MxMIndia

Tag: Newslaundry.com

  • Earlier we could stand up to dangerous directives and coercion, now we apparently cannot, rues Ranjona Banerji

    Destruction by the Bulldozer

     

     

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Ranjona BanerjiHow has the Indian media reacted to the biggest attacks on it since the Emergency?

    In the totally expected manner.

    Some associations have issued strong statements.

    The President of the Press Club of India Umakant Lakhera said at a meeting in Delhi on Monday that a “multi-pronged attack on the press is currently underway”.

    Other associations who were part of this meeting were the Editors Guild of India, Indian Women’s Press Corps, Press Association, Delhi Union of Journalists, Digipub News India Foundation and Working News Cameramen’s Association. Most of these associations are Delhi-based. Statements have been issued from other parts of the country as well.

    https://scroll.in/latest/1027559/multi-pronged-attack-on-media-is-underway-says-press-club-of-india-chief

    https://thewire.in/media/ominous-signal-journalists-cases-raids-chilling-effect-media

    https://www.newslaundry.com/2022/07/04/press-meet-on-zubairs-arrest-why-journalists-need-more-than-just-shows-of-solidarity

    However, as the article from newslaundry.com shows, there are questions to be asked. Is there more that can be done? Is everyone represented? Talk about legal aid needs to be followed up by action. Are owners doing enough? Is more public engagement required?

    For me, the biggest problem is that these are statements issued largely by print and digital journalists.

    Where are the TV anchors and TV editors who are responsible for most of the collapse of the image and practices of the Indian media?

    Where are the primetime anchors who push for hatred night after night? Who have no qualms about becoming public relations lackeys for the ruling party at the Centre? Are they bothered about how the arrests of Teesta Setalvad and Zubair Mohammed affect free and fearless journalism? Have Rahul Kanwal, Gaurav Sawant, Rahul Shivshankar, Navika Kumar, Anand Narasimhan, to name just a few, stood with their peers at a time like this? Are they even aware of the danger they pose to every other actual journalist in India?

    Probably not.

    Apart from a few mealymouthed apologies after the whole Nupur Sharma episode as well as after fake news about Rahul Gandhi was put out by Zee News, it has been business as usual on TV.

    And this where most of right-wing India gets its news from. This is where the ruling party spreads its divisive agenda. It knows that owners and editors are either fellow bigots or can be easily arm-twisted and manipulated.

    Do any of these statements make any difference to those large number of “news” mongers on the internet, who also pretend to be journalists, so that they can spread fake news and whip up hatred?

    “At no time in the past have we perhaps lived in such trying times, despite our tryst with the Emergency in the mid-1970s. Among the very many things that we find upsetting, what roils a sizeable section of us the most these days, is perhaps the perceived shrinking space for free speech.”

    This is from Ruben Banerjee’s just-released book, Editor Missing, which I have just started reading. Banerjee was until recently editor of Outlook Magazine and this book is about his experiences as a journalist. (More on the book in subsequent columns.)

    As this quote sums up, there is some agreement on where we are. But there is no agreement on what can be done about it.

    We have all been in difficult work situations. There has always been pressure from government and from Big Money. Many of us have been at loggerheads with editors and owners before. The problem is the frequency of conflict and increasingly, the lack of conflict and total acquiescence to pressure at the top of the newsroom. Earlier we could stand up to dangerous directives and coercion. Now we apparently cannot.

    Further, as long as we do not get a substantial number of India’s journalists – across all platforms – under one roof to honestly talk about what is actually going on, all these statements will be echo-chamber speak.

    Journalist Cyril Sam, who tracks the media, made another important point on Twitter: That a lot of senior editors and old people talking to each other will not work either. Get the young journalists involved. Talk to reporters on the ground about what they go through.

    I would add to this. Address how they are manipulated by their newsroom seniors to ditch their journalistic idealism and run after bulldozers. Or even worse, those who believe their job is celebrating the destruction by the bulldozer.

    We can’t stop talking.

    But we have to agree that talking is no longer enough.

     

    Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal

     

  • MxM India spoke to veteran journalist Madhu Trehan, NewsLaundry.com, a website that attempts to critque the media

    Madhu Trehan & Co to show journos the mirror with Newslaundry.com

    By Shruti Pushkarna

     

    With the ‘want to turn the mirror’ on themselves, the latest offering from the world of news is the launch of a website called Newslaundry.com. With their unique and explicit tagline, ‘Newslaundry – sab ki dhulai’, the agenda is set from the very beginning. A website which will work as the media’s watchdog.

     

    The site was launched on February 6 and is the brainchild of one of the pioneers of modern-day news journalism in the country: Madhu Trehan. Ms Trehan founded Newstrack, a video news offering, and newsmagazine India Today.

     

    The website has been launched with a four-member team and a few others on board. Abhinandan Sekhri, one of the founding partners told MxMIndia: “Newslaundry founders are Madhu Trehan, Prashant Sareen, Roopak Kapoor and Abhinandan Sekhri. We have three in-house writers, other than the founders. We have video editors, production people and directors.”

     

    So why did Ms Trehan start this? What did she have in mind before she launched Newslaundry? We have the answer from the lady herself. Madhu Trehan told MxMIndia: “It evolved between my partners – Abhinandan Sehkri, Prashant Sareen and Roopak Kapoor. I have always enjoyed creating a product that doesn’t exist. That happened when I started India Today. The leading magazine at that time was The Illustrated Weekly, which belonged to a dated post colonial time. Newstrack was developed because there was no television news other than Doordarshan. Newslaundry is a product which is not a clone of any other website in the world. The nature of it creates a new space.”

    So, could she not have done a similar media analysis show on mainstream television instead of doing it online? Ms Trehan was candid in her reply when she said: “It is because we did a media analysis that showed a channel is a losing proposition, so we chose to go online.”

     

    However, Mr Abhinandan Sekhri indicated that they did try and go the television way at first: “We did try. We mentioned such a show to various TV channels but they were not ready to put it on their own channel. Also we have so many ideas and so many shows we want to make, and no channel will give us that kind of time. Besides, this is the future. The new irreverent generation consumes media online through mobile devices. Sooner than you think, more people will be consuming media in the online space than conventional TV/magazine. Time will tell which ones work better than others but one thing is for sure – there has to be a change in how we tell our contemporary political and social narratives. News has to be more than it is right now.”

     

    On whether there is space for such a media website, Sevanti Ninan, Editor, The Hoot, commented: “Yes, there is. There is so much media and so little media watch. There is room for more entrants in this space.”

     

    Ms Ninan echoed Mr Sekhri’s views on how no television channel is open to self-criticism. “Where is the mainstream TV channel which is willing to carry criticism of itself and its peers?”

    Even though slowinternet speeds could be hurdle in an uninterrupted visual experience online, Ms Ninan is sure that the site will ‘click’ with viewers. She said: “Journalists love gossip. I think Newslaundry.com will click with them, particularly on account of the interviews with media biggies. What Barkha Dutt or Karan Thapar or Vinod Mehta say will give them something to gossip about. The interviews are a strong point.”

     

    Ms Trehan believes the website will work because “it answers a need that is not fulfilled yet.” In fact Ms Trehan seemed confident of the differentiating factors that NewsLaundry brings to the table. She said: “The difference is that we are combining all of today’s technologies. We have text articles called Criticles. We have what we call Washboards; these are a combination of text, videos and links. We have TV shows webcast. We have cartoons. You cannot do all that on a TV channel. We have the freedom to be far more irreverent. Mainstream TV does not make journalists or journalism accountable. That’s what we aim to do. We ourselves are open to being accountable.”

     

    On being asked on the revenue channels for the website, Ms Trehan replied that they expect revenues from the usual places. As for now, there are partnerships on with Google (and YouTube). Mr Sekhri added: “Advertising is the obvious immediate way, but in future, this space is going to change dramatically with podcasts and apps. And if anyone wants to put it on air on their channel, we’re more than happy to. We think stuff like this should be on TV too. Being able to take a dig at yourself is a sign of self-confidence which news channels need to have. And if anyone wants to pay us coz they think we deserve it, write in your cheques. Online is the future.”