Indian All-women News Organization Receive Oscar Nomination

An all-women news organization in rural India has been nominated for an Oscar for a documentary on their reporting.

The pioneering team at the all-women, rural news organization in northern India say they are ecstatic, after the documentary film on their crusading reporting, especially around the hardships faced by lower caste communities, won an Oscar nomination on Tuesday.

“Writing with Fire”, a 93-minute film about the women behind the online news outlet “Khabar Lahariya” – meaning News Waves in Hindi – was nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category for this year’s Academy Awards.

The documentary has become the first from India to be nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Directed by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, the film offers a window into the life and work of the Dalit women who run Khabar Lahariya, and the obstacles they overcome — from unhappy husbands and unfriendly crowds to lack of funds and inexperience with technology — as they report on issues that matter the most to the communities they serve.

Twenty years after it was birthed as a newspaper and first published in Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region, Khabar Lahariya continues to challenge popular notions about what journalism in India could and should be and for whom it is meant.

The organization made a successful digital-first pivot in 2016 but the women, have to wage a constant battle with the prejudices of caste and gender to pursue and bring to light, stories of administrative neglect, crimes against women, etc.  In doing so, they frequently put their lives on the line — not just for asking tough questions or being out at all hours, often in hostile environments, but also simply for being Dalit women.