Raheel Khursheed

Raheel Khursheed (born 26 July 1983)[1] is an Indian journalist and business executive. He has worked for CNN-IBN, Times Now, and Radio Kashmir, but is most noted for being the Head of News, Politics and Government for Twitter India from 2014 to 2018. He also did a brief stint as a Country Expert for Snap Inc.'s business in India.

Raheel Khursheed
Born (1983-07-26) 26 July 1983
Anantnag, Kashmir, India
Alma materSymbiosis Institute of Media and Communication
OccupationJournalist, business executive
Years active2006–present
EmployerLaminar Global

Early life and education

Khursheed was born in Anantnag, in a remote part of Kashmir, described as a place where a national daily would reach two days past its publication date.[2] He did his BSc from local government degree college, and further did his master's degree in communication and journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication.

Career

Khursheed's first job out of university was with CNN-IBN at their Noida office in 2006, where he wrote bylines, mostly on Indian politics and society. In 2009, he returned to Kashmir and joined Times Now's Srinagar Bureau as an editor. He hosted a western music programme for four years on Radio Kashmir.[3] Khursheed joined Mercy Corps to help train young journalists, and Amnesty International where he learned how to do a digital campaign and used Twitter for the first time. He coordinated a petition on Change.org against the 2012 Delhi gang rape,[3] and served as director of communications for India for the organization.[4]

On January 2014, it was announced that Khursheed would take over as Head of News, Politics and Government for Twitter India,[3][5] where he was responsible for providing technical support to news, government, and political users of Twitter, solving their problems, by escalating issues to internal support and policy teams. He was the brainchild behind creation of several technologically-related products including Twitter Seva (addressing redressal of grievances), Twitter Samvad (initiative to bring digital government into masses) and SmartFeed (disaster response system).[6][7][8][9]

In July 2018, Khursheed resigned from Twitter India. He then joined Snap, Inc. where he was given the title of Country Expert in India.[10][11][12]

Recognition

Khursheed has been honoured by several educational institutions around the world. In 2017, he was awarded the Knight Visiting Nieman Fellowship by Harvard University,[13] the Yale World Fellows at Yale University.[14][15] He was listed among Asia Society's 2017 class of Asia 21, a network of young leaders.[16][17] In 2018, he was a Draper Hills Summer Fellow at Stanford University.[18]

Controversy

Khursheed's appointment to Twitter drew some backlash from several Hindu groups, who accused him of having associations with Kashmiri separatists, and were upset over Khursheed's criticism of Narendra Modi's leadership. His critics accused him of not being neutral and fit for the job. During his tenure he had issued blue ticks to several prominent people of the Azad Kashmir Movement. His left leaning ideology is the biggest issue for his critics.[19][20]

gollark: I think it's from the spec for some version of Scheme, and says that string constants can be in any format whatsoever, as defined by the interpreter.
gollark: > 🤣This is not a joke. PotatOS controls all.
gollark: CC: Tweaked™.
gollark: There's a `pastebinit` command available.
gollark: PotatOS is MIT-licensed, so it has that, as well as some extra clauses like> If any provision of this policy is found by a court (or other entity) to be unenforceable, it nevertheless remains in force. This organization is not liable and this agreement shall not be construed. We are not responsible for any issue whatsoever at all arising from use of potatOS, potatOS services, anything at all, or otherwise.and> You are responsible for anything which potatOS might do to your things. You ran it. It is all your fault. We are not liable, ethically, morally, existentially, financially or legally, for anything whatsoever.for safety.

References
  1. "Raheel Khursheed on Instagram: "Turned 35 with a very special bunch. Thank you so much for the wishes everyone. #DraperHills"". Instagram. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  2. Dev, Arun (19 July 2015). "Governments have understood the potential of social media". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  3. Hassan, Ishfaq ul (12 January 2014). "A birdsong for Twitter India's head for news, Raheel Khursheed". DNA India. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  4. "Raheel Khursheed". The Outstanding Speakers Bureau. India. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  5. Kanal, Nishta (9 January 2014). "Twitter India Head Raheel Khursheed Under Fire From Right Wing Brigade". Firstpost. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  6. "Raheel Khursheed moves on from Twitter India". Social Samosa. 10 July 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  7. Jawed, Sam (27 May 2017). "A viral online petition wants Twitter to sack Raheel Khursheed from a position he doesn't hold". AltNews.in. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  8. "MHA to launch 'Twitter Seva' to address public grievances". Outlook India. 23 February 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  9. "External Affairs Ministry Launches New Twitter Seva". News 18. IANS. 23 December 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  10. Krishnan, Aishwarya (25 May 2017). "Nationalist vs Raheel Khursheed: Twitter India Head trolled for being Kashmiri after singers Sonu Nigam & Abhijeet Bhattacharya's exit". India.com. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  11. Christopher, Nilesh (8 October 2018). "Former Twitter executive Raheel Khursheed appointed Snap India expert". The Economic Times. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  12. Singh, Saurab (5 October 2018). "Snapchat appoints new country expert as it looks to better serve India". India Today. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  13. "Knight Visiting Nieman Fellows - Nieman Foundation". Nieman Fellowship. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  14. "Raheel Khursheed - Yale Greenberg World Fellows". Yale World Fellows. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  15. Posnova, Anastasiia (18 September 2017). "World Fellows program kicks off". Yale Daily News. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  16. Staff (28 August 2017). "Two Indians Named Among Asia Society's Asia 21 Young Leaders Class of 2017". India West. United States. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  17. Singh, Shalini (17 September 2017). "Two Indians among Asia Society's 21 Young Leaders class 2017". Bharat Times. Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  18. "Meet Draper HIlls Summer Fellows Class 2018". Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Stanford University. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  19. "Row over Twitter appointing Raheel Khursheed as India news head". NDTV (Online video). 9 January 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
  20. Joshua, Anita (9 January 2014). "Outrage over appointment of new Twitter India head". The Hindu. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
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