A brief profile: Deepak Kumar Jha
Having spent about 21 years in field journalism, Deepak Kumar Jha was appointed as Executive Editor of the country’s oldest newspaper The Pioneer being published since year 1865.
The Pioneer, after sailing through a NCLT battle for about five years Jha is shouldered to carry on the legacy of late legendary journalist Dr Chandan Mitra who also served twice as Rajya Sabha MP.
After the demise of Chandan Mitra in September 2021, his second wife and veteran foreign affairs journalist Ms Shobori Ganguli had taken over as Editor in Chief of The Pioneer which has eight English and three Hindi editions across India.
Mitra’s son Kushan Mitra is the new Printer and Publisher who also is a senior journalist and continue to be on the Board of Directors of The Pioneer as along with Shobori and others.
Jha earlier headed the Bureau and also had a tenure as Metro Editor in The Pioneer where he served as major part of his journalistic career.
Jha has also worked for a brief stint for Doordarshan Bharti, and was instrumental in launching the Delhi edition of Mumbai based tabloid MiD DAY.
Mr Jha’s career span was devoted to full time coverage and analysis of news reports pertaining to Parliament of India, Education Ministry, Railway Ministry, Road Transport Highways Ministry, Department of Personnel, and major national political parties.
Besides covering several State Assembly elections, Jha covered all General Elections since 2004 till 2024. To his credit for his insight, government had to alter the date of couple of competitive examinations last year which was presumed to be a holiday spree for Delhi and NCR voters during 2024 Lok Sabha polls. A mindful authorities kept in mind the same and the Delhi Assembly polls were held this midweek to avoid clubbing of any holidays.
With many breaking stories to his kitty, Jha also faced censorship from couple of ministries and departments from successive governments.
Jha received the prestigious FICCI Journalism award for his stories on complete disobey of the prohibition in Bihar and how school going kids were used to carry liquor bottles and banned substance in their school bags. The award was presented to him by Honourable Supreme Court Judge Justice Sanjay Karol, Delhi High Court Judge Navin Chawla, former Lokayukta Manmohan Sarin and FICCI Cascade chairman Anil Rajput.
He also covered the Ram Janambhoomi new temple consecration and his writing were much appreciated.
He also has few international laurels and was member in the Parliament (Rajya Sabha) Media Advisory Committee and is on board of several social organisations as honourary advisors.
On social fronts, Jha’s selfless effort to reach out to the needy ones during the complete covid pandemic lockdown has been widely appreciated as each single day he was out to serve humanity as well as bringing out the edition.
A Masters in History, PG Diploma in Journalism and a Graduate in Arts from Delhi University, Jha also has interests in academics and is guest lecture visitor to some of the prestigious Mass communication institutions and universities.
Countries visited: USA, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Finland and Dubai. Has few international recognitions for diplomatic assignments as well and received accolades for recent coverage of G20 and P20 summits.
