In a special episode for Press Freedom Day, Newslaundry’s Abhinandan Sekhri, Raman Kirpal, Manisha Pande and Jayashree Arunachalam, are joined by historian and author Ramachandra Guha.

The panel begins with a discussion on the history of press freedom in India. Ram reflects on the similarities and differences between 1975’s Emergency and today. “The Modi regime has gone farther than Indira’s regime by weaponising agencies in a much more systematic and planned way.” Commenting on the ‘downfall’ of mainstream media, Manisha adds, “The sheer anti-people quality of the media, painting minorities as threats, is relentless and unprecedented.”

The panel discusses the history of violence in Kashmir and the attacks on Kashmiris across India after the Pahalgam terror attack. “One word from Modi and it would have stopped,” says Ram. Jayashree notes, “People are very happy to believe the worst qualities about Muslims and Kashmiris right now, and the media is feeding into it.”

This and a lot more. Tune in!

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Timecodes

00:00:00 – Introductions

00:02:08 - Special Press Freedom Week offer

00:03:43 – Headlines

00:10:16 - Press freedom in India

00:49:04 – Understanding the Kashmir conflict

01:14:37 – Ramachandra Guha’s recommendations

01:16:51 – Letters

01:29:16 – Recommendations

Check out previous Hafta recommendations, references, songs and letters

Produced and recorded by Priyali Dhingra and Ashish Anand.

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