Shekhar Gupta | |
|---|---|
 Gupta at the 2009World Economic Forum | |
| Born | (1957-08-26)26 August 1957 (age 67) |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Alma mater | Panjab University |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Known for |
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| Title | Founder & Editor-in-Chief ofThePrint |
| Spouse | Neelam Jolly |
| Awards | Padma Bhushan (2009) |
Shekhar Gupta (born 26 August 1957) is an Indian journalist and author.[1] He is the founder and the current editor-in-chief ofThePrint.[2][3] He is also a columnist for theBusiness Standard and pens a weekly column which appears every Saturday.[4]
He has had long stints atThe Indian Express andIndia Today. Gupta writes a weeklycolumn called "National Interest" forIndia Today magazine. His "National Interest" columns forThe Indian Express were collected in his 2014 bookAnticipating India. He also hosted an interview-based television showWalk the Talk onNDTV 24x7. He was awarded thePadma Bhushan in 2009 by theGovernment of India for his contribution to journalism and was elected President of theEditor's Guild of India in 2018.[5]
Shekhar Gupta initially studied for three years (1962–1965) inSaraswati Shishu Mandir inPalwal, then in Punjab.[6] He completed hisBachelor of Journalism degree atPanjab University (1975–1976).
He started his career as a journalist working forThe Indian Express in 1977. He worked there for 6 years and then resigned to joinIndia Today where he coveredOperation Bluestar, theNellie Massacre inAssam and theGulf War in 1991. He then rejoinedThe Indian Express as editor-in-chief and CEO, where he worked for 19 years from 1996 to 2015. He also hosted the show, "Walk The Talk with Shekhar Gupta" forNDTV for 15 years in which he talked to over 600 guests.[7] He resigned from Indian Express in 2014 and joined India Today for a brief period of 2 months.[8]
Currently he is the editor-in-chief and founder ofThePrint, which was launched in August 2017.[2] Gupta has stated that the mission forThePrint is to be "factual and liberal".[9]
Shekhar Gupta has received assorted awards: the 1985 Inlaks award for young journalist of the year,[10]G. K. Reddy Award for Journalism,[11] and the Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Memorial Award for National Integration.[12] He was awardedPadma Bhushan by the then Indian Government in 2009 for his contribution to journalism.[13] Gupta was furthermore awarded anHonorary Doctor of Science degree fromThapar University (Patiala, India) in 2013.[14]
Under his leadership,The Indian Express won theVienna-basedInternational Press Institute's Award for Outstanding Journalism in the Public Interest thrice: The first time for its coverage of theGujarat riots of 2002, the second time for uncovering the Bihar flood relief scam in 2009 and the third time for its sustained investigation into theMalegaon and Modasa blasts of 2008 and the alleged role of extremists and organisations.[15]
In April 2019, Shekhar Gupta was one of the three journalists mentioned in the supplementary charge-sheet ofAgustaWestland chopper deal scam.[16][17] Enforcement Directorate alleged that the main accused Christian Michel accepted that he through a middlemen paid Shekhar Gupta to "tone down" an article related to the deal inThe Indian Express. The chargesheet of ED was leaked to the media in April 2019 just few days before the national elections. Delhi High court sent a notice to ED about the leaks.[18][19]It was Shekhar Gupta and Manu Pubby fromIndian Express who brought this AgustaWestland scam into the public domain and the deal was cancelled by then UPA government afterIndian Express exposed the scam.[20]
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