Newslaundry is a digital media company on a mission to create an alternative model for news production in India. It is currently focused on reporting how the news is covered across a wide variety of media outlets in order to correct a perceived lack of independence and a resistance to self-critique, prevalent in the current Indian media landscape.
The Newslaundry team consists of media veterans and rising stars that track the actions of major media outlets through well-researched, balanced, and humorous articles, videos, and cartoons. Some of its flagship products are: episodic take-downs of what the media got wrong - Clothesline; interviews with the news makers - NL interviews; beautiful graphic novels on some of India’s toughest political stories – Amar Bari Tomar Bari, Kashmir Ki Kahaani, and tools to increase transparency in media – Who owns your media, Editorial chairs, where are the women [in media]?
Our purpose in funding Newslaundry is to invest in a media organization that is exploring innovative approaches to drive transparency and higher standards throughout the media landscape in India. We also hope that the learnings from Newslaundry’s journey to develop a new business model for independent news production will act as a blueprint for other organizations to follow, develop, and spread.
Omidyar Network’s funding will help Newslaundry expand its reportage and content production teams, leverage its existing content by increasing its exposure to a larger audience, and experiment with new formats of content creation. In addition, to complement the organization’s commitment to independence and transparency – both business and editorial - the team will be exploring, and hopefully launching, new ways to generate revenues with the aim of developing a non-advertising focused business model. We believe that Newslaundry’s satirical style and highly visual formats mean it is well placed to tap into the demand for, and potential of, the viral transmission of news content.