I’ve been in journalism for the last 14 years. I commenced my career as a reporter in Hindustan Express, an Urdu daily, meanwhile also contributed to Hindustan Dainik and Rashtriya Sahara Hindi. At present, I’m the Editor at BeyondHeadlines. Prior to this, I was the editor at TwoCircles.net.
I am a trained journalist, documentary & film-maker with an MA in Mass Communication from AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. I geared up (or accelerated) my career from print to TV journalism, and did well in the online news as well.
I have more than a decade of combined experience in community service, film-making, fact-finding and research on media and RTI journalism. My work as a journalist has received national recognition and won more than 18 awards, felicitations and fellowships in last 8 years.
Disappointed with the mainstream Media due to their deliberate ignorance towards the stories of marginalized section of society, I founded BeyondHeadlines in 2011 along with my friend Mohammad Reyaz, currently an associate Professor of journalism in Aliah University, West Bengal.
I instigated it at a time when online news portals were a new idea to people. I am running it to raise the voices of the unheard people of society. Through this platform, I try to bring the story of those towards whom no media pays any attention for various reasons and excuses. I also try to help these people from every possible step, going against the norm of the mainstream media.
I started ‘Leak se hatkar’, a tabloid during college days and at the same time managed to run ‘media scan’ with my friends. In past I worked for organisations like broadcast media TV9 Mumbai, news agency UNI TV, BBC, Hindustan, and Inquilab etc. Due to my intense interest in reading and writing, I also authored 4 books and translated one.
Apart from this, I have written articles for leading newspapers, websites and magazines in all three languages; Hindi, Urdu and English. I have made several documentaries and films. My award winning film “Eidiyaan” has been screened at more than 10 film festivals throughout India.
I strongly believe that if there are bad people, there are also good people in society. With this thought, I have started a campaign, #2Gether4India to instil the feeling of brotherhood and preserve fraternity among the fellow citizens.