Tehelka (Hindi: "Sensational") is an Indian weekly magazine, which started in 1999 as a news portal tehelka.com founded by Tarun Tejpal and Aniruddha Bahal. It transitioned through a printed newspaper format until it became a magazine in 2007. Its major sting operations include the match-fixing scandal involving the cricketers Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja and Ajay Sharma in 2000; "Operation West End" which exposed corruption in the Indian Defence ministry and led to the resignation of some officials including the then Defence Minister, George Fernandes in 2001 and against members of the right-wing organisation Bajrang Dal for their role in the Naroda Patiya massacre during the 2002 Gujarat violence in
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| Soma Choudhry |
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| Tarun Tejpal |
2007 :- It won the IPI (International Press Institute)
India Award for Excellence in Journalism 2010 for its report, where it
released photographs of an unarmed person being executed in a fake encounter by security forces in Manipur
on 23 July 2009, and won its second IPI award in 2011 for showing the
"rent a riot" tactics of the right-wing organisation, the Sri Ram Sena, which showed that it took money to organise attacks on innocent people and institutions in the previous year.
Tejpal was named among "India's new elite" by The Guardian in 2007 and Newsweek featured the managing editor Shoma Chaudhury
among the "150 women who shake the world". In November 2013, Tejpal
stepped aside as the editor for six months with an apology after a woman
colleague accused him of sexually assault.
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| Managing editor | Shoma Chaudhury |
|---|---|
| Former editors | Aniruddha Bahal |
| Categories | News weekly |
| Founder | Tarun Tejpal |
| First issue | 2000–2003 (website) 2004–2007 (tabloid) 2007–onwards (magazine) |
| Country | India |
| Based in | Greater Kailash, New Delhi |
| Language | English, Hindi |
| Website | www.tehelka.com, www.tehelkahindi.com |
History
Tehelka means "sensational" in Hindi and it started in 1999 as a news portal, Tehelka.com founded by Tarun Tejpal and Aniruddha Bahal, who had quit their jobs together from Outlook.Its office was set up in south New Delhi.
After conducting its main sting investigation, "Operation West End",
the government started an inquiry, which the staff saw as a direct
attack on them, and this severely affected it. Its reporters and main financial backer were arrested, judicial
investigations were conducted on various grounds and there were
tax-related raids. Two years after Operation West End, its staff decreased from 120 to
three and because of debts, the website went out of business.
In 2004, backed by more than 200 writers, lawyers, business people and activists, who paid 
100000 (US$1,500) to become associated with it, Tehelka launched itself as a reader-financed weekly newspaper in tabloid
format. It called itself the "People's Paper" and took a tour around
the country promoting "free, fair and fearless" journalism. Activist Arundhati Roy, politician Shashi Tharoor and Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul
supported it. After its Naroda Patiya sting operation in 2007, it sold
around 75,000 to 90,000 copies per week but it suffered financial
losses, since it was not backed by any large media or business groups
like its competitors, the Outlook, India Today and The Week.
100000 (US$1,500) to become associated with it, Tehelka launched itself as a reader-financed weekly newspaper in tabloid
format. It called itself the "People's Paper" and took a tour around
the country promoting "free, fair and fearless" journalism. Activist Arundhati Roy, politician Shashi Tharoor and Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul
supported it. After its Naroda Patiya sting operation in 2007, it sold
around 75,000 to 90,000 copies per week but it suffered financial
losses, since it was not backed by any large media or business groups
like its competitors, the Outlook, India Today and The Week.
Tejpal changed it from a tabloid format newspaper to a magazine in
September 2007, to encourage more potential advertisers. Though this
worked, it was still difficult getting them because of the news agency's
controversial sting operations. To get more readers, Tejpal started the
Hindi language website. Tejpal became Tehelka's largest shareholder, most of its capital is from his personal contacts and Agni Media, his company, is the owner.
In November 2013, Tejpal stepped aside as editor for six months after a woman colleague accused him of sexual assault.This received intense public attention and media scrutiny especially because Tehelka had previously been involved in highlighting the issue of sexual violence in India, including in a special issue on the topic in February of the year. Managing editor Shoma Chaudhury's handling of this case was also criticised, for possibly underplaying the issue.
Corporate Details
As per the documents with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), for the fiscal ended March 31, 2012, the details of ownership, board of directors and financials are stated as belowOwnership Tehelka is owned by Anant Media Pvt Ltd.
- 65% equity in Anant Media Pvt Ltd is owned by Royal Building and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd
- 85% equity in Royal Building and Infrastructure is owned by KDS
Corporation, a holding company of sorts for a number of companies that
are part of the Alchemist group, a diversified conglomerate with
interests in food processing, retail, hospitality, real estate and other
sectors. In 2012, the government had ordered a probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office into Alchemist group companies.
- 23.93% equity in KDS Corp is owned by KD Singh and his wife Harpreet Kaur. K D Singh is an industrialist and Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member
- 85% equity in Royal Building and Infrastructure is owned by KDS
Corporation, a holding company of sorts for a number of companies that
are part of the Alchemist group, a diversified conglomerate with
interests in food processing, retail, hospitality, real estate and other
sectors. In 2012, the government had ordered a probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office into Alchemist group companies.
- 19% equity in the company is held by Tejpal
- 10% equity held held by family and friends of Tejpal
- 5% equity held by a company called Weldon Polymers Pvt Ltd.
- One of the minority share holders is Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, who has also legally represented Tejpal in previous occasions
- 0.04% equity is held by the Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal. Mr Sibal has clarified that he had in 2003 only given a donation of 5 lakh (US$7,700) to Tejpal for starting the print edition and had not purchased any equity in the company.
- Tarun Tejpal
- Neena Sharma (Tejpal's sister)
- Satish Mehta and 1 other members nominated by the Alchemist group
For 2012, Anant media posted a loss of
10.5 crore (US$1.6 million), down from a loss of 16 crore (US$2.4 million) in 2011. In 2012, Anant Media received an unsecured loan of 19 crore (US$2.9 million) from Royal Building and Infrastructure, the Alchemist group company.Match-fixing scandal (2000)
In 2000, former Indian cricketer Manoj Prabhakar with the help of editor Aniruddha Bahal, recorded more than 40 hours of taped conversations, which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) used as evidence for its own inquiry for match-fixing in cricket. The CBI implicated Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja and Ajay Sharma as the cricketers involved. For obtaining this tape, Prabhakar and Bahal went around the country and Prabhakar, wearing hidden recording equipment, attended meetings with important Indian cricket board officials (BCCI) and players. He recorded conversations where they talked about links between players and bookmakers, matches being thrown in return for money, deliberate run-outs and the names of players allegedly involvedBahal and editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal had convinced Prabhakar into recording these conversations with his cricket colleagues after the South Africa cricket match fixing, which involved cricketer Hansie Cronje, in MarchThe documentary Fallen Heroes: The Betrayal of a Nation, which was released in May of the same year, showed Prabhakar's work and Bahal published his report on Tehelka.com. This had an impact throughout the country and it led to the investigation by the CBI that found some of the country's leading cricketers guilty.
Awards
- In 2007, The Guardian named Tejpal among the 20 who constitute "India's new elite" for being a pioneer in sting journalism.
- In 2010, Newsweek (Now The Daily Beast) named the managing editor Shoma Chaudhury among the 150 in the list of "women who shake the world".
- In 2010, won the IPI India Award for Excellence in Journalism (International Press Institute) for its report on the fake encounter by security forces in Manipur.
- In 2011, won the IPI India Award for Excellence in Journalism, which was shared with the The Week, for its report on the "rent a riot" tactics of the Sri Ram Sena (The Week won it for its report on fake medical and dental colleges).
- In 2012, Tushita Mittal, from the magazine's Kolkata bureau, for her reports on interior Bengal, Odisha and Chhattisgarh affected by Naxal violence, won the Chameli Devi Jain award for Outstanding Woman Mediaperson for 2012
Regards
M Z HAQUE
source-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehelka
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