Reporters Without Orders Ep 317: ANI’s business model, Dalit farmers’ electoral bonds ‘scam’

This week, host Tanishka Sodhi is joined by Shivnarayan Rajpurohit and The Quint’s Himanshi Dahiya.

Shivnarayan talks about his profile of ANI and how it became the Modi government’s favourite media outlet. But the story isn’t that simple, he explains, because beyond ANI’s dismal coverage of the opposition are a number of contracts that the agency has signed with state governments. 

Himanshi reported on a Gujarat Dalit family that was “cheated” into giving a whopping Rs 11 crore in electoral bonds, of which Rs 10 crore was encashed by the BJP. She explains how the alleged scam took place and just how a company linked to the Adani group was involved. 

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:02:05 - ANI’s journalism

00:25:25 - Gujarat family’s electoral bonds 

00:49:07 - Recommendations

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Produced and edited by Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Anil Kumar.