Samarth Bansal

Samarth Bansal

India | Data journalist, Hindustan Times

Alfred Friendly Fellow | Host: The Wall Street Journal

A data journalist with Hindustan Times in New Delhi, Samarth Bansal is dedicated to forceful investigative and data-driven reporting. He is also part of a tight-knit group of data journalists and programmers who are using innovative interactive data visualizations to improve how they tell stories online. His stories include an investigation of a fraudulent job placement network in Delhi and the creation of a Women Empowerment Index.

Bansal had many lucrative career opportunities after graduating from college with a degree in mathematics and scientific computing, but he pursued journalism out of an innate desire for social justice and checks on power.

“As a software engineer with a degree from one of India’s most prestigious engineering colleges, he could have landed a higher paying job at a technology company,” Bansal’s editor, Harry Stevens, wrote. “But he chose journalism because he is passionate about working for the public good, striving to understand and explain the world to people, and speaking truth to power.”

Bansal uses data as an effective tool for government accountability. In March 2016, his data-driven investigation on the Indian government’s exaggerated claims of rural electrification forced India’s Union Power Minister to acknowledge the findings of his report.

“Stories matter,” Bansal wrote in his application. “A democracy can’t exist without the presence of a strong and independent press. That thought alone motivates me to become a better journalist.”

Bansal will work for The Wall Street Journal.