New Delhi: Rajdeep Sardesai, the former editor-in-chief at IBN18 Network, was appointed consulting editor at the India Today Group on Thursday.
“I am pleased to welcome Rajdeep Sardesai to the India Today Group. He will join us in the capacity of consulting editor… As a start, Rajdeep will be doing a marquee show for Headlines Today and contributing to the revamp of the channel and its alignment with digital,” wrote Aroon Purie, chairman of the India Today Group, in an email to his staff.
Sardesai took to the microblogging site Twitter to talk about the development, “Delighted to be joining TV Today network, India’s largest news network, as consulting editor. Looking forward to working with a great team. Will be doing a prime time show with Headlines Today soon. And a bit of Hindi on Aaj tak! So, it’s back to the box soon.”
The announcement comes soon after Purie wrote in a mail to his staff that Shekhar Gupta’s role would be that of an editorial advisor. Gupta was appointed vice-chairman and editor-in-chief at the India Today Group two months ago.
Last week, Sardesai also launched his personal website rajdeepsardesai.net as part of his digital news journey. His book 2014: The Election that changed India is set to release in November this year. “A book, a personal website, a new TV challenge: sabbatical over! Look forward to your support in a new innings,” Sardesai posted on Twitter.
In July, Sardesai and his wife Sagarika Ghose quit Network18 after Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) took control of the media conglomerate.
In his farewell letter to the staff, Sardesai wrote, “I must confess it’s not easy to leave a baby that one has helped create/build/grow and to leave such great colleagues. But I guess certain things in life are written in the stars. Editorial independence and integrity have been articles of faith in 26 years in journalism and maybe I am too old now to change!”
Sardesai worked at Network18 for nine years and headed news channels CNN-IBN, IBN7 and IBN-Lokmat.
