Ajit Anjum is a veteran Indian journalist with over three decades of experience in journalism under his belt. Throughout his career, he has worked with several leading news media houses in senior roles including India Today, Aaj Tak, and News 24. In his desire to work independently, Ajit started a YouTube channel under his name in March 2020. On his YouTube channel, he uploads videos related to ongoing news and topics with extensive basic reporting.
Wiki/Biography
Ajit Anjum was born on Monday 7 April 1969 (age 52 years; in 2021) in Begusarai district, Bihar, India. His zodiac sign is Aries. As his father often moved, Ajit took schooling in different cities. One of the schools he attended was Town High School, Hajipur. He passed class 12 from Darbhanga and thereafter graduated in History honors from Langat Singh College, Muzaffarpur, affiliated to Bihar University.
A young Ajit Anjum (on the right) with his friends during his college days
Family & Caste
Parents & Siblings
His father, Ramsagar Prasad Singh, was a district court judge in Bihar. Ramsagar died of a heart attack on March 20, 2011.
Ajit Anjum with his parents
Wife & Children
Ajit Anjum is married to Geeta Shree, who is also a journalist by profession. Together they have a daughter named Jiya.
Ajit Anjum’s wife, Geeta Shree, and daughter, Jiya
Ajit Anjum with his daughter Jiya
Career
Ajit developed an interest in reading and writing news while studying in college. His first writing published in a newspaper was a letter to the editor that he wrote to the editor of the Patliputra Times. It was in 1987. He was in college at the time. To better understand journalism, he started reading various popular journals and magazines at that time, such as ‘Hindustan Dainik’ ‘Nav Bharat Times’. At the same time, collect basic reports about the problems in neighboring cities, write about them, and send the writing to regional and national newspapers in Delhi. Gradually, newspapers began to publish his writings. This strengthened his determination to pursue journalism as a professional career. During his early journalism days, he worked as a freelancer for many regional newspapers, such as Dharmyug, Saptahik Hindustan, Dinmaan, and Ravivar. He got his first full-time job in 1989 as a news writer at a regional newspaper, Chothi Duniya. At that time, one did not need a journalism degree to be hired as a journalist. He made a land report for Chothi Duniya during the 1989 Indian general election.
A picture from the early 90s shows a young Ajit Anjum on his Hero Honda motorcycle on his way to do a ground report in Nainital
In 1990, he moved to Delhi after being recruited by Amar Ujala. He worked for Amar Ujala as a journalist from 1990 to 1994.
Post it
In 1994, he joined BAG films as a freelancer. His duties included making investigative documentaries on different subjects for Doordarshan.
A picture from when Ajit Anjum (on the right) was making a documentary for the film BAG
After working as a freelancer for three months, he joined BAG films as a permanent employee in 1995. He used to get Rs. 10,000 as his salary when he has joined the job. He joined Aaj Tak news channel in 2002, worked there for a year, and then rejoined BAG films in 2001. He returned to BAG Films because at that time there were many programs planned for Star News, a subsidiary of BAG Films. In the next few years, he conceptualized several shows on Star News including Pol Khol (started in 2004) Red Alert, and Sansani. In 2007, BAG Films launched the news channel News 24 and appointed Ajit Anjum as its managing editor.
Ajit left his job at News 24 and secured the position of managing director at India TV in 2014.
He left India TV in 2017 and started doing freelance journalism. Later, Associated Broadcasting Company Pvt Ltd (ABCPL) launched its Hindi news channel TV9 Bharatvarsh in March 2019 and appointed Ajit Anjum as its consulting editor.
Ajit Anjum hosts a show on News 24
Within a few months, in September 2019, he left TV9 Bharatvarsh due to some differences with the channel. One of them (as revealed by Ajit himself) is his show on TV9 Bharatvarsh, ‘Debat Dengan Ajit Anjum,’ reduced from one hour to half an hour. Ajit told in an interview that TV9 Bharatvarsh’s management team felt uncomfortable about him criticizing the current BJP regime in the country and the way he was questioning people from the ruling party thoroughly. He also ended his career in Television news channel with his resignation from TV9 Bharatvarsh. Here are the tweets he sent after the resignation.
With these few rows, today I broke up with TV9 Bharatvarsh.. pic.twitter.com/sl6d8aPIyF
— Ajit Anjum (@ajitanjum) September 6, 2019
In another tweet, he wrote, “Now I’m free. From all restrictions and limitations. My anger did not allow him to endure all this.”
Youtube
As Ajit Anjum reveals, the restrictions imposed on him while he was working in a mainstream media house compromised his journalistic ethics, so he decided to pursue his journalistic career on YouTube. He started a YouTube news channel under his own name, ‘Ajit Anjum,’ in March 2020.
As in an interview with Kumar Shyam in February 2021, Anjum said that given the current state of Indian media, she would not want to return to any television news channel. He added that freelancing on YouTube has given him immense satisfaction, and he considers it the golden period of his journalism career.
Awards & Achievements
- For his exceptional reporting and coverage during the 2010 Bihar floods, he was awarded the prestigious Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism.
- Considering his efforts in the field of journalism, he was included in the list of 50 most powerful people in Bihar by Fem magazine in 2016.
- He was awarded with the National Dushyant Kumar Award in 2017.
Facts/Trivia
- Ajit was not born with the surname Anjum. His full name was Ajit Kumar till the early days of his career. He changed his surname from ‘Kumar’ to ‘Anjum’ as the name Ajit Kumar was quite common among news writers in those days.
- Ajit met his wife, Geeta Shree, when he was working as a reporter for Amar Ujala in the early 90s. At first, Ajit’s family opposes their marriage; however, they accepted it after some time.
Young Ajit Anjum (standing behind) with his wife and other news media reporters
- In his career, he has interviewed many prominent figures from all walks of life, including former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, legendary Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan, and many others.
Young Ajit Anjum gets ready for Amitabh Bachchan’s interview
- Ajit Anjum traveled in his Toyota Fortner SUV.
- He enjoys watching old Hindi movies with his favorite actor being Shah Rukh Khan.
Categories: Biography
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
