By Kavitha Iyer
Mumbai: It had clocked an impressive 9.6 million views for its 1,500-plus videos, but in December 2024, Kannada news website The File’s YouTube channel went silent.
A producer and a video editor, each paid a monthly salary of Rs 30,000, were let go that month, and nothing new has been published on the digital video channel since. The File’s founder-editor, veteran investigative journalist G Mahantesh, told Article 14 he could no longer afford to pay retainers after the Income Tax department rescinded The File’s non-profit status in December 2024.
The department cancelled The File’s approvals for tax exemptions under sections 12 A (in relation to the income of a trust) and tax-deductible donations under 80G (relating to reducing a donor’s taxable income by the amount of the donation) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. “They called us a commercial site, an entertainment site,” said Mahantesh. “That is completely untrue.”
The File is a digital news magazine in Kannada, focusing its work on accountability in governance, government and public policy, using documents accessed often through the Right to Information Act, 2005. Funded only through donations and grants, The File hosted no advertising—not even Google Ads, a simple monetising tool for websites that host pay-per-click advertisements—nor any commercial content.
Mahantesh said he filed an appeal with the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, but did not know when a hearing would be granted. In the interim, he would be unable to pay contributors or editors.
“I’ll continue reporting and publishing investigative work,” he said. “The File will remain as long as I can continue my work.”
Among The File’s impactful investigations was a report on the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka allotting reserved land at a negligible price to a trust linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Congress leader S Siddaramaiah, then leader of opposition in the state Assembly and now chief minister, had used The File’s series of 50 stories to present to the state assembly data on expenditure irregularities.
This story was originally published in article-14.com. Read the full story here.
