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A year that has seen a record number of working journalists lose their jobs ended with a high court setting a significant precedent. In what is a unique judicial intervention, a vacation judge of the Madras High Court at Chennai issued an interim injunction restraining the management of New Generation Media Corporation Private Limited from acting on a letter served on 35-odd employees asking them to either accept a sharp cut in remuneration or leave the company. The injunction will at least...

The Tamil Nadu-based Sri Ramaswamy Memorial (SRM) group has decided to indefinitely postpone the launch of its English television news channel. Consequently, 40-odd employees of group company, New Generation Media Corporation Private Limited, have been verbally told to leave their jobs or accept a drastic cut in salaries. Quite a few of these employees, some of whom had been waiting for a year and a half for the launch of the television channel, are predictably upset with the terms under which...

It seems the Election Commission of India is the only body in the country that is seriously trying to combat the pernicious practice of "paid news". If other organizations, including organizations that claim to represent the interests of journalists and other media professionals, played a more proactive role in curbing this corrupt practice, the phenomenon of masquerading advertisements as news could be curtailed to some extent. This is unfortunately not happening at a significant pace. On 3...

When gods have feet of clay, even believers become atheists. Tarun Tejpal, just over 50, used to be an iconic figure in Indian journalism. He was a man who led a media organisation which shook a government, unseated influential officials, broke new ground in investigative journalism using sting operations, and championed causes in favour of the underprivileged. Today he has been disgraced and humiliated, accused by his young daughter's close friend and his employee of sexual assault and abuse of...

Hartosh Singh Bal, political editor of Open, was served a notice of termination of employment on Wednesday November 13, 2013. The weekly is published by Open Media Network Pvt Ltd, a company in the RP-Sanjiv Goenka group headed by industrialist Sanjiv Goenka. Goenka has reportedly wanted Manu Joseph, the editor of the publication, to remove Bal from his position for quite some time now. Joseph resisted but finally gave in to "rebuild his relationship with the owner" and "push through an...

A report of the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has levelled a series of allegations against India's biggest privately-controlled corporate entity Reliance Industries Limited, headed by the country's richest man Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani, accusing it of having engineered a series of allegedly illegal transactions to control a company that controlled the NewsX television channel which, in turn, resulted in "wrongful" losses to the extent of hundreds of crores of rupees. Though the SFIO...

Diwali, the festival of lights celebrated by the burst of firecrackers and hectic shopping by families across India, was subdued last weekend. The lights were dimmer, the footfalls in malls smaller and the mood less exuberant. The reason: consistently high inflation. High food and fuel prices have sharply eroded the real incomes of large sections of the world's second-most populous country, contributing to anger and social unrest that have often spilled over on to the streets. "I think twice...

The nexus between politics, big business and white-collar crime is present in myriad forms across the globe. In India, the corrupt coalition between those who have and those who wield authority — often present in the same person — is strengthened by other sections, which include bureaucrats and media personnel. If the conversations involving Niira Radia bear testimony to the role of a few influential journalists in perpetuating this nexus, what coalgate has revealed is how the cosy relationship...

The Story so far The Mansagar lake, one of the largest manmade water bodies in India with a palace called Jal Mahal at the centre of it, a popular tourism and heritage spot in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, was handed over for redevelopment to a private real estate firm as part of what was allegedly a "sweetheart deal". The area was given on a long lease of 99 years at what was considered to be very low lease rentals. After various public interest litigations were filed against different...

As you enter Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, the Mansagar Lake is a sight to behold. One of the largest man-made water bodies in the country, it was built in 1610 by Raja Man Singh I, the then ruler of Amer, by damming the Darbhawati river. But this placid water body, built by a feudal lord for recreation as well as for irrigation, with an ornate palace (Jal Mahal) in its middle and a temple on its northwestern side, has become the subject of bitter contention in recent times. A legal tussle...