Prabhash Sharma at 13:18, 20 April 2026

2026-04-20T13:18:13Z

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{{Short description|Indian journalist}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Madhu Trehan
| image =
| alma_mater = [[Welham Girls' School]]<br />[[Columbia University]], New York
| occupation = Journalist, Columnist, Author
| known_for = Founding editor, ''[[India Today]]'' (1975)
| notable_works =''[[Tehelka as Metaphor]]'' (2009)
| spouse = [[Naresh Trehan]]
| relatives = [[Aroon Purie]] (brother), Mandira Purie (sister)
}}

'''Madhu Purie Trehan''' (born 1940s) is an Indian journalist. She was also the co-founder and editor-in-chief of a digital media portal called ''[[Newslaundry]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Sharma |first=Disha |url=https://www.vccircle.com/news-website-newslaundry-gets-funding-existing-investor-omidyar-others/ |title=Digital media startup Newslaundry gets funding from Omidyar, others}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newslaundry.com/about|title=Newslaundry {{!}} Sabki Dhulai|last=Newslaundry|work=Newslaundry|access-date=2018-01-10|language=en-us|archive-date=6 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200106203816/https://www.newslaundry.com/about|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Education==
Trehan studied at [[Welham Girls' School]] in [[Dehradun]], graduating in 1962.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/old-school-skirt/7209/ |title=Old school skirt – Indian Express |publisher=Archive.indianexpress.com |date=2006-06-24 |accessdate=2020-04-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/features/dehradun-s-journey-to-town-of-schools-with-miss-oliphant-835501 |title=Dehradun's journey to town of schools, with Miss Oliphant |publisher=The Tribune India |date=2019-09-22 |accessdate=2020-04-12}}</ref> In 1968, she went to [[Harrow College of Higher Education|Harrow Technical College & School of Arts]] in [[London]] to study journalistic photography.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tehelkaasmetaphor.com/about-the-author.aspx |title=Madhu Trehan | Best Selling Indian Authors |publisher=Tehelka as Metaphor |accessdate=2020-04-12}}</ref> She earned a master's degree in journalism from [[Columbia University]], [[New York City|New York]] in 1972.<ref name="light">{{cite web |url=http://www.lightofindiaawards.com/lightofindia2011/jsp/madhu.jsp |title=Jury |publisher=Light of India Awards |accessdate=21 August 2012 |archive-date=1 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901220422/http://www.lightofindiaawards.com/lightofindia2011/jsp/madhu.jsp |url-status=dead }}</ref> While in [[New York City]], she worked at the [[United Nations]] in their press department, and served as an editor for a weekly newspaper, ''[[India Abroad]]''.<ref name="light"/>

==Career==
Trehan returned to India in 1975<ref name="light"/> when she founded and started the news magazine ''India Today'', with her father, V.V.Purie, owner of Thomson Press.<ref name="HT">{{cite web|last=Bhandare |first=Namita |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/Brunch/Brunch-Stories/70-s-The-decade-of-innocence/Article1-700294.aspx |title=70's: The decade of innocence |work=[[Hindustan Times]] |date=21 May 2011 |accessdate=21 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120817115158/http://www.hindustantimes.com/Brunch/Brunch-Stories/70-s-The-decade-of-innocence/Article1-700294.aspx |archive-date=17 August 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=wWDnTWrz4O8C&q=Madhu+Trehan&pg=PA347|title= India Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic |first1=Arnold P. |last1=Kaminsky |first2=Roger D. |last2=Long |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2011 |isbn= 978-0313374623 |page=347}}</ref> Trehan left the magazine to her brother's stewardship in 1977 during her pregnancy, and returned to New York to start her family.<ref name="HT"/><ref name="trib">{{cite web |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090421/ttlife1.htm |title=Tehelka trail |work=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]] |date=21 April 2009 |accessdate=21 August 2012}}</ref> Upon her return to India in 1986, Trehan produced and anchored ''[http://newstrack.com Newstrack]'', India's first video news magazine,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=77EXAAAAIAAJ&q=Madhu+ |title=The Days of My Years |first=Har Parshad |last=Nanda |page=212 |publisher=Viking |year=1992|isbn=9780670847273 }}</ref> which earned her a reputation as a pioneering [[Investigative journalism|investigative journalist]].<ref name="light"/>

In August 1994, Madhu Trehan took the rare and only interview of [[Yakub Memon]] who was convicted in [[1993 Bombay bombings]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thequint.com/india/2015/07/16/i-came-back-to-my-motherland-yakub-memons-only-interview|title="I Came Back to my Motherland": Yakub Memon's Only Interview|date=16 July 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/video/yakub-memon-1993-mumbai-blasts-convict-exclusive-interview-capital-punishment-special-tada-court-life-imprisonment-416464-2013-03-20|title=1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon's exclusive interview}}</ref>

In 2009, Trehan published her first book, ''[[Tehelka as Metaphor]]: Prism Me a Lie, Tell Me a Truth'', examining the 2001 [[Operation West End]] exposé and its aftermath.<ref name="trib"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090301/jsp/calcutta/story_10605346.jsp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304000100/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090301/jsp/calcutta/story_10605346.jsp |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 March 2009 |first=Sudeshna |last=Banerjee |work=[[The Telegraph (Calcutta)|The Telegraph]] |title=When corruption is a daily habit |year=2009 |accessdate=21 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://ibnlive.in.com/news/madhu-trehans-book-looks-back-at-operation-westend/83141-40.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090904160048/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/madhu-trehans-book-looks-back-at-operation-westend/83141-40.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 September 2009 |title=Madhu Trehan's new book on Operation West-end |first= Amrita |last=Tripathi|work=IBN |date=19 January 2009 |accessdate=21 August 2012}}</ref>

Trehan has written for leading news magazines and newspapers such as ''[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook India]]''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/peoplehome3.aspx?pid=7024&author= |title=Madhu Trehan |year=2012 |accessdate=21 August 2012 |publisher=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook India]] }}{{Dead link|date=March 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and ''[[Hindustan Times]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/Views/Who-s-afraid-of-Karan-Thapar/Article1-384996.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110215031634/http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/views/Who-s-afraid-of-Karan-Thapar/Article1-384996.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 February 2011 |title=Who's afraid of Karan Thapar? |last=Trehan |first=Madhu |work=Hindustan Times |date=1 March 2009 |accessdate=21 August 2012}}</ref>

In 2000, she launched ''Wah India'', a website and print magazine. She, along with three other colleagues, also launched a crowd-sourced media critique website called ''[[Newslaundry]]'' in February 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.indiadigitalreview.com/news/author-journalist-madhu-trehan-and-three-other-colleagues-launch-newslaundrycom |title=Author, journalist Madhu Trehan and three other colleagues launch NewsLaundry.com | date=14 February 2012 |accessdate=21 August 2012 |work=India Digital Review}}</ref>

===2001 Delhi High Court ruling===
On 25 May 2001 the [[Delhi High Court]] ruled 3–2 that Trehan and four other journalists on Wah India were guilty of contempt of court for an article which they published "rating the High Court's Judges in terms of various attributes and qualities". The article purportedly interviewed 50 unnamed senior lawyers to reach its conclusions. In April, the court had ordered Delhi police to seize copies of the offending issue from news stands and raid the magazine's Delhi office. The court also banned the media from reporting on the case, but withdrew the ban on 2 May in response to media protest. Three days after being found in contempt of court, Trehan and her colleagues apologised to the justices, and their apology was accepted.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Venkatesan|first=V|title=Contempt and Punishment: The Delhi High Court's verdict in the case against wah india and the magazine's response to it raise questions about the way the judiciary deals with contempt of court charges in general|journal=Frontline|date= 17–20 July 2001 |volume=18 |issue=14|url=http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1814/18140920.htm}}</ref>

==Personal==
Trehan is married to Indian [[heart surgeon]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Dr Naresh Trehan profile|url=https://www.credihealth.com/doctor/naresh-trehan-cardiac-surgeon/overview|publisher=Credihealth|year=2017|accessdate=20 March 2017}}</ref> [[Naresh Trehan]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Ace of hearts: Dr Naresh Trehan|url=http://www.harmonyindia.org/hportal/VirtualPageView.jsp?page_id=799|publisher=Harmony India|year=2012|accessdate=17 August 2012}}</ref> [[Aroon Purie]], the former founder-publisher and editor-in-chief of ''[[India Today]]'', is her brother, and [[Bollywood]] actress [[Koel Purie]] is her niece.<ref>{{cite news |last=Roy |first=Amit |date=17 December 2014 |title=Red Hot |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/1041217/asp/etc/story_4127827.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140602073512/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1041217/asp/etc/story_4127827.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 June 2014 |work=The Telegraph |access-date=5 December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Newstrack – The video magazine that served real issues to news-hungry Indians in DD era |url=https://theprint.in/features/brandma/newstrack-the-video-magazine-that-served-real-issues-to-news-hungry-indians-in-dd-era/253392/ |access-date=16 August 2021 |publisher=The Print |date=23 June 2019}}</ref>

==Works==
*{{cite book |title=[[Tehelka as Metaphor|Tehelka as Metaphor: Prism Me a Lie, Tell Me a Truth]] |publisher=Roli Books |year=2010 |isbn=978-8174365804}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{Twitter}}
* {{FaceBook |madhu.trehan.3}}
* [http://www.tehelkaasmetaphor.com/about-the-author.aspx Tehelka As Metaphor website]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trehan, Madhu}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Journalists from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Indian broadcast news analysts]]
[[Category:Indian opinion journalists]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:Indian magazine editors]]
[[Category:Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni]]
[[Category:India Today Group]]
[[Category:Indian women columnists]]
[[Category:Indian columnists]]
[[Category:Indian investigative journalists]]
[[Category:Indian women journalists]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:Women writers from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Indian women magazine editors]]
[[Category:Indian women television journalists]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Welham Girls' School alumni]]
[[Category:1940s births]]
[[Category:India Today people]]

Madhu Trehan - Revision history

Prabhash Sharma at 13:18, 20 April 2026