Network18 ended their shareholding of the media conglomerate with the takeover by Reliance Industries.[10] Following the controversial exit, they founded the digital media company, Quintillion Media. The company was the first major investor in the tech startup Quintype founded by Amit Rathore [Wikidata].[7] Quintillion Media launched The Quint publication in January 2015 on Facebook and as a website by March 2015.[11][12] Quintype took over the digital technology operations of the publication.[12] By December 2016, The Quint website had crossed the mark of 10 million unique visitors.[13]
In February 2017, The Quint launched two online content verticals Quint Neon, a lifestyle news section and QuintLabs, a
The offices of The Quint and Raghav Bahl's residence were raided by the Income Tax Department of India in October 2018 in connection to an alleged case of tax evasion, the raid was termed as a survey by the Income Tax officers.[17][18][19] Raghav Bahl released a statement which termed the raid as an attack on journalistic freedom while appealing to the autonomous Enforcement Directorate to back The Quint such that a precedent is set against repetition of a similar exercise on any journalistic entity.[20][21] The Editors Guild of India raised concerns that while the department was within its rights to carry out inquiries, the conduct of such exercises should not be akin to intimidation tactics.[22][23]
In January 2019, The Quint introduced
webinars for members.[14] Raghav Bahl completed his investment in the news publisher over the course of the years, amounting to $21.5 million from the capital gained following the sale of Network18.[24]
In May 2020, The Quint was acquired by Gaurav Mercantiles through which it was listed on the
Haldiram Snacks Pvt Ltd and the investment bank Elara Capital acquired 17-18% and 10% stake respectively.[26][27][28] Mohan Lal Jain, the former chairman of Gaurav Mecantiles retained 4.99% stake in the company.[2] In September 2020, Gaurav Mecantiles was renamed to Quint Digital Media Limited.[27][1]
Content
In terms of editorial content, The Quint is focused on educational and explanatory journalism. The primary mode of presentation is through
digital environment rather than the professional craft of journalism itself.[29]
In order to combat
audience participation, it gains access to hundreds of unverified claims and uses resource intensive techniques of employing journalists to fact-check claims and debunk hoaxes.[14][30]The Quint is in particular involved in combating disinformation on the messenger app WhatsApp which has been noted to have become a difficult-to-penetrate viral distribution network afflicted by disinformation in India.[31] According to Ritu Kapur, the co-founder of the publication, the WebQoof initiative has a reassuringly high consumption which goes against the presumptions of a post-truth world.[30] The publication had also entered into a partnership with BBC News for the co-production of an educational video series "Swacch Digital India" to highlight the importance of fact-checking to its viewers.[14]
The portal has also been noted for its
Facebook Inc, it launched "Me, The Change" editorial campaign focusing on stories of notable women alongside live events to encourage young women to become first time voters and elicit changes in legislation.[33][14] As a result of the campaign, the Delhi Legislative Assembly passed a resolution in support of drafting a bill for making stalking, a non-bailable offence; the publication had previously held a feature event at Oxford Bookstore, New Delhi to raise support for the Stalking Bill.[14] In 2019, the "Me, The Change" campaign received the Digipub World Award for "Best Brand Partnership".[34][14]
A story published in the Columbia Journalism Review in late 2016 identified The Quint as one of several independent and recently founded internet-based media platforms – a group that also included Newslaundry, Scroll.in, The News Minute, The Wire and ScoopWhoop – that were attempting to challenge the dominance of India's traditional print and television news companies and their online offshoots.[35]The Quint has also been certified by the Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network for its reporting in WebQoof, its in-house fact-checking division.[36][37][38] The publication has received recognition through a number of prestigious awards for its public interest journalism.[14]
In a report of the
women journalists, often including threats of violence ranging from sexual assault to rape and murder.[14]
In February 2017, The Quint published a sting video focused on how the
jawans were being deployed as sahayaks and performed a variety of menial tasks for officers;[39] the profiled naik committed suicide a week afterwards[40] in fear of an impending court-martial.[41] The Army subsequently booked the Quint reporter for abetting his suicide, and violating the Official Secrets Act of India by trespassing into a prohibited area.[42][43][44] Media critics have since dubbed the sting-operation as "overzealous journalism" with a host of ethical issues.[45][39] In 2019, Bombay High Court quashed all charges against The Quint noting the Army to be vindictive.[40]
Frontline magazine also published a story with a similar claim.[48][49] The stories were picked up by Pakistani media agencies as apparent confirmation of Jadhav's affiliation.[50][51][52] It drew criticism in India; the media watchdog Newslaundry raised questions on how The Quint could have been privy to such information.[53] The publication retracted the story on 7 January stating that the factual accuracy of the article required rechecking.[47][53] The story was later quoted by Pakistan in a related International Court of Justice case.[54][55]
On 27 March 2020, during the
Ministry of Health continued to deny any occurrence of community transfer in contradiction to opinions of independent medical experts.[62]
Awards
The Quint won three gold and one bronze at
WAN–IFRA South Asian Digital Media Awards 2016. The publication's website won gold and bronze in the categories of "Best Reader Engagement" and "Best News Mobile Service" respectively.[63][64]
The Quint won one gold, two silver and one bronze at WAN–IFRA South Asian Digital Media Awards 2018. It won silver in the category of "Best
The Quint won one silver and two bronze at WAN–IFRA South Asian Digital Media Awards 2019. The publication's website won bronze in the "Best News Website or Mobile Service" for a second time.[66][67]
^ ab"RIND Survey"(PDF). Research Institute for Newspaper Development. 39 (11). Press Institute of India: 14–15. November 2018. Archived(PDF) from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
