Truth I Loyalty I Verification I Independence
Bhartiya is hailed as ‘The Most Fearless and Credible Journalist’ (Ati Nirbhik aur Vishwasneeya Patrakaar) Bhartiya considers journalism as the ‘First Rough Draft of History’, it is critical in preserving democracy and censuring autocracy and propaganda. Bhartiya was the first to rescue news from the realms of merely political reportage and use it to tell the truth about how policies, political and administrative decisions affected common people. His being authentic, instinctive, and free made him go beyond reporting of the key event and cover the aftermath, the consequences of the event, and this contributed substantially to the strength of our democracy. Later many people followed what he had begun. He changed the face of Indian Journalism by reporting the reality in the context of the people, so the people could know the actual state of the nation and the world. He fearlessly reported right from the field to bring the truth out in front of the public at all costs. His journalistic journey is replete with his audacious and successful attempts at exposing the kinks in the government machinery and system.
Currently, he is the Editor-in-Chief and axis of CHAUTHI DUNIYA, a popular weekly newspaper which targets a niche market of bureaucrats, intelligentsia, and the political world. He is also the founder – promoter of LOUD INDIA TV, a digital broadcast renowned for its thought-provoking shows. Bhartiya began his career as a Principal Correspondent with RAVIVAAR, a publication of ABP, in the late 1970s. After a stellar career as a reporter of northern India, he joined TELEGRAPH in 1985, and a year later he founded CHAUTHI DUNIYA, the first ever Hindi weekly newspaper. In early 2000s he was one of the founders of the Jain TV, the first private news channel of India.
His characteristic storytelling underlined by his meticulous verification of facts, lucid writing, and attention-grabbing headlines breathed fire in his reports. A constant reinventing of narrative elements made his reports a craze amongst readers, be it the Prime Minister, bureaucrats, political analysts, or the man on the streets. Because of a path breaking TV news report by Bhartiya, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had commanded an immediate resignation from a corrupt Chief Minister. Not only was he admired by his supporters, but also by the leaders of the very government he criticised. If he saw injustice or corruption, he roared, and the government continued to hear its echo until they addressed the issues.
He revolutionized the television news delivery in India, especially the election coverage, by making it hands on and people-centric rather than leader and party-centric.
Bhartiya was always concerned with empowering the fourth estate and making it independent of the information from the government agencies. In order to broaden the reach of news gathering, he started a feature news agency HEADLINE in late 1990s. All the non-metro newspapers of India supported HEADLINE. He was also the Consulting Editor of H I F E, the news and feature agency, which represented about 3000 newspapers of the country.
In the late 1980s, when V P Singh became the PM, he convinced Bhartiya to join politics and invest his extraordinary understanding of India’s socio-political scenario to work from within the system. Santosh Bhartiya got elected to the 9th Lok Sabha in 1989 from the Farrukhabad Constituency of Uttar Pradesh and became the Member of Parliament after defeating Salman Khursheed of Congress (I) and Dayaram Shakya from BJP.
Despite being in the system, the journalist in Bhartiya continued to be fierce and unwavering. He maintained his journalistic accountability by criticizing his own government in favour of people, relentlessly bridging the gap between the people and the government. This resulted in many positive outcomes. While he was a Member of Parliament, he continued writing for the publications like Illustrated Weekly, Dharmyug, Current, and many more.
Bhartiya played his inning in the government with disarming honesty, non-partisan and pro-people approach which was revered equally by his supporters and opponents. Despite his sharp reports, he was closely associated with Prime Ministers like ChandraShekhar, V P Singh, I K Gujral, H D Deve Gowda, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Manmohan Singh.