A review of NL Hafta by Aj Parikh and Amar Akshat

Hi Newslaundry Team,

Since Newslaundry was started to do a laundry of news channels, it would be fun to see if you guys can do a series on TV news channels. You guys can pick up one news channel per week. I know Manisha has been doing Newsance which is sort of a dhulai but a deep dive on one individual channel would be fun as well. Or spare like 10-15 min during Hafta just to discuss one channel/newspaper/website.

There can be a series on

1. Newspapers (major newspapers like Hindu, Hindustan Times)

2. Just Online News Portals (Scroll, The Wire, Quint)

3. YouTube News portals (Lallantop)

It might be a good exercise for your team and good learning for us subscribers. It can be similar to how your team did a series on just Consti-tuition.

Keep doing the awesome work and keep bringing your Hafta superstars (Saurabh, Hartosh, Josy, Manu) regularly 🙂

Regards,

Aj Parikh

***

I’ve always been curious about the “sources”, “सूत्रों के हवाले”, “विश्वसनीय सूत्र”, all the reporters and news channels often claim to be getting their information from. It would particularly helpful if you could have Madhu or Abhinandan comment on the life-cycle of these sources, how are they cultivated, what are the motivations (negative or positive, for example blackmail vs reward) behind anyone being a source?

What prevents a news professional from saying, that they got XYZ news from a reliable source deep within the government, and cause havoc (even if its for a little while).

Also in a bigger picture, I think these news professionals who cultivate sources from within the government are contributing to the “Lutyens” cult of media. A well connected news professional like Shekhar Gupta, has an advantage over someone who has recently stepped into the profession of journalism. This also allows governments to seed certain ideas into society without any accountability.

Do you think a whistleblower or media-critique organisation like NewsLaundary should lead an effort in putting accountability to the whole business of “sources”? Having a formal legislation which establishes the disclosure of source and validity of claims as basic principles of journalism.

[About Me: I’m a recent subscriber of NL, had been enjoying all these podcasts on Spotify for free, Based in London, Full Name: Amar Akshat.

Big fan of Anand’s articulation, his observations & statements have contributed to my vocabulary a big deal.]

Amar Akshat