Malini Parthasarathy resigned from the board of The Hindu Group Publishing Private Ltd on June 5. Hinting at a feud with the Board, she said in a statement that she has decided to move on because the scope for her editorial views “has narrowed”. The statement said, “I find the space and scope for my editorial views shrinking. My entire endeavour as Chairperson and Director, Editorial Strategy was to ensure that The Hindu Group revives its legacy of fair and unbiased reporting. Also my efforts were to free our narrative from entrenched ideological bias.”
Malini has often aired her differences with the Editorial and the Editorial Board of the newspaper publicly on the grounds of ideology over the last few decades during which her principal opponent has been her cousin and the former Editor-in-Chief N Ram. Sources told TNM that since her term as Chairperson was coming to an end, she had proposed the role of Editorial Director. However, this was opposed by the Board, added sources.
Malini has had several disagreements with the editorial team in her last assignment as Chairperson. Recently, she responded to RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy’s criticism on The Hindu’s fact check on the sengol controversy. While The Hindu had said the sengol was not handed over to then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru by the last Viceroy of India Lord Mountbatten as a 'transfer of power', as was being claimed by the Union government, Gurumurthy had contested the fact-checking article. Malini had responded to Gurumurthy on Twitter and said that they will make the changes if the facts are incorrect. This led to criticism that she was pandering to the government. N Ram at the time had supported the reporter who had done the fact check and was part of a press meet in Chennai to debunk some of the claims made by the government.
Malini had two stints as Executive Editor of The Hindu. The last stint was between 2015 and 2016. She quit citing that there was general dissatisfaction with her performance. Her first stint as a newsroom leader was between 1996 and 2004 when she was the Executive Editor. She took over as Chairperson of the Board from N Ram in July 2020.
She has had a long-standing feud with her relative N Ram apart from contrarian viewpoints on many editorial issues. In 2021, Malini had met PM Modi and had tweeted saying it was a privilege to meet him. A Twitter user had commented that the ‘hard-earned legacy is being squandered away” to which Ram replied that he had nothing to do with it and that they will do their best to ensure that the reputation and legacy of 142+ years will not be squandered away. Malini then retorted saying that the “reputation was built by reporting that was factual & not driven by political prejudice or bias. We @the_hindu are determined to restore the honesty & credibility of our reporting & commentary”.
Here is the complete statement:
My term as Chairperson of The Hindu Group Publishing ends. However, I have also resigned from the Board of the THGPPL as I find the space and scope for my editorial views shrinking. My entire endeavour as Chairperson and Director, Editorial Strategy was to ensure that The Hindu Group revives its legacy of fair and unbiased reporting. Also my efforts were to free our narrative from entrenched ideological bias. Since I find the scope for my efforts has narrowed, I have decided to move on. I thank all my well-wishers and friends who have supported this challenging journey.