Vinod Mehta

Vinod Mehta (31 May 1942 – 8 March 2015) was an Indian journalist, editor and political commentator. He was also the founder editor-in-chief of ''Outlook'' from 1995 to 2012 and had been editor of publications such as '' The Pioneer'', ''The Sunday Observer'', ''The Independent'' and ''The Indian Post''. He was also the author of several books.

Life

On 31 May 1942, Mehta was born in Rawalpindi, in Punjab, British India. His family became refugees in 1945. He grew up as an army boy in Lucknow, an experience that turned him into a determined secularist. He attended La Martinere school and the university there.

Mehta lived in New Delhi. He was married to Sumita Paul, a journalist who has worked for ''The Pioneer'' and the Sunday edition of ''The Times of India''. He had a daughter from a prior relationship, the existence of whom he revealed in a memoir after encouragement from his wife.

Mehta died of multi-organ failure in New Delhi on 8 March 2015, after a prolonged illness.

Career

Leaving home with a third-class BA degree, Mehta experimented with a string of jobs, including that of a factory-hand in suburban Britain, before accepting an offer to edit ''Debonair'' in 1974, a men's magazine.

Mehta became one of India's most influential editors by launching a number of successful publications such as the ''Sunday Observer'' in 1981, ''The Indian Post'' in 1987, ''The Independent'' in 1989, ''The Pioneer'' (Delhi edition) in 1990 and, finally, ''Outlook'' in 1995. He was editorial chairman of the Outlook Group.

Mehta was forced to resign from the editorship of ''The Independent'' newspaper in 1989, 29 days after launching it, because of a story based on a dubious RAW report, calling the Maharashtrian politician Y. B. Chavan a spy, which Mehta ran with an eight-column banner headline.

Vinod Mehta has authored a biography of Meena Kumari and Sanjay Gandhi, and published (in 2001) a collection of his articles under the title ''Mr Editor, How Close Are You to the PM?'' His memoir, ''Lucknow Boy'', was published in 2011.

Mehta was a TV panellist and frequently appeared on TV shows like ''Newshour'' on Times Now and ''India at 9'' at CNN-IBN. He was called upon by news anchors as a senior journalist and was sought after for his analysis of major issues and scenarios. He remained editor-in-chief of ''Outlook'' till February 2012.

He was president of the Editors Guild of India and was, briefly, the writer and presenter of "Letter from India" on the BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4.

On 9 February 2015 he was awarded the Yash Bharti Award by the Government of Uttar Pradesh for his work in the field of journalism.

Lawsuit

In 2012 the ''Indian Express'' attempted to sue Mehta for defamation after he had hinted that a story it had run was planted.

Praise

In her column in ''The Indian Express'', Coomi Kapoor, who worked under Mehta for many years, said

Major works

* ''Bombay: A Private View'' (1971)
* ''Meena Kumari'' (1972) e-launched in May 2013
* ''Mr Editor, how close are you to the PM?'' (1999),
* ''Lucknow Boy: A Memoir'' (2010),
* ''The Sanjay Story'' (2012),
* ''Editor Unplugged'' (2014)

References

External links

A review of Lucknow BoyA review of Editor UnpluggedTranscripts : The Radia Tapes
contains all the leaked audio transcripts between Nira Radia and other high-profile people
Arnab Goswami's Tribute to Mr Mehta - The Editor I never had

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehta, Vinod
1942 births
2015 deaths
20th-century Indian journalists
Indian newspaper editors
Indian magazine editors
Writers from Lucknow
Indian male journalists
La Martinière College, Lucknow alumni
University of Lucknow alumni
20th-century Indian biographers
Deaths from multiple organ failure
Journalists from Uttar Pradesh
20th-century Indian male writers
Punjabi people
Male biographers