NL Hafta

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, and Shardool Katyayan are joined by The Hindu’s diplomatic affairs editor Suhasini Haider, The News Minute’s Pooja Prasanna, and filmmaker Hansal Mehta.Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, and Jayashree Arunachalam are joined by former Executive Director, Air India, Jitendra Bhargava, and Executive Editor of The Frontier Manipur, Paojel Choaba. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Jayashree Arunachalam, Shardool Katyayan and Raman Kirpal are joined by Aditya Ramanathan, geopolitical expert research analyst at The Takshashila Institution.Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Jayashree Arunachalam, and Raman Kirpal are joined by Washington Post’s Jerusalem Bureau Chief Gerry Shih and journalist and author Jyotsna Mohan.The conversation spans global and domestic developments, with a focus on the Israel-Gaza conflict and the legacy of Indian journalism.Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Jayashree Arunachalam, Raman Kirpal and Shardool Katyayan are joined by senior journalist and CGNet Swara’s co-founder Shubhranshu Choudhary.We start with a discussion on the killing of 27 suspected Maoists in Chhattisgarh this week and analyse if the Maoist movement in the state has declined. Shubhranshu says, “We don’t agree with the strategy, but it is hugely successful… This war has been won by the Bastariyas (residents of Bastar) themselves who gave information.”However, he warns that unresolved issues like mining and lack of development could reignite tensions, asking, “What will be our development policy? That will determine whether Maoism will be dead.”Jayashree raises concerns about the accuracy of government claims, questioning, “Should we be more suspicious when the government says it’s killed dozens of Maoists?” She highlights the lack of judicial scrutiny in encounters, citing, “I think of thousands of encounters that have happened in Bastar in the last 25 years. There’ve only been two judicial inquiries.”Abhinandan adds, “There’s an overlap of mining interests in media interests – even in ownership,” and Manisha stresses on political representation for a better future for Bastar’s residents. “If militants in the Northeast can join the BJP, why not here? Political representation matters. It gives people real options.”This and a lot more. Tune in!We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. Song: Blowing in the windTimecodes00:00:00 – Introductions 00:06:51 – Headlines 00:16:59 - Operation Black Forest01:13:52 – Letters01:36:04 – RecommendationsCheck out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters Produced by Priyali Dhingra.Recorded by Hassan Bilal and Anil Kumar. Production assistance by Ankit Raj. This episode is outside of the paywall for now. Before it goes behind the paywall, why not subscribe? Get brand-new episodes of all our podcasts every week, while also doing your bit to support independent media. Click here to subscribe.

In this special episode of NL Hafta, Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal, Anand Vardhan and Jayashree Arunachalam catch up on all the letters – over 45 of them – that we’ve received from subscribers.Hafta letters: India-Pakistan, podcast ideas, team feedback, thoughts on patriotismWe have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. Timecodes00:00:00 - Introductions00:02:30 - Subscriber letters01:41:30 - RecommendationsRecommendationsAbhinandanCapitalism and Its Critics: A History: From the Industrial Revolution to AIIs Trump Losing? A Debate | The Ezra Klein ShowRamanThe Way I See ItAmerican Manhunt: Osama bin LadenManishaDying For SexAnand Nehru's First Recruits by Kallol Bhattacharjee Jayashree Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green ZoneProduced by Ashish Anand and Hassan Bilal; recorded by Anil Kumar. ​​This episode is outside of the paywall for now. Before it goes behind the paywall, why not subscribe? Get brand-new episodes of all our podcasts every week, while also doing your bit to support independent media. Click here to subscribe.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, and Anand Vardhan are joined by The Hindu’s Dinakar Peri, who covers defense and strategic affairs.The episode opens with a discussion on the India-Pakistan military escalation, focusing on both the media narrative and strategic implications of the recent strikes.Critiquing Indian news media’s coverage of the conflict, Manisha says, “In the middle of operations… the Army… was putting out fact checks, contrary to what these channels were doing.” She underscores how the media acted counter to national interest. “PSYOPs are directed at enemies. They're not directed at your own people drowning them down in misinformation.”Responding to a few journalists' arguments that the ‘misinformation’ was part of India’s warfare, Abhinandan adds, “It suddenly appears that it is somehow a journalist's job… to become cheerleaders for the military.”Dinakar, speaking as a defense journalist, emphasises how this hinders real reporting, “Nowadays, the bigger part of journalists is to actually defer the real news from the fake news… You spend a lot of time trying to find what is correct… because social media goes to a different level.”Anand adds, “Even if you are pedaling falsehoods, you have to look serious… If you are doing it in a melodramatic tone… no one is going to take you seriously.”The panel agrees that much of the media coverage undermined India's credibility. As Abhinandan puts it, “If you cannot trust them at war time, why should you trust them in peace time?”The conversation then shifts to military strategy and diplomacy. Dinakar says, “From a military sense, it kind of sets up a threshold… a differential between the two countries in terms of military symmetry.” Anand sees strategic gains for India, “One obvious gain… it has called out Pakistan’s nuclear bluff… and it’s a good advertisement for India’s weapons set.”This and a lot more. Tune in!We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. Timecodes00:00:00 – Introductions 00:05:26 – Headlines 00:12:26 - Journalism and conflict00:33:28 – Breaking down the 5 days of conflict01:11:56 - Special AD break01:14:06 – Letters01:25:42– RecommendationsCheck out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra and Ashish Anand. This episode is outside of the paywall for now. Before it goes behind the paywall, why not subscribe? Get brand-new episodes of all our podcasts every week, while also doing your bit to support independent media. Click here to subscribe.

In a special episode for Press Freedom Day, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande and Jayashree Arunachalam, are joined by historian and author Ramachandra Guha. The panel begins with a discussion on the history of press freedom in India. Ram reflects on the similarities and differences between 1975’s Emergency and today.  “The Modi regime has gone farther than Indira’s regime by weaponising agencies in a much more systematic and planned way.” Commenting on the ‘downfall’ of mainstream media, Manisha adds, “The sheer anti-people quality of the media, painting minorities as threats, is relentless and unprecedented.”The panel discusses the history of violence in Kashmir and the attacks on Kashmiris across India after the Pahalgam terror attack. “One word from Modi and it would have stopped,” says Ram. Jayashree notes, “People are very happy to believe the worst qualities about Muslims and Kashmiris right now, and the media is feeding into it.”This and a lot more. Tune in!We have a page for subscribers to send letters to our shows. If you want to write to Hafta, click here. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. Contribute to our latest NL Sena here.Timecodes00:00:00 – Introductions 00:02:08 - Special Press Freedom Week offer00:03:43 – Headlines 00:10:16 - Press freedom in India00:49:04 – Understanding the Kashmir conflict01:14:37 – Ramachandra Guha’s recommendations01:16:51  – Letters01:29:16 – RecommendationsCheck out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra and Ashish Anand. This episode is outside of the paywall for now. Before it goes behind the paywall, why not subscribe? Get brand-new episodes of all our podcasts every week, while also doing your bit to support independent media. Click here to subscribe.