NL Interview: Amit Varma on being a longform podcaster in an age of five-minute attention spans

In this episode of NL Recess, writer and host of the podcast The Seen and the Unseen Amit Varma joins Chitranshu Tewari to talk about evolving media cultures and patterns in the digital space, the binaries of “bhakts” and “wokes”, and the difficult bracketing of Indian conservatism.

“All of us have moments where we have short attention spans, and moments where we want to sit down and engage to find something out,” he says. “The rest of the media ignores this, for all kinds of incentives. Like news television, which is a mile wider and an inch deep.”

On what he’s learned about the relationship between creators, platforms and their intermediaries, Amit says creators don’t actually need a platform to reach their intermediaries.

“They can now directly go to their audiences and make money,” he says. “Everybody who reads Newslaundry, or listens to The Seen and the Unseen, is paying a price. They do it because they value the work and are happy to share some of that value with us – irrespective of the intermediaries.”

Amit talks about why his episodes with Vir Sanghvi and Barkha Dutt did not reference the Niira Radia tapes controversy, and also explains his elaborate research process. Bonus: He also says how many millions it’ll take for him to allow Spotify to take over his podcast as an exclusive.

Watch.

Text by Rounak Bhat.

Listen to the conversation here.

Show notes

1. Understanding Gandhi. Part 1: Mohandas — Ep 104 of The Seen and the Unseen.

2. Building a Second Brain — Tiago Forte.

3. Roam Research — Note-taking app.

4. The Importance of Data Journalism — Ep 196 of The Seen and the Unseen.

5. The Moving Curve — Rukmini S’s podcast.

6. Whole Numbers and Half-Truths: What Data Can and Cannot Tell Us About Modern India — Rukmini S.

7. Born a Muslim — Ghazala Wahab.

8. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Ep 254 of The Seen and the Unseen.

9. Kashmir and Article 370 — Ep 134 of The Seen and the Unseen.

10. Citizenship Battles — Ep 152 of The Seen and the Unseen.

11. The Life and Times of Vir Sanghvi — Ep 236 of The Seen and the Unseen.

12. The Barkha Dutt Files — Ep 243 of The Seen and the Unseen.

13. A Rude Life — Vir Sanghvi.

14. Taking Stock of Our Economy — Ep 227 of The Seen and the Unseen.

15. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted — Ep 200 of The Seen and the Unseen.

16. Range Rover: India Uncut — Amit Varma.

17. The Progress of Humanity — Ep 101 of The Seen and the Unseen.

18. The Evolution of Everything — Ep 96 of The Seen and the Unseen.

19. The Three Languages of Politics: Talking Across the Political Divides — Arnold Kling.

20. The Intellectual Foundations of Hindutva — Ep 115 of The Seen and the Unseen.

21. Where Are The Conservative Intellectuals in India — Ramchandra Guha.

22. The Paradox of Narendra Modi — Ep 102 of The Seen and the Unseen.

23. Modi’s Lost Opportunity — Ep 119 of The Seen and the Unseen.

24. A Life in Indian Politics — Ep 149 of The Seen and the Unseen.

25. Cities and Citizens — Ep 198 of The Seen and the Unseen.