Newslaundry Podcast

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, and Shardool Katyayan are joined by Akshay Bhambri, doctoral fellow at the Institute for Chinese Studies, Harvard Yenching Institute, and Sumeet Mhaskar, professor at OP Jindal Global University. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Jayashree Arunachalam, and Anand Vardhan are joined by economist and author Vivek Kaul and sports journalist Sharda Ugra. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal, and Shardool Katyayan are joined by Faizan Mustafa, legal scholar and VC of Chanakya National Law University, Patna, and Anuradha M Chenoy, former dean of JNU’s School of International Affairs. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, and Jayashree Arunachalam are joined by Priya Sahgal, editorial director at NewsX, Jasmine Damkewala, advocate on record in the Supreme Court, and senior journalist Hridayesh Joshi.The episode opens with a discussion on the opposition’s protest against the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar. Priya states that when the opposition sets aside its differences, it can make an impact. “The fact that everybody came together, even the AAP, even though they're not part of the India Block itself, also showed there is unity. When the opposition comes in full strength, they can make an impact and a difference,” she says. Referring to Rahul Gandhi’s press conference on alleged voter fraud, Manisha notes how it is unusual for a political party to assume the role traditionally played by the media. “However journalistically sound it may be or not be, it’s still striking that political parties today also have to do the media’s job of star

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Manisha Pande, Jayashree Arunachalam, and Shardool Katyayan are joined by Nitin Pai, co-founder and director of The Takshashila Institution, and senior journalist Hridayesh Joshi from Uttarkashi. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande and Raman Kirpal are joined by Udit Misra from The Indian Express and independent journalist Sanjeev Srivastava. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Anand Vardhan, Raman Kirpal, and Jayashree Arunachalam are joined by MK Venu, Founding Editor of The Wire, and award-winning investigative journalist and author Josy Joseph.Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Manisha Pande, Raman Kirpal, and Shardool Katyayan are joined by University of Michigan’s Associate Professor Joyojeet Pal and senior journalist Radhika Ramaseshan. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Jayashree Arunachalam, Anand Vardhan, and Shardool Katyayan are joined by election analyst and researcher Amitabh Tiwari, along with historian and Newslaundry subscriber Swati Chawla.Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Manisha Pande, Jayashree Arunachalam and Raman Kirpal  are joined by writer and economist Vivek Kaul and environmental journalist Hridayesh Joshi. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Jayashree Arunachalam, Raman Kirpal and Anand Vardhan are joined by senior journalist Neerja Chowdhury, The News Minute’s editor-in-chief Dhanya Rajendran, and Newslaundry reporter Sumedha Mittal. Check out the Newslaundry store and flaunt your love for independent media. Download the Newslaundry app. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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

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

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

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

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 th

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.&nbs

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

This week on Hafta, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande, Jayashree Arunachalam and Shardool Katyayan are joined by retired Brigadier Kuldip Singh.In this tense news week, we begin by dissecting India’s Operation Sindoor and strikes on terror camps in Pakistan on May 7. “Neither side, particularly India, wants a full-scale war,” says Brigadier Singh, referring to past confrontations like the Uri and Balakot strikes. He adds, “This time, the strike is far greater in intensity and in the number of targets.”  Jayashree, acknowledging public sentiment but questioning the nature of response, says, “What we’re seeing right now feels more like muscle-flexing.”Shardool highlights how the United States and Western nations are responding differently to the current crisis compared to earlier years. “The U.S. is far less interested now…One reason is that they don’t need Pakistan the way they did before.”Manisha points out that Operation Sindoor marks a shift in the Indian government's st

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 pa