{"id":268365,"date":"2016-04-08T12:37:46","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T07:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tehelka.com\/?p=268365"},"modified":"2016-04-08T12:37:46","modified_gmt":"2016-04-08T07:07:46","slug":"taking-on-the-crusading-mantle-of-a-member-of-the-fourth-estate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/taking-on-the-crusading-mantle-of-a-member-of-the-fourth-estate\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking on the crusading mantle of a member of the Fourth Estate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ahuja\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I HAVE BEEN flooded with\u00a0congratulatory messages since\u00a0my appointment as Editor-in-Chief of Tehelka, reminding\u00a0me how strong is the brand\u00a0and how heavy the burden\u00a0of expectations. For me, it is
\nan opportunity of a lifetime\u00a0to lead the team at Tehelka,\u00a0now celebrating 15 years of a\u00a0tumultuous journey through journalism. Incidentally,\u00a0the magazine\u2019s Founder Editor Tarun Tejpal and I\u00a0began our journalistic forays on the same day with the\u00a0Indian Express at Chandigarh.<\/p>\n

There is no better calling card for me than to declare\u00a0that I spent my formative years at the Indian Express\u00a0group as a political correspondent, covering the states\u00a0of Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal\u00a0Pradesh. Then I moved to the Financial Express to report\u00a0on Uttar Pradesh before returning to my roots in\u00a0Chandigarh. Somewhere along the way, I got a National\u00a0Award for Developmental Journalism. Last year, I coauthored\u00a0a book on Print Journalism. I have also been\u00a0teaching journalism students as a guest lecturer at\u00a0various institutes.<\/p>\n

Now that I have presented my credentials to readers,\u00a0I want to reassure them that I understand that the USP\u00a0of Tehelka \u2013 both the website and the magazine \u2014 is\u00a0investigative reporting, insightful commentary and\u00a0in-depth ground reporting. We will keep up the\u00a0stream of independent, truthful and distinctive pieces. \u00a0Tehelka\u2019s journalism will delight and at the same time\u00a0provoke, for readers are not a captive audience and\u00a0the younger generation is challenging us to break new\u00a0ground. You are our pillars of strength and we promise\u00a0content that is habit-forming and engaging.<\/p>\n

To my colleagues, I would say that we in the\u00a0profession must not forget that we are privileged to be
\nin a noble profession. Journalism is both an art and a\u00a0practice that serves a three-fold purpose \u2014 to inform,\u00a0instruct and entertain. It is the first rough draft of\u00a0history because an important event that takes place\u00a0today becomes history tomorrow. The main purpose of\u00a0journalism is to provide readers accurate and reliable\u00a0information, interpret it for their benefit and serve\u00a0as a watchdog.<\/p>\n

A journalist\u2019s unravelling of the truth is a way of\u00a0working in the best interests of society. This is the
\nlegacy of Tehelka that I have to uphold. Staffers at\u00a0Tehelka are taught to provide news without any fear
\nor favour. Reports must be written objectively and\u00a0without any ulterior motives. Tehelka staffers have set\u00a0new benchmarks in investigative journalism and we\u00a0have to strive hard to carry forward the great
\nwork: to sensitise people on social issues, instill\u00a0good moral values, make people aware of their
\nrights and uncover what someone wants to keep\u00a0under wraps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A journalist\u2019s unravelling of the truth is a way of working in the best interests of society. This is the
\nlegacy of Tehelka that I have to uphold. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":269004,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[214],"tags":[338,2980,32,283],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268365"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}