Reporters Without Orders

This week, host Dhanya Rajendran is joined by independent journalist Nidhi Suresh and The News Minute’s senior sub-editor Lakshmi Priya. Nidhi reported on the kidnapping and sexual assault of a Malayalam film actor by six men, allegedly orchestrated by another actor. The panel discussed how these events unfolded and their impact on both the regional film industry and society. They also delved into...

This week, host Pratyush Deep is joined by Newslaundry’s Avdhesh Kumar and Anmol Pritam. Anmol has been on the ground to cover the conditions in which three UPSC students died in a flooded basement library of the Rau’s IAS coaching centre in Delhi’s Karol Bagh. He gave a detailed account of how the tragedy unfolded, the subsequent blame game, and why Delhi’s coaching hub is more of a “business mod...

This week, host Sumedha Mittal is joined by the Wire’s Sukanya Shantha. Sukanya talks about her report on India’s prisons where prisoners were allotted work on the basis of their caste. She says that the Chief Justice of India eventually expressed concerns over the “most disturbing” practice and said he would direct the government to take action. She also delved into other such colonial rules that...

This week, host Basant Kumar is joined by Newslaundry ’s Sumedha Mittal and Shivnarayan Rajpurohit. Sumedha spoke about her report on how candidates from outside Gujarat picked centres in the state as part of an alleged NEET scam racket. She explained how NTA’s management failed as students from Odisha, Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh travelled to Gujarat and “wrote” the exam in Gu...

This week, host Tanishka Sodhi is joined by Newslaundry ’s Basant Kumar and Avdhesh Kumar. Basant reported on the modus operandi of gangs involved in the alleged NEET paper leak. He explains how an interstate nexus of government employees, coaching institutes, and other powerful forces orchestrate paper leaks. Avdhesh spoke to the kin and survivors of the Hathras stampede that claimed at least 121...

This week, host Shivnarayan Rajpurohit is joined by Newslaundry’s Tanishka Sodhi and the Hindu’s Ashna Butani. Tanishka talks about her deep-dive on Shubhash Chandra , Zee Media founder and former Rajya Sabha MP, and the shift in his stance on the central government. She explains why his recent remarks on the dip in India’s rank on the World Press Freedom Index and the SEBI’s investigation into hi...

This week, host Sumedha Mittal is joined by independent journalists Sunil Kashyap and Jatinder Kaur Tur.  Sunil spoke about his report on the Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha result and how the BJP workers’ overconfidence and ignorance led to the party’s seat loss. He said Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party’s “PDA card” – reaching out to the “ pichre ” or backward, Dalits, and “ alpashankhak ” or mino...

This week, host Tanishka Sodhi is joined by Newslaundry’s Avdhesh Kumar and independent journalists Alishan Jafri and Nidhi Suresh. The discussion begins as Alishan talks about his report on the sense of betrayal and anger felt by NEET aspirants after 67 students scored the top rank, in a “doubtful and faulty” result. The possibility of meritorious students making it to prestigious institutes stan...

This week, host Basant Kumar is joined by Newslaundry ’s Shivnarayan Rajpurohit and Prateek Goyal to dissect the fallout of exit polls on the stock market.   As the Lok Sabha results starkly contrasted the exit polls – most of which were bullish on the Narendra Modi-led BJP – the stock markets hit an all-time high and then crashed, between June 1 and June 4. The panel throws light on the...

This week, host Shivnarayan Rajpurohit is joined by Newslaundry’s Basant Kumar, Pratyush Deep, and Sumedha Mittal to discuss the coverage of the Lok Sabha elections and provide insights into the pulse of the people.  The conversation delves into the potential election outcomes across India, hot seats, political parties’ strategies, and campaign. They also discuss the grassroots mobilisation b...

This week, host Anmol Pritam is joined by Newslaundry ’s Avdhesh Kumar and Sumedha Mittal. Sumedha profiled Bansuri Swaraj , daughter of Sushma Swaraj and the BJP’s candidate from New Delhi constituency. She explains why the BJP chose not to field Meenakshi Lekhi, a two-time winner from the constituency, and how Bansuri has been trying to make herself relatable to voters despite a ‘nepotism’ narra...

This week, host Basant Kumar is joined by Newslaundry reporters Tanishka Sodhi and Anmol Pritam, who have been reporting on the ongoing Lok Sabha elections from ground zero.  Anmol talks about his experience of reporting from Bihar on the tussle between the BJP-led NDA and the INDIA alliance and the “ Nitish Kumar factor ”, which seems to be dying down. He also shed light on the state of affa...

This week, host Sumedha Mittal is joined by independent journalist Angad Singh. Formerly with Vice News , Angad was “blacklisted” by the Indian government over a documentary called India Burning , which he worked on as a production assistant. He talks about dealing with court cases after being accused by the central government of portraying India in a “negative” light. He says his OCI card was tak...

This week, host Shivnarayan Rajpurohit is joined by independent journalist Astha Savyasachi and The Mooknayak’s Arun Kumar Verma. Arun reported on the rise and fall of the Bahujan Samaj Party. He delves into the ups and downs of Mayawati’s political career and explains how the BSP became sidelined. He also talks about the new leadership with Mayawati's nephew Akash Anand and what changes are expec...

This week, host Basant Kumar is joined by independent journalist Rahul Singh. Rahul talks about his report on the shortcomings of the public distribution system in Jharkhand. He says despite the online mechanism, food security is poor in rural areas, and instead of helping, the system “is emerging as a hurdle” for the Adivasis. Basant reported on people falsely named as beneficiaries of the Krishi...

This week, host Tanishka Sodhi is joined by Shivnarayan Rajpurohit and The Quint’s Himanshi Dahiya. Shivnarayan talks about his profile of ANI and how it became the Modi government’s favourite media outlet. But the story isn’t that simple, he explains, because beyond ANI ’s dismal coverage of the opposition are a number of contracts that the agency has signed with state governments.  Himanshi...

This week, host Sumedha Mittal is joined by Newslaundry ’s Anmol Pritam and The News Minute’s Jahnavi. Jahnavi talks about her report on businessman P Sarath Chandra Reddy, accused-turned-approver in the Delhi liquor policy case. She says his firms bought electoral bonds worth Rs 55 crore, later encashed by the BJP, and also explains the ‘South Group’ connection to the case. Anmol was on the groun...

This week, host Pooja Prasanna is joined by the Ramnath Goenka awardees from Newslaundry and The News Minute , to talk about the four awards they won this year. While Ayush Tiwari and Basant Kumar won in the environment, science and technology category for the plunder of the Aravalli series, Hridayesh Joshi’s video report on arsenic in water triggering diseases in several villages, supported by th...

This week, host Tanishka Sodhi is joined by Newslaundry ’s Prateek Goyal and Basant Kumar. Both Prateek and Basant share their experience of investigating the patterns in political funding in India, and decoding the State Bank of India’s data dump on electoral bonds .  They discuss how they found out about “a very strange pattern” of donation to political parties, with some companies donating...

This week, host Basant Kumar is joined by Newslaundry’s Pratyush Deep. Pratyush reported on the Assam police increasing security and barricading in anticipation of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, which the government this week said it would soon implement. He says there’s a huge difference in intensity of protests between 2019 and 2024. But Basant points out the government laid the...

This week, host Tanishka Sodhi is joined by Newslaundry’s Pratyush Deep and The News Minute’s Nidharshana Raju. Pratyush reported on Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s media conglomerate, Pride East Entertainment, which is also the Northeast’s biggest media network. He delves into the hold of Sarma’s family on the media outlet and how its political leanings change as Sarma switches sides....

This week, host Sumedha Mittal is joined by Newslaundry’s Prateek Goyal and The News Minutes’s Korah Abraham. Prateek and Korah were part of Newslaundry and The News Minute ’s joint investigation on political funding. They found that in a five-year period, donations of nearly Rs 335 crore were made to the BJP by at least 30 companies that faced action by central agencies during that time period. T...

This week, host Basant Kumar is joined by Newslaundry ’s Aryan Mahtta and The Quint’s Fatima Khan. Fatima reported on Muslim vendors and delivery agents employed by online platforms that leave them vulnerable to discrimination and hate speech. She says bigots use technology as a tool to spread hate and fintech companies do nothing to stop them. To some people, she says, simply being a Muslim vendo...

This week, host Shivnarayan Rajpurohit is joined by Newslaundry ’s Avdhesh Kumar and Prashant Kumar. Avdhesh talks about his report on the ongoing farmers’ protest at Shambhu border in Haryana’s Ambala, where thousands of farmers have gathered to march to Delhi. He delves into the police crackdown on protesters, demands of the farmers, and why they are accusing the government of fooling them.&nbsp...

This week, host Sumedha Mittal is joined by Newslaundry ’s Tanishka Sodhi and The Caravan ’s Sagar. Tanishka reported on the push for Ram temple consecration celebrations by resident welfare associations in Delhi. She talks about the discriminatory policies practised by many RWAs, resulting in the isolation of non-Hindus.   Sagar talks about his reports on the Ram temple trust in Ayodhya...