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Rajdeep Sardesai

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Rajdeep Sardesai
Rajdeep Sardesai in 2010
Born
Rajdeep Dilip Sardesai

(1965-05-24) 24 May 1965 (age 59)
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India[1]
Education• St. Xavier's College, Mumbai (B.A)
• University College, Oxford (M.A , BCL)
Occupations
EmployerIndia Today Group
Spouse
​
(m. 1994)​
Children2
FatherDilip Sardesai
HonoursPadma Shri

Rajdeep Sardesai (born 24 May 1965) is an Indian news anchor, reporter, journalist and author. He is a consulting editor and an anchor of India Today Television.[3][4] He was the Editor-in-Chief of Global Broadcast News, that included CNN-IBN, IBN7 and IBN-Lokmat, before resigning in July 2014.

Early life

Sardesai was born in Ahmedabad, Gujarat to a Goan father and a Gujarati mother.[1] His father, Dilip Sardesai, was a former Indian Test cricketer and his mother, Nandini, is an activist in Mumbai and former head of the Department of Sociology at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai.[1] He completed his schooling up to ICSE from the Campion School, Mumbai, and did two years of ISC at The Cathedral & John Connon School, Mumbai. Thereafter he graduated in economics from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. He then went to University College, Oxford, earning the degrees of Bachelor of Arts in jurisprudence (promoted to Master of Arts by seniority) and Bachelor of Civil Law.[5]

While at Oxford he made six first-class cricket appearances for Oxford University and one for a combined Oxford and Cambridge side against the 1987 Pakistani touring team.[6] He was awarded a cricket Blue at Oxford.[7]

Career

Sardesai at IIM in 2008

Sardesai worked with The Times of India for six years, after joining it in October 1988,[8] and was the city editor of its Mumbai edition. He entered television journalism in 1994 as Political Editor of New Delhi Television (NDTV). He was the Managing Editor of both NDTV 24X7 and NDTV India and was responsible for overseeing the news policy for both. He hosted popular shows like The Big Fight at NDTV.

He quit NDTV on 17 April 2005[9] to start his own company, Global Broadcast News (GBN), in collaboration with the American giant CNN and Raghav Bahl's TV18.[3] The latter broadcasts the Indian Edition (in English) of CNBC called CNBC-TV18, the Hindi consumer channel, CNBC Awaaz and an international channel, SAW. The new channel with Sardesai as the Editor-in-Chief was named CNN-IBN. It went on air on 17 December 2005. Channel 7 has also come under this umbrella after Sardesai's company bought a 46 percent stake in the channel. Channel 7 was later renamed IBN7.

On 29 May 2014, Reliance Industries Ltd announced it would be acquiring control in Network 18 Media & Investments Ltd, the parent of CNN-IBN, IBN7 and CNBC-TV18.[10] The board of RIL approved funding of up to ₹40 billion (US$480 million) to Independent Media Trust (IMT), of which RIL is the sole beneficiary, for acquisition of control in Network 18 and its subsidiaries.[11] Subsequently, on 1 July 2014, Sardesai, editor-in-chief of CNN-IBN, along with the entire founding team — editorial and managerial — resigned from the Network18 group.[12]

Personal life

He is married to journalist and author Sagarika Ghose.[13] Sardesai and Ghose have two children, son Ishan, and daughter Tarini.[14]

Controversy

On 30 September 2014, Sardesai was allegedly heckled by a group of Indians in the Madison Square of New York, and physically assaulted members of the group.[15] While Sardesai claimed that he was jostled by the crowd, the these allegations were denied by eyewitnesses, who claimed that Rajdeep "began the physical assault". [16][17]

Sardesai and others were acquitted of defamation by a Hyderabad court in November 2019 after issuing an unconditional apology to IPS officer Rajiv Trivedi for false reporting on his role in the death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh.[18][19]

In January 2021, Sardesai was taken off TV for two weeks by India Today while also cutting his monthly salary for alleging in a retracted tweet that Navreet Singh was killed in a police shooting during 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest. Delhi Police claimed that his tweet on the cause of death was not accurate and referred to the CCTV footage of the incident of Singh's death.[20][21] Later, Sardesai was booked for sedition over the Republic Day violence and the FIR stated that they shared misinformed news and ‘instigated violence’ on 26 January.[22] Several journalists and politicians who reported about the 2021 Farmers' Republic Day parade were charged with sedition by the Delhi police and 5 state police in the BJP-ruled states.[23] Siddharth Varadarajan called the police FIRs "malicious prosecution".[24][25] Press Club of India (PCI), the Editors’ Guild of India, the Press Association, the Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC), the Delhi Union of Journalists and the Indian Journalists Union in a joint press conference asked the sedition law to be scrapped.[23][26] Editors Guild of India spoke against invoking of the sedition charge on journalists. The guild termed the FIRs as an "attempt to intimidate, harass, browbeat and stifle the media".[27]

Awards

Rajdeep Sardesai (center) during the book launch of his book Newsman at Teen Murti Bhavan. (L-R) Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Yogendra Yadav, Gaurav Bhatia, Naresh Gujral, Sachin Pilot and Asadudin Owaisi.

Books

  • 2019: How Modi Won India[31]
  • 2019 Modi Ki Jeet[32]
  • Newsman: Tracking India in the Modi Era, published by Rupa Publications India, 6 August 2018
  • 2014: The Election that Changed India,[33] released on 1 November 2014
  • 2014 Chunav : Jisne Bharat Ko Badal Diya[34]
  • Democracy's XI, published by Juggernaut Books[35]
  • Team Loktantra Bhartiya Cricket Ki Shandar Kahani[36]
  • Co-authored chapter "The Truth Hurts: Gujarat and the Role of the Media" in the book Gujarat:The making of a tragedy, edited by Siddharth Varadarajan and published by Penguin (ISBN 978-0143029014). The book is about the 2002 Gujarat riots.
  • Real Heroes[37]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Rajdeep Sardesai". Moneycontrol.com. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  2. ^ Mishra, Ashish K. (4 July 2014). "Rajdeep Sardesai, Sagarika Ghose quit Network18".
  3. ^ a b Vincent, Pheroze L. (12 September 2014). "Rajdeep Sardesai to join TV Today". The Hindu.
  4. ^ "Rajdeep Sardesai joins India Today Group as Consulting Editor". India Today. 11 September 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  5. ^ Cached version of Indus View 2.1 (January 2006) The degree of Bachelor of Laws (LLB) is not awarded by Oxford University and here is a mistake for Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL), a postgraduate degree in law. All Bachelors of Arts and of Fine Art upon commencing their twenty-first term from matriculation may supplicate for the degree of Master of Arts Rajdeep Gupta
  6. ^ "Rajdeep Sardesai". www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  7. ^ Pratihary, Anupam (8 December 2017). "Q&A: Dhoni is the hero of my 'Democracy's XI' - Rajdeep Sardesai". Reuters. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  8. ^ Sardesai, Rajdeep (24 October 2017). "'A new dawn in Indian cricket': Remembering Sachin Tendulkar's iconic Ranji Trophy debut". Scroll.in. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  9. ^ Singh, Onkar (27 April 2005). "Why Rajdeep Sardesai quit NDTV". Rediff.com. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  10. ^ "NETWORK 18".
  11. ^ "RIL to acquire control of Network 18, Rajdeep may go". Hindustan Times. 29 May 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Full text: Rajdeep Sardesai's farewell letter to IBN network - Living News , Firstpost". Firstpost. 4 July 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  13. ^ Chowdhry, Seema (8 February 2013). "Airing both sides". Mint. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  14. ^ "The referee in town". The Hindu. 10 June 2004. Archived from the original on 21 November 2004.
  15. ^ "Rajdeep Sardesai expresses regret for scuffle in New York". Business Standard. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  16. ^ "Rajdeep Sardesai beaten by a group of Indians in Madison Square, New York". NDTV. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  17. ^ "Rajdeep Sardesai slapped outside Madison Square Garden; Full details of #TruthOfShameAbroad in words of Mahendra Reddy". 8 October 2014.
  18. ^ "Rajdeep Sardesai, ors acquitted after issuing unconditional apology for false reporting on Sohrabuddin case". Bar and Bench - Indian Legal news. 12 January 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  19. ^ "Rajdeep Sardesai submits unconditional apology for false reporting in Sohrabuddin case". Zee News. 13 January 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  20. ^ "India Today Takes Anchor Rajdeep Sardesai Off Air, Cuts Month's Salary for Retracted Tweet". The Wire. 28 January 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  21. ^ "India Today takes Sardesai off-air, docks salary over wrong tweet". The Indian Express. 29 January 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  22. ^ "Tharoor, Sardesai, Others Booked for Sedition Over R-Day Violence". TheQuint. 29 January 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  23. ^ a b "Media Bodies Slam FIRs Against Journalists, Want Sedition Law to Be Scrapped". The Wire. 31 January 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  24. ^ "Sedition FIRs against Tharoor, journalists now in five states". The Indian Express. 31 January 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  25. ^ Achom, Debanish (31 January 2021). "Delhi Police Case Against Shashi Tharoor, Others After UP, Madhya Pradesh". NDTV.com. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  26. ^ "Journalists' Bodies Slam Sedition FIRs Against Editors, Reporters for Farmers' Rally Coverage". The Wire. 29 January 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  27. ^ "Tractor rally: Editors Guild of India sound alarm at sedition case on journalists". The Telegraph. 21 January 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  28. ^ "India Today's Rajdeep Sardesai bags prestigious Prem Bhatia Award for political reporting". India Today. 12 August 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  29. ^ "Award Winners". Archived from the original on 28 January 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  30. ^ "India Today Group wins big at ENBA awards". India Today. 23 February 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  31. ^ "Review: 2019: How Modi Won India by Rajdeep Sardesai". 31 January 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  32. ^ 2019 Modi Ki Jeet. ASIN 8194873622.
  33. ^ Sardesai, Rajdeep (1 November 2014). The Election That Changed India 2014. Viking. ASIN 0670087904.
  34. ^ 2014 Chunav : Jisne Bharat Ko Badal Diya. ASIN 9351864200.
  35. ^ "MS Dhoni: Indian cricket's first mega-brand". ESPNcricinfo. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  36. ^ Team Loktantra Bhartiya Cricket Ki Shandar Kahani. ASIN 9387889920.
  37. ^ Real Heroes. ASIN 8174368396.
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