Here’s a quick feedback on Hafta 188: Hartosh Singh Bal comes across as rude and nasty
I shudder to think how it must be for a young reporter to work for Caravan under Hartosh.
More than a couple of times now, he’s simply gone after Anand for no reason (when Anand was making the point on right to disturbance-free travel) and I was surprised to see neither Madhu nor Abhinandan took him on (similar to not taking on Vivek for calling Manisha “that girl”).
It got funnier when Hartosh was audibly annoyed at the mere off-the-cuff reference to Bhindrawale, I wonder how he would react if somebody were to raise “Hartosh-Bhindrawale” slogans when he’s de-boarding an aircraft (I wouldn’t want to be that person).
Despite all that—he still needs to be on future Hafta panels. We need to hear what all sorts of loonies have to offer…
Lost in reference: a half-truth repeated a 100 times indeed becomes the truth.
In reference to Subramanian Swamy calling Abhinandan a Naxal, what always gets missed out is what he actually said, that having a beard was a necessary condition and not a sufficient condition and that he considered Naxals as some who embraced disruption. When context goes missing, everything becomes a blur.
I’ve seen something similar happen to Vajpayee’s Raj Dharma reference: if you actually watch the presser video, Vajpayee actually says Modi is following Raj Dharma (after Modi, sitting right next to him corrects Vajpayee). If one were to just read reports, one would be led to believe that Vajpayee had admonished Modi from Delhi—which was not the case at all.
Looking forward to Hafta 189!
Arvind Thiyagarajan
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Letter from Rahul Chaudhary
Hi Team Newslaundry!
My name is Rahul and I live in Seattle.
I’ve been a Newslaundry subscriber for more than a year and a Hafta listener for more than three years now.
First of all, I’d like to applaud the Newslaundry team for consistently churning out excellent Haftas week-in week-out. The very fact that I’ve been an engaged listener for more than three years now says volumes.
As a NRI, keeping track of stuff back in India is often difficult and Hafta is one of my primary sources for doing that.
I’ve got some random disjointed thoughts so please bear with me.
1. I’d like to show appreciation to the following folk:
Abhinandan: For being an excellent host and the fact that 95% of my opinions match with his, even though I do not endorse those terrible jokes.
Manisha: Again, for being an excellent journalist and valuable contributor—and being a voice of moderation.
Anand V: Whenever I listen to Anand, I wonder how is it possible that a smart guy like him to have completely opposing opinions to mine (or any other liberal). However, I believe his contribution definitely enriches the debate and prevents Hafta from being a circle jerk. He’s quite eloquent in his discussions and provides academic answers which is definitely quite different from regular debates.
Hartosh Singh Bal: He reminds me of Glen Greenwald in the US— willing to stand by his ideals, no matter what, and always eager to take on the ruling dispensation, past or present. Also, the fact that he’s from my college makes me biased but I’d love to have more of Hartosh on the show.
Anand R – I wish he hadn’t left because he was a completely different guy (more reasonable and liberal) on the podcast as compared to his Twitter persona but anyway would love for him to appear on Hafta as a guest.
2. I wonder if it’s possible for you guys to start a data journalism/analysis section akin to what the guys over at fivethirtyeight have. I know you guys had some Indiaspend stuff a while back but I found that a bit lacking. Even a lot of your regular reports lack good graphs and data visualisations which would greatly contribute to the stories. There are so many interesting datasets related to India lying around which are just begging to be analyzed. For example: https://toolbox.google.com/datasetsearch/search?query=india&docid=Gcjz12udRAmwSfiKAAAAAA%3D%3D
3. More interviews with Right Wing people: I’m glad Newslaundry is engaging with RW people and would like even more. I really liked (and lol’d) at the Hindol Sengupta and Vivek Agnihotri ones. More of that, please.
4. Can you do one segment about the possible alliances (state-level) for next year’s Lok Sabha Elections? The electoral math for each state is quite different compared to 2014 LS. If the alliances are done right (e.g. SP, BSP, INC uniting against BJP in UP), coupled with possible anti-incumbency votes (or mini Congress resurgence) as seen in recent state elections (For ex – Goa, Gujarat, Punjab), BJP or NDA will find it tough to retain power next year.
Thanks
Rahul C.
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