The Hafta gang is back with the news of the week. On this episode of NL Hafta, our host Abhinandan Sekhri is joined by Madhu Trehan, Manisha Pande, and Raman Kirpal to discuss the news of the week.   

Abhinandan starts the conversation by telling us about a journalist and critique of the Saudi royal family Jamal Khashoggi who was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Now, Turkish officials claim that he was dismembered by a team of Saudi agents who were working under royal orders. Abhinandan says: “I am just blown away by the fact that stuff like this can happen in 2018.” The panel discusses this controversy further as well as the US pressure involved in the case.

Madhu says: “America’s view on human rights is extremely convenient, they have supported dictatorship and brought it down themselves.”

The discussion then moves towards the IT searches/surveys conducted at the house of media baron Raghav Bahl and The Quint’s office. Abhinandan says: “It is because of vocal utterances about the Prime Minister, trashing his demonetisation, and trashing his GST implementation.” The panel then discusses the politics behind the searches that were carried out on Thursday.

Abhinandan goes on to shed light on the Gujarat rape backlash, a case wherein migrants—driven by fear of mobs who were seemingly angry over the rape of a fourteen-month-year-old infant by a migrant—were fleeing the state. He further asks the panel: “What can the media do about it, because if you report on it, you are in trouble, and if you don’t, you are still in trouble?” The panel talks about the ways and means by which the media reports on sensitive issues and how such things should be reported.

The #MeToo movement in India has spurred many women to come out and share their experiences of sexual harassment. Alleged victims have used Twitter as a medium, to name and shame several public figures, accuse them of sexual assault, molestation, and harassment. This has kicked off a debate on whether airing such grievances online is considered a better alternative than following the due process—which includes approaching courts and internal committees.

The panel talks about the pros and cons of the #MeToo movement and also the effect it has on society. “In all movements, collateral damage happens, so be it,” says Raman. Madhu says: “I laud this generation and I think they are lucky to come into this space where they won’t have to go through what we went through.” Cherry Agarwal, who is invited to join the panel, begs to differ with this statement and poses a counter-argument. The panel goes on to discuss the various reasons why people don’t come out and share their experiences.

Cherry adds: “The power imbalance in regional spaces like Orrisa and Rajasthan are more severe as there is not much diversity in the newsrooms.” Raman adds a different angle to the conversation by sharing a friend’s story.

Listen to all this and much more!

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A review of NL Hafta by Ankur Poddar

References