This year has been nothing short of extraordinary for Newslaundry. With a small but fiercely committed team, we’ve taken on powerful institutions, unearthed uncomfortable truths, and brought you stories that others wouldn’t dare to tell. It’s been a year of breaking barriers, challenging the status quo, and staying true to our mission of holding power to account.
Here are 10 stories that exemplify exactly that.
#1: Political funding
In February, Newslaundry and The News Minute collaborated for a groundbreaking investigation into the connections between companies being threatened with central agency action, and the very same companies ‘donating’ to political parties. The series revealed that at least 30 companies that donated Rs 335 crore to the BJP had faced scrutiny from central agencies.
It set the stage for what would become one of the biggest independent media investigations of the year, coming in strong at #2.
#2: Project Electoral Bond
Project Electoral Bond was a partnership between Newslaundry, The News Minute, Scroll and independent journalists to scrutinise the data dump on companies that bought electoral bonds, and the political parties that got them. In just three weeks, we published 42 stories, a body of work that the Global Investigative Journalism Network described as a “treasure trove of reporting”. We made it to their list of India’s best investigative stories of the year.
#3: The year of elections
Our resources are modest but our journalism is not. We covered elections across the country, from Maharashtra to Jharkhand, Haryana to Jammu & Kashmir, to the Lok Sabha polls that took us everywhere else. It was a nationwide journey to collate raw, unfiltered insight into India’s complex political landscape.
The highlight reel includes Sreenivasan Jain’s astonishing interview with Ajit Pawar, who told him Gautam Adani hosted the 2019 dinner where talks between the NCP and BJP took place. The story quickly made its way to the national media, allowing Newslaundry to set the tone for the election that followed.
There was Chintan Patel’s report card on six flagship schemes of the Modi government and how they’ve fared.
We also embarked on a startling investigation on ‘success stories’ collated by a government institute of farmers whose income had allegedly doubled under the Modi government. Except not all the farmers on that list said that was the case.
#4: The rot in the Malayalam film industry
In times of shortening attention spans and Instagram Reels, some might say it isn’t wise to publish lengthy stories that run into dozens of pages. But some stories need length to do them justice, and one such story this year was Nidhi Suresh’s meticulously reported story on the sexual assault case against actor Dileep. Spanning 11 chapters and 14,000 words, the story was picked up by news outlets across the world, including The New York Times, Al Jazeera and BBC.
#5: Investigating the NEET exam controversy
A shattering news event this year was the NEET exam controversy, which impacted thousands of students. From Bihar to Gujarat, our reporters hit the ground to investigate the truth behind ‘paper leaks’ and how the controversy is also about organised cheating. The result is students depressed, abandoned and disadvantaged. Read the entire series here.
#6: UP’s communal violence
In India in 2024, communal violence has become so everyday that it’s almost ignored. But we know that every incident must be reported, every story told. From Bahraich to Sambhal, our reporter Avdhesh Kumar sifted through truths and untruths on the ground to report on violence and its aftermath.
#7: Holding media to account
Ever since we began 12 years ago, we’ve committed to holding the media to account. And we kept our promise.
Tanishka Sodhi profiled Sanjay Pugalia, the man once known for championing liberal values and who then dramatically shifted gears to spearhead the campaign to take over NDTV.
Shivnarayan Rajpurohit profiled ANI, India’s biggest news distributor that’s now the government’s go-to partner for news. How did ANI get there? And why does it have ‘PR contracts’ with chief ministers? Read here.
#8: It’s always the environment that suffers
Three stories spotlight our commitment to reporting on the environment.
The first is how corporate greed is consistently favoured at the expense of the environment and the rights of the people who live there. Shivnarayan Rajpurohit reported on a scandal that many others in the media passed over – that an Adani coalmine in Chhattisgarh was given environmental clearance in blatant violation of the National Green Tribunal’s orders.
The second was in May, after 1,500 hectares of forests burned in Uttarakhand. Hridayesh Joshi learned that many forest ranges don’t have forest lines, and that there was no review of these lines since India got independence.
And the third was in Delhi, where the Yamuna choked, thanks to authorities attempting to ‘develop’ its floodplains.
#9: Patients and struggles for justice
Being sick is stressful enough. But being sick, sometimes losing a loved one, and learning it’s due to medical negligence is a horror that too many people in India have experienced. That’s why it was the focus of a series of investigations on medical negligence – patients and their families struggling to get justice. Reporting in Delhi, West Bengal, Kerala and Assam, we learned medical councils often fail patients in these cases, patients are chronically ignored, and they face a broken system of delays and bias.
#10: The fairness of elections in the world’s biggest democracy
And finally, our Broken Ballot investigation in December that uncovered a disturbing pattern of voter deletions during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, particularly in areas with significant opposition support. Sumedha Mittal found evidence of targeted removals in constituencies where the BJP won by narrow margins, raising serious questions about electoral fairness.
This year, we’ve shown what independent journalism can achieve. We’ve tackled tough stories, uncovered truths others ignored, and stood firm against pressure. But none of this happens in a vacuum. Our work relies entirely on you – our readers and viewers. We don’t take money from advertisers or corporations because we believe journalism should serve the public, not private interests.
This choice means we need your support. If you’ve found value in the stories we’ve told, if they’ve informed your perspective, sparked a conversation, or made you think differently about the world, consider subscribing to Newslaundry and The News Minute.
Your subscription directly funds the reporting that holds power accountable. It allows us to investigate, question, and report without fear or compromise. It’s not just about keeping the lights on, it’s about ensuring that important stories are told, and that truth has a platform, no matter how uncomfortable it might be for those in power.
When you support us, you’re not just backing a newsroom. You’re investing in the idea that journalism can be a force for transparency and change. Be part of that change. Subscribe today.
Newslaundry is a reader-supported, ad-free, independent news outlet based out of New Delhi. Support their journalism, here.
