India, May 23 -- For the last two decades, Khabar Lahariya's women reporters have been reclaiming patriarchal public spaces with their feminist rural journalism. Despite beginning as a hyperlocal digital news portal within Uttar Pradesh's feudal heartland, KL, which has now expanded into other parts of the Hindi belt, has created an army of fiery women reporters who now question authorities in ways that were previously unthinkable. What does it take to build an all-women digital newsroom? The organisation's collective biography, The Good Reporter: A Memoir of Journalism in the 21st Century, answers that question. Written non-chronologically, it steps back to narrate the many stories behind the stories they reported on and broadcast. It also recounts the "instabilities, rivalries and ambitions we were consumed by". Founded in 2002, Khabar Lahariya began as an eight-page weekly local newspaper for the towns and villages of Bundel-khand. Now known around the world and lauded for its courage and innovation, KL's story has many facets, including internal tensions and jostling for power. The internal tensions aren't surprising for any organisation, of course, let alone a tense newsroom. Added to this, the Dalit-led women-only team tackled caste and class divides, and the challenges posed by the imposition of urban notions of feminism on ground reporters. The memoir explores these tensions candidly, reflecting on experiences of shame, humiliation and struggle both in the field and within the office. In grappling with what it means to be a good reporter, these women have fought constantly, often making themselves immune to public opinion still rooted in stifling value systems. In such an environment, how should a reporter behave, operate and work? "For most of us, becoming good reporters had not meant banishing our ghosts or demons, or the many voices in our heads - our ancestors, our parents and neighbours, our jija or local quacks. We learned better how to keep them at bay," they write. Much of this was supported by a genuine sense of community. Far from being lone "experts", their feminist praxis meant "an inter-dependability with the field" they were embedded in. Reporting on rape, murder and social aberrations such as sati from the heart of the regions where these incidents occurred, their journalism stands out as it is imbued with a deep local knowledge. This means they also focus on issues such as cattle theft and the migrant labour crisis, which are matters of real importance for their rural readership. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Khabar Lahariya has introduced perspectives that would otherwise have remained largely unknown to wider audiences fed on mass media produced in urban centres. As a feminist newsroom that has been labelled "activist", KL has had to be involved in "constant negotiations sometimes renewed with each story. covered." Still, their work is known for its transparency and criticality. What stands out especially is that these reporters have abjured the tendency rife especially within sections of elite Indian television journalism of putting themselves at the centre of the story. "Our bodies were never the subject of our stories; they were repressed or discarded in service of our new avatars," they say. For them, "stories of shame we had buried so deep were not individual stories, but our collective experience of entering the patriarchal public sphere as working women." This collective memoir is also interesting in its uninhibited use of language. Experiences are shared in a bold and unapologetic way with ribald jokes, insecurities, ambitions, and inhibitions all finding space within the narrative. Although danger often follows them, these grassroots journalists clearly enjoy their work and are committed to telling stories well. The Good Reporter deserves a wide readership and a central place on media studies syllabi....