LucretiaGoldhar at 12:00, 8 February 2026

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{{Short description|Indian journalist, well-known in print and broadcasting media}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name = M. V. Kamath
| image =
| alt =
| caption = M.V Kamnath
| birth_date = {{birth date|1921|9|7|df=y}}<ref name="The Times of India">{{cite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Veteran-journalist-MV-Kamath-dies-at-93/articleshow/44740910.cms|title=Veteran journalist MV Kamath dies at 93|date=9 October 2014|work=[[The Times of India]]|access-date=9 October 2014}}</ref>
| birth_place = [[Udupi]], [[Madras Presidency]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|2014|10|9|1921|9|7|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Manipal]], [[Karnataka]], India
| other_names =
| known_for =
| years_active = 1940-2014
| occupation = Journalist, broadcasting executive, academic administrator
| awards = [[Padma Bhushan]] [[File:Padma Bhushan Ribbon.svg|60px]]
| website =
}}

'''Madhav Vittal Kamath''' (7 September 1921 – 9 October 2014)<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/mv-kamath-dies-veteran-journalist-prasar-bharati-manipal-209182-2014-10-09|title=Veteran journalist MV Kamath dies at 93|date=9 October 2014|work=[[India Today]]|access-date=31 December 2014}}</ref> was an Indian journalist and broadcasting executive, and the chairman of [[Prasar Bharati]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Govind |first1=Nikhil |title=An independent voice |url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/an-independent-voice/article4985332.ece |website=The Hindu |language=en-IN |date=3 August 2013}}</ref> He worked as the editor of ''[[The Sunday Times (India)|The Sunday Times]]'' for two years from 1967 to 1969, as Washington correspondent for ''[[The Times of India]]''<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nireekshak|date=1969|title=Nodding Editors|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=4|issue=25|pages=990–991|issn=0012-9976|jstor=40740097}}</ref> from 1969 to 1978 and also as editor of ''[[The Illustrated Weekly of India]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gohain|first=Hiren|date=1980|title=Cudgel of Chauvinism|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=15|issue=8|pages=418–420|issn=0012-9976|jstor=4368393}}</ref> He had also written numerous books<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Jason|first1=Heda|last2=Tcherniak|first2=Alexander|date=2004|title=Review of Indian Names: From Classical to Contemporary (For People, Places and Products)|journal=Asian Folklore Studies|volume=63|issue=1|pages=159–161|issn=0385-2342|jstor=30030327}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mankekar|first=D.R.|date=1987|title=Review of Behind the By-line—A Journalist's Memoirs|journal=India Quarterly|volume=43|issue=1|pages=75–77|issn=0974-9284|jstor=45072199}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kanitkar|first=Ajit|date=2016-08-11|title=Book Reviews : M.V. Kamath, Points and Lines—Charat Ram: A Biography, New Delhi: UBS Publishers' Distributors Ltd., 1994, pp. 272|journal=The Journal of Entrepreneurship|volume=4|pages=120–122|language=en|doi=10.1177/097135579500400112|s2cid=154036886}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Narayan|first=Shyamala A.|date=2016-07-26|title=India|journal=The Journal of Commonwealth Literature|volume=28|issue=3|pages=45–68|language=en|doi=10.1177/002198949302800302|s2cid=220807327}}</ref> and was conferred with the [[Padma Bhushan]] award in 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://india.gov.in/myindia/advsearch_awards.php|title=Shri Madhav Vittal Kamath : Padma Bhusan|work=[[Government of India]]|access-date=22 March 2010|archive-date=1 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121201045409/http://india.gov.in/myindia/advsearch_awards.php|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindu.com/mag/2003/02/02/stories/2003020200660300.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604222342/http://www.hindu.com/mag/2003/02/02/stories/2003020200660300.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 June 2011|title= Saffron selections |last=Ninan|first=Sevanti|date=2 February 2003|work=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=22 March 2010}}</ref> He was born in a [[brahmin]] family<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ashraf|first=Syed Firdaus|title='Only Brahmins can defeat Brahminism'|url=https://www.rediff.com/news/column/only-brahmins-can-defeat-brahminism/20180104.htm|access-date=2022-01-16|website=Rediff|language=en}}</ref>

In 2009, Mr. Kamath co-authored a biographical sketch of [[Narendra Modi]] book titled ''Narendra Modi: The Architect of a Modern State'', at a time when Modi's reputation was considerably affected as a result of the [[2002 Gujarat riots]]; post his ascent into national politics, a newer version of the book was published as ''The Man of the Moment: Narendra Modi''.<ref name=":1">{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/journalist-mv-kamath-dead/article6483956.ece|title=Veteran journalist MV Kamath |date=9 October 2014|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=31 December 2014|last1=Prabhu |first1=Ganesh |last2=Reddy |first2=B. Muralidhar }}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Jaffrelot|first=Christophe|chapter=From Holy Sites to Web Sites: Hindu Nationalism, from Sacred Territory to Diasporic Ethnicity|date=2017|pages=153–174|editor-last=Michel|editor-first=Patrick|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US|language=en|doi=10.1057/978-1-137-58011-5_8|isbn=9781137580115|editor2-last=Possamai|editor2-first=Adam|editor3-last=Turner|editor3-first=Bryan S.|title=Religions, Nations, and Transnationalism in Multiple Modernities}}</ref> Kamath was a board-member of [[Manipal Academy of Higher Education]] and was also the Honorary Director of the School of Communication, since its inception in 1997.<ref name="The Times of India">{{cite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Veteran-journalist-MV-Kamath-dies-at-93/articleshow/44740910.cms|title=Veteran journalist MV Kamath dies at 93|date=9 October 2014|work=[[The Times of India]]|access-date=9 October 2014}}</ref>

He died on the morning of October 9, 2014, from a cardiac arrest at [[Kasturba Hospital]];<ref name=":1" /> he was hospitalized since a few days back due to geriatric ailments.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/mag/2003/02/02/stories/2003020200660300.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604222342/http://www.hindu.com/mag/2003/02/02/stories/2003020200660300.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 June 2011|title= Saffron selections |last=Ninan|first=Sevanti|date=2 February 2003|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=22 March 2010}}</ref>

[[Malini Parthasarathy]] notes him to have longstanding sympathies with [[Hindutva]]—one of his columns following the [[Graham Staines#Death and reaction|murder of Graham Staines]] by Hindutva extremists sought to justify the incident as a spontaneous repercussion against conversions, if the government were not willing to step in—in what she deems that as a blatant incitement of hate crimes.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Pluralism and Democracy in India: Debating the Hindu Right|last=Parthasarathy|first=Malini|date=2015-03-06|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199380947|editor-last=Nussbaum|editor-first=Martha|pages=100|language=en-US|chapter=Legitimating Majoritarian Chauvinism:The Indian Media and the Hindutva Campaign|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394825.001.0001|editor-last2=Doniger|editor-first2=Wendy|chapter-url=https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394825.001.0001/acprof-9780195394825-chapter-6}}</ref> Others have shared similar views<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PYcTCgAAQBAJ|title=The God Market: How Globalization is Making India More Hindu|last=Nanda|first=Meera|date=October 2011|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=9781583672501|pages=1|language=en}}</ref> and he has also extensively written in the official mouthpiece of RSS - [[Organiser (magazine)|''Organiser'']].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=YADAV|first1=YOGENDRA|last2=PALSHIKAR|first2=SUHAS|date=2009|title=Between Fortuna and Virtu: Explaining the Congress' Ambiguous Victory in 2009|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=44|issue=39|pages=33–46|issn=0012-9976|jstor=25663593}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Maclean|first=Kama Kellie|date=1999-12-01|title=Embracing the untouchables: the BJP and scheduled caste votes|journal=Asian Studies Review|volume=23|issue=4|pages=488–509|doi=10.1080/10357829908713252|issn=1035-7823}}</ref> Kamath has been noted to be an astute journalist, whose opinions swayed with the tune of the majority; his stance on the [[Demolition of the Babri Masjid|Babri Masjid demolition]] was quite negative in the immediate aftermath ''but'' after about a decade, he deemed that as an act of valiance that restored the self-respect of Hindus and rejoiced about how the state, of Hindu India being under continual siege since the first Islamic invasions, was reversed for the first time.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Flåten|first=Lars Tore|date=2012-09-01|title=Hindu Nationalist Conceptions of History: Constructing a Hindu–Muslim Dichotomy|journal=South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies|volume=35|issue=3|pages=624–647|doi=10.1080/00856401.2011.642794|s2cid=144969016|issn=0085-6401}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hEOFAgAAQBAJ|title=Destruction and Conservation of Cultural Property|last1=Layton|first1=R.|last2=Stone|first2=P.|last3=Thomas|first3=J.|date=2003-09-02|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134604982|pages=151–152|language=en|chapter=Ayodhya, Print Media and Communalism}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> In the immediate aftermaths of the enactment of Mandal Commission recommendations, when RSS increasingly leaned towards a hardcore Brahmanical approach, Kamath had written of the need to maintain Hindu unity and negate the fall-outs of an impending ''[[Shudra]]'' revolution.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sXoQwlyDMFoC|title=Social Movements in India: Poverty, Power, and Politics|last1=Ray|first1=Raka|last2=Katzenstein|first2=Mary Fainsod|author-link2=Mary Fainsod Katzenstein|date=2005|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9780742538436|pages=73|language=en|chapter=Problems of Social Power}}</ref> [[Alexander Evans (diplomat)|Alexander Evans]] had noted his efforts in racist communalisation of the [[Kashmir conflict]]; Kamath deemed the region to belong solely to the Pandits and not to the Muslims, who were allegedly alone-responsible for the decline of their culture.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Evans|first=Alexander|date=2002-03-01|title=A departure from history: Kashmiri Pandits, 1990-2001|journal=Contemporary South Asia|volume=11|issue=1|pages=19–37|doi=10.1080/0958493022000000341|s2cid=145573161|issn=0958-4935}}</ref> [[Rajmohan Gandhi]] notes him to be a staunch Hindu.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eCCDot1w8fUC|title=Understanding the Muslim Mind|last=Gandhi|first=Rajmohan|date=2000-10-14|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=9780140299052|language=en}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
* On Media, Politics and Literature (2009), Prabal Publishing, Bangalore.
* Narendra Modi – The Architect of a Modern State (2009) Co-author Kalindi Randeri, [[Rupa & Co.]], New Delhi.
* Gandhi – A Spiritual Journey (2007), Indus Source Books, Mumbai.
* Reporter at Large (2002), [[Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan]], Mumbai.<ref>{{cite book|author=M. V. Kamath|title=M.V. Kamath, a Journalist at Large|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eNOcIIITTYwC&pg=PR8|year=2006|publisher=[[Jaico Publishing House]]|isbn=978-81-7992-577-5}}</ref>
* The Pursuit of Excellence (1982), [[Rupa & Co.]], New Delhi.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Reporter at Large |url=http://www.bhavans.info/store/bookdetail.asp?bid=213&bauth=M.V.+Kamath |website=Bhavan's Book University |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101214053955/http://www.bhavans.info/store/bookdetail.asp?bid=213&bauth=M.V.+Kamath |archive-date=14 December 2010}}</ref>
* The United States and India, 1776-1996: The Bridge over the River Time (1998), [[ICCR]], New Delhi
* Corruption & the Lokpal Bill (2012) : Written & Edited with Gayatri Pagdi, Indus Source Books, Mumbai

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://rupapublications.co.in/authors/m-v-kamath/ M. V. Kamath] at [[Rupa Publications]]
* [http://www.daijiworld.com/chan/achievers_view.asp?a_id=62 M V KAMATH : The Coastal Boy Who Made Big in Journalism], [[Daijiworld]]

{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2000–09}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamath, M V}}
[[Category:1921 births]]
[[Category:2014 deaths]]
[[Category:Journalists from Karnataka]]
[[Category:People from Udupi]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education]]
[[Category:St. Xavier's College, Mumbai alumni]]
[[Category:Mangaloreans]]
[[Category:Manipal Academy of Higher Education alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian journalists]]

M. V. Kamath - Revision history

LucretiaGoldhar at 12:00, 8 February 2026