Haritha John| The News Minute| Updated December 8, 2014| 1. 40 pm IST
It is Kerala’s first twenty four hour news channel, a channel also known for its brand of journalism. But India Vision is once again facing a financial crisis; the entire editorial team has been on strike for the last one week. Bulletins have stopped; the channel is simply beaming its other programmes.
This is for the second time in 2014 that the channel has stopped telecasting news bulletins following an employee strike, but this is the first time that the strike has gone for so long. Employees say they have no other choice, as the management has not paid them salaries for four months.
Earlier in March 2014, India Vision had temporarily stopped news broadcast for 12 hours, following which, management terminated Executive Editor M.P Basheer and Editor Unnikrishnan.
Muslim League leader M K Muneer is the chairman of the channel, while Chairman of Mini Muthoot Roy M Mathew is is the channel’s vice- chairman.
Insiders say what plagues India Vision is a decade of mismanagement of funds and improper use of resources. “This is a channel that was like a beacon for TV journalism in Kerala. Ten years and they could not break even? They cannot claim that the channel was a financial loss, the management has to explain what they did with funds,” says a current employee at the channel.
M.P Basheer, former Executive Editor of India Vision says mismanagement of funds was the sole reason behind the channel’s failure as a business venture.
“For the first 8 years India Vision was the top rated channel in Kerala. It had good revenue. But the funds were mismanaged by concerned authorities. The channel India Vision was the result of hard work and dedication of a few able journalists and we are sad about the present situation” he says. (India Vision’s management was unavailable for comment).
But it is not just India Vision; some other Malayalam news channels too are facing a financial crunch.
“We have not get salary for past 2 months and sometimes we get paid only once in three months. Some months they pay us only half the salary” says a correspondent from Reporter TV. But some others in the channel dispute this version. "There has been an issue this month, otherwise its all okay," another employee refuted.
Though Reporter TV has been dealing with low funds for some time, industry insiders say the problem isn't as acute as India Vision’s; and some quick financial decisions now can reverse the channel’s fortunes.
Meanwhile TV New a news channel owned by Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry has also stopped broadcasting since Saturday due to employee strike.
“My basic salary is Rs. 6000 and including other allowances I have to get approximately Rs. 10000 per month. I have not got my salary on time even for a single month” says a reporter from TV New.
“I stay in a hostel in Kochi. How do they expect me to pay the rent and live in an expensive city without salary?” she asks
At present, being a journalist in Kerala could possibly be one of the poorest paid jobs. Ten years ago the average starting salary for a journalist was Rs. 6000 per month and now it is Rs. 9000.
Where did marketing and management strategies of Malayalam news media fail?
Comparatively channels run by managements that have cross media ownerships or solid revenue models which includes a lot of Gulf and America programming like Asianet, Manorama TV, Mathrubhumi and Media One, are running smoothly, employees are rarely affected during the downward spirals.
“The main problem is the lack of capital amount, when an individual or a small organization starts a new channel there is deficiency in capital. But the big firms with cross media ownership don’t face this issue. The ratings will be very low in the initial years; the firm is soon under debts. The initial vigor is lost and later it becomes very difficult to cover up those debts,” says former Chief Editor of a leading news channel.
Comparing with most vernacular news channels, Malayalam channels are far ahead in their quality of output and journalism. Though most channels have efficient human resources, managements have failed to create successful business firm and revenue models.
“Everyone who works here are well educated, but our monthly allowances is not even sufficient for our basic necessities. We get a pay of Rs 300 a day while a daily wage worker gets Rs 800,” a reporter from Jai Hind T V opened up.
