India’s first all-women newsroom

Childhood friends Kavita Bundelkhandi and Meera Devi are two Dalit women defying caste hierarchy to run Khabar Lahariya, India’s first and only all-female newsroom. The team are mostly women from marginalised backgrounds, they’ve faced discrimination and even death threats, but have gone on to produce award-winning stories about illegal mining, jungle bandits and the daily lives of rural communities.

In 1977, journalists Pam Zekman and the now late Zay Smith wanted to expose the extraordinary level of corruption in Chicago, so they went undercover and opened a bar. There were photographers hiding in the roof, and staff who were better at taking notes than mixing drinks, but it all paid off. As a result of the undercover work there were several criminal indictments and new reforms were brought in to tackle corruption in Chicago. (This interview was first broadcast in 2018.)

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Presenter: Emily Webb

(Photo: Kavita Bundelkhandi and Meera Devi. Credit: Chambal Media)