Shekhar Gupta is a prominent Indian journalist. He was the editor-in-chief and CEO of the Indian Express for 13 years, but he stepped down in 2015. He then started his own digital media news company, The Print, and is also its editor-in-chief.
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Wiki/Biography
Shekhar Gupta was born on 26 August 1957 (age 61 years; as in 2018) in Palwal, Haryana. He did his schooling from many places like Palwal, Rohtak and Punjab.
Shekhar Gupta in school
Although he was interested in arts when he was in college, he said in an interview that he was forced to choose science or engineering. Coincidentally, when he went to Punjab University to get the spelling of his name corrected in his marksheet, he saw the notice for journalism entrance examinations, he filled the form and got selected.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 10″
Weight (Approx): 80 kg
Hair Color: Gray
Eye colour: black
Shekhar Gupta
Family, Caste and Girlfriend
Shekhar belongs to a Hindu family. Not much is known about his family other than the fact that his father was a government employee. He is married to Neelam Jolly.
Shekhar Gupta with his wife Neelam Jolly
livelihood
Shekhar started as a cub reporter at The Indian Express, Chandigarh in 1977. He worked there for 6 years and resigned in 1983 to join India Today as a reporter. There, he covered many big stories like Operation Bluestar, the 1991 Gulf War and the Nellie massacre in Assam. In 1995, he again joined The Indian Express and eventually became editor-in-chief and CEO. He had a weekly column in the Indian Express called National Interest. He also did a talk show with NDTV 24×7 named- “Walk the Talk”. It remained very popular and was broadcast for almost 15 years, with over 600 guests invited to the show.
Shekhar Gupta with Rajkummar Rao in Walk the Talk
In 2015 he left The Indian Express and joined India Today as Editor-in-Chief, but left after a very short tenure of only two months. In 2017, he started a new venture with Barkha Dutt and started a new digital media company named The Print. Even though Barkha Dutt and Shekhar Gupta announced the venture together, Barkha was never involved in The Print, her name did not even appear in company records, and 6 months after The Print was launched, her name was removed from the company’s website. Was also removed.
Barkha Dutt’s tweet about launching print with Shekhar Gupta
His talk show, Walk the Talk, was renamed “Off the Cuff”, but it still aired on NDTV 24×7, however, the ownership rights were under Shekhar’s company, The Print. The show’s format was revised; The show is now filmed in front of a live audience instead of one-on-one interviews, and live interactions with the audience are also initiated after the interviews have ended.
Shekhar Gupta in off the cuff
controversies
- In 2010, Shekhar Gupta closed down his company Greenpine Agro after he was accused by former Army General, VK Singh, of being involved in tax evasion, fraud and the Commonwealth Games scam, as Gupta had failed to file taxes for several years. Didn’t, and then he filed 8 years’ balance sheet of his company in a single day on 18 January 2010. Gupta closed the company on 30 August 2010 by filing EES (Early Exit Scheme).
- In May 2012, Shekhar sued Vinod Mehta, founder of Outlook India magazine. In an interview to Open Magazine, Mehta said that Shekhar had deliberately written an article in 2012 to damage the reputation of former army chief General VK Singh. In response to this statement, Gupta sued Vinod Mehta and Open magazine. The issue was blown out of proportion as many people said that Gupta reacted immaturely to the entire situation.
- In 2017, Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen accused Shekhar of changing the title of one of her articles to create a rift between communities. The headline of the article offended many people in India. The headline after being changed was – “Why Hindus are trying to prove that they can become extremists like ISIS”. After changing the heading, he posted a screenshot of the conversation with Shekhar Gupta in this regard.
Screenshot of Shekhar Gupta’s conversation with Talisma Nasreen
- He was named in the Enforcement Directorate’s supplementary chargesheet in a leaked document in April 2019. It said Christian Michel, the main accused in the AugustaWestland scam, had paid Shekhar Gupta through a broker to downplay the news of the “AugustaWestland chopper scam” and influence public opinion.
Awards/Achievements
- He was awarded a 1984 American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) fellowship at Tufts University and The New York Times.
- He received the Inlaks “Young Journalist of the Year” award in 1985.
- GK Reddy Award for Journalism in 1997
- Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Memorial Award for National Unity in 2006
- In 2009, the UPA government honored him with the Padma Bhushan for his contribution to journalism.
Shekhar Gupta receiving Padma Bhushan from former President Pratibha Patil.
Salary
As editor-in-chief of The Indian Express (in 2015), he earned a salary of Rs 10 crore per year.
fact
- His wife Neelam owns and runs an NGO named Jolly Vishwas. It is supported by many famous people from the media industry like Arun Shourie, Lord Meghnad Desai and many others.
- In 2014, Shekhar Gupta compiled all the famous articles from his columns in The Indian Express, National Interest, into a book titled “Anticipating India”.
Shekhar Gupta at the launch of his book Anticipating India
- In 2017, he launched a book featuring 25 of the most influential political interviews from his talk show, Walk the Talk, which marked a political shift not only in India but across the world.
Shekhar Gupta’s book Walk the Talk
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn