In a special episode for Press Freedom Day, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande and Jayashree Arunachalam are joined by historian and author Ramachandra Guha.

The panel begins with a discussion on the history of press freedom in India. Ram reflects on the similarities and differences between 1975’s Emergency and today. “The Modi regime has gone farther than Indira’s regime by weaponising agencies in a much more systematic and planned way.” Commenting on the ‘downfall’ of mainstream media, Manisha adds, “The sheer anti-people quality of the media, painting minorities as threats, is relentless and unprecedented.”

The panel discusses the history of violence in Kashmir and the attacks on Kashmiris across India after the Pahalgam terror attack. “One word from Modi and it would have stopped,” says Ram. Jayashree notes, “People are very happy to believe the worst qualities about Muslims and Kashmiris right now, and the media is feeding into it.”

This and a lot more. Tune in!

Apology on May 4:

We want to issue a sincere apology regarding how our Editor-in-Chief, Raman Kirpal, described the recent incident in Nainital involving the sexual assault of a minor.

In our earlier video, our editor wrongly described the incident as “small” and referred to it as “an affair”. This was a factual error. We deeply regret it.

As editors, we should have had full knowledge of what had happened before commenting on the matter. The responsibility to verify and be cautious with our words rests squarely with us.

We take full responsibility for this lapse. We have since re-uploaded the video after removing the inaccurate sentence.

We stand by the need for sensitive and factual journalism, especially in situations where misinformation and communal tensions can cause real harm.

Hafta letters: Islamophobia on social media, Kashmiris losing livelihood, Bengal voter demographics

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Song: Unstoppable

Timecodes

00:00:00 – Introductions 

00:02:08 - Special Press Freedom Week offer

00:03:43 – Headlines 

00:10:16 - Press freedom in India

00:49:04 – Understanding the Kashmir conflict

01:14:37 – Ramachandra Guha’s recommendations

01:16:51  – Letters

01:29:16 – Recommendations

References 

Press Freedom Week offer

Buy Kashmir Ki Kahani 

India's Newspaper Revolution

The Cooking of Books

I Agree With Dina Nath Batra – Part 1

Trump vs. Putin, How to Stop Farage, and Kashmir Explained 

Why are there no conservative intellectuals in India 

Recommendations

Ramachandra

War and Peace

Middlemarch

Buddenbrooks

Raman 

The Truth Pill: The Myth of Drug Regulation in India

Dr. Stuart McGill: Build a Strong, Pain-Proof Back

Dr. Peter Attia: Improve Vitality, Emotional & Physical Health & Lifespan

Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity

Manisha

What Killed Mukesh Chandrakar

Reporters’ Collective

‘Star reporter with no income’: What Pawan Jaiswal’s death tells us about the state of rural reporters

Jayashree 

The Secret History of Gavin McInnes

What Killed Mukesh Chandrakar

Abhinandan

The TikTokers accused of triggering an election scandal

When do boycotts work?

Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters 

Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra and Ashish Anand. 

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