Aroon Purie

Aroon Purie (born 1944) is an Indian businessman who is the founder-publisher and editor-in-chief of India Today and the chief executive of the India Today Group. He is the managing director of Thomson Press (India) Limited and the chairman and managing director of TV Today. He is also the editor-in-chief of Reader's Digest India.

A British Chartered Accountant, Aroon Purie graduated from The Doon School and was awarded his BSc. in Economics from the London School of Economics in 1965. Bollywood actress Koel Purie is his youngest daughter.

He started his career in 1970 at Thomson Press as Production Controller and continues to be its guiding force even though he recently handed over the reins to his son Ankoor Purie. With five facilities across India, it has a national presence. He began the India Today Group with an eponymous magazine in 1975. Today the group is India's most diversified media group with 32 magazines, 7 radio stations, 4 TV channels, 1 newspaper, multiple web and mobile portals, a leading classical music label and book publishing arm.

India Today

Vidya Vilas Purie, Aroon Purie's father, launched the fortnightly magazine India Today in 1975, with his sister Madhu Trehan as its editor and Aroon Purie as its publisher. The magazine was born in the time of emergency. With it, Aroon tried to "fill the information gap which exists amongst persons interested in India residing abroad". With editions in five languages, it is the most widely–read publication in India – a position it has held for over a decade – with a readership of over 11 million.

He sets the journalistic style for the largest and most respected magazine publishing group in India and for the premier 24-hour news and current affairs Hindi news channel Aaj Tak and English news channel Headlines Today.

He was conferred the Padma Bhushan, a prestigious and third highest civilian award, by the government of India, for his contribution to Indian journalism. He has received numerous other honours which include the B.D. Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism (1988), 'Journalist of the Year 1990' award by the Indian Federation of Small and Medium Newspapers, the G.K. Reddy Memorial Award for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism (1993–1994), the Hall of Fame Award from the Advertising Club of Kolkata (2002) and the NT Award for Lifetime achievement from www.Indiatelevision.com (2008).

He is associated with several prestigious councils, amongst them, as member, Council of Management, Audit Bureau of Circulations (Chairman, 2000–2001). He is on the Executive Committee of The Editors' Guild of India, Council of Management All India Management Association (Special Invitee). He was chairman, CII National Committee on Media (2001–2002).

He is currently the chairman of FIPP (Federation of International Periodicals and Publications). This is the first time the post has been held by an Indian national. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accounts (England & Wales). Aroon Purie is a board member of the Global Editors Network since its creation in April 2011.

A media watchdog, CounterMedia, found the opening two paragraphs—the first 250 words—of Purie's 400-word editorial of 18 October 2010 on the South Indian actor Rajnikanth to be identical to those in an article by Grady Hendrix published on 27 September 2010 in Slate, a US-based online magazine. Hendrix's copy and Purie's, written for the southern edition of the magazine, differed in only one respect: The block capitalised "SUPERSTAR" in Hendrix was changed to "Superstar" in Purie.

Purie apologised for the mistake in the following week's editorial, suggesting that it had resulted from jet lag and claimed that "a couple of sentences lifted from another article were sent to me." In response, Hendrix wrote in Slate: "Any man can apologize, but only the millionaire CEO of a multiplatform media company who is also editor-in-chief of a major news magazine can write an apology that is defiantly nonapologetic." Hendrix continued:

But the jetlag apology wasn't meant to be taken as a serious statement, it was more of an old school attempt to make the problem go away with a silly, "Whoops, I'm tired!" shrug. Only with the new media, problems like this don't go away. While print journalists in India are said to be unlikely to report on the infractions of their colleagues, the Internet knows no loyalty, and all over India online writers are still tweeting and blogging for a better explanation.

Hendrix also wrote that—as far as he was concerned—"it is a satisfactory closure to the matter."