A review of NL Hafta by Edgar, Manjari, Sania and Nikhil

Hello NL team,

In NL Hafta #231, Manisha said a single line (for which I thank her) on the 10 per cent customs duty on newsprint in the Budget by the government. TOI also had an article.

Background context

I’m the director of operations in a printing company in Dubai (one of our departments prints newspapers on demand). So while I might not know about the Indian industry, I do know a “little” bit about printing.

Print costing

Much of the direct cost producing anything in the printing industry lies the cost of paper (in some cases paper contributes up to 70-80 per cent of the direct cost—remember this stat).

With news consumption in digital increasing, printed newspaper numbers are dropping. India is not immune to this, nonetheless, India still has some decent printing numbers (nowhere close to the numbers in the past).

The number of people who depend on direct and indirect employment by these newspaper publishers is MASSIVE.

Newsprint paper is not a type of paper that is readily manufactured in India. India is a hub of manufacturing woodfree paper (the paper used for schoolbooks) but not newsprint. So, most of this newsprint paper is imported.

So, make a wild guess of what is going to happen to the direct costs when you add the 10 per cent duty? The ramifications will be nothing less than catastrophic.

Traditional news publishers will more less be looking at closure. Printing houses work on wafer thin margins and a couple of percent here or there can destroy printing companies. Ten per cent is suicide!

This decision is like asking an accident victim who is bleeding to donate blood for saving other lives. It’s just going to precipitate the onset of death faster for no real revenue benefit.

Regards

Edgar Theodore

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Hi Team Newslaundry,

Great work and content! Ground reports are great, podcasts and Newsance fun and informative. 

I had a couple of comments on Hafta 231.

– Anand clarified that he had given an explanation, not his opinion about the events at the swearing-in ceremony. I get that, BUT. Given that Hafta is positioned as a freewheeling discussion with a lot of opinions, maybe he can be more clear on what his opinions actually are or if he doesn’t have any on a topic. With the number of people ready to air their opinions, the default setting is to expect one.

– Anand mentioned that Zaira Wasim had previously alleged she was assaulted, and that turned out to be false. Others on the panel then agreed. Is that actually true? All I read online was that she had posted a video showed a “man’s foot … reaching between the seats from behind” her. And the man had said he was sleeping without malicious intent. I don’t think that translates to this being a false accusation. I could be missing facts since I don’t live in India, but please try to be clarify on insinuations made in general on the Hafta so we can figure out what is fun Hafta gossip vs indisputable journalistic facts. 

Also curious, do you have any idea why some of the subscribers do not want to be named? Can there be contractual clauses stopping them, or what?

Keep up the good work!

Manjari Jha

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Hi NL Team,

I am an on and off subscriber. The reason for this is that I’m a recent graduate, struggling to find employment. I don’t often have the money to support NL, but whenever I do, I make sure that I subscribe. I love listening to Hafta and while I may not always agree with Anand Vardhan, I admire and respect his knowledge. 

Some great ground reports/stories coming out from you guys; I’m always looking for nuanced pieces over the noise that the great Indian TV news has generated. 

Keep up the good work,

Sania Aziz Rahman

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Hi Team, 

My name is Nikhil and I am a big fan of your content. I am a finance professional and am currently running an education technology startup of my own. I come from a typical middle-class family in Delhi. I am the son of two government school teachers and have a younger brother. 

This mail is a thank you to all of you and the effort you put in making honest and verified content. I, for one, do believe that fair information is a rare commodity these days. But I do not blame the news channels. 

Running a business can be tough. It is, however, no excuse for compromising the very essence of the profession. 

I being an entrepreneur myself completely understand how tough it is to sustain without a funding source. 

I would like to contribute in some way to your cause. Being a private organisation, I don’t know if giving money to you is an option. But I would like to assist you in helping out to young college students to spread awareness about your channel. 

Anyway, after a long day of work, watching your videos is a refresher. Maybe this is a long shot. But if nothing else, take this as a token of thanks 🙂

And please keep up the good work. 

Best 

Nikhil Chainani