The founder, publisher, and chief editor of India Today, Aroon Purie, was born in 1944. He was also the previous CEO of the India Today Group. In addition to being the chairman and managing director of TV Today, he is the managing director of Thomson Press (India) Limited. He received the Padma Bhushan award and served as Reader’s Digest India’s top editor. He gave his daughter Kalli Purie leadership of the India Today Group in October 2017.
Early life
In 1965, Purie obtained a bachelor’s degree in economics from the London School of Economics after graduating from The Doon School. His youngest daughter is Koel Purie, a Bollywood actor. Career Although he passed the reins to his son Ankoor Purie, he began his career at Thomson Press in 1970 as Production Controller and remains its driving force today. It has a nationwide presence with five locations in India. In 1975, he launched the India Today Group with a magazine of the same name. With 32 periodicals, 7 radio stations, 4 TV channels, 1 newspaper, several web and mobile portals, a top classical music label, and a book publishing division, the group is currently India’s most diverse media conglomerate.
India TodayIn 1975, Aroon Purie’s father, Vidya Vilas Purie, founded the biweekly journal India Today. Aroon Purie served as its publisher and his daughter, Madhu Trehan, as its editor. When Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared an emergency, the magazine was launched. Aroon attempted to “fill the information gap which exists amongst persons interested in India residing abroad” during the creation of India Today. With editions available in five languages and a readership of over 11 million, it has been the most-read publication in India for more than ten years as of 2006.
Additionally, he established the journalistic style for the English news station Headlines Today and the Hindi news channel Aaj Tak, which broadcasts news and current affairs around the clock.
Awards and associations
For his contributions to Indian media, he received the Padma Bhushan in 2001, which is the government of India’s third-highest civilian honour. Other honours he has received include the Indian Federation of Small and Medium Newspapers’ Journalist of the Year 1990 award, the B.D. Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism (1988), the G.K. Reddy Memorial Award for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism (1993–1994), the Advertising Club of Kolkata’s Hall of Fame Award (2002), and the NT Award for Lifetime Achievement from www.Indiatelevision.com (2008).
He is connected to several councils, such as the Audit Bureau of Circulations’ Council of Management (Chairman, 2000–2001). He is a member of the Council of Management All India Management Association (Special Invitee) and the Editors’ Guild of India Executive Committee. From 2001 to 2002, he presided over the CII National Committee on Media.
At the moment, he serves as the Federation of International Periodicals and Publications’ (FIPP) chairman.Since the Global Editors Network was established in April 2011, Aroon Purie has been on its board. He received the ABLF Lifetime Achievement Award in March 2022 in recognition of his achievements in journalism.
Controversy
Aroon Purie was charged with criminal defamation in 2007 due to a report titled “Mission Misconduct” that appeared in India Today in April of that year. Three Indian officers who were stationed in the UK were “recalled in quick succession following serious allegations of sexual misconduct, corruption in issuance of visas, and sale of Indian passports to illegal immigrants,” the paper claims.
The Supreme Court dismissed the case against Aroon Purie in October 2022 because of an article that India published in 2007, despite dismissing the lawsuit against Purie, Chief Justice U.U. Lalit, Justice Ravindra Bhat, and Justice Bela M. Trivedi did not provide the news article’s author with any remedy.