''Scroll.in'', simply referred to as ''Scroll'', is an Indian

digital news Digital News was a trade publication that focused on products from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). History They published independently from 1986 thru 1992. At that point, they were acquired and merged with '' Digital Review'' with the new ...

publication owned by the Scroll Media Incorporation. It publishes content in both

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

and English languages. Founded in 2014, the website and its journalists have won several national and international awards including four

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 Awards 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 ...

. The Hindi language edition of ''Scroll.in'' is published on the ''Satyagrah'' website which was acquired following the merger of Satyagrah and Scroll Media Incorporation.

History

Samir Patil, an

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

alumnus and

McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm founded in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey, that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. McKinsey is the oldest and ...

associate was the founder of ACK Media which published Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle in India. In 2011, he sold the venture to the

Future Group Future Group is an Indian conglomerate, founded by Kishore Biyani and based in Mumbai. The company is known in Indian retail and fashion sectors, operating supermarket chains Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar, lifestyle stores Brand Factory and Centra ...

and founded the Scroll Media Inc in the following year. The company was incorporated in

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, United States. ''Scroll.in'' was launched in January 2014 as an Indian news website through the holding company of Scroll Media Incorporation. It was founded by Samir Patil and senior journalist Naresh Fernandes, along with Jennifer O'Brien, the former head of

business development Business development entails tasks and processes to develop and implement growth opportunities within and between organizations. It is a subset of the fields of business, commerce and organizational theory. Business development is the creation of ...

at the travel startup Trabblr. Naresh Fernandes who was previously the editor-in-chief of ''Time Out India'' and a journalist associated with ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' and ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', became the editor-in-chief of ''Scroll.in''. The publication had received early stage investments from the IPS Media Foundation, the

Media Development Investment Fund Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF), formerly Media Development Loan Fund, is a New York-registered non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and mission-driven investment fund that provides low-cost financing to independent news and information busin ...

and the investment firm of

Omidyar Network Omidyar Network is a self-styled "philanthropic investment firm," composed of a foundation and an impact investment firm. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, Omidyar Network has committed over $1.5billion to n ...

, following an endorsement from the law firm

Khaitan & Co Khaitan & Co is one of India's oldest, full-service law firms comprising over 1000 fee earners and consultants, including 200 partners and directors. The law firm was founded in 1911 by Debi Prasad Khaitan, a member of the Constituent Assembly of ...

. In June 2014,

Atlantic Media Atlantic Media is an American print and online media company owned by David G. Bradley and based in the Watergate in Washington, D.C. It publishes ''The Atlantic,'' a print and online publication that also holds themed events; and offers business ...

partnered with the Scroll Media Inc to launch the Indian edition of the business news brand ''Quartz''. In the following year, the Hindi media publishing company Satyagrah was merged with Scroll Media and became the Hindi edition of ''Scroll.in'' which continues to operate under the name of ''Satyagrah''. Sanjay Dubey who was the founder and editor of ''Satyagrah'' and previously the editor of ''

Tehelka ''Tehelka'' (Hindi: Sensation) is an Indian news magazine known for its investigative journalism and sting operations. According to the British newspaper ''The Independent'', the ''Tehelka'' was founded by Tarun Tejpal, Aniruddha Bahal and a ...

s Hindi edition, remained as the editor of ''Satyagrah''. In March 2018, the publication partially shifted towards a

subscription business model The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, an ...

providing ad free delivery of news service and access to archives for subscribers. Naresh Fernandes, the editor-in-chief however stated that the publication will not implement any

paywall A paywall is a method of restricting access to content, with a purchase or a paid subscription, especially news. Beginning in the mid-2010s, newspapers started implementing paywalls on their websites as a way to increase revenue after years of ...

s. In December 2018,

Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...

partnered with ''Scroll.in'' to launch its Indian weekly programme, Eco India as part of DW's venture into the South Asian media industry. Between May–June 2019, ''Scroll.in'' laid off a number of editorial staff citing a restructuring of the business model.

Organisation

The ''Scroll'''s staff are segregated into two divisions; the editorial team and the distribution team. In an article of 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 ...

, the segregation was explained as the result of caution associated with the "credibility of

digital media Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ' ...

" prevalent among the former print medium journalists who constituted the editorial team of the new publication. The editorial team in addition consists of an appointed

ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

for additional editorial oversight. Naresh Fernandes is the current editor-in-chief of the website. The Hindi edition of the publication, ''Satyagrah'' has a separate editorial team with Sanjay Dubey as the editor-in-chief. The

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations * Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...

team of the publication is staffed with analysts of social media and search result

algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specificat ...

who manage the distribution assets of the publication.

Content

According to a report of the

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) is a UK-based research centre and think tank founded in 2006, which operates Thomson Reuters Journalism Fellowship Programme, also known as the Reuters Fellowship. History The institute ...

, the content delivery of the ''Scroll.in'' resembles that of a

news wire A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency may ...

in combination with in-depth reporting and commentary pieces; the site was described to be elite oriented and compared with the ''Quartz''. Per the report, the publication's content is targeted towards an up-market audience with the business strategy of generating income through premium

native advertising Native advertising, also called sponsored content, is a type of advertising that matches the form and function of the platform upon which it appears. In many cases it functions like an advertorial, and manifests as a video, article or editorial. ...

and

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

. The report also described the publication to have developed a simple and responsive design for its website for the purpose of easy

accessibility Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

Products

Besides the primary website, the distribution of ''Scroll'''s content is provided through internet assets such as an

android app Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android is developed by a consortium of deve ...

, two email

newsletter A newsletter is a printed or electronic report containing news concerning the activities of a business or an organization that is sent to its members, customers, employees or other subscribers. Newsletters generally contain one main topic of int ...

s and an array of social media channels across Facebook, Twitter,

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

and YouTube. The ''Scroll'' also operates an online shop for books and literary accessories based on recommendations from the editorial team.

Awards

*''Scroll.in'''s journalist Supriya Sharma won the

for 2015. She was noted to be the first journalist from a digital news organisation to receive the award. *''Scroll.in''’s journalist was one of the winners of the 2016

Early Childhood Development Early childhood development is the period of rapid physical, psychological and social growth and change that begins before birth and extends into early childhood. While early childhood is not well defined, one source asserts that the early years b ...

Reporting Contest conducted by the

International Center for Journalists International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) is a non-profit, professional organization located in Washington, D.C., United States, that promotes journalism worldwide. Since 1984, the International Center for Journalists has worked directly with m ...

. *''Scroll.in''’s Hindi website Satyagrah's journalist Rahul Kotiyal won the

for 2016, for reporting on a campaign by RSS and Bajrang Dal named " Beti Bachao Bahu Lao". The campaign attempted to stop Hindu girls from marrying non-Hindus. If RSS members get information of a Hindu girl planning to marry a Muslim man, then the RSS members would track the girl and would inform the parents of the girl accusing this to be a case of

Love Jihad Love jihad (also known as Romeo Jihad) is an Islamophobic conspiracy theory developed by proponents of Hindutva. The conspiracy theory purports that Muslim men target Hindu women for conversion to Islam by means such as seduction, feigning ...

. *''Scroll.in'''s journalist Malini Subramaniam won the

for 2016. *''Scroll.in''’s journalists won 4

Red Ink Awards The Red Ink Awards, also known as the Red Ink Awards for Excellence in Indian Journalism, are a set of annual awards given by the Mumbai Press Club in India to recognize excellence in journalistic achievements as assessed by a special jury. Institut ...

for 2017 for Excellence in Journalism *''Scroll.in'''s journalist Mridula Chari was one of the winners of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards for 2017. *The ''Scroll.in'' website won 2 Gold Awards in the

WAN-IFRA The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization made up of 76 national newspaper associations, 12 news agencies, 10 regional press organisations, and many individual newspaper ex ...

South Asian Digital Media Awards 2018. *''Scroll.in'''s journalists Mridula Chari and Vinita Govindarajan again won the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards for 2019 for their investigation into the use of toxic pesticides enabled by tax regulations.

Readership

According to ''

Forbes India ''Forbes India'' is the Indian edition of ''Forbes'' which is managed by Reliance Industries-owned media conglomerate, Network 18. History and profile Since its founding in 2008, ''Forbes India'' has achieved a circulation of 50,000 copies and ma ...

'', the monthly unique readership of the website was 4 million as of August 2016.

References

External links

* * {{Media of India Indian journalism Indian journalism organisations Indian news websites Internet properties established in 2014 2014 establishments in India