NL Hafta

In this episode of Reporters Without Orders, the panel discusses Cobrapost's recent exposé, Kapil Sibal's comments on Harvest TV, the ensuing controversy, CAG Rajiv Mehrishi’s alleged tax evasion and more. The panel includes Cherry Agarwal, Desk Writer Gaurav Sarkar, Head of Research Ayush Tiwari, and Special Correspondent Prateek Goyal. Gaurav kicks off the discussion with the Cobrapost investigation that he reported on. Ayush points out a lack of due process. “There were allegations that [Cobrapost] had sent its questionnaire with 64 questions to DHFL on the same morning as the press conference. That raises a lot of counter-questions from the perspective of DHFL.” Gaurav also notes: “What really stood out was that the presser started at 3 pm yesterday at the Press Club. Why hold it once the stock markets are shut?” Giving a background on the Harvest TV controversy, Ayush said, “What you can say of all these media houses, because HTN is not the only one coming out, there will be many more in the coming days. They are all trying to cash in on the 2019 general elections.” Cherry weighs in, “They were trying to get licenses for about year now, if the government was not issuing licenses then that is a problem.” Prateek joins the discussion over the phone. He speaks about his fact-check report on "cyber expert" Syed Shuja. Prateek said, “We checked with ECL, no one knows [Shuja]. What if he is also making up the names? His entire account is fake.” The panel also discusses the ethics of journalism. Cherry poses the question, “When you are reporting on dire issues you see people hanging by a thread, would you intervene?” Ayush, says that he would. He says that being a reporter/journalist is a label that comes later. Gaurav says he would not intervene when “the greater good is actually reporting the story, and knowing that it would probably have an impact.” For all this and more, listen up!