Uncovering the Real India Through the Lens of Aditya Menon | Maadhyam Season 3 | Parul University - video Dailymotion

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Uncovering the Real India Through the Lens of Aditya Menon | Maadhyam Season 3 | Parul University

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00:00welcome to today's podcast i'm your host priya thanki we are excited to have mr aditya menon

00:13with us a distinguished political journalist with over a decade of experience in covering

00:18some of the most pressing issues in india from communal violence to regional politics

00:23mr aditya insights are invaluable in today's complex landscape the challenges we have faced

00:29and his thoughts on the future of political journalism mr aditya thank you for being here

00:35how are you sir all good it's an honor to be here uh i mean especially the fact that i'm from barora

00:43uh and this is the biggest university here uh so it's really an honor to come back here so my first

00:50question to you is you have been in political journalist for over 10 years what initially

00:56drew you to this world and what keeps you motivated uh so i've been a political junkie since i was a

01:05child uh i'm always like very fascinated the i think the way people uh kids they look at world cup and

01:12all things like that so even elections i used to really get very very excited about so that drew me

01:17towards uh politics and political journalism but my entry into journalism is of course in very

01:23different circumstances i had just finished my master's and i was in a desperate need for a job

01:30so i just took whatever job came my way it wasn't planned as such thank you for your answer sir so my

01:36next question to you is your work focuses on a critical issues such as communal violence and

01:42regional politics can you share a particularly impactful story you have covered in this areas

01:47so communal violence i think a really big turning point for us was the 2020 uh northeast delhi violence

01:55uh it was important i mean it was a very challenging assignment for us because it was happening right

02:02next to where we was where i live and where many of my friends colleagues live uh so and and obviously

02:10it's it's becomes very personal so how to prevent our personal uh emotions from coming into a reportage

02:19that was very very challenging uh but in that i we did an impactful story which questioned uh the

02:26theory that the delhi police had given for the cause behind the violence uh and because of our story

02:33the police had to subsequently take a u-turn and go back on its uh initial theory on why the violence

02:40took place so and that entire thing our story was cited uh in the court uh so that was a particularly

02:48impactful story for us thank you for your answer sir so my next question for you is you have worked

02:54with several prominent media outlets including india today and ndtv how this experience has shaped your

03:01journalistic style oh i yeah i've been lucky in that sense i've worked for very diverse kind of media

03:08houses we have a legacy media house like uh like india today group and that's worked both with their

03:15print as well as the digital uh uh digital wings um then i've also worked for rajasthan patrick which

03:22is a regional media outlet and now i'm with quint which is a startup uh so in that sense very diverse

03:28uh outfits these are and it gave me a sort of overview of how the industry work so yeah thank

03:36you for your answer sir so my next question for you is with the rise of misinformation how do you

03:42ensure your reporting remains accurate and credible we have to verify at every stage every claim that we

03:50are making or someone is making on our platform uh we have to ensure that that we are able to back

03:57that claim up and uh if we are making an allegation against someone we have to give a right of response

04:04uh to that person or that institution uh so these are two things that we that's i mean there's can

04:11there's a non-negotiable for any any journalistic writing for any reportage uh so we follow this

04:17very very rigorously and i think so far yeah it has prevented us from falling for any misinformation

04:24thank you for your answer sir so my next question for you is you have covered election data extensively

04:31what insights have you gained about the election process and its impacts on regional politics

04:37uh so elections i realized after studying a lot of both electoral survey data as well as on the ground

04:46elections are very complex process uh we often uh people especially journalists who are sitting in

04:51studios uh they feel kia okay in is party ne ye candidate is cast ka de diya ya in on ne ye

04:58communal baat kah di to pura puri janta palat jayegi par asa hota nahi it doesn't happen that way

05:04sometimes things are very complex you can have someone who has uh we have come across people who have

05:10uh certain viewpoints which will align with bjp but on that election they're voting for congress and

05:15sometimes people who are being voting for congress throughout their life suddenly start voting for bjp

05:20so voters are very complex human beings and i think the more one delves into data the more one realizes

05:26uh how challenging it is to even try to predict elections in india thank you for your answer sir

05:33so my next question for you is in your experience how has the political landscape changed over the years

05:39particularly regarding communal issues i think things have i think as far as communalism is concerned

05:48things have intensified greatly uh over the last uh 10 years or so uh thing uh communal remarks

05:55communal hate speeches which earlier uh used to be considered a very serious matter now have become

06:01very common uh people get away by making communal remarks people get away with uh taking part in

06:09communal violence so this is a very disturbing trend and uh i don't think that uh law enforcement

06:16agencies are doing enough to hold people behind uh hate speeches and communal violence accountable

06:22that was a wonderful answer sir so my next question for you is can you discuss a challenge you faced while

06:29reporting on communal violence and how did you overcome it i think biggest challenge is that

06:35every incident of communal violence has complex factors that have caused it uh so how do we present it

06:46and be objective and present all aspects and also sometimes the police in is not from is not we can't take the

06:58police's version as gospel truth so how do we arrive at the truth in such cases when you can't trust the

07:04authorities for doing a fair job so that is the biggest challenge we face what exactly happened

07:11in a particular instance of communal violence and what exactly who exactly caused it who carried out

07:17the violence who instigated it these are all very sometimes very very complex processes

07:22looking ahead what trends do you see shaping the future of political journalism in india

07:28i think political journalism in india is becoming uh increasingly uh tricky because uh uh parties are

07:37restricting access uh parties don't uh answer questions and in this i don't uh blame one party or the other

07:45across the board parties have become less tolerant to questions and to dissent uh so i think how do

07:52how political journalists navigate and come up with stories despite all this hostility from parties i think

07:59that's where the trick lies in political journalism in future so my last question for you is what advice

08:06would you give to aspiring journalists who want to make an impact in field of political reporting

08:11uh i would say uh read a lot but more than that talk to people as much as possible uh talk travel on the ground

08:25see how diverse the country is see how diverse and uh and complex the political landscape is and then you

08:33will get the pulse of the people once you do that i think you will be able to write the right things

08:41ask the right questions and whatever you say will come with a great deal of depth as opposed to

08:47the superficial he said this and she said that on only a job diya or spain ka hamla hua

08:52that kind of journalism says you'll go much deeper and it'll become much more meaningful

08:58thank you mr aditya for sharing your insights and experience with us today

09:03your depth of knowledge on political journalism and the critical issues facing our society is truly enlightening

09:09for our listeners mr aditya's journey serves as a reminder of a vital role journalism play

09:16and understanding and dialogue we appreciate you to tuning in and we look forward to seeing you

09:22how your work continue to shape the conversation until next time see you again

Uncovering the Real India Through the Lens of Aditya Menon | Maadhyam Season 3 | Parul University

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