I love you guys so I’ll just get to the criticism:
Why aren’t you doing a video of the Hafta? You are losing the YouTube battle with The Wire, are you even trying to compete? You have way better talent!
Recently the Hafta has not been behind the paywall, please fix this otherwise I find it hard to justify subscribing.
Hafta used to be up to 2 hours long, now you guys finish it in 80 minutes, please consider going back to 2 hours.
Please include more media critique in the Hafta, do more research, Awful and Awesome seems to have better research and in my opinion has recently been better than the Hafta.
Abhinandan has cut down on his humour on the Hafta, whatever people say you are the life of the Hafta please go back to normal.
Regards,
An anonymous fan
(I avoid saying anything political or cultural on record because it can come back to haunt me somehow, hope you understand.)
Episode 172 was disheartening, here are the reasons:
Madhu was being extremely casual in making remarks about the judiciary and CJI on who was picked for the midnight bench that ruled on the Karnataka floor test. Considering that the judgment went against the BJP, does she concede that the bench might have been fixed at the behest of the Congress? One expects somebody senior to be a little more careful in making these passing comments, but alas!
I waited for somebody on the panel to burst the bubble on Goa and Manipur but it took a presser from Amit Shah today to do it! In both those states, even though Congress was the single-largest party, it did NOT stake claim to form the government. How could the governor invite a party that didn’t even stake claim?
You’re being disingenuous to your audience with these glaring omissions. Do take positions but don’t leave facts out of the discussion, not just NL I have not seen any media house issuing a clarification on the differences between Karnataka and those two states.
Madhu is glowing in her praise for Arun Shourie – I’ve seen her interviews of him in the recent past but she never questions him on his U-turn from being a Bhakt himself back in 2014 to his positions on the government today. His book is doing poorly today probably because of what Madhu actually meant – “if you are somebody who is really worried about where this country is going to, you should read this book”, the country is in safe hands, thank you!
Hafta continues to be in safe hands though!
Cheers,
Arvind Thiyagarajan
Dear Newslaundry team,
Getting introduced to Newslaundry was like a reawakening of sorts – that cup of strong evening chai when the day-long office AC has turned your brain into a slushy snowball.
I’ll keep writing in, in the future so I’ll get straight to the point for now:
I have the following suggestions:
1. The App: Please. Do something. Make it work better. It’s slow. And the layout needs a bit of rejigging.
2. Hafta: Honestly, I enjoy listening to Hafta – because there’s a homely feeling of having a serious-cum-fun discussion with your friends. It’s almost like I know you guys and I am enjoying the whole hour spent.
But I think that’s where a small problem lies. I am noticing a small tendency to deviate from actual news reporting or debating – to merely airing opinions.
I feel sometimes Abhinandan and others don’t come prepped. When you make statements like – “the other day someone told me” or “I read somewhere that…”
Isn’t the whole point of Newslaundry to report facts and not hearsay? I would feel much better if you gave accurate sources – like where did you read this and what was the genuineness of the source that told you so and so thing.
To clarify – I have noticed this as a minor trend, and not as an every-single-time type issue. It is important that we take the conversation forward on hard facts, and have thought-out deliberations – especially when it comes to politics and crime. Or else Newslaundry won’t be taken very seriously in the long run. And I want you guys to be around.
3. To Abhinandan: please slow down. Don’t eat your words. “Angrez apna lagaan aur Newslaundry apna hafta kabhi nahin chhodte“… becomes a slurry sing-songy poem when you rush through it.
Same with “when advertisers pay, advertisers are served..” – all I can hear is human static – advertizzzesssshhhhhhzzsssszzzzzzzzzzzz……mufatkhor!
These are your catchlines and advertorial slogans. Be proud of it. Say it slowly and clearly.
I didn’t do a word count. I’m guessing feedback is more important to you guys than email length.
Thanks for all you do and see you around.
(I am a subscriber btw, not mufatkhor)
Sneha Menon
Dear NL panel,
This may be a long mail but I do request you to read it on the next Hafta if you can.
I would like to discuss something said by Abhinandan in the last Hafta. Abhinandan seemed to agree with some western commentator that values such as rationality, distrust of monarchy, secularism, etc (known as enlightenment values) are essentially western in nature.
I would like to challenge him on this. First, rationality or reasoning has been a part of all traditions in the world. In India, we have philosophical texts where people argue about the correct sources of knowledge/proof (Pramāṇa). Such philosophers include Buddhist thinkers like Dignāga and Dharmakīrti, Jain thinkers like Umasvati and thinkers associated with the Hindu schools like the Nyāya (literally meaning “rule or method of reasoning”) school.
One can also find commentaries by Islamic philosophers like Avicenna on Aristotle, Plato, etc, in which such Islamic philosophers comment and build upon the theories of the Greek philosophers.
Second, if one reads the Arthashastra, Kautilya does not endorse the ‘Divine right to rule’. For him a king should be a philosopher and well educated especially in the science of Ānvīkṣikī (meaning critical thinking). One needs to note that ancient India had proto-democracies like Licchavi. Also, the role religion played in India (and also in Asia in general) was very different as compared with what the churches did.
India never had an institution like the church which would dictate each and every aspect of people’s lives. Religious rules were different in different parts of India. In some parts, women were allowed to hold property, were educated, free to consume alcohol and meat and in some places they were not. Caste distinctions also were different in different parts of the country. Even books like the Manusmriti had lost relevance in the medieval period as more dharmasastras had been composed by then. As Ambedkar noted that values like equality, fraternity and brotherhood are also Indian in nature and have been propagated by the likes of Buddha, Ramanuja, Basavanna, Kabir, etc.
Hence, I would say Abhinandan was being ‘hysterical’ in the last Hafta when he agreed with the western commentator regarding western values. But I do agree that still in many parts of India, we have feudal structures. And here lies the failure of the Indian Left as they have been unable to come up with an alternate way of living for the masses.
The Indian Left does not want to see India as a replica of America but they have no other model of development to put before the Indian public (although you people have figured an alternate model for journalism). Liberals would make fun of Biplab Deb for his outlandish claims, but no liberal would ever write on the history of real science in India.
Also, please bring back Clothesline. Also, do one Awful and Awesome episode with Anand Vardhan as one of the hosts. It would be fun listening to the bubbly voice of Rajyasree and the cynicism of Vardhan.
Thank You,
Ashwin K
Newslaundry is a reader-supported, ad-free, independent news outlet based out of New Delhi. Support their journalism, here.
