Newslaundry

About Newslaundry

Newslaundry is an Indian media watchdog and digital news platform published from New Delhi. Founded in 2012 by Abhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Trehan and Prashant Sareen, along with entrepreneur Roopak Kapoor, it was launched on 6 February 2012 with the explicit tagline "Newslaundry – sab ki dhulai," positioning itself as the media's watchdog. It is regarded as the first subscription-based news platform in India, operating solely on revenue from public subscriptions rather than donations or advertisements. Newslaundry provides media critique, ground reportage and satirical commentary, holding Indian media accountable through shows, podcasts and investigations. As of July 2024 it reported more than 50,000 paying subscribers. It publishes in English and Hindi and has developed a distinctive culture of subscriber-supported, advertiser-free journalism.

Founding and launch

Newslaundry was launched on 6 February 2012 by a four-member founding team: journalist Madhu Trehan, television executive Abhinandan Sekhri, producer Prashant Sareen and entrepreneur Roopak Kapoor. Trehan, the founding editor of the news magazine India Today in 1975 and the producer and anchor of Newstrack, India's first video news magazine, in 1986, conceived Newslaundry as a product that did not exist anywhere in the world, creating what she described as a new space. Sekhri is the chief executive officer and co-founder; Sareen and Kapoor are directors of Small Screen, a production house that makes documentaries, television shows and corporate videos, which initially incubated Newslaundry before it became a separate company. Trehan explained at launch that a media-analysis channel would be a losing proposition on television, which was why the venture chose to go online. The site began with a small team of in-house writers alongside the founders, plus video editors, production staff and directors, and was designed as a crowdsourced media-critique website with the agenda, in its own words, of turning the mirror on the news business itself.

The founders

Madhu Trehan is one of the pioneers of modern Indian journalism. She founded and edited the news magazine India Today in 1975, produced and anchored Newstrack in 1986 and earned a reputation as a pioneering investigative journalist. She studied journalistic photography in London and earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York in 1972. In 2009 she published the book Tehelka as Metaphor: Prism Me a Lie, Tell Me a Truth, examining the 2001 Operation West End exposé and its aftermath. Abhinandan Sekhri, the CEO and co-founder, earlier worked in television production and is a trustee of the Public Cause Research Foundation. Prashant Sareen and Roopak Kapoor brought production and entrepreneurial experience to the venture. Together the founders combined decades of print, television and digital experience, and their stated aim was to build a participatory media space free of corporate influence.

Subscription model

Newslaundry is regarded as India's first subscription-based news platform and claims to be solely reliant on subscriptions for its income, carrying no advertising. Subscriptions give users access to all stories and podcasts, interactions with the Newslaundry team, subscriber-only events and a Discord server. The organisation has said that it does not make content based on readers' feedback, with its editors holding that they must serve the public but not any particular audience, and that the people who pay for independent media do so because the content is good rather than because it toes their line. Early-stage funding for the company came from Omidyar Network and angel investors including Eicher Motors' former chairman Vikram Lal, entrepreneur Mahesh Murthy and others. Subscriber numbers have grown substantially over the years: an academic account from 2016 cited active subscriber numbers in the hundreds, while by July 2024 the platform reported more than 50,000 paying subscribers. The model has made Newslaundry a reference case for reader-funded journalism in India.

Media criticism and reportage

Newslaundry's core identity is that of a media watchdog: it provides media critique, reportage and satirical commentary. Its journalism probes how Indian news organisations cover politics, business and public life, subjecting television channels and newspapers to the same scrutiny they direct at others. Alongside media criticism, the platform conducts ground reporting on politics, policy and society, producing investigations and in-depth stories from across the country. The organisation's editorial stance is that ideology-based payments are dangerous to pursue, and it has sought to keep its newsroom free of both advertiser and donor influence. Its reporting has examined misinformation, political communication, media ownership and the economics of the news business, alongside coverage of elections, governance and social issues. Newslaundry has faced multiple defamation and copyright lawsuits in the course of its adversarial journalism, which it has treated as occupational hazards of holding powerful media houses to account.

Shows and satire

Newslaundry has developed a roster of video shows that probe and critique Indian media through satire or explore socio-political issues in depth. These include Clothesline, hosted by Madhu Trehan and currently on hiatus; Ye Bhi Theek Hai, hosted by comedian Kunal Kamra and Sanjay Rajoura; TV Newsance, hosted by Manisha Pande, which examines television news coverage; Back in Time; and NL Tippani, hosted by Atul Chaurasia. The shows combine media criticism with comedy, using satire as a tool to dissect the excesses of prime-time news and the conduct of news anchors. TV Newsance in particular has built a following for its sharp, humorous analysis of how Indian television channels frame the news. The video programming complements the platform's written journalism, giving Newslaundry a multimedia presence that extends its watchdog role beyond text.

Podcasts

Newslaundry hosts a slate of podcasts dedicated to politics, culture and entertainment. Its flagship current-affairs podcast is NL Hafta, a weekly discussion of the week's news featuring the platform's editors and guests. Other podcasts include Awful and Awesome, which reviews films and popular culture, and Let's Talk About, which takes up social and cultural themes. The podcasts are part of the subscription offering and have helped Newslaundry build a loyal community of listeners. The audio programming reflects the platform's conversational, irreverent tone, distinguishing it from the formal registers of legacy broadcast media. Together with its video shows, the podcasts have made Newslaundry a multi-format media-criticism brand rather than a conventional text-based news site.

Hindi edition and community

Newslaundry publishes in two languages, English and Hindi, widening its reach beyond English-speaking urban audiences. The platform has cultivated a close relationship with its paying subscribers, whom it calls its community: subscribers gain access to interactions with the Newslaundry team, subscriber-only events and a Discord server where readers discuss stories and the news business. This community model is central to the outlet's identity, since its financial survival depends on readers choosing to pay for journalism that is freely critical of the media industry itself. The organisation also sells news-related merchandise on its site as an additional revenue stream and has produced content for other media platforms. Its subscriber base, which it has described in gender-neutral community terms, spans India and the diaspora.

Challenges and controversies

As an adversarial media watchdog, Newslaundry has faced multiple defamation and copyright lawsuits from the organisations it covers. It has also faced scrutiny over its handling of workplace sexual harassment allegations and POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) complaints, which drew public criticism of its institutional response. These episodes have been covered as part of the broader debate about accountability within Indian newsrooms, including those that hold others to account. Newslaundry has responded to criticism publicly while maintaining its editorial operations. The controversies illustrate the tensions inherent in its position: a subscription-funded outlet whose business is criticising the media industry must itself withstand the scrutiny it applies to others.

Role in Indian digital media

Newslaundry occupies a unique position in Indian digital media as the country's first major subscription-funded news platform and its most prominent media watchdog. It demonstrated that Indian readers would pay directly for journalism, pioneering a revenue model that later influenced outlets across the industry. Its combination of media criticism, satirical programming, podcasts and ground reporting created a template for personality-driven, community-supported digital journalism. The platform's insistence on operating without advertising or donations, and its refusal to tailor content to subscriber preferences, articulated a theory of editorial independence that has been widely debated. More than a decade after its launch, Newslaundry remains a central voice in conversations about media ethics, press freedom and the economics of journalism in India, with a subscriber community that sustains its adversarial stance towards the country's powerful media houses.