.jpg)
Following the media stories from Delhi, it seems every year is Groundhog Day. May-June bring stories of water shortages; July will bring stories of flooding and waterlogging, soon followed by dengue. Then, after a brief respite, we will get pollution from farm fires and Diwali in the winter months, and so on.
The media keeps chasing the same stories but somehow never manages to be ahead of them. Rather than following the water shortage story right now, it might be better to ask the authorities whether the storm drains have been cleared, whether fogging for mosquitoes is being done, or what the plan is for farm fires this year. Otherwise, it is just chest-beating that happens in the media with much noise and no action. The authorities also play to the galleries through showmanship, including fasts, dharnas, etc, as they know a short tamasha would be enough for the media. To some extent, I would say that NL stories also fall under the same post-hoc coverage. Hopefully, this can be corrected.
Mohit Singh
This is with regard to a question asked about Amritpal Singh winning in Punjab and your analysis tells that you don’t listen to your podcasts. Jatinder Kaur came in your podcast Reporters Without Orders. She spoke about her report in the Caravan about the persons behind Amritpal’s campaign. His main campaigner was an RSS (Rashtriya Sikh Sangat) head. Khalistan was a bogey created by the Congress through Giani Jail Singh and the BJP is using the same tactics through the likes of Amritpal and creating Hindu-Sikh divide. The killing of Nijjar, attack on Pannun on foreign lands before elections put ghee in the fire for this agenda. Clashes between Khalistan supporters and Hindu diaspora on foreign soil is a part of all this chess game.
Keep up the good work.
Harnek Kang
I don’t agree with Shabbir’s comment that north Indians are making a mistake when pronouncing Kerala as ‘Keral’ or Karnataka as ‘Karnatak’. Different languages can have different names for the same geographical place. Case in point are the names for Germany, Japan and China. In German, Germany is called ‘Deutschland’, in Mandarin China is called ‘Zhōngguó’ and in Japanese, Japan is called ‘Nippon’ or ‘Nihon’. South Indians need to stop getting so worked up about the pronunciation of southern states when they are spoken by native speakers of north Indian languages like Hindi.
Cyril
Hi NL team,
I write this email with concern to one of our young subscribers. You mentioned that you are pursuing your bachelors, hence I assume you are young. My friend, don't be so frustrated and furious. The best example is Modiji himself. Fifteen years ago no one thought he’d be the PM and look at him today although he may not be the right example for a democracy. Like Hridesh sir pointed out, we need to strengthen our institutions. It’s not that we don’t have them, we have to strive to strengthen them of course with platforms such as NL, TNM, the Wire and many more independent journalists with uncompromising journalism. My friend, at your age, I was going to concerts and touring. Be proud of yourself. At this age, you are a way better citizen than I was.
Love, brotherhood and peace.
Chetan Bhaskar
I have been listening to NL Hafta for the past three years. I love your work and intensive research. I am a great fan of Abhinandan and Raman sir.
In a recent Hafta episode, the host made some stupid statements on south Indian people for electing actors as politicians. We have our reasons to elect actors. They are good human beings, not corrupted people. Better to not judge people without knowing local politics, people and history. We are not sending criminals and rapists to the parliament. Compare statistics between south and north, how many MPs have criminal and rapist charges.
Rajesh
Hi,
I’m a new subscriber of Newslaundry (have been following you guys since before the pandemic, finally got the subscription).
My sister took the UGC-NET exam this year, my cousin took NEET-UG, and a close friend was supposed to take the NEET-PG exam. All of them are in turmoil about their future, and it seems like it’s affecting their mental health a lot. I don’t think we talk about mental health enough in India in general. These are some of the pivotal moments in their lives (I remember taking NET a few years ago). Even if all of it is sorted, I think that this will leave a lot of psychological impact on many of the students (especially the NEET-UG ones, since they're so young). Many of them might simply give up on higher studies altogether.
Sayantan
Complaining about the media is easy. Why not do something to make it better? Support independent media and subscribe to Newslaundry today.
Newslaundry is a reader-supported, ad-free, independent news outlet based out of New Delhi. Support their journalism, here.
