It’s cakewalk to recognize this man–he is in the news now. Actually, he has made news.
And his paper proudly recounts how it resurrected itself after the (previous) government all but crushed it for stealthily uncovering the truth.
A recurrent theme in that story is the commitment several conscientious people showed towards its ideals. The summary of that story shows how Tehelka resurrected itself with the financial–one of the obvious results of somebody believing in your goals, etc–support of a large number of people.
A few months ago, Tehelka’s website displayed a list of all donors who had contributed 1,00,000 Rupees. That list has mysteriously disappeared. It is however, available here. That list, assuming it is complete, has 135 contributors netting about 13500000 Rupees from just that source. Add a few more lakhs here and there. That in early 2004, wasn’t clearly sufficient to (re)launch a nationwide weekly newsmagazine of its nature.
And now, head to Barbar Indian’s blog to look at how Tehelka is doing at present. It has apparently opened a few “sister” concerns in aid of various social causes, attended by prominent political dignitaries of the ruling party.
Now, read its manifesto of sorts:
- Do more of what we first set out to do.
- Do it with greater refinement, moral clarity, and responsibility.
- We will not be affiliated to any political party or business house.
- We will see things through the prism of public interest.
- We will be transparent and ethical in all our processes.
- The heart of the paper will consist of crusading and constructive journalism.
- We will be unembarrassed to display a moral centre.
Now, read one or all of the above with the sorts of questions asked and concerns raised in these quarters:
The Outlook’s disingenuous defense of Tehelka
Tehelka expose on Gujarat Riots - Offstumped Reaction
The tehelka that was not ….. (Ed: pretty disturbing stuff in this entry about Tejpal)
Three excellent posts that dissect Tehelka’s dubious assertions
Draw your own fair, free and fearless conclusions.
Tags: Commentary, Election 2004, Indian Politics, Media Watch, Pseudo Secularism Hall of Shame, Society & Culture, Weblogs
good work sandeep. this tejpal guy should be nailed.
unlike the sardesais and barkhas of the world who are paid in millions if not more for “reporting” , people like you are doing this huge favour on the “other” side and we all owe you guys a big time.
most of the nationalists are not in the field of art/literature/journalism/entertainment etc and are not “visible”
but you guys are doing a great job and thanks again for that.