Every week, familiar faces appear on social media chanting the same mantra —“We are independent, we are non-partisan, please donate to support our journalism!” Meet Alt News and The Wire — two platforms that proudly call themselves the protectors of “free and fair journalism.”
But are they truly independent… or are they foreign dependent?
Let’s unlock the doors of their so-called donation-driven “truth shops” — and expose how these so-called watchdogs of Indian journalism are actually earning millions from foreign organizations.
Alt News: Fact-checking or Fund-raising?
Alt News brands itself as a fact-checking portal. But ironically, its “facts” raise fewer questions than its funds.
In 2022, Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair was arrested — and during investigations, it was revealed that foreign funding had entered the organization’s accounts. Under India’s Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), it’s illegal for any non-profit media portal to receive foreign donations without government approval.
When direct funding came under scrutiny, Alt News reportedly began using indirect channels.
Between 2020 and 2021, Alt News’ former Science Editor Sumaiya Shaikh received $59,000 (₹44 lakh) from the Thakur Family Foundation, a U.S.-based organization. However, she failed to disclose this amount in the organization’s annual report.
When the matter surfaced on social media, Zubair jumped to defend her, claiming the funds were for “independent research,” not Alt News articles.
But here’s the catch — Shaikh herself stated that she was Science Editor at Alt News, meaning she wrote for the platform.
Moreover, the Thakur Foundation’s own website confirmed that it funded both Shaikh and another Alt News fact-checker, Sharfaroz Satani, to write articles for Alt News.
Satani, too, received $5,907 (₹4.4 lakh) from the foundation in the same period.
Together, the two fact-checkers took home ₹50 lakh — and wrote around 10–15 pharma-related articles.
That’s roughly ₹5 lakh per article — while Zubair and co-founder Pratik Sinha publicly claimed that their entire monthly budget was just ₹17 lakh. Quite the discrepancy, isn’t it?
Who funds the “fact-checkers”?
The Thakur Family Foundation is a U.S.-based pharma-linked NGO — known for funding narratives critical of the Indian pharmaceutical sector. A closer look at Alt News’ archives shows several anti-Indian pharma stories — aligning perfectly with the foundation’s funding interests.
But that’s not their only funding source.
Alt News also receives support from IPSMF (Independent and Public-Spirited Media Foundation) — an organization that funds several left-leaning outlets like Alt News, The Caravan, and Newslaundry.
And who funds IPSMF? Its money flows from George Soros’ Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and USAID, with backing from Indian elites like Azim Premji and Nandan Nilekani.
To top it off, Zindabad Trust — founded by “activist-author” Arundhati Roy — has also been a donor to Alt News.
So much for being “reader-funded,” right?
The Wire’s donation drama
Now let’s turn to another darling of the liberal media ecosystem — The Wire. Its founder Siddharth Varadarajan often tweets emotional appeals like,“The Wire is independent and reader-funded. Please donate!”
But the financial records tell a different story. Between 2015 and 2019, The Wire received:
- ₹12.2 crore from IPSMF,
- ₹1.64 crore from Tata Trust, and
- ₹1.64 crore from Infosys co-founder Rohan Murty.
In 2023, the same Thakur Family Foundation that funded Alt News also gave ₹54 lakh to The Wire — in violation of FCRA rules.
Another Wire associate, Priyanka Pulla, reportedly received ₹21.3 lakh from the same foundation between 2020–21, according to investigative journalist Vijay Patel. Many of her COVID-era reports criticizing the Indian government were funded through these foreign contributions.
This prompted the Indian government to initiate an FCRA investigation against The Wire and other NGOs like the Ford Foundation and CHRI, for alleged unreported foreign inflows.
The pattern is clear
The model is the same — First, publish controversial, government-bashing narratives…Then claim, “We are under attack, our voices are being silenced!” And finally — launch a fundraiser.
If your journalism is truthful, why the endless begging? And if it’s manipulated, why is the lie so expensive?
Alt News and The Wire routinely tag pro-India or Hindu-leaning news as “misleading,” while glorifying anti-government narratives as “investigative journalism.”
This isn’t fact-checking. It’s narrative engineering — funded by foreign donors with ideological motives.
Conclusion: Non-profit or non-transparent?
Being non-profit isn’t a crime. But being non-transparent definitely is. When journalism becomes a subscription scam, funded by foreign interests and disguised as activism — it’s time to ask tough questions.
Because real journalism doesn’t beg for donations. It stands firm on truth — and refuses to be sold.
