It was founded in 2015 by
Siddharth Varadarajan
Siddharth Varadarajan (born 1965) is a journalist and editor in India. He was a former editor of the English language national daily ''The Hindu'', and is one of the founding editors of the Indian digital news portal The Wire (India), ''The Wi ...
, Sidharth Bhatia, and M. K. Venu.
The publication's reporters have won several national and international awards, including three
Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards
The Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards (RNG Awards) are one of the awards in India in the field of journalism. Named after Ramnath Goenka, the awards have been held annually since 2006, with the 12th edition being held in 2017. The awa ...
and the
CPJ International Press Freedom Award
The CPJ International Press Freedom Awards honor journalists or their publications around the world who show courage in defending press freedom despite facing attacks, threats, or imprisonment. Established in 1991, the awards are administered by ...
.
It has also been subject to several defamation suits by businessmen and politicians.
History
Siddharth Varadarajan
Siddharth Varadarajan (born 1965) is a journalist and editor in India. He was a former editor of the English language national daily ''The Hindu'', and is one of the founding editors of the Indian digital news portal The Wire (India), ''The Wi ...
resigned from his position as editor at ''
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
'' citing the return of the editorship of the paper to being family run in 2013. On 11 May 2015, ''The Wire'' was started by Siddharth Varadarajan, Sidharth Bhatia and M. K. Venu who had initially funded the website. Later, it was made part of the Foundation for Independent Journalism, a non-profit
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n company.
The Independent and Public Spirited Media Foundation has provided ''The Wire'' with funding as well.
Varadarajan claims that the publication was created as a "platform for independent journalism",
and that its non-corporate structure and funding sources aim to free it from the "commercial and political pressures" that supposedly afflict mainstream Indian news outlets.
''The Wire''s founding is construed to be a result of, and reaction to, a political environment that has "discouraged dissent" against the present Indian ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
.
Content
According to a 2017 article of the ''
Mint
MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaA ...
'', the websites coverage primarily focused on the topics of development, foreign policy, political economy, politics and science.
Karan Thapar
Karan Thapar (born 5 November 1955) is an Indian journalist, news presenter and interviewer working with The Wire. Thapar was associated with CNN-IBN and hosted ''The Devil's Advocate'' and ''The Last Word''. He was also associated with India T ...
's regular show ''The Interview with Karan Thapar'' covers current affairs and events on ''The Wire''.
Reception
Three journalists, working for ''The Wire'', have won the
Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards
The Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards (RNG Awards) are one of the awards in India in the field of journalism. Named after Ramnath Goenka, the awards have been held annually since 2006, with the 12th edition being held in 2017. The awa ...
.
, reporting on extrajudicial killings and illegal detentions, won the
CPJ International Press Freedom Award
The CPJ International Press Freedom Awards honor journalists or their publications around the world who show courage in defending press freedom despite facing attacks, threats, or imprisonment. Established in 1991, the awards are administered by ...
in 2017,
Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Women Mediapersons
The Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Women Mediaperson is an Indian journalism award named after Chameli Devi Jain, an Indian independence activist who became the first Jain woman to go to prison during India's independence struggle. The ...
in 2016 and the
Lorenzo Natali Journalism Prize.
A story published in the ''
Columbia Journalism Review
The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its contents include news and media industry trends, ana ...
'' in late 2016 identified ''The Wire'' as one of several independent and recently founded internet-based media platforms - a group that also included ''
Newslaundry
''Newslaundry'' is an Indian media watchdog that provides media critique, reportage and satirical commentary. It was founded in 2012 by Abhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Trehan and Prashant Sareen, all of whom earlier worked in print or television j ...
'',
Scroll.in
''Scroll.in'', simply referred to as ''Scroll'', is an Indian digital news publication owned by the Scroll Media Incorporation. It publishes content in both Hindi and English languages. Founded in 2014, the website and its journalists have won ...
, ''
The News Minute
''The News Minute'' is an Indian digital news platform based in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was founded by Dhanya Rajendran, Chitra Subramaniam and Vignesh Vellore in 2014. Apart from Karnataka, it also has bureaus in the states of Telangana, And ...
'', ''
The Quint
''The Quint'' is an English and Hindi language Indian general news and opinion website founded by Raghav Bahl and Ritu Kapur after their exit from Network18. The publication's journalists have won three Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Aw ...
'' and
ScoopWhoop
ScoopWhoop Media is an Indian digital media company based in New Delhi. It operates various online content verticals and serves as a news organisation featuring web series, documentaries and current affairs reporting with a focus on video pro ...
- that were attempting to challenge the dominance of India's traditional print and television news companies and their online offshoots.
Siddharth Vardarajan was awarded with the Shorenstein Prize in 2017; jury member of the award Nayan Chanda mentioned Vardarajan's independent web-based journalism-venture and distinguished body of well-researched reports to be an epitome of journalistic excellence and innovation. In November 2019, The Network of Women in Media, India criticised ''The Wire'' for providing a platform to
Vinod Dua
Vinod Dua (11 March 1954 – 4 December 2021) was an Indian journalist who worked in Doordarshan and NDTV India. In 1996, he became the first electronic media journalist to be bestowed with the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award. ...
for making fun of an allegation of sexual harassment against him.
[Sites covering this episodes are:
*
*
*] A December 2019 article by
Dexter Filkins
Dexter Price Filkins (born May 24, 1961) is an American journalist known primarily for his coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for ''The New York Times''. He was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for his dispatches from Afghanista ...
of ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', noted ''The Wire'' is one of the few small outfits and the most prominent (other than ''
The Caravan
''The Caravan'' is an Indian English-language, long-form narrative journalism magazine covering politics and culture.
History
In 1940, Vishwa Nath launched ''Caravan'' as the first magazine from the Delhi Press; it went on to establish its ...
''), to have engaged in providing aggressive coverage of the current
Indian Govt ruled by
BJP
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
at a time when mainstream media is failing to do so.
In September 2021, ''The Wire'' received the 2021
Free Media Pioneer Award given by the
International Press Institute
International Press Institute (IPI) is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. The institution was founded by 34 editors from 15 countries at Columbia Universit ...
for being 'an unflinching defender of independent, high-quality journalism'.
Meta/XCheck Story
On 10 October 2022, ''The Wire'' alleged
Meta (formerly Facebook) to have provided
Amit Malviya Amit Malviya is an Indian politician serving as the national convener of the IT cell of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Early life
Malviya is from Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. He completed his BBM from Dayalbagh Educational Institute and PGDM Finance M ...
, the head of the
Information Technology Cell of the incumbent ruling party in India, with the ability to delete any post on Instagram bypassing the usual content moderation system.
As per the article Amit Malviya had these privileges since his account had the XCheck tag. Facing Meta's categorical denials, the publication went on to publish a purported "internal message" from Andy Stone, the Communications Director, expressing frustration at the leak of Malviya's privileges. Further detailed report was also published, that featured email-communication from two anonymous "experts" verifying the integrity of Stone's email and a semi-redacted video of an in-house moderation tool attesting to Malviya's privileges.
Soon, numerous flaws were spotted in the evidence that pointed to fabrication and skeptics, including former Facebook whistle-blowers, began to cast doubts.
Afterwards, as both the experts denied involvement with ''The Wire'', the reports were subject to an internal review and retracted; later, the publication would concede its failure to verify the evidence and accuse the reporter, Devesh Kumar, of deceit. The developments also brought back focus on the publication's earlier investigative coverage of an app called
Tek Fog — supposedly used by the ruling party to spread disinformation and harass dissenters, that Kumar had been responsible for. This story also was removed from the site, and The Wire issued a formal apology, admitting to have rushed the story without having it double checked independently.
Editors Guild of India
Editors Guild of India (EGI) is a non profit organization of journalists based in India. The organization has declared "objectives of protecting press freedom and for raising the standards of editorial leadership of newspapers and magazines". I ...
also later retracted their coverage of
Tek Fog, which was solely based on ''The Wire''
's reporting. The Guild, in its statement, urged newsrooms 'to resist the temptation of moving fast on sensitive stories, circumventing due journalistic norms.' The Guild also called the lapses by The Wire 'condemnable' in a subsequent statement.
Litigation and Defamation suits
Reliance Infrastructure
In response to one of their video-shows covering the
Rafale deal controversy
The Rafale deal controversy is a political controversy in India related to the purchase of 36 Rafale multirole fighter aircraft for a price estimated at €7.87 billion (₹58,891 Crore) by the Defence Ministry of India from France's Dassa ...
,
Reliance Infrastructure
Reliance Infrastructure Limited (R-Infra), formerly Reliance Energy Limited (REL) and Bombay Suburban Electric Supply (BSES), is an Indian private sector enterprise involved in power generation, infrastructure, construction and defence. It is p ...
had lodged a defamation case in
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...
civil court for a cost of .
It was part of a slew of defamation cases, filed against multiple media-organisations and were perceived by some to fall under the category of
strategic lawsuits against public participation
Strategic lawsuits against public participation (also known as SLAPP suits or intimidation lawsuits), or strategic litigation against public participation, are lawsuits intended to censorship, censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening ...
.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Indian
Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) for the ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and venture capitalist
Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Rajeev Chandrasekhar (born 31 May 1964) is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the incumbent Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Electronics and Information Technology of India. He is also an ...
filed a defamation suit in a
Bangalore
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
civil court, after two articles – ''Arnab's Republic, Modi's Ideology'' by Sandeep Bushan and ''In Whose Interests Do Our Soldiers March?'' by Sachin Rao – were published, suggesting that Chandrasekhar's major investments in the Indian media and defence industries represented conflicts of interest with some of his roles as a legislator.
On 2 March 2017 the court passed an
ex-parte injunction
An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...
, ordering ''The Wire'' to block access to the two articles.
''The Wire'' complied but decided to challenge the court order.
In February 2019, the court lifted the injunction and ruled in favour of The Wire, leading to reinstatement of the articles.
Jay Shah
Amit Shah
Amit Anil Chandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician currently serving as the Minister of Home Affairs since 2019 and the first Minister of Co-operation of India since 2021. He served as the President of the Bharatiya Janata P ...
's son
Jay Shah
Jay Amitbhai Shah (born 22 September 1988) is an Indian businessman and cricket administrator. He became the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary in 2019. He is also the president of Asian Cricket Council. He is the son of Ami ...
filed a criminal defamation case against the editors of ''The Wire'' for publishing an article titled 'The Golden Touch of Jay Amit Shah', an investigative story by Rohini Singh. A BJP-led coalition had formed the government at the centre following their win in the
2014 Indian general election
General elections were held in India in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha. With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the 2019 ...
, and
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
had become the Prime Minister. The article alluded to possible irregularities in Jay Shah's business dealings, claiming that the turnover of a company owned by him increased 16,000 times over in the year following the election.
Jay Shah filed the case in court 13 of the Ahmedabad Metropolitan Magistrate against four editors/reporters of ''The Wire''. Additional chief metropolitan magistrate SK Gadhvi ordered a court inquiry into the matter under CrPC section 202 to inquire into the case to decide whether or not there is sufficient ground for a case to be filed. Observing that "prima facie it seems there is a case" against ''The Wire'' for its defamatory article against Shah, a metropolitan court issued summons to the reporter of the article and editors of the website to appear before it on 13 November in the criminal defamation case filed against them. The order also mentions Shah's contention that "the news portal didn't give enough time to him to send his response, the article didn't include the loss incurred by his company in the year 2015-2016, and created confusion over the turnover to defame him."
The Ahmedabad civil court on 23 December vacated the ex parte and interim injunction. The court lifted all restrictions except the use of words (after) "Narendra Modi becoming Prime Minister/elected as Prime Minister." ''The Wire'' called the lifting of the injunction a "victory for The Wire", and that the "decision by the civil court is a vindication of ''The Wire''s fundamental stand that its article had been a legitimate exercise of the freedom of expression in the public interest." However, the
Gujarat High court
The Gujarat High Court is the High Court of the state of Gujarat. It was established on 1 May 1960 under the ''Bombay Re-organisation Act, 1960'' after the state of Gujarat split from Bombay State.
The seat of the court is Ahmedabad. The pre ...
later reinstated the gag order and refused to quash the criminal defamation case filed by Jay Shah. ''The Wire'' had appealed in the
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...
against this order. The
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...
asked the Gujarat trial court not to proceed until 12 April with the criminal defamation complaint. Later,
Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra
Justice Dipak Misra (born 3 October 1953) is an Indian jurist who served as the 45th Chief Justice of India from 28 August 2017 till 2 October 2018. He is also former Chief Justice of the Patna High Court and Delhi High Court. He is the nephe ...
listed the matter to be heard on 18 April by a different bench of the Supreme Court. However, the bench had not been specified.
''The Wire'' pleaded for the withdrawal of its plea, seeking the defamation proceedings against it to be quashed. The portal said they were ready for further proceedings in the Gujarat trial Court. The Supreme Court bench allowed the withdrawal on 27 August 2019. The court remarked that, "''it has become a fashion to serve notice to a person for explanation and even before it can be answered, the articles are published within five to six hours"'' expressing its anguish and also ordered that the trial be completed "''as expeditiously as possible''."
Amit Malviya
In response to the now retracted article in ''The Wire'' related to Meta XCheck,
Amit Malviya Amit Malviya is an Indian politician serving as the national convener of the IT cell of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Early life
Malviya is from Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. He completed his BBM from Dayalbagh Educational Institute and PGDM Finance M ...
, the BJP's IT Department Head filed a police complaint against ''The Wire'' and its editors. In response to the complaint Delhi Police searched the residence of wire founding editors Siddharth Varadarajan, MK Venu, Sidharth Bhatia, Jahnavi Sen as well as ''The Wire''
's offices. The raids have been condemned by the
International Press Institute
International Press Institute (IPI) is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. The institution was founded by 34 editors from 15 countries at Columbia Universit ...
and one more press organization.
Adityanath government
During the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, ''The Wire'' came under the
government's crackdown on journalists reporting on administrative failures and
humanitarian crises
A humanitarian crisis (or sometimes humanitarian disaster) is defined as a singular event or a series of events that are threatening in terms of health, safety or well-being of a community or large group of people. It may be an internal or extern ...
,
a part of a pattern of escalading
press freedom violations in
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
, use of the
Epidemics Diseases Act of 1897 to pressurise journalists, and
democratic backsliding
Democratic backsliding, also called autocratization, is the decline in the democratic characteristics of a political system, and is the opposite of democratization. Democracy is the most popular form of government, with more than half of the nat ...
in India.
Between April 2020 and June 2021, four separate
FIRs
Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The genus is most closely related to ...
alleging false information were lodged by the
Uttar Pradesh Police
The Uttar Pradesh Police (UP Police), (IAST: ), is the primary law enforcement agency within the Uttar Pradesh state of India. Established in 1863 as the Office of the Inspector General of Police, United Provinces under the ''Police Act, 1861'' ...
against various journalists working for the news outlet, including against one of its founding editors. According to ''
Reporters sans frontieres
Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...
'', the cases had no tangible evidence and amounted to harassment through litigation. In September 2021, the
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...
responding to a petition against the FIRs, extended a 2 month protection from arrest to the journalists at ''The Wire'' over press freedom concerns but declined to quash them, instead directed the petitioners to approach the
Allahabad High Court stating that it would set a bad precedent and open a floodgate of quashing petitions under Article 32, which grants the right to
constitutional remedies for violation of
fundamental freedoms
Fundamental rights are a group of rights that have been recognized by a high degree of protection from encroachment. These rights are specifically identified in a constitution, or have been found under due process of law. The United Nations' Susta ...
.
Bharat Biotech
In February 2022,
Bharat Biotech
Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) is an Indian multinational biotechnology company headquartered in the city of Hyderabad, India engaged in the drug discovery, drug development, manufacture of vaccines, bio-therapeutics, pharmace ...
filed a defamation lawsuit of against ''The Wire'' and its editors over 14 articles that had reported on the pharmaceutical company and
Covaxin
Covaxin (codenamed as BBV152) is a whole inactivated virus-based COVID-19 vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research - National Institute of Virology.
As of October 2021, 110.6 million ...
, the
Covid-19 vaccine
A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19).
Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an e ...
developed by it.
The defamation suit also named all those who had contributed to the articles which included several journalists and medical professionals.
The lawsuit was filed at a local district court in
Rangareddy
Ranga Reddy district ( R. R. district) is a district in the Indian state of Telangana. The district headquarters is located at Lakdikapool, Hyderabad. The district was named after the former deputy chief minister of the United Andhra Pradesh, ...
,
Telangana
Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...
where an additional district judge passed an
ex-parte injunction
An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in pa ...
, a restraining order directing the news publication to take down its articles within the next 48 hours. The court said that the articles published by ''The Wire'' would lead to vaccine hesitancy.
The editor-in-chief of ''The Wire'' stated that they would challenge the legality of the order as no notice was served to them and the organisation was not given an opportunity to defend itself against Bharat Biotech's allegations.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wire
2015 establishments in Delhi
Indian news websites
Publications established in 2015