rajesh reported on the Jhansi hospital tragedy, in which a fire incident claimed the lives of 15 infants. He says that an overcrowded NICU, expired fire extinguishers, and negligence of the hospital administration led to the incident.

Sneha has reported on the impact of migration in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh. She shed light on how families of the migrants are impacted and the pace of migration leading to vacant villages.

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:28 - Jhansi hospital fire

00:20:43 - Bundelkhand migration 

00:33:20 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Sneha

LIES OUR MOTHERS TOLD US: The Indian Woman’s Burden

Anurag Minus Verma Podcast

Basant

Ek Jindagi Kafi Nahi

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

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

Host Sumedha Mittal is joined by Newslaundry’s Tanishka Sodhi and Shivnarayan Rajpurohit.

Tanishka reported on the Ladki Bahin scheme, launched recently by the Maharashtra government for women in the poll-bound state. She explains whether this scheme, the Mahayuti’s biggest bet this election, holds currency for voters.  to multiple women and tries to make out that the newly minted scheme is Mahayuti’s biggest bet this election.

Shivnarayan talks about his deep dive on Rahul Gandhi’s formula to win on YouTube and social media. He says Gandhi’s team uses strategies that are no different from those used by Narendra Modi. He also explains how Gandhi’s team is sidelining mainstream media, since they believe the media played a huge role in establishing Gandhi’s image as “Pappu”. 

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:00:59 - Ladki Bahin scheme

00:11:33 - Rahul Gandhi’s YouTube channel

00:44:01 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Tanishka

Imbalance of power: Women at international climate negotiations

Shivnarayan

Who was behind the NCP split? Ajit Pawar's BIG REVEAL to Sreenivasan Jain

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

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

This week, host Shivnarayan Rajpurohit is joined by Newslaundry’s Anmol Pritam and Basant Kumar. 

Anmol reported on the increasing encroachment and concretisation of the Yamuna River floodplains, which has heavily contributed to the river’s degradation. He throws light on the consequence of arbitrary construction by the Delhi Development Authority. 

Basant’s report was on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official visits, which often comprise activities focused on promoting the BJP. He delves into the details of his official visits from January to October and the lack of transparency about the PMO billing the BJP for these unofficial expenses. 

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:22 - Yamuna river pollution 

00:08:30 - Modi’s trips

00:45:10 - Recommendations

Recommendations

Anmol 

Yamuna is choking in Delhi. Is floodplain encroachment to blame?

Basant

Sharda Sinha’s Chhath songs

Produced and edited by Hassan Bilal, recorded by Anil Kumar.

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