NL Recommends: How a 1968 debate changed TV news forever

The Report Amazon Prime

The story of one man’s dogged fight to expose the CIA’s lies about America’s “enhanced interrogation techniques” used on suspected terrorists. 

The Afghanistan Papers The Washington Post

The paper was able to obtain the documents under the Freedom of Information Act after a three-year legal battle. It shows how the US government and officials constantly lied about the Afghanistan War and hid the fact that it was unwinnable for them, all the while sending more soldiers to die and killing innocent civilians.

– Manisha Pande

Something Scary Studio71 

Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. Elements that we need to live, the building blocks of the world. Each one sustains life but to make way for life there’s destruction. First, we encounter a fiery force waiting for interlopers in a field. Next, a sunny day at the beach leads to a family tragedy. A fairytale dream becomes a nightmare. And finally, a sweet voice in the wind is not as innocent as it appears.

– Anukriti Malik

Brides and Brothels: The Rohingya Trade Aljazeera

The documentary traces the tragic lives of Rohingya women and girls who fled religious persecution, including sexual violence, in Myanmar, only to endure rape and sexual exploitation in the refugee camps of Bangladesh. In the cramped world of tents that house nearly a million refugees, women and girls are being bought, sold and forcibly married off.  

– Atul Chaurasia

Best of Enemies PBS

In the run-up to the 1968 American presidential election, a floundering ABC News had the conservative William F Buckley and the liberal Gore Vidal to sit for 10 debates on a range of subjects. The two detested each other, and the debates were very controversial. Best of Enemies tells the brilliant story of how the 10 debates hurtled traditional American TV news into the age of ratings, drama and vitriol.

– Ayush Tiwari

The story of Diana Netflix

A girl who grew up without her mother married, at the age of 19, into the British royal family. She soon became a media obsession. Her marriage was far from happy, though, and that too was a spectacle for the papers. In the end, the celebrity and the spotlight may well have cut her life short. 

– Anusuya Som

ZigZag Podcast 

Journalists turned entrepreneurs Manoush Zomorodi and Jen Poyant share their struggles to build an ethical business and remain grounded human beings, all the while investigating how other business founders and creators are resisting the “winners take all” mindset, and redefining success for themselves and society.

– Pramey Nigdikar