Swarajya is an Indian right-wing[13] monthly print magazine and news portal. The publication reports favourably on the Bharatiya Janata Party and has published misinformation on many occasions.[2][14][15][16]

Swarajya
May 2018 issue
Editorial Directors
Editorial Advisory Board
CategoriesNews magazine
FrequencyMonthly (2015–present)
Weekly (1956–1980)
PublisherV. Murali
Amarnath Govindarajan
FounderKhasa Subba Rao
Founded1956
First issue14 July 1956 (1956-07-14)
CompanyBharathan Publications Private Limited (1956–2014)
Kovai Media Private Limited (2014–present)
CountryIndia
Based inCoimbatore/Bengaluru (2014–present)
Chennai (1956–1980)
LanguageEnglish
Websiteswarajyamag.com/about-us
OCLC3999897

R. Jagannathan is the current editorial director. Originally established in 1956 as a weekly under the patronage of C. Rajagopalachari, it shut down in 1980 but was relaunched in September 2014, as a daily news website; a monthly print magazine was launched in January 2015.[17]

History

Swarajya was launched as a weekly magazine in 1956 by journalist Khasa Subba Rao, under the patronage of C. Rajagopalachari, a prominent independence activist and one of the founders of the Swatantra Party.[18][19]

The magazine strongly advocated individual freedom and freedom of enterprise as against Nehru's socialist policies.[20] Minoo Masani, Ramaswamy Venkataraman, and R. K. Laxman have contributed to the magazine.[21][22] After Rajagopalachari's death in 1972, the magazine slowly began to decline and eventually closed in 1980.[23]

Relaunch in 2014

The magazine was relaunched as an online daily in September 2014, with Sandipan Deb as the Editorial Director; the first edition of the print magazine was launched in January 2015.[23] Coimbatore-based Kovai Media Private Limited purchased the rights to the magazine from Chennai-based Bharathan Publishers, along with 40,000 pages from the earlier editions of the magazine.[23] The magazine describes itself as "a big tent for liberal right of centre discourse".[1]

In October 2016, it acquired OpIndia; in 2018, it became an independent entity.[24] In 2018, Swarajya launched its Hindi edition.[25]

Reception

The website has misreported news on multiple occasions, according to fact-checkers including Alt News and Boom.[29] Columnists working for Swarajya have allegedly engaged in a variety of trolling over Twitter.[34] Journalists working for Swarajya have propagated communally charged fake news via their personal accounts.[35][36][37][38] Swarajya was blacklisted from Wikipedia in 2020 alongside OpIndia and Hindu nationalist website TFIpost.[39]

References

  1. ^ a b "About Us". Swarajya. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  2. ^ a b Chadha, Kalyani; Bhat, Prashanth (14 February 2019). "The media are biased: Exploring online right wing responses to mainstream news media in India". In Rao, Shakuntala (ed.). Indian Journalism in a New Era: Changes, Challenges, and Perspectives. Oxford University Press. pp. 115–140. ISBN 9780199490820. Retrieved 23 May 2020 – via ResearchGate.
  3. ^ Rakesh, K.M. (21 April 2020). "Arab fury erupts on BJP MP for tweet on women". The Telegraph. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  4. ^ Kumar, Basant (3 January 2020). "Fake news, lies, Muslim bashing, and Ravish Kumar: Inside OpIndia's harrowing world". Newslaundry. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  5. ^ "Did Mani Ratnam Sign Letter Written to Modi Over Mob Lynching? Yes". The Quint. 30 July 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  6. ^ Bhushan, Sandeep (26 January 2017). "Arnab's Republic hints at mainstreaming right-wing opinion as a business". Business Standard. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  7. ^ Mihindukulasuriya, Regina (8 May 2019). "BJP supporters have a secret weapon in their online poll campaign — satire". ThePrint. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  8. ^ Chakravarty, Ipsita (25 June 2019). "'Tukde, tukde gang': How the BJP has used misinformation in the JNU sedition case to stifle dissent". Scroll.in. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  9. ^ a b "'I see a confident trans person': Siddharth slams Shefali Vaidya". Free Press Journal. 10 January 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  10. ^ Matharu, Aleesha (20 November 2019). "#RightSideUp: A Tale of Two Universities, 'Hindu Guilt'". The Wire. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  11. ^ a b Sinha, Pratik (20 August 2017). "Swarajya magazine and Jaideep Mazumdar spread falsehood about Suhrawardy Avenue in Kolkata". Alt News. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  12. ^ a b Chowdhury, Archis (8 January 2020). "Swarajya Peddles Misinformation About Deepika Padukone's Chhapaak". Boom. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  13. ^ [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]
  14. ^ Emmanuel, Gladwin (10 October 2019). "Stage set for Narendra Modi-Xi Jinping's Mamallapuram summit amid row over Kashmir". Pune Mirror. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  15. ^ Ganguly, Arnab (6 March 2018). "Grandma of an opening". The Telegraph. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  16. ^ "Opinion: Lutyen's Media's Attempt To Paint The Anti-CAA Agitation As 'Secular' Was Hypocritic | Outlook India Magazine". Outlook India. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  17. ^ Venkatesh, M. R. (29 January 2015). "Re-launching Swarajya, a voice for India's new Right". The Hindu.
  18. ^ "Remembering Rajagopalachari the writer, with Kalki". The New Indian Express. 9 December 2013. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  19. ^ "Contributions of Rajaji and Kalki hailed". The New Indian Express. 16 May 2014. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  20. ^ "Comrades, friends, rivals". The Hindu. 25 May 2003. Archived from the original on 9 June 2003. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  21. ^ "EDITORIALS BY SHRI R. VENKATARAMAN FOR 'SWARAJYA'". President Venkataraman. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  22. ^ "For over five decades RK Laxman immortalised passive, hapless common man". Daily News & Analysis. Pune. 26 January 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  23. ^ a b c Bansal, Shuchi (17 September 2014). "Rajagopalachari's 'Swarajya' to be relaunched soon". Livemint. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  24. ^ Matharu, Aleesha. "Tables Turn on Twitter's Hindutva Warriors, and It's the BJP Doing the Strong-Arming". The Wire. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  25. ^ "Swarajya on Twitter". Twitter. Swarajya. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  26. ^ Patel, Jignesh (8 September 2018). "Misleading reporting by Swarajya and Postcard News about Hardik Patel's weight gain during fast". Alt News. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  27. ^ Chaudhuri, Pooja (8 January 2020). "Does 'Chhapaak' portray acid attack convict as a Hindu named 'Rajesh'? No, false claim". Alt News. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  28. ^ Alphonso, Anmol (11 December 2019). "Dainik Bhaskar, Amar Ujala And Swarajya Misquote Scindia About Support To Citizen Amendment Bill". Boom. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  29. ^ [11][12][26][27][28]
  30. ^ "Tables Turn on Twitter's Hindutva Warriors, and It's the BJP Doing the Strong-Arming". The Wire. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  31. ^ "'Ban Her': Twitterati Slam Shefali Vaidya for 'Transphobic' Post". The Quint. 10 January 2020. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  32. ^ Daniyal, Shoaib. "Modi goes secular? BJP's minimum outreach to Muslims is causing heartburn among party's supporters". Scroll.in. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  33. ^ "Yes, I am a woman and I am angry". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  34. ^ [9][30][31][32][33]
  35. ^ "Video of ABVP member assaulting AISA student shared by journalists as Left parties attacking ABVP". Alt News. 6 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  36. ^ Chaudhuri, Pooja (13 August 2018). "Opindia, MyNation, Postcard News declare Umar Khalid "not attacked" based on a false testimony". Alt News. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  37. ^ "Balrampur Puja Procession Violence Pre-Planned? Cops Deny Claims". The Quint. 9 October 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  38. ^ "'Learn VFX': Anurag Kashyap responds to Shefali Vaidya's tweet claiming Aishe Ghosh faked her injuries". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  39. ^ Tiwari, Ayush (23 June 2020). "OpIndia: Hate speech, vanishing advertisers, and an undisclosed BJP connection". Newslaundry. Retrieved 29 June 2020.