TEHELKA.COM

Tarun Tejpal

Tehelka.com was conceived as a premier news and views magazine on the Net, which would help push the boundaries of journalism and become the preferred source of credible news and views for Indians all over the world. In a short ten months, it has built up and enjoys a stronger brand equity than most established media houses in India. Two major investigations, several smaller ones, the best Indian writers in the world, and superb design have made tehelka.com the most talked about Indian website in the world.

Following the path-breaking investigation, Operation Westend, which led to the resignations of top army and government officials, among them the defence minister George Fernandes, Samata, party chief Jaya Jaitley, and BJP president Bangaru Laxman, tehelka.com has been featured extensively in both national and international media ranging from the BBC, CNN, Time Magazine, The Guardian, Newsweek, NYT, and Daily Telegraph to hundreds of important papers around the world.

Business Week (US) has recently nominated tehelka.com as one of the top ten upcoming e-ventures in the world. Interestingly, it is the only B2C site to be featured in the list. According to the Alexa rankings, it is the fourth largest Indian website in the world in terms of traffic.

tehelka.com first burst into public consciousness in May 2000, with an explosive investigative story on match-fixing in cricket; it has followed that with a performance of sustained excellence. In its short existence, it has broken a number of stories—ranging from the controversy around Point 5353 in Kargil, the Patel Bank robbery, the corruption around the CNG conversion, and Chotta Rajan’s Bangkok escape to scooping the fact that Priyanka Gandhi was having a baby boy. It is also known for its comprehensive coverage of national events like the Kumbh Mela, the Gujarat quake, and the ongoing crisis in Kashmir.

Despite this strong news element, what especially distinguishes tehelka.com is the unprecedented quality and range of its features and contributors. tehelka.com posts 20 to 25 new stories everyday on subjects ranging from books, art, entertainment, environment, economics, politics, history, language, society, and culture. Its menu consists of an eclectic and exciting mix of columns, interviews, analyses, essays, stories, profiles and commentaries. Flatteringly, it has often been compared to Salon. And now, Operation Westend is deemed as defining a moment in journalism as America’s Watergate scandal.

Tarun J.Tejpal (India) was the managing editor of Outlook, India’s premier weekly news magazine. In an 18-year career, he has reported for The Indian Express and The Telegraph, and been an editor with the India Today and The Indian Express groups. He is a cofounder of the publishing house IndiaInk,which first published Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things. He has written for several international publications, including The Paris Review, The Guardian, The Financial Times and Prospect. After Outlook and IndiaInk, tehelka.com is the third start-up project with which he is involved.