Hi Abhinandan,

In the concluding remark of the last Hafta, you and Madhu said engineers and techies do not work for free.

I was deeply disappointed to hear you say that. Not just because you are wrong but because it betrays an ignorance in two people I expected better from.

While tech people may not work for free in the very visible way that lawyers or journalists do, I would really like for you to read more about the free software and open-source software movements.

They promote the idea of ‘free’ in the sense of freedom as well as free beer.

Almost every bit of technology you use from the operating system on your phone (Android) to the face recognition in your photo editing app to most likely the database on which Newslaundry stores its articles is based on stuff that someone worked their asses off and then made available for the world to use and modify for free.

This is not just limited to altruistic individuals. Writing open-source software is almost a rite of passage and a way of life for millions of engineers. It even involves big corporations like Google and Microsoft. It is also not just limited to software either as a lot of companies have even made their hardware designs open source including such bigs ones as Tesla and Facebook.

This openness is one of the reasons technology has evolved so fast in the past two decades. So instead of cavalierly dismissing engineers, it would be great if journalists studied this culture and learnt from it.

Pratyush Sinha

Hi NL team,

Just finished listening to the last Hafta and I have a slight disagreement with Madhu on similarities between Modi and Trump. Yes, their personalities are totally different, so we don’t see Modi tweeting the garbage that Trump does, but that is only when they are dissimilar. There speeches are equally divisive. Even in the media, for an Arnab, there is a Hannity; for a Kellyane Conway, there is a Sambit Patra. Modi might not tweet in the way Trump does, but he facilitates and encourages the trolls who do spread hatred. It is actually more dangerous because Modi is able to hide behind the trolls while Trump’s behaviour has led to such abysmal approval ratings.

This Modi strategy also relates to the other point which was brought up about NRIs who were Obama fans but refuse to see the similarities between Modi and Trump. I live in the US and most Indians living here either don’t care about politics or are Modi fans because they follow him on Twitter and not the trolls. They receive the propaganda news on WhatsApp and in reality are totally ignorant. I have lost count of how many times I have to correct them on some or the other forwarded fake message. They think they are intellectuals because they listen to Arnab speaking fluent English and shouting down politicians. Anyway, I will cut my rant here as I don’t want to bore everyone.

PS: Is Ranga uncle busy? He hasn’t replied to my email where I asked him why doesn’t he call out his friends and colleagues from OpIndia and Republic when they are caught red-handed. I mean if you are (rightly) calling Rajdeep and Barkha hypocrites, why shy away from calling out others as well?

I also have a lot to say about the inter-caste marriage issue brought up by Neha, because mine was one but I guess I will save it for another lengthy email.

Cheers!

Nishant Shrivastava

Hi NL team,

I am a subscriber of Newslaundry for the last two months although I have been following it religiously since 2013. If it was not for Newslaundry, my understanding and knowledge about various issues in India would have been about one-third of what it is now.

I would like to state that I have subscribed to Newslaundry only and only because of the paywall. Also had you guys not released the “Chhota Hafta” episodes for free and not constantly made me feel guilty for being a Muftkhor, I won’t have subscribed.

When you had started the “I pay to keep news free” campaign, I thought it was rubbish. This is because at that time, the closest NL came to “news” was “Clothesline”, which technically is not a “news” show. So I would have never paid for it at that time. Also I didn’t know of Hafta for quite a long time. Maybe you guys didn’t promote it very well on your YouTube channel. Anyways, now I’m hooked on to Hafta. I was already a fan of Madhu and Abhinandan, and now I’m a fan of Anand Ranganathan, Manisha Pandey and Atul Chaurasia as well.

It’s sad that Abhinandan has to let go of his cussing in Hafta. But to scale up, all start-ups need to sacrifice some of their “coolness” quotient. Hope the cussing continues in other shows of NL.

I sometimes fee that Abhinandan has a crush on Sanjay Rajoura. He keeps quoting him and talks good things about Rajoura everywhere he goes. You guys should invite Sanjay on Hafta.

Samanvay Kumar

So, what’s the difference between you and the rest of the press when it comes to kowtowing to the offended mafia?

Guys, this is who you are and this is who we signed up for. When Abhinandan falls in line and says that he is going to stop cursing because some holier-than-thous don’t like it, you are basically at the same level as the Times Nows and Republics who will do anything for another set of eyeballs.

You’ve just moved your independence from advertisers to listeners then.

I say stop this nonsense. If hearing the word f**k or c*****a offends these people so much, don’t listen.  There are 100s of shows on TV and the web to cater to clean entertainment passing off as news.

I don’t watch Arnab. I don’t tell him to stop sucking up to the government.

Would you restart giving gaalis if I blackmail you with stopping my membership?

F***ing rabbit hole. Stick up for yourself and have some confidence in yourself, we guys come to you because we like what you have to offer.

Sumit Mishra

Hello NL team,

I’ve been a Newslaundry listener for the better part of a year now and rarely, if ever, miss an episode of the Hafta. I listen to a few other news podcasts too, those which are purportedly “professional”.

One of the reasons I enjoy listening to the Hafta is because of its no-holds-barred, unfettered approach to issues. I’m a strong proponent of freedom of expression and frankly cannot stand Mr. Sekhri being on his “best behaviour”. It is indeed unfortunate and in very poor taste that a section of self-righteous listeners are threatening to stop their subscriptions and to them I only have this to say: grow up.

I, as a listener, can also threaten to stop listening to the podcast because I don’t want Mr. Sekhri to hold back any emotions. It is the very reason I subscribe to this podcast and I don’t want that taken away from me just because a few people cannot handle expletives. It is a sincere request to Mr. Sekhri and the rest of the team to please maintain the status quo. It gives this podcast a lot more character and makes it a much more pleasurable listening experience.

Avijit