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Meltdown heat in Indian media
singes scribes
WSN Network
NEW DELHI: In one of the
clearer signs of the impact of economic meltdown, those who were to
tell you the complete story have been themselves becoming part of
the meltdown saga.
Newspaper houses supposed to bring you the flaws in
corporate management are instead themselves behaving like
unscrupulous employers and chucking out employees in ham handed ways
without any notice.
The only difference is that no one is there to
write about them. And the media in
India hardly
indulges in self or peer criticism. Only a few weeks ago, the Sharad
Pawar family owned Sakal Times group sacked some 70 journalists in
a most abrupt manner by posting a notice on its Delhi office door.
Now, newspapers are once again on sacking spree, and are cutting
costs. The Times of India’s Chandigarh edition is reducing pages,
and its edition that goes to
Punjab
is mere 12 pages on most days. The Hindustan Times is also cutting
costs and sacking people right, left and center. The trend is no
different all over
India.
It is
said that the Hin dustan
Times is leading
from the front, followed closely by the Times of India group. The
Hindustan Times Group has a long history of anti-labour practices
that peaked about six years ago when over 350 non-journalists and
some 50 journalists were thrown out of job overnight. The matter was
raised in Parliament and is now pending in the Court.
11 February 2009
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