How journalsists who got ads from MP govt responded: ‘No more ads’, ‘genuine site’, and no comments

2 http://www.no2politics.com (Rs 18.25 lakh) — Archna, another relative of Prabhu Pateria. No ‘About Us’ or ‘Contact’ links. Prabhu did not respond to queries sent by The Indian Express.

3 http://www.madhyabharat.net (Rs 17.25 lakh) — Shafali Gupta, a journalist who formerly worked with a news channel. She had earlier worked for http://www.dakhal.net, run as http://www.kolarnews.net (Rs. 10.75 lakh) — both carry similar content. http://www.madhyabharat.net and http://www.kolarnews.net have no ‘About Us’ or ‘Contact Us’ links.

“I own madhyabharat.net. I had also started kolarnews.net but sold it. I still write articles for all three web sites,” Gupta said.

4 http://www.kharikhari.net (Rs 16 lakh) — Suman Tripathi, a journalist working in Bhopal with Hindi weekly L N Star, and wife of Ajay Tripathi, who works for a local TV channel IBC 24. “We have no staff, we run it ourselves,” said Ajay Tripathi.

5 http://www.nvmp.in (Rs 15.99 lakh) — Tarun Gupta of N V News and Views. Gupta said he earlier worked for local channel Bansal News, and currently does some work for Doordarshan. “I have not yet received any government money for this web site,” Gupta said.

6 http://www.newsaaj.in (Rs 15.6 lakh) — Arun Kumar Bhandari, a former journalist. ‘Contact Us’ page is blank. “We are a group of retired journalists. Our purpose is not to earn money,” Bhandari said.

7 http://www.bhartiyam.in (Rs 15.5 lakh) — Vijay Kumar Tewari, retired journalist. ‘Contact Us’ and ‘About Us’ are blank. Links only under Culture, Religion, Tantra, etc. “The government has stopped advertisements from January. They had a discretionary basis but have revised it,” Tewari said.

8 (Rs. 14.45 lakh) — Husna Raja, related to Aman Shawar, who runs a Hindi daily in Bhopal. Shawar did not respond to requests for a comment.

9 http://www.mpmirror.com (Rs 11.3 lakh) — Pawan Devalia, “sanchalak/editor”. News posts carry no dates. Devalia said he had sold the web site.

10 http://www.metromirror.com (Rs 11 lakh) — Brain Power Media India Pvt Ltd, involved in media consultancy, publishing and advertising. “I have been running this web site for the last 15 years, and we are still getting advertisements,” said Shiv Harsh Suhalkha, the editor.

11 http://www.madhyamat.com (Rs 10.8 lakh) – Relatives of Gireesh Upadhyay, a freelance journalist who worked with the Hindi daily Nai Dunia. ‘About Us’ and ‘Contact Us’ lead to blank pages. “I have been running it for four years. Now, we do not get government advertisements regularly,” said Upadhyay.

12 http://www.shabddeep.com (Rs 9 lakh) — Shabddeep Samiti, Bhopal. The samiti is run by journalist Atul Purohit, Bhopal bureau chief of Hindi daily Dainik Chhattisgarh. “Shabddeep Samiti has been running the web site from 2009. It’s a genuine web site,” said Purohit.

13 http://www.bigbreaking.com (Rs 8.75 lakh) — Raja Sharma, who works with CNBC. Sharma said, “The web site is being run from Indore since 2008. The government has stopped giving advertisements.”

14 http://www.newsroom24x7.com (Rs 8.65 lakh) — Lalit Shashtri, a retired journalist. “I have been running the site for the last four years and have employed staff. It is a news web site and I don’t do PR for the government,” he said.

15 http://www.mpbusinessline.com (Rs 8.50 lakh) — Suhir Singh, a former journalist. “I started the web site four years ago because there was a need for a business web site. I am still getting advertisements,” Singh said.

16 http://www.sabkikhabar.com (Rs 8.50 lakh) — Ravindra Jain, who works with the local Hindi daily Agniban. “I started this web site when I was unemployed, and got some advertisements. I shut it down after getting employment,” said Jain.

17 http://www.ekhabartoday.com (Rs 8.45 lakh) — Tushar Kothari of Ratlam who works for the Univarta Hindi news agency. “My web site is a substitute for news agencies in this region. I get advertisements sometimes,” said Kothari.

18 http://www.newzviews.com (Rs 8.25 lakh) — Pramod Bhardwaj, editor of Hindi daily Haribhoomi in Bhopal. “My wife has been running the web site for five years. “We do not get government advertisements regularly,” said Bhardwaj.

19 http://www.thebhopalpost.com (Rs 8.25 lakh) — Rajkumar Keswani, a journalist known for his reports on the Bhopal gas tragedy. Most posts are related to the disaster. “My web site has been running from June 2010, and I got advertisements for only one year. After that, I did not submit any bills,” said Keswani.

20 (Rs 8 lakh) — Rashmi Pande, wife of Rishi Pande, a journalist who worked with Nai Dunia earlier. “I started it in 2012. Now I have no other work but for this web site,” said Rishi Pande.

21 http://www.khojkhabarnews.com (Rs. 7.85 lakh) — Ataullah Faizan, son of Muslim Saleem, a former journalist who is now with the PR Department of the state government. “I do not work for any other organisation,” said Faizan.

22 (Rs 7.25 lakh) — Rajendra Dhanotia, who has worked with Bhopal-based Hindi dailies. Dhanotia confirmed that he ran the web site.

23 http://www.dailyhindinews.com (Rs 7.25 lakh) — Sanjay Kumar Kareer, who works with Hindi daily Patrika at Bengaluru. “The web site is being run from Sagar, where I use to go regularly. A group of journalists are behind it,” said Kareer.

24 (Rs 7 lakh) — Mukta Pathak, who works with local Hindi daily Dabang Dunia. “My web site is still working but I am not getting advertisements now,” said Pathak.

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