Independent Lens: Writing with Fire

Caption: Meera and Suneeta reporting on an illegal mining mafia in the
heartlands of Uttar Pradesh.

Credit: Black Ticket Films

In a male-dominated media landscape, the women journalists of India's all-female Khabar Lahariya ("News Wave") newspaper and digital news service risk it all.

Fresh off its Academy Award®-nomination earlier this month, Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s Writing With Fire makes its television debut on PBS’s INDEPENDENT LENS. The film has been lauded as “a rousing, inspirational tribute to the pride of grassroots Indian journalism” by Variety and “the most inspiring journalism movie—maybe ever” by the Washington Post, and also named a New York Times Critic’s Pick. Independent Lens: Writing with Fire airs Saturday, April 2 at 12 p.m. on WXXI-WORLD.

In a media landscape dominated by men, the women journalists of India’s all-female Khabar Lahariya (“News Wave”) newspaper risk it all, including their own safety, to cover the country’s political, social, and local news from a women-powered perspective. From underground network to independent media empire—now with 10 million views on their YouTube site—they defy the odds to redefine power.