Peri Sai Teja
Respected NL team,
1) Like many others, I too am feeling that Hafta these days has just turned into an echo chamber with everyone basically agreeing with another like in the case of tariffs. Economic theory is ever evolving, and oftentimes what theory claims is opposite of the lived experiences of people. I look forward to such nuanced cross-questioning to be done by the guests too.
2) It shows that the Hindu Rashtra project has been fully funded by Rs 7.7 lakh with only one love-jihad story to show for it?!! Kindly address this.
3) Regarding NL Sena investigating police impunity. The Hindu has done a wonderful interview of retired IPS officer Prakash Singh to understand the police perspective. Many shades of grey were revealed. Why is NL not doing such interviews? I understand politicians in power would not want to be questioned, but outside of this there are many well-meaning honest individuals who are willing to engage. I miss the earlier I Agree series of NL.
Manan Shah
Hi Manisha and Abhinandan,
Because of Piyush Goyal’s remark on startups, there has been an outpouring of complaints against the government and government employees about issues faced by startups. From basic bribery to power supply disruption to unnecessary harassment – everything.
To me, through the constraints of my social media, it seems there’s enough proof and talks by so many startup founders, some very successful. This is an actual issue that everyone agrees on – what is the actual way of seeing any change? Like in the light of how things work in India, if a group of citizens want to solve this, what’s the most practical way of solving this? According to your experience, whatever you have seen in your journalistic experience.
Jin Kazama
Was slightly disappointed with the entire panel not knowing who Lex Friedman was. He is one of the few who has interviewed both Trump and Zelensky, and now Bal Narendra. Of course, he’s one of the many off-shoots of the Rogansphere but if we’re keeping an eye on US politics and the general zeitgeist, he is one of the key people.
I hope it’s not too harsh a feedback but it does appear that the panel still thinks the US mainstream media is expected to be the primary source of news. The reality is that, just like in India if we have to follow news, it’s the independent outlets that have more credibility, the same is the case in the US.
Just to drop a few names: Drop Site has done some stunning work (Israel recently killed their journalist in Gaza). Breaking Points is brilliant. Then there’s Zeteo (Mehdi Hasan). Channels like The Majority Report with Sam Seder are also much better than the traditional media there which is just partisan.
Just a suggestion :)
Unnati
Large gratitude for NL’s excellent journalism everyday. It’s been instrumental in shaping my politics and reflecting on the importance of independent media. Thanks to your thoughts, I’m an MBA student interested in journalism business models that uphold journalism’s mission – curious how you think about:
1) NL’s journalism mission. How does the business model solve for it? Where does it miss versus win?
2) How do you evaluate that mission served across different channels – website, YouTube, podcasts, etc?
2b) Reflect on the audience you see across the different channels – number, type, monetisation potential.
3) With subscription model, what is made easier to do, a pain-point, unchanged?
4) What other models appeal to you, especially to expand access to free news?
5) Is global audience a consideration, especially where willingness-to-pay is higher?
6) Money no bar – what are your dream projects for NL?
Aware that this is a lot, but I look forward to the reflection!
Purana Fauji Subscriber
Goa is being primed to be the next Manipur. There is rampant fear and hate-mongering against ‘outsiders’ being pushed by the Instagram handle ingoa24x7. While there are incidents of ‘misbehaviour’ by tourists and outsiders, this channel is singularly responsible for making locals very aggressive towards non-Goans. I have toured the state recently, and it is clear to see the anger when locals see a non-Goa registered vehicle or a black-numberplate (rental) vehicle. I am not saying there is NO problem – but this channel is clearly working towards a larger ‘goal’. See the comments section on ANY of their posts, and you’ll know what I’m saying.
Maybe this can be investigated.
Jayashree’s comments at 51:28 during Hafta 528 are so true – that we are ‘unsporting when we win and unsporting when we lose’. This attitude is what led to the Mhow (Indore) violence.
Insecurities of the masses is the vehicle.
Vatsal
I agree that Bollywood is using present sentiment to look at history and churn money with movies like Chhava but I think it is how the public and the media reacts particularly to movies that plays a major role. To be fair to the filmmaker, there is a disclaimer in Chhava that it is based on a novel and not historical records. Yet it has riled up emotions in this way which shows the state of popular imagination in India.
From a filmmaking perspective, I think a producer has a right to make an imaginative/fantastical story without much on historical accuracy once they have given the disclaimer. Think of a movie like 300. Everyone knows the Battle of Thermopylae was folklore, not history, and Persian King Xerxes was not a eight-foot tall god-like man dressed only in jewellery, or that the Spartan army had 300 men on TRT and steroids. But it just added to the tone of story and the screenplay, which should be taken for that purpose only.
We read out letters only from our subscribers, since they’re the ones who power our work. You can be one too. Click here.
Newslaundry is a reader-supported, ad-free, independent news outlet based out of New Delhi. Support their journalism, here.
