Vishweshwar Bhat (born 22 July 1966) is an Indian journalist in

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

and the author of 94 books in

Kannada language Kannada () is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, an ...

. He was the editor of ''

Vijaya Karnataka ''Vijaya Karnataka'' is a Kannada newspaper published from a number of cities in Karnataka. The newspaper is published from Bengaluru, Hubballi, Mangaluru, Shivamogga, Kalaburagi, Gangavathi, Belagavi, Davanagere, Hassan, Chitradurga. It was ...

'' and

Kannada Prabha ''Kannada Prabha'' is a morning daily jointly owned by Jupiter Capital a company founded by Rajeev Chandrasekhar who is Bharatiya Janata Party’s member of parliament and ''The New Indian Express'' Group, is a major Kannada newspaper in Karna ...

newspapers and the television channel Suvarna News. He started a media house in Karnataka by name Vishwakshara Media Pvt. Ltd. as Managing Director with Sri K. P. Nanjundi. He is the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of the Kannada daily Vishwavani, which was relaunched on 15 January 2016 all over

, prior to which it was being published and circulated only in

Hubballi Hubli (officially Hubballi) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. The twin cities Hubli–Dharwad form the second largest city in the state by area and population and the largest city in North Karnataka. Hubli is in Dharwad district of Ka ...

, headed by renowned Kannada writer Patil Puttappa. Vishweshwar Bhat is a recipient of the

Zee Kannada Zee Kannada is an Indian Kannada pay television general entertainment channel that was launched in the year 2006 and owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It is also being as the first mainstream satellite channel in Kannada. History Zee Kan ...

Hemmeya Kannadiga Awards to felicitate achievers in their respective fields. He was also the recipient of the

Rajyotsava Awards The Rajyotsava Prashasti or Rajyotsava Award, the second highest civilian honor of the Karnataka state of India are conferred annually by the Karnataka Government on the occasion of the establishment of the state on 1 November, celebrated as th ...

conferred by the

Government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as GoK or GoKA, formerly known as Government of Mysore (1956–1974), is a democratically elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka ...

for his achievements as a journalist in 2005. Vishweshwar Bhat hails from Murur,

Kumta Kumta is a town and taluk in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, India. It is one of the important stations along the Konkan Railway line running between Mumbai and Mangalore. The 36th Kannada Sahithya Sammelana was held in Kumta in 1 ...

taluk,

Uttara Kannada Uttara Kannada is a fifth largest district in the Indian state of Karnataka, It is bordered by the state of Goa and Belagavi districts to the north, Dharwad District and Haveri District to the east, Shivamogga District, and Udupi District to ...

district of Karnataka in a family of

Havyaka Brahmins Havyaka Brahmin, originally called Havika Brahmana, is a Hindu Brahmin community native to the districts of Shivamogga, Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu / Coorg,coastal Karnataka and the Kasaragod district of Kerala. Havyakas fall und ...

. He completed his primary schooling in Tudaguni and secondary schooling in Goli. A recipient of 4 Gold medals over the course of his postgraduation in geology and MA in journalism, he had a brief stint working as an assistant professor at Asian College of Journalism and also as an officer on special duty to late

Ananth Kumar Hegannahalli Narayana Shastry Ananth Kumar (22 July 1959 – 12 November 2018) was an Indian politician affiliated with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Parliamentary Affairs of India from 2014 ...

, minister of tourism and culture during the Vajpayee government. In early 2011, Bhat became the editor-in-chief of the newspaper ''

'', where he had previously served for four years as a sub-editor. Bhat had resigned from VK at the end of 2010, stating he intended to pursue higher studies, and had started a blog. He has written 94 books in Kannada. Over the past 25 years, he has been regularly writing two columns a week and other articles for Kannada newspapers. Among his famous columns are: Janagala Mana, Noorentu Nota, Noorentu Vishwa, Noorentu Maatu, Daarideepokti, Vakratundokti, Ide Antaranga Suddi, Sampadakara Sabhyashodhane, and Ask the Editor. His witty answers to the questions of the readers through his popular daily column, Bhattar-Scotch, are well received by

Kannadigas The Kannadigas or Kannadigaru (), often referred to as Kannada people, are a Dravidian ethno-linguistic group who natively speak Kannada, primarily in the south Indian state of Karnataka and its surrounding regions. The Kannada language belongs ...

. He has also written various columns under the pen names Swami Anamadeya Poorna, Suddeesha, Bana Bhatta, Gunda Bhatta, etc., to name a few. Recently, one of his articles was adopted for the Kannada movie ''Tanuja'', directed by Harish M. D. Halli, in which he also acted as an editor. His hobbies include photography and cricket. Vishweshwar Bhat also leads a team that has successfully completed more than 500 sessions in Clubhouse under a group named ‘Vishwavani Club’ focusing on topics from different fields. The tech-savvy editor is also very active on social media, like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. In August 2012, Bhat was allegedly one of the journalists who was being targeted by terror suspects.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhat, Vishweshwar Indian newspaper editors Kannada-language journalists Living people Journalists from Karnataka Indian male journalists 1966 births Recipients of the Rajyotsava Award 2005