The Caravan

September 1944 cover

The Caravan was first launched in 1940 by founder Vishwa Nath as Dehli Press's first magazine. The magazine lasted until 1988 when it was closed. The Caravan magazine was revived in 2009 and since its first issue in 2010 it is published from New Delhi, India, by Delhi Press.[3][4][5]

The managing editor called The Caravan an "editorial success, not a business success".[6] The circulation has grown to 40,000 since its launch.[5] As of 2020, the magazine's website gets 1.5 million pageviews per month.[7]

The audience for The Caravan was described as the "pop intelligentsia."[8] The revival was inspired by New Journalism and long-form American magazines such as Harper's Magazine and The New Yorker.[7]

Paresh Nath is editor-in-chief. His son Anant Nath, the grandson of the original founder, is the managing editor.[7] Vinod K. Jose is the executive editor.[9] While rebuilding The Caravan's brand, the staff was less than 10 and grew three-fold over the next five years.[10] Jonathan Shainin, formerly with The New Yorker, joined the team in 2010 as a senior editor and left to go back to his former employer as a news editor in 2013.[11] As of 2020, The Caravan employed 38 people.

The magazine has published pieces that are critical of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh paramilitary organization and some actions of the government of India.[7] Because the magazine does not receive advertisements from the government, it is not possible for the government to use the traditional "carrot and stick" approach to rewarding or punishing journalists by adding or removing paid advertisements according to how pleased the current government is with what they publish.[7]

In addition to receiving threatening messages, the magazine has been sued repeatedly for alleged defamation.[7] These lawsuits are costly and typically take years to fight in court.[7] In 2011, the magazine was the subject of a Rs 50 crore defamation suit by the Indian Institute of Planning and Management after it featured a profile of its head, Arindam Chaudhuri.[12] During the years-long lawsuit, the magazine was ordered to take the article off its website. In 2018, the High Court allowed the magazine to re-publish the article, but the gag order was partly reinstated by a different court two months later.[13][14]

The magazine was issued legal notices in April 2013 regarding its May cover story about Attorney General Goolam Essaji Vahanvati but the top three editors decided to continue with its publication.[15]

In 2015, The Caravan was served a legal notice by the Essar Group because the magazine described the business and the family that runs it unfavorably, including evidence that the business gave iPads to 195 journalists, government employees, and politicians.[16][16] Essar later filed a ₹250 crore civil defamation suit against the magazine; the business did not deny any of the facts presented in the magazine article.[16][17]

• Official website