Khabar Lahariya
TypeRural Weekly Newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Founder(s)Kavita Devi
Meera Jatav
Editor-in-chiefKavita Devi
Founded30 May 2002 in Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh, India
LanguageMultiple editions in Hindustani dialects such as Bundeli, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Bajjikka, etc
English
HeadquartersKarwi, Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh
Circulation6000 copies with a claimed readership of 20,000 (2012)
Websitewww.khabarlahariya.org

Khabar Lahariya (translation: News Wave[1]) is an Indian newspaper, published in various rural dialects of Hindi, including Bundeli, Avadhi and Bajjika dialects. The newspaper was started by Nirantar, a New Delhi–based non-government organisation which focuses on gender and education.[2][3] Initially seen as a women-only publication,[4] it now covers local political news, local crime reports, social issues and entertainment, all reported from a feminist perspective.[2] As of September 2012, its total print-run, all editions included, was around 6000 copies; the management claimed an estimated readership of 80,000. Since its digitalisation its outreach has massively extended.

Circulation and reach

Started in 2002,[5] Khabar Lahariya became an eight-page weekly local newspaper. The first issue of the paper was published in May 2002 from the town of Karwi in Chitrakoot district of Uttar Pradesh, in the local Bundeli dialect of Hindi. In 2012, the newspaper launched editions from Mahoba, Lucknow and Varanasi districts of Uttar Pradesh in Bundeli, Awadhi and Bhojpuri dialects respectively. The newspaper also has an edition published from the Sitamarhi district of Bihar in Bajjikka dialect, and from Banda, Uttar Pradesh, in the Bundeli dialect.[4] As of September 2012, its total print-run, all editions included, was around 6000 copies sold in about 600 villages in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar[6] with an estimated readership of 20,000.[2][7]

The website of Khabar Lahariya was launched on 13 February 2013 in Mumbai.[8] The website, which bears a striking resemblance to the printed newspaper, curates and republishes the best articles of the newspaper. It is also the only website where content is available in the local dialects in which the newspaper is brought out. Some stories on the website are now available in English.[9]

Starting in 2016, the newspaper shifted largely to a digital format launching a video channel and creating news in video clips.[10] The women journalists collective now runs a digital media agency covering stories from rural India, mostly from the state of Uttar Pradesh.[11] As a result of digitalisation, the news outlet has substantially increased its reach.[12] Owing to the support of the readers' community, Khabar Lahariya grew from a local newspaper in 2002 to publishing their own website in 2013, and launching their own subscription model, Sound, Fury and 4G in 2019..

Distinctive features

The intellectual input for the newspaper is provided by a collective of 40 rural women journalists. The newspaper is written, edited, produced, distributed and marketed entirely by rural women from disadvantaged communities (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Dalits and Muslims).[6] The women who report the stories also edit, produce, distribute and market the newspaper. Meera Jatav is the Editor-in-Chief and has been working from Karwi since the newspaper was started in 2002. The newspaper specialises in exposing local scandals. It mainly carries local news that, although primarily of interest to its rural readership, has wider resonance nationally and internationally. Examples are reports on violence against women, discrimination against Dalits, deaths in illegal mining operations, and the rise of Hindu nationalism.[13]

Awards and recognition

In 2004, the collective of women journalists bringing out Khabar Lahariya was awarded the prestigious Chameli Devi Jain Award for Women in Journalism. In 2009, the newspaper was awarded the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize.[14] Following this, plans to expand the newspaper were made.[2] In 2012, the newspaper went on to win the Laadli Media Award for gender sensitive reporting. Also, in the same year the Indian news channel Times Now awarded Khabar Lahariya the Amazing Indian Award. In 2013 the newspaper was presented with the Kaifi Azmi Award in memory of poet Kaifi Azmi. The award is presented by the All India Kaifi Azmi Academy every year on the anniversary of his death.[15]

In 2014, German media channel Deutsche Welle awarded the prestigious Global Media Forum Award to the newspaper's website at the Best of Blogs annual conference held in Bonn in Germany.[16][17]

An Indian documentary film about the newspaper titled Writing with Fire was released in 2021. It has won numerous international awards, including some at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 94th Academy Awards.[18][19] The publication also won a Courage Award from the International Women's Media Foundation in June for how it "disrupts and interrogates the status quo, where newsmakers have long been male, upper-caste, and politically connected".[20][21]

References

  1. ↑ Sen, Arijit; Nielsen, Rasmus Kleis (May 2016). "Digital Journalism Start-Ups in India" (PDF). Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 August 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "After UN award, rural Indian women's weekly has expansion plans". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  3. ↑ "Report like a Dalit girl:one Indian publication shows how". Reuters India.
  4. 1 2 Sharma, Kalpana (23 March 2008). "And Now The Good News". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 26 March 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  5. ↑ Poonam, Snigdha (30 March 2015). "Kidnap, rape and 'honour' killings: on the road with a female reporter in rural India". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
  6. 1 2 Wander, Andrew (8 September 2012). "Reading the Future". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  7. ↑ "How India's first all-women newsroom is creating a media revolution". BBC News. 30 May 2022. Retrieved 21 Apr 2023.
  8. ↑ Mazumdar, Anurag (14 February 2013). "UP to Bihar: Why a group of rural women journalists went online". First Post. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  9. ↑ "Khabar Lahariya (खबर लहरिया)". Khabar Lahariya (खबर लहरिया). Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  10. ↑ Doshi, Vidhi (10 August 2016). "India's all-female paper goes digital to make gender taboos old news". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
  11. ↑ "From experiment to national phenomenon: The story of Khabar Lahariya". Asian Correspondent. 2018-11-12. Retrieved 2019-07-18.
  12. ↑ "Print-Digital, 20 years of Khabar Lahariya". Khabar Lahariya (खबर लहरिया). 2022-03-01. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  13. ↑ Singh, Anita (2022-03-09). "Storyville: Writing With Fire, review: the all-female newspaper speaking truth to power in India". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2022-03-12.
  14. ↑ "Newspaper by rural Indian women wins UN literacy award". The Hindu. 4 August 2009. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  15. ↑ "Kaifi Azmi's 11th death anniversary".
  16. ↑ "Waves of news sweep the Indian countryside". DW.com. 30 June 2014.
  17. ↑ "Khabar Lahariya - a weekly paper run by women journalists wins German Award". THe News Minute. 10 July 2014.
  18. ↑ Ramesh, Mythreyee (25 December 2021). "Khabar Lahariya: Tale Of India's Only All-Women Newsroom in 2022 Oscars Race". TheQuint. Retrieved 2021-12-26.
  19. ↑ "'Pebbles' out of Oscars 2022 race, 'Writing With Fire' advances to next level". The Hindu. 22 December 2021. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2021-12-26 – via www.thehindu.com.
  20. ↑ "The IWMF Announces 2021 Courage in Journalism Award Winners - IWMF". www.iwmf.org. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
  21. ↑ Pathak, Sushmita (26 November 2021). "India's all-female news outlet faces sexism, death threats. A new film tells the story". NPR. Retrieved 2021-12-27 – via NPR.
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