Dipankar Ghose

Background

About Dipankar Ghose

In my career as a journalist, I have played several roles, from award-winning reportage to being appointed Deputy National Editor at one of India's largest newspapers at 31 years old. I joined the Indian Express in 2011 covering issues of civic policy and crime; quickly graduating to writing about politics, and traveling the country to author long form stories on conflict and marginalisation. In October 2015, I moved to Chhattisgarh, one of India's most conflict-ridden states, where I spent four and a half years reporting on the guerilla war between security agencies and left wing insurgents. The stories that I wrote ranged from ground reports in the aftermath of terrible violence such as ambushes, exchanges of fire, or IED explosions, and broader pieces that captured lives lived amid unimaginable violence, including documenting allegations of human rights abuse. I returned to the Delhi political bureau in 2020, after which I wrote extensively on politics, and spent months on the ground covering the COVID 19 crisis. For this body of work, I was awarded the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism- India's most well known journalism award- on three separate occasions before the age of 30. I was also awarded the prestigious Prem Bhatia Award for Outstanding Journalism 2020, by far the youngest recipient of an award that has stalwarts like Rajdeep Sardesai, and Dr. P Sainath as previous winners. In August 2021, I moved to a leadership position at the Hindustan Times, where as the Deputy National Editor, I work with a wide web of at least 40 correspondents from across the country to drive the newspaper's reportage daily. This means understanding a vast and diverse country; the issues that drive the every day; ideating stories, commissioning them, providing leadership, and editing stories on a quick turnaround, brooking no compromise on quality and perspective. Of particular interest is investigative and long form reportage and working with reporters to produce reports that rise to a length of words often five days a week, to add nuance to public discourse on issues hitherto glossed over in the mainstream press. Passionate about journalism and the power it wields, I often still step out to travel and report, particularly during election season. I am presently at the University of Oxford, studying an MSC in South Asian Studies, as a Weidenfeld Hoffman Scholar-a prestigious year long leadership programme for future world leaders emphasising communication skills, moral philosophy and business leadership.