Hello team, I’d like to weigh in on the following:

1. In discussing the new RBI Governor, discussions around the following were missing:

– what defines RBI autonomy
– does RBI autonomy always guarantee better economic prospects for the country (examples from the past where RBI putting its foot down actually helped would have been nice)?

Instead, a good amount of time was spent discussing the importance and relevance of education! In fact, if one were to listen only to Manisha, one would be led to believe that the new RBI governor is an out and about BJP stooge, but an elementary review of his past will show that he’s worked closely for Congress governments in the past too (probably too closely). Hafta should not simply amplify the already “beaten to death” discussions on social media in the podcast, but make an attempt to unpack the missing pieces of discourse. Anand, I think, did a good job in doing some of this as part of his piece on past RBI governors.

2. I’d also like for some discussion around news organisations and their role in only focusing on all of the shortcomings of the government (remember I am not confining myself only to mainstream media). While it is perfectly okay for Opposition parties to go after every misstep and look to build a narrative for themselves in the next elections (that is politics), news organisations, on the other hand, should not be blind to real positives that might actually be due to schemes and policies of the government in power.

No government in power is pure evil (at least not yet) and when it appears news organisations are looking to portray governments only with red and black, readers then begin to needly question motives and ideologies of the editorial team. In this regard, it will be nice to see scorecards maintained for every state (and the Centre) and the NL team continuing to update it based on a variety of factors (manifesto v/s implementation, crime, etc.).

Thanks
Arvind

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Dear NL team,

I have been a subscriber for the last couple of years and a regular listener to Hafta. I really appreciate the work you guys have been doing. I had a few questions and remarks. Please take them as positive criticism even if the tone becomes harsh.

1. What is the vision of Newslaundry? I have seen them as their role in doing media critique and improving transparency and independence in news coverage. Please do correct me if I am mistaken or think too narrowly. From a coverage perspective, your podcasts fit this theme very well and I really like some of them, especially Newsance and Hafta.

Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about your reportage and opinions. I do not intend to cast aspersions but I do not see any focus in it. There are stories on all kinds of topics. Each of them is worthy of coverage and but given NL is small, this coverage is shallow. I would really like to see a few topics, say, relating to media critique, being covered in depth. For example, when a couple of news reporters resigned from a news channel, they claimed that the TV signals were being disrupted regularly at the behest of the government. I would really like NL to do stories on such topics rather than yet another standard election coverage or farmer protests.

2. What is the relationship of Newslaundry with Facebook? I remember they had a close presence at Media Rumble and even had a session. They own three platforms, Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, through which most people are getting their news coverage. Their policies have a strong influence on what news people see or don’t see. I think they deserve as close a scrutiny as any other standard media organisation. While there are numerous reports coming out in the US, their practises inside India will quite likely be even worse. Is it a matter of technical illiteracy or are most media organizations too dependent on Facebook to cover them transparently and independently?

On one of the Hafta episodes, Hartosh Singh Bal raised some serious allegations against Facebook. Given Caravan’s record, I expect them soon to shed more light on Facebook’s practices in the sphere of Indian news. But I really hope that NL would beat them to it.

Mohit Singh