Every year-end, I try to gather my thoughts around the future of journalism in India. Until now, it has been an inconsistent exercise — scattered across platforms and formats. Beginning this year, I will restrict my writing to Medium, which currently houses some of my work related to journalism.

What follows are strictly opinions related to English-language news media in India and like any forward-looking document, they are speculative. I have tried to buttress my arguments with available, empirical data, wherever possible.

How my imagined future stacks up against reality will be a matter of hindsight. Hopefully, restricting myself to a single platform will offer me the opportunity to look back at my own thought process and offer corrections.

These are the trends, particularly with respect to India, that I see taking shape in 2026:

1. AI-generated news content will become ubiquitous

AI-generated images and summaries are beginning to appear with news articles. More than 20 per cent of videos served on YouTube currently are low quality, AI-generated content (slop), according to a recent report by a company selling AI video tools.

We are likely to see more AI-generated content anchoring and supporting news content in 2026 as it reduces dependencies on photo, video library subscriptions and editors for text, image, video manipulation. This economic logic — bringing down the cost of media production — will drive the adoption of AI-generated content in news.

This may be most disruptive in the Indian languages space, where AI will be used to mass-translate English reporting into news content, gutting the value of local reporters.

As advertising rates, and therefore return on investments, in Indian languages are lower compared to English language news media, mass translations over investing in local reporters may make more economic sense to publishers.

*For a more comprehensive take click here.

2. Information access becomes more unequal

As the cost of news production drops, most news consumers will be served AI-generated content. This deluge will place a premium on verified, human reporting and editing, which will be leveraged by subscription-based news organisations.

The existing and widening global economic inequality will reflect in access to news in 2026 as AI-generated content for the underserved audiences and human-led journalism for the elite. Information access concentrates.

This opens up space for conversations on journalism business models and access to content.

3. Homogenisation of news content

Content and branding will end up being marginal advantages over being moats in 2026 as news organisations adopt AI tools. Sources of content for industrial news production are limited to wire services. Every news organisation subscribes to the same set of wire services. Running them through the same set of AI tools will generate similar outputs. Ergo, most news content online will look and read the same.

We already see this with respect to newspapers in India. The front page of most English-language national dailies read the same. We are currently led by editorial group think, where most editors think from the same frame of references.

In 2026, editorial group think may be codified by AI tools

This will further erode content and brand differentiation.

A counter argument will be the use of AI by news organisations to create niche content and verticals. The return on investment on such niches, however, are likely to be limited to branding over any significant revenue impact in India, where there are fewer people who can afford to pay for news. This is a market constraint specific to India. A similar example in the Indian context is the expansion and the decline of data-viz journalism, live vlogging, interactive content, etc.

4. Increased audience disconnect

News avoidance and declining interest in news content has been a recurring theme in conversations on the future of journalism. The trend will continue in 2026 with audiences increasingly tuning out of news content. The why, how and possible solutions for it have been analysed at length at those in academia and those in the profession.

5. Search traffic, scroll depth, ad revenue fall

Platforms that news organisations use for digital content distribution are replacing clicks with summaries. A 2025 Pew Research found that users are less likely to click on search links where AI-generated summaries appear. As platform companies push more AI tools in 2026, search traffic to news websites are likely to fall. A 2025 report by an SEO company estimates news organisations losing up to 80 per cent traffic to AI summaries. Further, as news organisations adopt AI-generated summaries on top of news articles, scroll depth on individual pages falls.

Bottom line: Less search traffic, reduced real estate for advertising and an overall drop in revenue.

6. Distribution gets further fragmented

In 2025, distribution for news organisations is fragmented across social networks such as Meta, Instagram, Whatsapp, X and content distribution networks such as newsletters, paid traffic and owned channels such as websites.

As platforms decay further and AI application layers become more commonplace in 2026, distribution is bound to get further fragmented. Managing website traffic will become more difficult in 2026. AI companies now increasingly control distribution, reducing news organisations as data feeds. This is a structural, power shift that we are likely to witness in 2026.

7. Increasing State intervention

In December 2025, the largest State in India made newspaper reading a mandatory activity for school children. Uttar Pradesh also happens to be one of the most dangerous States in India, after J&K, to practice journalism if one were to go by the number of journalists under attack for performing their duties. Two journalists were killed and multiple others including journalists, political content creators, satirists, poets, etc were booked for exercising their right to free speech in the State in 2025, according to data compiled by the Free Speech Collective.

A key theme over the last decade has been the decay of and attacks on news infrastructure. The State and political stakeholders understand this.

Further, as the biggest advertiser for news media in India, the State exerts much control over news corps in India.

In 2026, the State needs the media to help it set the narrative as platforms and AI proliferate and flood narratives. The State already has a chokehold over the press in India with newer, stricter rules for digital platforms (IT Rules, 2021) focusing on content regulation, curbing fake news, anti-national content and content that offends good taste or decency, leading to increased self-censorship.

We are likely to see more State intervention in an attempt to revive traditional media in 2026 as a compliant, weakened news infrastructure through more favourable advertising rates and policy interventions. Much of this, like in the case of UP, will be framed as public-interest intervention, and regulating AI, media and information chaos.

8. AI companies invest in news

News content and archives are rich data sources for AI and LLM companies. 2025 saw lawsuits from Indian publishers against AI aggregators and the latter will seek to mollify the former. We are likely to witness AI companies invest in news organisations via content sharing agreements, funds, grants, training programs, tools, platforms, etc and perhaps even acquisition of news companies. We witnessed some of this — content sharing agreements, funds, grants, collaborations, access to specialised tools etc — in the past with Google and Meta when tensions with news publishers arose.

*Click here for a more nuanced take on the topic.

9. Increased newsroom collaborations

The biggest losers in the incoming changes of 2026 will be small and medium sized news organisations, which will struggle to differentiate their brand identities with the proliferation of AI-generated content and AI tools. Given the resource crunch these newsrooms face and the diluting brand identity, smaller and medium sized newsrooms will likely come together, perhaps even with solo-journalist-creators, to build stronger identities with specialised coverage and collaborations in reporting.

For many, AI’s impact could be existential. Collaborations beyond content, in spaces such as litigation, grants, policy interventions may help tide this crisis.

10. Opportunity for good journalism, increased audience engagement

AI, decaying news infrastructure, cynical State intervention and homogenisation of content creates fertile ground for good journalism in 2026, mostly because very few will be doing it. Further, as AI-generated content floods news media, it will become difficult to separate verified from LLM hallucinations creating opportunities for news organisations to engage with their audiences via memberships and media literacy programmes, perhaps.

In India, AI will not democratise journalism; it will formalise a two-tier information system — synthetic news for the majority, accountable journalism for the elite.

This is a grim outlook. Countering these trends is difficult because they bring more operational and financial efficiencies. The quality of the public sphere will continue to erode unless we devise non-market interventions. At the very least, moving forward requires greater funding for human-verified reporting in an atmosphere of economic uncertainty and political onslaughts. The way ahead is to, perhaps, having honest conversations over hyping techno-optimism and silver linings.

Minor errors updated in the concluding paragraph at 12.23pm on 31 December 2025
*Updated at 11.55am on 31 December 2025,
First published at 9.30am on 31 December 2025.

The following email was sent to the employees of Hindustan Times in New Delhi on 21 August.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — —

From: Monical Aggarwal
To: Editorial Delhi
Date: 21 August 2020, 6.50pm
Subject: Office transition — HT House

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Hi all,

I hope you are doing good.

Further to Praveen’s townhall held on 12th of this month, where he spoke about “future of work”, and McKinsey’s work around it under Project ‘GRow’; three working models have been identified-

1. Work From Office Model - Jobs requiring a high level of real-team collaboration and technology, consequently making such role holders work from the office.
2. Roster Model - jobs where role-holders have to come for a couple of days every week to the office.
3. Work From Home Model - jobs where role-holders can work from home permanently.

Over the past few months many of you were contacted by us to understand your daily activities, tech & collaboration needs, etc. to arrive at the working-model for your role archetype. This activity is concluded now-working-model for every unique role, and employee is identified. Company is revisiting the existing policies, processes, workflow designs, candence around meetings, hot-desking etc. to ensure a seamless transition to the new working models and establish a sense of inclusion for everyone irrespective of his/her physical presence in the office.

In addition, as part of this exercise, our future space requirement has come down drastically, and we will be relinquishing our office space o the 2nd Floor, HT House. As a result, a few people will move from the 2nd Floor to the 1st Floor. The existing space on the 1st Floor is being reorganized for all the teams. You may need to visit the office next week to pick up your belongings as your current workstation may get allocated to another person/team. You will be shortly hearing from your HR representatives on the same.

Please note, considering the health and safety of each one of us, you are expected to continue to work the way you are currently working until any further communication is received. However, post the same, you would be working as per your new working model.

Stay safe; stay healthy.

You can read about all the cutbacks in Indian newsrooms so far at https://link.medium.com/Waf8GJraY5

HT vacates part of HT House, plans future of work with McKinsey was originally published in News@COVID19 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Support this project by making donations here: https://rzp.io/l/3JhhBGu

Context: Between 18 June and 22 June, more than 70 editorial employees of The Hindu were terminated. Since then the employees have come together to challenge the termination, which their lawyers call illegal, and the terms of termination, which isn’t in line with various provisons of law.

This is the first time, since news organisations began terminating staff in March 2020, that a collective of journalists have come together to challenge their employer legally.

— — — — — — — — —

To, Date: 17/08/2020

THG Publications Private Limited

№859 & 860, Kasturi Buildings, Anna Salai

Chennai — 600 002

(Sent by email to all the Board of Directors)

Respected Sir/Madam,

1. I write to you on the instructions of my clients who are journalists in your newspaper from Mumbai, Karnataka and Chennai all of whom have authorized me to address this letter on their behalf. The names of my clients are enclosed in the list attached herewith. This letter is in addition to the letter dated 26.06.2020 addressed by the employees from Mumbai whose names are set out in the list attached and covers legal issues which were not covered in the earlier letter. Both these letters should be read together.
2. In response to your letter dated 22.06.2020 signed by Mr. V Jayaraman, my clients addressed a letter dated 26.06.2020 challenging the termination of their services. It was pointed out that no reasons have been given for the said illegal termination of their services aside from saying that the company is facing ‘tough financial conditions’. This reasoning appears to be a convenient, but patently false excuse, since you have retained the Advertising and Marketing teams whereas the services of some of the most qualified and senior editorial team, which formed the backbone of the paper, have been terminated. This is despite the fact that the Mumbai, Chennai and Karnataka branches are functioning and have not been completely closed.
3. It is also not disclosed on what basis my clients were selected against others for termination of their services. Through their termination, the principle of ‘last come first go’ under section 25-G of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 read with Rule №77 of The Industrial Disputes (Central) Rules, 1957 has been violated and before terminating their services no seniority list was displayed which is a mandatory requirement. There are more than 100 employees in the undertaking/establishment and no prior permission from the appropriate authorities has been obtained before terminating the services of my clients under section 25-N of The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
4. What is even more surprising for a reputed media house like yours, is that many of my clients were orally told to resign, and when they did not oblige, they were issued termination letters and forced to accept dues which were incorrect and not in accordance with the relevant legal provisions.
5. At the time of serving termination letters dated 22.06.2020 the legal dues were not offered to my clients. Subsequently, only Notice Pay which included Basic Pay and DA was offered on 23.07.2020 without paying full wages along with allowances. DA is also required to be paid on variable pay which was not done. The notice pay also does not take into account the revision in wages (and other benefits) according to the Majithia Wage Board Award.
6. No retrenchment dues as required under The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 have been offered or paid. Under Section 3 of The Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955 (hereinafter the Journalists Act), working journalists are required to be paid Retrenchment Compensation in accordance with Section 25-F of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and are also entitled to receive notice pay of 3/6 months. Under section 5 (1) (a) (i) (of the Journalists Act ), they are entitled to Gratuity if the working journalist has been in continuous service for not less than three years. These legal dues have not been paid and Gratuity has been offered only to those who have completed 4 years and 240 days and more, and that too only at the prevailing rate of Basic Pay and DA by excluding all other allowances including DA on variable pay. As you are aware, wages under Section 2(eee) (of the Journalists Act) includes basic pay plus DA, Variable Pay and other allowances set out therein.
7. The Majithia Wage Board recommendations were submitted to the Central Government on 31.12.2010 and were accepted on 25.10.2011 and notified under Section 12 of the Act on 11.11.2011. Vide its Judgment dated 07.02.2014 the Supreme Court upheld the recommendations of the Wage Board as being valid in law and directed that wages as revised/determined shall be paid from 11.11.2011, (i.e. the date of notification). All arrears up to March 2011 were to be paid to all eligible persons in four installments, within a period of one year from the date of the order and the revised wages were to be paid from April 2014 onwards. The directions of the Supreme Court have not been implemented in your establishment.
8. Since the recommendations were not being implemented by a number of newspaper establishments, Contempt Petitions were filed and by Order dated 19.06.2017 the Supreme Court clarified that the (Majithia Wage Board) recommendations, as approved and notified by the Central Government, would apply to both contractual and non-contractual employees and that the Award supersedes all existing arrangements including specific contractual arrangements governing conditions of service. The wages as recommended by the Majithia Wage Board Award can be departed from only if a more beneficial and favourable rate of wages are adopted. Therefore, any agreement/s that you may have signed with my clients regarding waiver of their rights under the Act and the Majithia Wage Board Award is/are non-est in law.
9. Moreover, none of the undertakings given by my clients are voluntary. All undertakings have been obtained under duress under threat of termination of their services. My clients therefore wish to reiterate that the Majithia Wage Board Award recommendations as approved and notified will apply to all category of employees including contractual employees who would also be entitled to computation of all allowances by inclusion of Variable Pay and DA on variable pay. They are also entitled to arrears.
10. After receipt of my clients’ letter dated 26.06.2020 you unilaterally decided to offer Leave Encashment and Travel Allowances under the (so-called “full and final”) settlement dated 23.07.2020. Since my clients refused to accept the so-called full and final settlement, you decided to deposit my clients’ respective salaries into their accounts without their consent.
11. Please note that you are required to make the following payments:
12. Revised wages in accordance with the Majithia Wage Board Award w.e.f. 11.11.2011 and as per the respective individual joining dates of my clients.
13. Notice Pay u/s 25-F (a) of The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 read with Section 3 (2) of the Act calculated as per the wage rates fixed by the Majithia Wage Board Award.
14. Retrenchment Compensation calculated at the wage rates fixed by the Majithia Wage Board Award.
15. Gratuity at the wage rates fixed by the Majithia Wage Board Award to all those who had completed 3 years and more, by taking into account variable pay and DA on variable pay.
16. Earned leave
17. DA to be calculated by taking 167 base and divisor and should be calculated for 150.41 points (total points stood as 317.41) as envisaged in Gazette №2532(E) of 2011 and not under 189 base and divisor which is how your establishment has wrongly calculated thereby reducing DA by 20%.
18. Illegal deductions were made in the salaries for the month April, May and June 2020 which amounts need to be reimbursed.
19. Reimbursement of expenses incurred while on duty-details of which have already been submitted to you.
20. Full Provident Fund.
21. Medical insurance (premia) for the financial year 2020–2021.
22. Performance-linked incentives for the year 2019–2020.
23. As far as Mr. S. Madhavan, working journalist from Chennai is concerned, he had filed a complaint to the Commissioner of Labour regarding improper calculation of DA, who recommended reference to the Labour Court for adjudication on the issue under section 17(2) of the Journalists Act. By Order dated 21.07.2016, the State Government accepted the recommendation of the Labour Commissioner by referring the issue for adjudication to the Labour Court. Reference was made to the Labour Court on 26.07.2016. This order was challenged by the Management by filing a Writ Petition before the Hon’ble High Court and the order of the State Government was stayed on 10.11.2017. The Writ Petition was finally heard and by order dated 18.10.2019 the stay was vacated and the Petition was dismissed. Accordingly, the Labour Court commenced with the hearing of the reference. The management has filed an appeal which is pending. During the pendency of the reference before the Labour Court, you have illegally terminated the services of Mr. Madhavan. Termination of services is prohibited under Section 33 of the Industrial Disputes Act. You you have also not paid his legal dues as narrated herein above and therefore on that ground also the termination of his services is illegal.
24. Please note that the termination letters dated 22.06.2020 issued to my clients are illegal and non-est interalia on the ground that proper and legal dues have not been paid. You are therefore directed to immediately withdraw the termination letters dated 22.06.2020 and to reinstate my clients listed as in the enclosed annexure with continuous service along with back wages and all benefits.
25. The illegal termination of my client’s services took place during the COVID pandemic when my clients were under dire financial constraints and in addition their salaries had been illegally deducted for the previous three months. Hence, some of my clients were forced to accept their dues under protest and without prejudice to their claim for their rightful and legitimate dues and for their reinstatement with full back wages. Their acceptance of part payment is therefore without prejudice to their rights and may not be taken as acquiescence to the illegal acts of the management. My clients are willing to adjust the unilateral payments made so far to them against the dues, as set out herein, and which are payable to them.
26. Also, please note that my clients will be constrained to take appropriate legal measures to enforce their rights if you do not respond to this notice within a week of its receipt.

Regards,

Adv. Mohammad Mehdi Abdi

Date : 17.08.2020

______

Enclosed:

1. List of journalists represented in this letter

List of Employees

Sr No, Name, Employee Code, Designation, Date of Joining, Branch, Category

1. Amrita Ghaswala, 10130, Deputy Editor, 02.07.2012, Mumbai, Wage Board

2. Prashant Nakwe, 10414, Photo Editor, 08.04.2014, Mumbai, Contractual

3. Namrata Joshi, 10683, Cinema Editor, 29.10.2015, Mumbai, Contractual

4. Deborah Cornelious, 10690, Assistant Editor, 02.11.2015, Mumbai, Contractual

5. Sharad Vyas, 10688, Deputy Editor, 02.11.2015, Mumbai, Contractual

6. Piyush Pandey, 10679, Corporate Editor, 05.11.2015, Mumbai, Contractual

7. Shubha Sharma, 10700, Deputy Editor, 09.11.2015, Mumbai, Contractual

8. Ashish Rukhaiyar, 10702, Markets Editor, 09.11.2015, Mumbai, Contractual

9. Manojit Saha, 10705, Banking Editor, 09.11.2015, Mumbai, Contractual

10. Gauri Vij, 10744, Associate Editor, 01.12.2015, Mumbai, Contractual

11. Pooja Thakar, 10880, Chief Sub Editor, 08.08.2016, Mumbai, Contractual

12. Jyoti Shelar, 10933, Assistant Editor, 01.12.2016, Mumbai, Contractual

13. Aditya Anand, 10986, Deputy Editor, 07.04.2017, Mumbai, Contractual

14. Ajeet Mahale, 11121, Reporter, 21.02.2018, Mumbai, Contractual

15. Tanvi Deshpande, 11148, Senior Reporter, 17.04.2018, Mumbai, Contractual

16. S Madhavan, 46, Senior Sub Editor, 27.04.1987, Chennai, Wage Board

17. A P Shankarnarayanan, 2524, Chief Sub Editor, 22.12.1999, Chennai, Contractual

18. V Sudharshan, 10620, Senior Associate Editor, 10.08.2015, Chennai, Contractual

19. M T Shivakumar, 9509, Special Correspondent, 04.09.2008, Karnataka, Wage Board

20. Dinesh Nayak, 9792, Principal Correspondent, 12.07.2010, Karnataka, Wage Board

You can read about all the cutbacks in Indian newsrooms so far at https://link.medium.com/Waf8GJraY5

Employees of The Hindu send legal notice to the company demanding fair severance in line with wage… was originally published in News@COVID19 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Employees were informed about the suspension of Mail Today’s print edition verbally on 5 August. The tabloid employs 35–40 editorial staff. They have been asked to find jobs elsewhere, whereas the editor of Mail Today has been promoted as the editor in charge of indiatoday.in and will report to Kallie Purie, vice president India Today Group.

Dear All,

​As you all know, the Group entered the newspaper space 13 years ago with great hope. We collaborated with one of the most successful newspaper publishers in the world — the Daily Mail Group of the UK. The idea was to produce a newspaper that was different from the broadsheets in the market. Not only did we bring it out in a more handy format, but we also carried hard-hitting reports, bold headlines, a dazzling mix of stories and a powerful visual display. ​It had colourful special sections on different days of the week and a very vibrant sports section. Many of our stories were followed by the legacy newspapers, the paper was often waved in Parliament demanding probes based on our stories and quoted frequently on TV news.

I am very happy to say that, over the years, we realised our vision. It wasn’t easy. A lot of sweat and hard work, not to mention crores of investment, went into making it an exciting daily. The newspaper carved a niche for itself in the minds and hearts of many readers, particularly the young.

​During these years, we weathered the worldwide financial crisis of 2008 and the demonetisation shock to the economy in 2016. Unfortunately, the pandemic has drastically changed reader preferences. Daily and rigorous news consumption on devices during the lockdown makes it clear that the newspaper print medium will not resurrect. ​There is, therefore, little prospect of making Mail Today in print a viable publication. It is with deep regret that I announce the suspension of the print edition — the last print edition in its current form will be published on Sunday, August 9. ​​ I will miss holding a ​copy of Mail Today every morning as I am sure will many of our readers.

That said, we will be rebooting Mail Today in a digital avatar to meet the challenges of the future.

I am pleased to share that Dwaipayan Bose, Editor, Mail Today, will be moving to take charge of Indiatoday.in, reporting to Vice Chairperson Kalli Purie. Several other editorial team members are being evaluated for various digital, social media and TV verticals in the Group. Regrettably, other colleagues will move on to opportunities outside the India Today Group and I wish them well. Trained in the ITG ecosystem, I know their talent will be in high demand. Our HR department will be in touch on the next steps.

I wish to place on record my deep appreciation for all team members of Mail Today for their commendable efforts over the years.

Aroon

You can read about all the cutbacks in Indian newsrooms so far at https://link.medium.com/Waf8GJraY5

Aroon Purie announces suspension of Mail Today’s print edition was originally published in News@COVID19 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Board of Directors of India Today met on 7 August 2020, following which the email below was sent out to the employees of Mail Today on the morning of 7 August. The email was titled, From the Office of Aroon Purie.

Employees were informed about the suspension of Mail Today’s print edition verbally on 5 August. The tabloid employs 35–40 editorial staff. They have been asked to find jobs elsewhere, whereas the editor of Mail Today has been promoted as the editor in charge of indiatoday.in and will report to Kallie Purie, vice president India Today Group.

Dear All,

​As you all know, the Group entered the newspaper space 13 years ago with great hope. We collaborated with one of the most successful newspaper publishers in the world -- the Daily Mail Group of the UK. The idea was to produce a newspaper that was different from the broadsheets in the market. Not only did we bring it out in a more handy format, but we also carried hard-hitting reports, bold headlines, a dazzling mix of stories and a powerful visual display. ​It had colourful special sections on different days of the week and a very vibrant sports section. Many of our stories were followed by the legacy newspapers, the paper was often waved in Parliament demanding probes based on our stories and quoted frequently on TV news.

I am very happy to say that, over the years, we realised our vision. It wasn’t easy. A lot of sweat and hard work, not to mention crores of investment, went into making it an exciting daily. The newspaper carved a niche for itself in the minds and hearts of many readers, particularly the young.

​During these years, we weathered the worldwide financial crisis of 2008 and the demonetisation shock to the economy in 2016. Unfortunately, the pandemic has drastically changed reader preferences. Daily and rigorous news consumption on devices during the lockdown makes it clear that the newspaper print medium will not resurrect. ​There is, therefore, little prospect of making Mail Today in print a viable publication. It is with deep regret that I announce the suspension of the print edition--the last print edition in its current form will be published on Sunday, August 9. ​​ I will miss holding a ​copy of Mail Today every morning as I am sure will many of our readers.

That said, we will be rebooting Mail Today in a digital avatar to meet the challenges of the future.

I am pleased to share that Dwaipayan Bose, Editor, Mail Today, will be moving to take charge of Indiatoday.in, reporting to Vice Chairperson Kalli Purie. Several other editorial team members are being evaluated for various digital, social media and TV verticals in the Group. Regrettably, other colleagues will move on to opportunities outside the India Today Group and I wish them well. Trained in the ITG ecosystem, I know their talent will be in high demand. Our HR department will be in touch on the next steps.

I wish to place on record my deep appreciation for all team members of Mail Today for their commendable efforts over the years.

Aroon

You can read about all the cutbacks in Indian newsrooms so far at https://link.medium.com/Waf8GJraY5

Aroon Purie announces suspension of Mail Today’s print edition was originally published in News@COVID19 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The Deccan Chronicle, a daily broadsheet published from Secunderabad, Telangana, has been struggle for few years now. Last year, the holding company, shut down DC’s sister publication Financial Chronicle. Earlier this year, DC shut down multiple editions and suspend print editions of its Telegu publication Andhra Bhoomi on 23 March.

Salaries at DC have not been paid since the month of January 2020 for older employees while for newer employees salaries are pending since April 2020. The following email was sent to employees of DC between 22 July 2020 and 28 July 2020. The employees union has called the move illegal.

To

XXXXXX

The Industrial Disputes (Central) Rules — FORM E

(See Rule 34)

Notice of change of service conditions proposed by an employer

Name of employer: DECCAN CHRONICLE HOLDINGS LIMITED
Address: 36, SAROJINI DEVI ROAD, SECUNDERABAD 500003, TELANGANA STATE,
Date: 22nd day of July, 2020

In accordance with Section 9-A of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, We hereby give notice to all concerned that it is our intention to eggect the changes specified in the annexure, with eggect fom 31st August, 2020 in the conditions of the service applicable to workmen / employees at our offices / press situated in Secunderabad / Hyderabad in respect of the matters specified in the Fourth Schedule of the said Act.

General Manager — Accounts, Admin & HR

Copy to:-

1. The General Secretary, Deccan Chronicle Employees Union. Regd. №234/1952 (Affiliated to NTUC, No. IV/1457), 36 Sarojni Devi Road, Secunderabad — 500003,
2. The Regional Labour Commissioner Near SBH, Office ATI Campus, Vidyanagar, Hyderabad — 500044
3. The Chief Labour Commissioner, Office of the Chief Labour Commissioner, Shram Shakti Bhawan, New Delhi — 110001

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

ANNEXURE

In view of the ever increasing financial and operational challenges that the company has been going through coupled with continuing serious impact of COVID-19, it has been decided by the Company that the reduction of wages / salaries has become an exigency now and accordingly a reduction of 20% on the Gross Salary has been done, subject to a minimum Gross salary of Rs 20,000/-per month, effective 31 August, 2020 upto 31st March, 2021.

Further, there will not be any upgradations / promotions and pay revisions till 31st March 2021.

However, the settlement of retirement benefits, if any, till 31st March, 2021 will not be altered and the same will be calculated on the basis of existing salaries / wages prior to 31 st August 2021.

For Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited

General Manager — Accounts, Admin & HR

You can read about all the cutbacks in Indian newsrooms so far at https://link.medium.com/Waf8GJraY5

Deccan Chronicle announces salary cuts for FY20–21, freezes promotions was originally published in News@COVID19 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The following email was sent by the HR to the employees of the Outlook Group on 26 July 2020. Salaries at the group have not been paid since April 2020. The group suspended print publication of its magazines in March 2020. And a salary cut was announced across the group on 30 May 2020. Since 17 July 2020, weekly print edition of Outlook magazine has been converted into a fortnightly print edition, effectively signaling a reduction in print runs. The magazine is now published as an alternating print and digital editions.

Dear Colleagues,

This has reference to our CEO’s email of May 30, 2020 regarding the difficult decisions we had to take in these trying times for the first quarter of FY21.

It was not an easy decision from the Management’s side, but we are grateful for your understanding.

The impact of the pandemic however continues to affect our operations and revenue collections, despite our my best planning and preparations to offset the impact.

We will need to ride through this difficult period and will be impossible to do it without your understanding and cooperation. We will be continuing with the salary cuts for the second quarter (July to September) of FY21 as per the below table for our own survival. We will again review the situation at the end of the second quarter and take an appropriate decision for the remaining financial year.

Salary Deductions from July 1 to Sept 30, 2020

CTC Slab

% Reductions

Up to 3 lakh

0.0%

+3 to 5 lakh

10.0%

+5 to 10 lakh

20.0%

+10–15 lakh

22.5%

+15–20 lakh

25.0%

+20–25 lakh

30.0%

+25–30 lakh

35.0%

Above 30 lakh

40.0%

With best wishes and regards,

Yours sincerely,

HR Department

You can read about all the cutbacks in Indian newsrooms so far at https://link.medium.com/Waf8GJraY5

What did you gain?

It’s a simple question that I want to ask media houses that thought — and are still thinking — it’s a good practice to terminate employees on the spot. The editor, board, management & HR all are collectively responsible but no one would reply. Who will question the media, which prides itself in the power of questioning it has.

Frankly, it doesn’t matter if you say in private that I’m sorry and this shouldn’t have happened. The fact remains it happened and it happened under your watch.

Were these the morals, ethics and values that the organisation was built on? Didn’t you feel proud when the reporters brought you a story that revealed the unethical practices at various institutions and establishments, most notably the government! You would have put it on the front page too!

I’ll go back to my question. What did you gain?

Or let me put it down the other way? What would you have lost if a person was allowed to go with dignity. No one was asking for the stars and the moon. All they wanted was dignity. Is that too much of an ask?

You were dealing with people who gave years of their life to your organisation. During the pandemic, they worked from home and some (depending on their beats) even ventured out risking themselves. Never they thought they will be suddenly left high and dry in the middle of the desert with hardly any resource to manage the arduous journey ahead.

Let me stress here on the fact that an organisation is well within its rights to terminate anyone they want. But be a bit compassionate when you do since you may not just be ruining the sacked employee’s career prospects but also putting at risk an entire family that might suddenly find it difficult to make their ends meet.

What would you have lost if you had given your employee a couple of months notice to stay in the job and find options elsewhere. It’s elementary knowledge that it’s easier to find a job when you’ve a job. Just like a bank will lend you ₹100 crore if you already have a few crores to show!

You could have just told them that you cannot afford their services and that they have, say two months to find a job. That would have given them some time to adjust their finances and look out aggressively.

How difficult that can be! Are you in such a dire situation that while on one hand you boast of a history and legacy that goes back to the pre-independence era and suddenly you can’t afford a few employees for even two months!

That speaks more of the financial mismanagement or lack of vision of the business side and management than journalists who were busy chasing stories for you. But we didn’t really hear of an editor or a CEO lose his job in the pandemic. But, we did hear about hundreds of reporters suddenly finding themselves unemployed.

And it was not just a job loss. It was an insult. It was playing with their self-respect, integrity, commitment, absolutely everything that they were proud of. Is this something you’ll be proud of when you look back and think about the way you handled it?

Reporters were sacked over the phone. Some were called to office and told to submit their resignation on the spot. News about discontinuation were pasted on notice boards. They were threatened that if they do not resign, they would lose out on payouts that they are entitled under the law. There was absolutely no method in this madness. No memos, no performance related warnings, no red flags in appraisals, etc.

You may well say that we gave them what was stated in their contract. Yes. But that’s akin to saying that a person alleged to have committed a crime was acquitted after 20 years of a legal fight to prove his innocence. Justice was definitely done but do you think that was the way it ought to be done?

So tell me… What did you really gain?

Disclaimer: I abruptly lost my job in June and so you may think my views are biased. It’s alright. I forgive you ;)

This is part of the News@COVID19 project. Support the project by making donations here: https://rzp.io/l/3JhhBGu

‘What would you have lost if a person was allowed to go with dignity?’ was originally published in News@COVID19 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Context: The following email was sent to the employees of Mid-Day on 30 June 2020 by Mona Tripathi, head HR at Mid Day. The email was written and signed by Apurva Purohit, president of Jagran Group. Mid-Day is owned by Jagran Group. The tabloid published and circulated in Mumbai saw a 4% increase in readership in the last quarter of 2019–2020 and is cash-flow positive, Purohit said in a recent interview. On 17 July, the tabloid announced subscriptions for its epaper and laid off 47 employees at its printing press.

===============
From: Mona Tripathi
To: mona tripathi
Sent: Tue, 30 Jun 2020, 10:38:34+0530 (IST)
Subject: Message from Apurva
==============

Dear team,

We all know hoe difficult the last fw months have been for all of us. The continuing crisis is not likely to dissipate in a hurry and will leave in its aftermath much despair aling with a broken health, economic and social system which will take a very long time to heal. It has impacted all of us as individuals as well as bsinesses and I believe the coming year will see several businesses collapse on the back of an already slowing economy brought to a standstill by Covid.

At MIL we have all been working tremendously hard at coming out with the newspapers amidst the lockdown and distributing them as seamlessly as we were allowed. I congratulate the editorial and circulation teams on their sincere efforts amidst such trying circumstances. At the backend too we have been working very hard to minimise the damage to the P&L by reducing every cost possible, however the business continues to bleed and will do so for a few more months.

As a consequence we now have to move to the last costs that was not touched so far which are the staff costs. From July onwards we will be implementing a salary cut of 15% for all those earning a CTC above Rs 5 Lakhs. This cut will continue every month till we break even at the EBITDA level.

It is my sincere hope that this cut will not last for more than a few months especially if Mumbai continues its journey to open out the lockdown, advertisers restart their businesses and our revenue teams push hard for conversions.

There is always a silver lining in any situation and the huge success of MD’s and GMD’s digital product and its massive acceptance across a national reader base has emboldened us to convert this reach into a paid subscription base. We are optimistic that this initiative will go a long way in mitigating the revenue loss and move MIL to a breakeven situation faster. I look for your support in making this endeavour a resounding success.

Best regards and stay safe,

Apurva

You can read about all the cutbacks in Indian newsrooms so far at https://link.medium.com/Waf8GJraY5

Mid-Day announces salary cuts till the company hits break even was originally published in News@COVID19 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The following email was sent by Kavitha Iyer, associate editor of The Indian Express in Mumbai, to her colleagues after she was asked to resign from the newspaper. The email is reproduced with her permission.

Dear everyone

This is not a goodbye or a farewell. This is no time for social graces. But if I have ignored some of your calls and text messages, it is because I wanted to take some time to reflect. Thank you for your concern, but I wasn’t actually sobbing into a pillow. I am well, happy and getting busy with work, as always.

I know you have questions and doubts about the circumstances of my abrupt resignation, and I hope this email will address some of those.

When the WhatsApp message arrived a little before 11 pm on Thursday, it was immediately apparent that there would be bad news. I was to present myself in office the following day. I was uncertain about only one thing, whether it was a little foolhardy to sit in an unventilated cabin with the editor who was supposed to be in home quarantine after a Chennai-Mumbai flight.

At this meeting on Friday, I was requested to leave my phones outside. I was told my performance is not in doubt, my “great” and “excellent” work was appreciated but my role was no longer “sustainable”. Had the decision been based on performance, “others” would be in the office at that point. There was an exhortation to “understand” where the company stands today, where the industry is poised. I was not being “singled out”, there were “others” across centres. The HR manager who was also in the cabin said I would “have to resign” and accept the relieving letter that was in the brown envelope in his hand, or I would be terminated and receive a termination letter. Either way, it was my last working day. I asked whether the severance would include components such as LTA, and I was assured that it would. I pointed out that our revised components are a bit unclear since none of us received any email or letter detailing the revised break-up and components after the salary cuts were imposed. I was told that the lockdown had rendered the HR team incapable of sending this communication regarding salaries. It didn’t seem wise to point out that the reporting team had been on its feet through the lockdown, doing the legwork that stories require, while the HR team struggled to send out emails due to the lockdown.

In any case, there was no need to apply any thought to the decision itself. Resign or be terminated is not really a choice once Option A and Option B for severance pay are explained.

I was calm but wanted to take a little time to gather my thoughts and maybe make a call home. I finished 20 years as a journalist last month. Eighteen of those were at the Express. It’s time now for a pivot, perhaps, and this is a thought many of us have wrestled with since March-April. So I’d have had to be very stupid indeed to experience shock or surprise. Still, it was overwhelming. I wanted to take some time, think about the work I’d produced since the lockdown began, about other long-term reporting work that has kept me rooted, grounded, happy, sad, sane. Work that had just been declared as no longer valuable or sustainable, work that is at the heart of who I am. I wouldn’t get any time to think, I was told. Resign now, or be terminated now. The HR manager said he’d need a half hour to check my gratuity fund, but when I said I’d prefer to wait outside while he checked, he very kindly made a call and got the information in an instant. I asked if they felt this was morally acceptable to them, to not let an employee of many years take a little time to process what was happening. I don’t know exactly why I needed to get out of that room. Maybe I just needed to breathe. It was dehumanising. “Why don’t you understand,” the HR manager said. I was my usual calm self, and I cannot begin to think how they would have dealt with somebody who showed any emotion.

I was asked to take the relieving letter, hand over “any office property including laptop”. Yeah, I know you’re laughing at that. I picked up the few books from my cupboard that are of value to me. I tried to look at old documents and paper files, but couldn’t really focus. I thought of switching on my office PC and deleting / copying some files, but I was neither carrying a hard disk nor prepared to focus. I took a last look at the steel flower vase on my table, the paper mâché pen stand, the little wicker basket of papers, the broken drawer, the Bodyshop hand lotion, an unopened packet of green tea, a wad of Starbucks tissue paper. A plastic bag with little bamboo boxes that I’d brought back from my 2016 holiday to Assam as gifts — I couldn’t remember if they were meant to be given to someone in our team. There was the empty packaging of a microphone we’d had to go and hurriedly purchase for the 26/11 interviews. A copy of Stories of Strength. I handed over the press card and walked out silently. Nobody spoke. I felt nothing. Called home, finished a banking errand next-door and drove out. By the time I got home an hour later, I’d been locked out of my official email, so couldn’t save any mails or contacts from there.

Having spent some time reflecting, I know I don’t feel bitter at what happened. This letter is neither plaintive nor resentful. I don’t even feel indignant. Everything is now par for the course. Companies will do what they must to survive. What will be the creature that survives, this is the only frightening part. Had I received a call a few days in advance, explaining that the inevitable is about to happen, that this is a business decision with no bearing on the work I do, I would have still been unhappy to exit, but would have retained my pride in this organisation and its commitment to humanity. Sadly, we are all now a little less human and a little more virus.

I don’t need to say that I wish each and every one of you the very best. My deepest hope right now is for a quick revival of the industry and for all of you to stay employed, busy and productive. I have received countless messages of love and support, everybody has been far too kind. But I also stand by what I’d tried to explain on that Zoom call when some of you were about to launch a misadventure regarding our salaries — nobody, and absolutely nobody, can predict right now with any measure of confidence what anyone’s chances of survival are. Anybody promising that you will sink together or stay afloat together is being quite insincere. My question about the future of the printed English newspaper as we know it remains where I placed it, in a cloud of uncertainty.

I’m still at the same number and same email id, should anybody wish to reach out. Thank you for being such stellar colleagues.

Love,

K

This is part of the News@COVID19 project. Support the project by making donations here: https://rzp.io/l/3JhhBGu

‘Resign or be terminated is not really a choice once Option A and Option B for severance pay are… was originally published in News@COVID19 on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.