By N B Nair
December 7, 2014 | 8.45 am IST
June 27, 2009 Saturday – There was an unusual flurry of activity outside the newsroom in the plush complex of NewsX – a premium English news channel, with more armed guards on duty. We had an inkling of something ominous waiting to happen. There were hushed talks about a layoff, as for most of us, it was a day as usual.
Before noon, things were much clearer. News was out that the new management is giving pink slips to some – but no one knew who were all on the firing line. Mr. SharatBhatnagar, Assistant Manager (HR) came and called, one-by-one, some seniors from the Political Bureau. Those who were ushered out, came back, escorted by Mr. Bhatnagar, picked up their personal belongings and left the newsroom, without any interaction with anyone. In fact they were not permitted. Mr. Bhatnagar’s movement gave an indication as to who the next victim was. By evening 79 journalists were sacked, including me. No reasons were given. Just asked to sign on our resignation letters and handed over a cheque for the salary for the month as also three-month notice period, an experience certificate and a form to settle our contributory provident fund.
‘The biggest layoff in media in India so far’ was the headline given by Reuters then. NewsX was billed as a class television news channel, on the lines of BBC, promoted by the flamboyant Peter Mukherjea, who charted success for Star News in India. The buzz in media at that time was, if you have not worked in NewsX, you haven’t worked in TV news! Many had left cushy, comfortable jobs in NDTV, Times Now, Headlines Today and other frontline national channels to join NewsX. But their career came crumbling down.
The second half of 2008 witnessed a severe global economic recession and television industry, which sustained on ad revenue was the first to be hit. Thus far, journalism was considered to be a pricy, respectable job. But once management after management started rationalisation of HR component, they have become vulnerable and at the receiving end. None came to their rescue, not even trade unions, journalists’ unions or political leaders, whom they served.
That was the beginning of an end of a powerful profession, considered to be the fourth pillar of democracy. By that period, newspapers had also gradually shifted to contract employment to escape the provisions of wage boards and thus ‘hire-and-fire’ policy, which was being opposed tooth-and-nail by trade unions had come into force in media industry, without anyone raising a finger.
The boom in television news industry witnessed in the last a decade or so had several non-serious players getting into it, not to be a serious player, but to use it as a tool to promote their primary business interests, like realtors, traders, politicians and the like. Media provided easy access route to the management to powerful government functionaries and helped influence decisions by hook or crook. But once their purpose was served, many channels closed their shops, like Voice of India, Space TV, S1.
Those who survived have invented novel business propositions to keep the show going purely on economic considerations and thus journalism has become a victim in the altar of market forces. Now news is a commodity and media management is traders of news, as Prime Minister NarendraModi jabs it. Many TV news channels have become public relation outfits for corporates, especially when corporates have found ways and means to control its editorial policy, through surrogate funding.
Many smaller channels that braved the storm are struggling or cruising financial crisis at every step and again the worst sufferers are the employees like the Malayalam news channels like Indiavision, Reporter, TV New or several regional Hindi channels.
With the emergence of social media, the relevance of conventional media has diminished. Newsmakers and news providers have found a medium to reach out directly to their targeted audience, unlike the earlier medium of newspapers and television news. With the advancement of mobile technology, social media is now instant and direct. Politicians like Prime Minister NarendraModi has invented the digital media to better use and bowled out conventional media from its own crease. And with none batting for them, journalism as a principled profession seems to be on the wane.
