Reporters Without Orders Ep 200: A year of challenges, and stories that mattered

This week, it’s an all-Newslaundry panel with host Nidhi Suresh being joined by Ayush Tiwari, Akanksha Kumar, Basant Kumar and Prateek Goyal for a discussion on the year-long journey of reporters at the organisation.

The conversation begins with events they found the most difficult to cover; from Ayush and Basant reporting on the Covid crisis to Akanksha travelling across eastern Uttar Pradesh to find stories of the pandemic toll increasing by the minute. Prateek points to another aspect where Maharashtra saw an increase in child marriages by four times due to economic distress amid the lockdown.

The panel also discussed the nuances of reporting; finding a story and finishing the process over months. “Sometimes It’s like being hungry and also having a plate full of food in front of you but because you have been told you just can’t have it,” says Basant, referring to stories that were junked because either the source didn’t cooperate or a particular detail couldn’t be verified.

They also spoke about the hardships faced on the field, things that kept them motivated and the toll on a reporter's mental health. “I think it’s important to take time off from work at times just for yourself, especially when your work takes you to a point where you have seen people dying,” Akanksha comments. They also talk about how important it is to document what’s happening around these days. “As journalists, we are the living documents of our time and we have to do our job right,” says Ayush.

This, and a lot more as they talk about what made news, what didn’t, and what shouldn’t have.

Tune in.

Watch a section of the podcast here:

References

Covid Pandemic: Newslaundry

Siddique Kappan

Hathras Case

Farmers Protest

Recommendations

Ayush:

Loving Lies

Real Dictators

Akanksha:

Media Ka Underworld: Paid News, Corporate Aur Loktantra

The Center Will Not Hold

Basant:

Laal Chowk

Caravan: Media Segment

Nidhi:

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

LongForm Podcast

Mind Hunters

Prateek:

Laal Chowk

Produced by Jude Weston and Tehreem Roshan; edited by Samrendra K Dash and Tehreem Roshan.

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