Trouble brewing for North-east’s pioneer newspaper house

When hundreds of media workers died of  Covid-19 complications across India, a few people thought the corona disaster would also devastate the print media with sharply declined circulation figures resulting in shrinking advertisement revenues. Many established newspaper-publishing groups either closed many of their editions in the post-corona period or drastically reduced the number of employees to cope up with the hard situation. Some newspapers were shut down forever and many owners were compelled to sell their publications. The troubles are now brewing for the oldest media house in north-eastern region after a Dimapur-based English daily recently ceased its publications. The employees, who once proudly introduced themselves as being associated with the Guwahati-based media group, are now crying for regular salaries. The employees union officially stated that they have not received their salaries for more than two months. Moreover many employees including the working journalists, who were retired in the last few years, are still deprived of their due financial benefits under the lawful provisions.  One can remember, the salaries of employees in the pioneer media group were never lapsed till last year. But it’s yet to be asserted what tempted the management to create the unhealthy situation for months even though the media house was showing profit making balance sheets till the last  fiscal year.

The current management has cited the outstanding dues from the State information and public relations directorate to the tune of Rs 6 crores (against the published advertisements in the last few months) that delayed the release of salaries and other benefits to the employees. Now the union representatives appeal to the government for supporting all the media houses with regular payments (against the sanctioned and published advertisements) and if possible allow a higher rate so that the owners can deliver necessary benefits to their employees. They went ahead asking the authorities to direct the government employees, educational institutions and libraries to buy local newspapers regularly. If necessary, the government should allocate  a separate fund for the purpose so that the print media of Assam can survive with some dignity. The union representatives had however insisted on diversifying the revenue models, so that the managements need not to depend on government sponsored advertisements only (which often come with some hidden conditions). Meanwhile, social media space was full of unconfirmed reports that the concerned media house is readied for sale. A powerful media group is seemingly interested in buying the entire property along with the newspapers. Some claim that one newspaper in  regional language was almost sold to another media group with a deal of around Rs 20 crores. But the concerned management recently made a statement that all this information was false and without merit. It was committed to editorial independence, journalistic integrity, and continued services to its readers, advertisers, and stakeholders. The management also urged all concerned to ignore such speculation and misinformation.

Many observers argue that the prestigious house usually maintains its credibility while disseminating information, editorial viewpoints and other pieces of articles, but in recent times the same principles were compromised. The newspapers under the group openly  supported the anti-CAA movement in Assam and gave a huge space to the movement against the centre’s initiative to allow the persecuted Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian nationals coming from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh prior to 31 December 2014 for applying for Indian citizenship with relaxed provisions. The chaos engulfed the Brahmaputra valley for weeks where it was reminded that the new citizenship act will dishonor the Assam Accord (signed in 1985 to culminate the six years long Asom Andolan). In another occasion, those newspapers made a series of voluminous reports on a local press club election just ahead of the Covid-19 with little or no credibility. The bias reporting with the intention of  character assassinations to a widely known  individual simply put their credibility on stake. Even though the present status of the media group is pathetic, it was undoubtedly  orchestrated by a section of arrogant employees only, who enjoyed an unlimited social-political power with no or little accountability. Finally they created the disorder where the management probably turned into a reluctant observer.