Shekhar Gupta (born 26 August 1957) is an Indian journalist and author. He is the founder and the current editor-in-chief of ''

ThePrint The Print is an Indian online newspaper, owned by Printline Media Pvt Ltd. It was launched by journalist Shekhar Gupta in August 2017. History Printline Media Pvt. Ltd, founded by journalist Shekhar Gupta, was incorporated in New Delhi, Ind ...

''. He is also a columnist for the ''

Business Standard ''Business Standard'' is an Indian English-language daily edition newspaper published by Business Standard Private Limited, also available in Hindi. Founded in 1975, the newspaper covers the Indian economy, infrastructure, international busin ...

'' and pens a weekly column which appears every Saturday. He has had long stints at ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

'' and ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new o ...

''. Gupta writes a weekly column called "National Interest" for ''India Today'' magazine. His "National Interest" columns for ''The Indian Express'' were collected in his 2014 book ''Anticipating India''. He also hosted an interview-based television show ''Walk the Talk'' on NDTV 24x7. He was awarded the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

in 2009 by the Government of India for his contribution to journalism and was elected President of the Editor's Guild of India in 2018.

Early life and career

Shekhar Gupta initially studied for three years (1972–1975) in Saraswati Shishu Mandir in

Palwal Palwal is a city and a municipal council. It is the headquarters of Palwal district, the 21st district of Haryana state in northern India. It is a centre of the cotton trade in the area. It is also a part of National Capital Region. Etymo ...

, then in Punjab. He completed his

Bachelor of Journalism The Bachelor of Journalism (B.J.) degree is a degree awarded at some universities to students who have studied journalism in a three or four year undergraduate program. In the United States, some schools that do not award the B.J. degree instead c ...

degree at

Panjab University Panjab University (PU) is a collegiate public state university located in Chandigarh, Punjab. Funded through both State and Union governments, it is considered a state university. It traces its origins to the University of the Punjab in Laho ...

(1975–1976). He started his career as a journalist working for ''The Indian Express'' in 1977. He worked there for 6 years and then resigned to join

where he covered

Operation Bluestar Operation Blue Star was the codename of a military operation which was carried out by Indian security forces between 1 and 10 June 1984 in order to remove Damdami Taksal leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the buildings ...

, the

Nellie Massacre The Nellie massacre took place in central Assam during a six-hour period in the morning of 18 February 1983. The massacre claimed the lives of 1,600–2,000 people from 14 villages—Alisingha, Khulapathar, Basundhari, Bugduba Beel, Bugduba ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

and the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

in 1991. He then rejoined ''The 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" for

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching t ...

for 15 years in which he talked to over 600 guests. He resigned from Indian Express in 2014 and joined India Today for a brief period of 2 months. Currently he is the editor-in-chief and founder of

, which was launched in August 2017. Gupta has stated that the mission for ''ThePrint'' is to be "factual and liberal".

Awards and honours

Shekhar Gupta has received assorted awards: the 1985 Inlaks award for young journalist of the year, G. K. Reddy Award for Journalism, and the Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Memorial Award for National Integration. He was awarded

by the then Indian Government in 2009 for his contribution to journalism. Gupta was furthermore awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from

Thapar University Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology (TIET), formerly Thapar University, is a deemed-to-be-university, in Patiala, India. It was founded in 1956 by Karam Chand Thapar. The university provides a wide range of courses from The Arts and ...

(

Patiala, India Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the ''Qila Mubarak'' (the 'Fortunate Castle') constructe ...

) in 2013. Under his leadership, ''The Indian Express'' won the

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

-based

International Press Institute International Press Institute (IPI) is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. The institution was founded by 34 editors from 15 countries at Columbia University ...

's Award for Outstanding Journalism in the Public Interest thrice: The first time for its coverage of the Gujarat riots of 2002, the second time for uncovering the Bihar flood relief scam in 2009 and the third time for its sustained investigation into the Malegaon and Modasa blasts of 2008 and the alleged role of extremists and organisations.

Controversies

In April 2019, Shekhar Gupta was one of the three journalists mentioned in the supplementary charge-sheet of AgustaWestland chopper deal scam. 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 in ''The 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. It was Shekhar Gupta and Manu Pubby from ''Indian Express'' who brought this AgustaWestland scam into the public domain and the deal was cancelled by then UPA government after ''Indian Express'' exposed the scam.

Bibliography

Books

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Essays and reporting

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Shekhar Indian male television journalists Indian newspaper editors Indian television presenters 1951 births Living people Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education Panjab University alumni India Today Group 20th-century Indian journalists Indian political writers Indian male journalists Indian male essayists 20th-century Indian essayists Indian columnists