Hello NL Team,

I must say I have been thinking about writing in with my comments on Hafta for a few weeks now. But what finally gave me the activation energy to draft this email was Hafta 110, which in my opinion, was the best Hafta so far (and yes, I have listened to all of them). However, the flip side is that it is going to be a long mail, now that I have crossed the activation energy threshold.

While I appreciate the contributions of the entire panel, I must say that it was Saurabh, who improved the quality of the discussion to a completely different level. I echo Anand’s observation that he gave a more comprehensive view of the Uttar Pradesh elections in 30 mins than most channels have even come close to, through the many weeks of their high-octane coverage.

I believe the failure of mainstream media is largely to do with anchors (I refuse to call them journalists, considering their more recent line of work) going in with pre-conceived, trite, tired notions of a particular place and bringing those pre-conceived notions (and their own agenda) into their discussions. I had always thought of journalists as ones who listen and report based on what they gleaned from their ground reporting; listening to Saurabh talk showed me that there are still a few such people keeping that kind of journalism alive. I must also add that I get the same impression every time I hear Manisha talk on Hafta with her well-considered, non-partisan viewpoints.

As a subscriber, I am happy to see that you have moved much more towards reporting in recent weeks, instead of just critiquing the role of the media. In fact, it’s been so good that I subscribed twice!

I do have a few basic questions though: What do you see as your role in the media landscape, beyond being an independent medium in this ad-driven industry? Do you want to hold up a mirror to society by exposing its ills? Or do you want to give a voice to the voiceless by doing stories others wouldn’t touch with a bargepole (no matter how high the newsworthiness)? Are you a medium to just assuage the guilt of the urban privileged (they can now feel better about themselves as you have sensitized them to the issues of the have-nots)? Or do you see yourself as a movement to better the world around us—in parts by exposing injustices, in parts by encouraging people to act, and sometimes, also by eliciting hope?

It is the last question that particularly interests me. This is because I sometimes find the discussions on Hafta too reactionary and pretty negative (often in response to the latest scandal(s) of the week). I don’t blame you because reacting to last week’s events is implicitly what Hafta is all about. However, I feel that in talk of crises and scandals and warring ideologies and a general impending sense of doom encouraged (if not created) by the media (news or otherwise), we often lose sight of how far we’ve come.

To give you an example, Anand recently tweeted about how the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in Kerala is lower now than 9 European countries. Why must this be tucked away in the backpages of a newspaper? Why can you not do a report, talking about the successes of the Kerala healthcare system and how it can be replicated in other states of India? Covering what is right with the world is almost as important as covering what is wrong—it gives people hope that the “human project” is moving towards something better; it gives an impetus to the those who are trying to make the world a better place by telling them that this is a world whose progress is worth fighting for. Amidst our everyday struggles and the endless conveyer belt of stupidity, backwardness, and even malice, it is important to not forget how far we’ve come. In the words of Bill Gates, “progress is sometimes hard to see…but for much of humanity, the world is better than it’s ever been.” I would also recommend looking at the graphs in that tweet, if you are ever feeling depressed about the state of the world.

Finally, I look forward to more insightful reporting, more eye-openingly informative discussions, and just all-round great work for you.

Cheers,
Deep

Dear NL Team,

Last weeks NL hafta 110 was really good. It was so good I heard it back to back twice and then again after a span of two days. Mazaa aa gaya !!

I am subscriber from Irvine, California and the truth is I no longer get to hear good hindi, something I crave. I loved Mr Dwivedi’s insight and his language was a delight. If possible, bring him on again. Please :).

Now moving on to the main purpose of my email.

Science Desk.

Abhinandan mentioned how a few world class scientists have gotten in touch with NL and a science desk is in the works. Full disclosure, I am not a world class scientist- but I am an earnest one. I would like to be a part of this effort if there is an opportunity available to me.

I have not done any popular science writing in the past but am eager to get started. There is a lot about science and the academic life that needs to be communicated.

A little about myself. I am a physicist by training. My Bachelor’s and Master’s are in Physics from Delhi University. My PhD is in Computational Biophysics from Ohio University in the States following which I joined the Neuroscience department at University of California, Irvine.

My own personal interest is in writing about the history of science, in particular about the contribution of unsung women scientists. Women who did formidable work in times gone by, times unanimously considered hostile to women. I think as a working woman today there is quite a bit to be learnt from stories that come from 30-40 years ago. Also world war 2 produced terrific scientists, something I would like to write about. Adversity honed their science and changed the course of their research in ways we have got to be grateful for.

In physics, there is the story Gordon Gould. As a PhD student, it struck him how- what was to be a Laser- could be made to work and coined the famous acronym. Lasers went on to change our world but Gould spent thirty eight years of his life fighting with the United States Patent and Trademark office to obtain a patent for laser and related technologies. In science things are not kosher, some people spend their entire academic life fighting for credit they rightly deserve.

Another story is one of Mirror Neurons (MN). The arch is as follows- scientists discover something potentially interesting. They participate willingly in sensationalizing the result. Before you know it popular science articles and fancy TED talks claim MN’s are responsible for everything human- language, empathy, culture and –wait for it– civilization. After 15 years another scientist comes along and decides to read the original paper. I will save the rest of the story for the piece I write but you can guess where this goes.

The specific problem of scientists glorifying their own bullshit interpretation also showed up in a recent radiolab podcast. They know what they r doing but will do it anyway.

There is this and much more, so if it interests NL, I could write it up and send it over.

NL Sena.

I would really like to contribute but I can’t afford to pay up 10k in one go. Could you please consider contributions in smaller amounts – 5k, 2.5 k? As much as academics love NL there is an affordability problem with NL Sena contributions.

Varun Grover

Varun Grover’s translation of Charles Bukowski’s poem was extremely moving, for me better than the original. Please consider doing an interview with him.

Volunteer.

I have often wondered if you need people to analyze data for you ‘Factly’ style. If yes, I am game and will do it. I have a certain ease with crunching numbers and identifying trends in data, so well use me.

The work you do is good. I am enjoying being a subscriber. I email regularly and have lots more to say but this is getting rather long. Hurray to the team and lots of support from me :)).

Cheers,
Divya Swaminathan.

Hi NL team,
I am N. Sudarshan, a sports journalist with The Hindu in Bengaluru. I am a great fan of your podcast though i was left extremely disappointed with your choice of Mr. Sandeep Bamzai as the guest. First, I found him extremely unconvincing and inadequately informed about most things he spoke on. Second a disclosure on why he was forced to quit Mail Today was never made. You could have at least asked him the same way you did with Mr. M.K. Venu. Mr. Bamzai’s name had figured in the list of journalists whom Essar considered to be friendly.
That said, you more than made up by inviting Saurabh Dwivedi for your next episode. His analysis was arguably the most enriching from everything i had listened to or read about right through the UP election. Thanks for that.
I have been wanting to write to you for long. There were many episodes in which i thought, ‘ok. I should write to them about this, about that’ and so on. Finally that i have managed to do so, here are a few of my observations.
1) Your coverage of the Olympics was shoddy. Abhinandan thinks cricket is not a sport. But Olympics too? The whole country was united behind Sakshi Malik and P.V. Sindhu but i was disappointed with your coverage. If you thought you would not be able to do justice to the subject, you could have asked a senior sports journalist from Delhi to join as a guest. Olympics and mega-events are symbols of soft power. It could have made for a fascinating discussion about how India viewed it especially considering that we have the most image conscious PM we have ever had. And on top of that, i remember Abhinandan couldn’t pronounce the name of swimmer Ryan Lochte correctly. He tried but he just dismissed it. The issue had come up when the story was out that he was robbed by criminals in Rio. It was lie and he was subsequently banned.
2) The American election coverage — before voting that is — was incomplete. Much of the time was dedicated to just describing what Donald Trump did. Once Anand, who preferred Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton, said the former’s campaign was sabotaged. But no elaboration.
3) Then coming to the Amit media issue. I am a Tamilian, who grew up in Bengaluru. The dose of Bollywood means i am tri-lingual and it is something i am proud of. When i look at the coverage of the South in the news channels i too am aghast like Mr. Krish Ashok. But as Manisha said even South Indians know nothing about the North. I accept that argument.
But there is a need to place this in a certain context and this nuance was lacking in your debate. It’s not a big thing that the Delhi media doesn’t understand the South. India is too vast for everybody to understand everything. But the lack of importance and the lack of acknowledgment that there is something south of the Vindhyas too is what irks most people.

Let me give you an example. There were floods in Chennai last year. It was news in Delhi only after two days. Then Delhi gets 3 cm rainfall. The news ticker is “Deluge in Delhi.”
There has always been a resistance to Hindi in these parts. So when RBI circulars, public sector job advertisements etc are all published only in Hindi and not in the respective local languages how should one feel? I studied at a journalism school and there were students from all over India. I have heard many come and complain “why cant these auto drivers speak in Hindi”? Why should they?

And the Indian Express still uses “Bangalore” for “Bengaluru,” whereas South Indian newspapers, including the one i work for, uses “Gurugram”. As trivial as it may seem, these are powerful symbols that people do get offended by.
4) In the last episode you asked everyone to name a language they would want to learn. I was surprised that no one said Kannada considering literature was the panelists’ main area of interest. It has a great literary tradition and after Hindi, has the most Jnanapeeth awardees.
My last words are reserved for Ranga uncle. I love listening to him because i don’t know what i get ! You guys discussed about him not wanting a paywall. In an earlier episode this is what he said: “If i start reading an article and after two paragraphs it says, please subscribe to read the full piece, ill never go to that website again.” 🙂
Keep up the great work !

Regards
Sudarshan