#NLDhulai: Stop victim shaming

Hey guys,

I have been listening to Hafta for about a year; I live in Singapore and was introduced to Newslaundry by a friend. I have been thinking about writing to you guys for some time now, finally I came across something that pushed me out of my inertia.

While Hafta has been a staple during my drive to office, or Saturday morning runs, I feel there needs to be an intervention to change the quality of experience you provide to your subscribers/listeners.

I have some comments about one discussion on the last Hafta (141) and then some suggestions because I think this is symptomatic of a big chunk of issues.

In the last Hafta, while discussing the Hrithik/Kangana spat, the team segued into Hollywood and Harvey Weinstein. I was shocked to hear Madhu’s comments – I may be corrected for not putting into context/misunderstanding, but this is what I heard (not exactly, but to the effect).

• While discussing the large number of Hollywood celebrities that came out with their own Weinstein stories, Madhu said – “Abhi kyon bol rahe hain yeh sab, just because New York Times broke the story, pehle kyon nahin bola.”
• While discussing his statement, she said again – “I lived through the 1960s… what Weinstein is saying about growing up in the 1960s is right. I grew up in the 1960s and I can say it was the time of free love, people having multiple partners was not surprising.”

It is sad to hear this take on the most consequential sexual harassment case of recent times. I first want to comment on the above statements, hopefully, none of this will be new, and then present my take on Hafta as such.

“Pehle kyon nahin bola” is first a case of victim-shaming – some basic research would have educated the panel that:

• Weinstein never groped/molested/raped established actresses, it was always 16-17-18-year-olds who were looking for a break in Hollywood and Weinstein is the producer god who can make or break your career.
• Imagine how intimidating it can be for someone in their teens to even think of taking on a producer whose movies have won a combined 300 Oscars over the last 25 years.
• Weinstein won six Oscars for best movies, raised funds for Hillary Clinton last year, employed Malia Obama as an intern and established an endowment in Rutgers inhonour of Gloria Steinem.
• Only Steven Spielberg has been thanked more at Oscar acceptance speeches over the last 50 years. Weinstein ties in with God to elicit 34 “thank yous” at Oscar acceptance speeches (Spielberg is ahead with 43).
• It took the might of NYT to break the story. I am sure lots of tabloids knew what was happening, but no one had the power to take on Harvey Weinstein.

This is what those young aspiring actresses were up against. So it should not be surprising that the women were intimidated by this man. Those who had fought were bought over by money and fear of never-ending litigation. The settlements always included a clause to never mention this to anyone.

Here is a link on the psychology of power:

https://hbr.org/2017/10/sex-power-and-the-systems-that-enable-men-like-harvey-weinstein

Regarding the Sixties comment

I haven’t seen the 1960s but this is such a non-starter – surely it was not okay to rape in the 1960s or masturbate in front of a teenager, or lie naked when you call a young aspiring actress to your suite… which is what the majority of allegations against Weinstein are.

It is indeed sad to see such rationalisation; it is such rationalisation that will probably allow Weinstein to buy his way out of the scandal via a costly rehab.

I am sure if asked again Madhu will put the right context and probably say the same things in a different way. But this is what I see is a problem that Hafta needs to address.

So a few things that I feel you must change are

1) If you plan to talk about something at the Hafta, please come prepared for a nuanced discussion. It would be good to read points for and against your arguments to give listeners a well-thought-out position that leads to a few “Aha” moments. In the Weinstein case, any defence of the producer may rest on an argument that since he was allowed to go unpunished for such a long time, he may have thought of this as acceptable behaviour. The subscribers pay you to hear a reasoned take on topics that they might have themselves missed, and it is this that will help propagate NL further. It is better to not discuss something versus doing a shabby job of it.

2) A number of times at Hafta, I feel a cacophony descends upon the listener, with people talking over each other. I do find Anand V’s approach very mature in that I have never heard him interrupt somebody, even when he is cut off. I think there must be a way to let people finish their thoughts before the others comment. Some suggestions are – limit topics so that you can prioritise quality over quantity, and panelists refrain from repeating points, etc. Vox has a series of podcasts where 3-4 panelists engage in a discussion without cutting each other off, or shouting over each other. It is simply a pleasure to listen to it.

3) The website can go for a swanky makeover.

4) I know you guys have been working on a podcast player that allows you to skip a 10-second block of time; perhaps you can consider adding time stamps below the podcast to let people scroll to the relevant section, making it convenient if we want to revisit a topic. You should also consider adding a speed feature that allows you to play Hafta faster, or slower. All these are standard iTunes podcast player features. Before the new podcast player comes, time stamps in comments sections may be helpful.

5) Refrain from calling your users names. I know words like “mufatkhors” are a throwback to (allude to) a casual relationship between you and your viewers. You need to understand that your viewers are your customers – calling them names is not done. The reason somebody may not have subscribed to you might be more because they don’t yet find adequate value from your portal and podcast, and may have less to do with simply wanting freebies.

6) Constitution is nice, perhaps you can start a few featured podcasts, for instance, Hindi podcasts on rural affairs, podcasts on business matters, etc.

In the Indian media space, I think you guys have a good first-mover advantage, but I do feel that if you want to continue to succeed you need to get a bit more customer-focused and sharpen the material that comes out of NL.

My apologies if I was too direct or rude, I do feel that the best way to help is to provide direct feedback.

Kalyan Chakravorty