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Hafta 529: US campus crackdown, defining patriotism, English media dominance
This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri and Manisha Pande are joined by The News Minute’s Dhanya Rajendran and The Wire’s Seema Chishti.
The panel first discusses the recent crackdown on pro-Palestine student protests in US campuses and deportation of two Indian students, Ranjani Srinivasan and Badar Khan Suri. Dhanya says, “Ranjani insisted that she was not a huge part of the protest, but Indian newspapers had already labeled her a Hamas supporter”.
As the panel draws parallels between what is happening in the US and the clampdown on student protests in India, Manisha says: “I always thought that in American universities, despite their issues, there was a certain freedom to voice your opinions. For that to go away is quite something to see."
Abhinandan then moves to discussing if the concept of patriotism can be considered primitive. He says: “Patriotism is love for your country, but your country may be pursuing values based on whichever government is in power. And that value system may not align with yours.” As the panel debates what it means to be a patriot, Seema adds, “True patriotism should be about wanting better lives for fellow citizens, not blind devotion to the government."
The panelists then talk about how the English news media gets to set the narrative in India. On regional media’s limited influence compared to its English counterpart, Manisha says: "English newspapers still have an outsized influence because bureaucrats, judges, and policy-makers read them”. However, English news channels, she points out, “are losing relevance”. “Politicians now prefer giving interviews to local YouTubers and regional media because that’s where the numbers and voters are”.
This and a lot more. Tune in!
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Timecodes
00:00:00 – Introductions and announcements
00:04:26 – Headlines
00:21:16 – US campus crackdown
00:34:40 –Defining patriotism
00:46:48 – English media’s dominance
01:08:55 - Letters
01:44:02 - Recommendations
Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters
Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra, Ashish Anand, and Anil Kumar.
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Hafta 590: The Norway question that shook Modi’s tour and Press Freedom
01:32:29|This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Anand Vardhan are joined by Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Affairs Editor at The Hindu.In this week’s episode, the discussion moves from PM Modi’s Europe tour, particularly his visit to Norway, to press freedom. Suhasini Haidar, who was present at the venue in Oslo, describes how shocked Norwegian journalists were to learn that the Indian Prime Minister would not be taking questions at all. She says, “We have so normalised in the Indian media this idea that the prime minister doesn’t take unscripted questions, that we didn’t even clock how big a deal it was for Europeans.”Haidar criticises the way the focus shifts to attacking the reporter’s background, ideology, and even personal life, rather than engaging with the issue she raised.“The focus became about that journalist — who she is, what her background is, where she goes on vacation. It’s not about the question anymore. It is about the fact that the prime minister does not take unscripted questions.”Abhinandan Sekhri points out how deeply normalised this culture has become in India. “It is so alien to journalists outside India. They are shocked at the kind of barrage and abuse that follows a simple question,” he remarks while discussing the online trolling and threats directed at the Norwegian journalist after the incident.Manisha Pande argues that the government’s response to the controversy reveals how deeply political communication in India is driven by headline management rather than accountability. She adds, “The focus is so much on controlling the headlines, which you've managed to do in India so well that that is all your focus, and you've been unable to do it with the world media, so you don't get it. Like, why are these guys asking us questions? But I think this basic understanding that the world is not going to bend in the way that the Indian media has to you, large parts of it, many are free, but a large part of the loud primetime segment has completely given in to you.”All this and more.Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters.Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Ashish . Sound by Anil Kumar.
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17:30|This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Rinchen Norbu and Raman Kirpal are joined by business journalist Govindraj Ethiraj and Anushka Saxena, a researcher from the Takshashila Institution.Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters.Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Ashish . Sound by Anil Kumar.
Chota Hafta 588
15:13|This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Anand Vardhan are joined by senior journalist Aunindyo Chakravarty and The Hindu resident editor Varghese K George.The panel begins with what the recent poll results mean and if traditional election analysis is even equipped to understand the playing field. Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters.Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Sourav. Sound by Anil Kumar.
Chota Hafta 587
20:58|This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri and Manisha Pande are joined by Anupam Manur, professor of economics at the Takshashila Institute, and former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa.Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters.Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Sourav. Sound by Anil Kumar
Chota Hafta 586
19:12|This week on Hafta, Manisha Pande and Anand Vardhan are joined by Pooja Prasanna of The News Minute and Sobhana K Nair, senior deputy editor of The Hindu. The panel focuses sharply on the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, and the contentious issue of delimitation.Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters.Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Sourav. Sound by Naresh
Chota Hafta 585
17:08|This week on Hafta, Manisha Pande and Raman Kirpal are joined by Anuradha Nagaraj, founder of The Migration Story, and Arghya Sengupta, Founder and Research Director at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters.Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Sourav and Abhay Kumar. Sound by Anil Kumar
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18:20|This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, and Anand Vardhan are joined by Bashir Ali Abbas, Research Associate at Council for Strategic and Defence Research (CSDR) and Amit Kumar, executive editor of East Mojo. Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters.Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Sourav and Abhay Kumar. Sound by Anil Kumar
Chota Hafta 583
15:07|This week on Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, and Shardool Katyayan are joined by senior journalist Sreenivasan Jain and Dhanya Rajendran, editor-in-chief of The News Minute. The panel dives into the high-stakes 2026 assembly elections across Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry. Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters.Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Priyali Dhingra and Abhay Kumar. Sound by Anil Kumar
Chota Hafta 582
01:44:30|This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Jayashree Arunachalam, and Manisha Pande are joined by The New York Times journalist Mujib Mashal and Aishwaria Sonavane, research analyst for Pakistan studies at the Takshashila Institution.Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters.Produced by Amit Pandey with production assistance from Priyali Dhingra and Abhay Kumar. Sound by Anil Kumar