A Review of #NLHafta from Aditya Baliga and Ankur Poddar

Hey guys,

big hello from Germany ! Before, going forward with the email please note that you are not allowed to reveal my identity. You can reveal the email if you like but not my name. 

I don’t generally write to news organisation but there are some things which didn’t leave my mind and hence thought of writing it so i can forget about it. and plus it may give you some thinks to think about.

First and foremost, about the discussion that happened about Mumbai and way Mumbaikars react to policy decisions or the lack of reaction compared to other parts of the country or Delhi to be precise.  It is true to certain extent but somehow i didn’t agree with the reasons for it. Here is my take – the fact that most people in Mumbai are outsiders, makes them not take ACTIVE part in the civil discourse happening in Mumbai. Hence the lack of apathy and lack of action. When  a large section of the city is outsider, and on top of it also made to feel like an outsider sometimes – he or she is bound to not care about the city. This is seen not just in politics but also in cleanliness.

I feel, we Indians (as a country) are anyways not too inclined to be active in fulfilling our civic duties. And this quality is taken to new heights in Mumbai. Which is true nature of Mumbaikars – take anything that the country does and take it to new heights 🙂 

Said that, Mumbaikars do participate in civic discourse, attimes it doesnt relate to them directly. As can be seen from these 2 links which show donations to APP. If you see the first map, the areas contributing highest donations (in maroon) apart from Delhi is Mumbai.

http://www.aaptrends.com/reports/districtmap/

Anyways, coming to newslaundary. I was a subscriber and need to renew. 

You guys need to shorten your podcast or make it crisp. 1 hour is lot of time to listen to a podcast which covers discussion on 4-5 news items. I would really like it to be 20 min like Jon Stewart show. i am sure you are taking lot of inspiration from him. I dont know how this can be done. Though it is fun and informative to listen to you guys talk about various issues , i wish the podcast was crisp and to the point. May be worth exploring editing and putting a shorter version for someone who wants to listen to only views and not other gossip – although some may not like it coz the informal nature of the podcast is also an appeal – a friendly conversation / debate among friends is music to ears compared to other debates on TV. Or you can experiment with publishing a Transcript to the podcast which can be read much quicker. 

if you are getting too much hate mail, then may be put comments section only for subscribers. or a filter wherein if someone has to add an expletive in their comment, they will have to pay one ruppe for their feedback to be displayed. Agar gaali sunni hi hain to sunneke thode paise bhi kama lo 🙂 On that, there should be a penny jar to which Abhinandad should contribute every time he uses an expletive. In case you want to viewed professionally i think this needs to stop or used when its absolutely required – case if point when jon stewart sings a choir ” go fuck yourself” check here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/21/stewart-fires-back-at-fox_n_545746.html

the bottom line is – comedians use expletives tht too to stress a point, journalist don’t 🙂 

apart from few minor things, you are doing great and i am hopeful of the future of newslaundary. 

best,
Mr. X

Hafta Team,

Long time subscriber here!

I really enjoy the Hafta and is a compulsory listen for me on Saturday mornings.

Although, all your episodes are fun, informative and help me build my perspective, they are mostly about grim topics. It’s mostly about a tragedy or an injustice or some institution which has been compromised and we can’t trust any more. I guess depressing news is more shocking and hence sells more or probably has a greater stickiness factor. Or I don’t know if it’s just our society has become such; that there is more bad news going around than good (my experience seems to suggest so).

And so, for your 100th episode, I’d like you and probably few of your well wishers/favourite guests to discuss what makes you happy about being Indian, what gives you hope about India and what is your idea of the ideal India. I know this topic can lend itself to a lot of cheesiness and corniness, but I guess sometimes it might be worthwhile to remind ourselves that this is a good place or might be a good place. I need some cheering up, this country needs some cheering up! I hope the 100th episode will cheer us up.

Thanks, All the best! May you have many many more hundreds!!
Aditya

Hi to the Newslaundry Team,

I can proudly say that I am no longer a MUFATKHOR as I just subscribed a couple of weeks back. I have been listening to NL Hafta (and now even to The Aweful and Awesome Entertainment Wrap, don’t find Just Sports too appealing as it talks mainly about Football where I have no interest). Even though I find so many issues with the views expressed in Hafta, I finally subscribed mainly due to the fact that I like people who don’t just criticize but actually try to fix things that are wrong, and you are the only decent news source that is actually trying to fix the way media works. Wish you all the best.

While I may not be as learned as many of your subscribers (am just a CA & MBA in a regular Corporate job). I do have certain things to point out about the Hafta, which I feel maybe useful.

Firstly, I think the best thing you guys have done is asking guests to join in. It has been a revelation and has taken the quality of your podcast a few notches higher. I had a very low opinion of Mr. Chetan Bhagat (based on his writings and some public rants) but listening to him on Hafta actually completely changed my opinion of him. He does talk a lot of sense. And I was so fascinated by Kanchan Da (He is the only person on NL Hafta with whom I agreed 100%, Ranga uncle comes close but not quite there). I found his views so logical, and some would be unpopular, but very logical. Please keep this up. However, even if the HAFTA drags a little longer, I don’t mind it, but request Abhinandan to not follow in the footsteps of Mr. Arnab Goswami and cut off guests midway and impose his own view on them.

Regarding suggestions for the 100th episode, I think the suggestion of critiquing yourselves is a fantastic suggestion from one of your listeners. Because you guys really need that. The last Hafta left such a bad taste in my mouth because here’s what I think of you now. While you are trying to do a great thing by trying to make news independent, but you are very much like armchair critics who have very opinionated views and who are not at all open to criticism (BTW, I googled what is the word for such people and the first result that came up was POMPOUS ASS :). When someone felt that you are ELITISTS, you spent almost 10 minutes trying to justify why you are not. I think only of you just brushed it aside by saying “Everyone has a right to their viewpoint. Don’t remember but I think it was one of the young females – Manisha / Dipanjana. What made matters worse was that till the end of the episode, the word elitist featured in almost every other sentence. Guys, grow up.

Lastly, I have been listening to all the criticism of demonetization, including the ones on your show, especially about the mismanagement. And I think that everyone is being too hasty in criticizing a Govt, which in my opinion is the first, which is at least trying to do something good. And in my opinion, criticizing is the easiest thing to do in the world, the reason I support Modi is the same as why I support Newslaundry, at least he is trying to do something about it. And regarding the mismanagement, well, managing such a huge thing cannot be easy, the least we can do is give him some time. I mean, you guys haven’t been able to fix your payment gateway in 4 years, and are expecting him to fix a corrupt nation in 2 weeks??? (Aside from this, I subscribed and received a payment confirmation from NL, but I am not able to login since today morning). So you see, criticizing is easy but doing things is difficult. If you can’t get your payment and website to work smoothly, even after 4 years, imagine the difficulty of managing this whole move, especially since it had to be managed only by a handful of 10-11 people till it was announced. So, lets not be too hasty in judgeing. Let’s give him some time and see how it goes before doing what is easy – criticizing.

Regards,
Ankur Poddar