Reporters Without Orders Ep 81: #TabrezAnsari, #SwamiChinmayand, #PriyaRamani and more

This week’s episode of Reporters Without Orders features host Snigdha Sharma, Newslaundry correspondents Gaurav Sarkar and Ayush Tiwari and Aishwarya Iyer, a reporter at The Quint. They discuss the Tabrez Ansari and Pehlu Khan lynching cases, Swami Chinmayanand, MJ Akbar vs Priya Ramani and a lot more.

The podcast begins with everyone sharing the most bizarre news they heard all week. Gaurav talks about the gambling troubles of the Vice President of Goldman Sachs in Bangalore while Ayush talks about a case in Florida where a burglar broke into a house and ended up cooking breakfast for himself. 

Aishwarya talks about the recent developments in the Tabrez Ansari case. Based on their personal experiences while reporting from the ground, Aishwarya and Ayush tell Snigdha how police and society deal with such incidents. Aishwarya talks about how some people even avoid rearing cows in their homes after incidents like this occur in their village.

Gaurav follows up with the Priya Ramani case with juicy details from the courtroom. “You could see a lot of strategy coming into play,” he says. Ayush discusses the Chinmayanand case he has been covering. Talking about Shahjahanpur where he went to cover the case, Ayush says, “There is an industry of misogyny in small-town India.”

The podcast ends with the panel discussing stories that shouldn’t have made news at all. For this and more, tune in!

References:

Tabrez Lynching: Why the ‘Accused’ Won’t Be Charged With Murder

The aftermath of #TabrezAnsari’s death: Desertion, despair and denial in Jharkhand

Our beloved Swamiji: Chinmayanand’s experiments with power and piety 

Day of ‘hell’ for journalist in Srinagar

‘I think you are unprepared today’: Court tells MJ Akbar’s counsel

Recommendations:

Gaurav:

Pitman’s Shorthand

Ayush:

Aarushi- Avirook Sen

The Seen and The Unseen

Aishwarya:

Urdunama

Snigdha:

Americanah

Produced by Parikshit Sanyal and edited by Satish Kumar