The 16-page weekly tabloid Gauri Lankesh (not Gauri Lankesh Patrike, as commonly believed) usually hits the stands on Thursdays but this week’s edition has been suspended. While the editorial staff wants to bring out a commemorative edition on Tuesday, they are yet to get a go-ahead from the Lankesh family.

Gauri was the backbone of the publication and now her family has to decide its future.

The tabloid’s circulation manager Raju (he uses only his first name) confirmed that this week’s edition has been suspended owing to Gauri’s murder. He said they have learnt that Gauri’s sister Kavitha would hold a meeting with the staff and discuss the future of Gauri Lankesh.

Its ownership rests with Gauri’s mother Indira Lankesh and the employees believe that Kavitha is most likely to step in for her late sister. VP Megharaja, a correspondent with Gauri Lankesh, said Indira would decide who would head the tabloid, adding it’s quite possible that Kavitha would take over.

As of now, she’s the one employees are reaching out to. A sub-editor Sathish (who too goes by only his first name) said the staff expressed its wish of bringing out a commemorative edition to Kavitha, who told them she needed to consult with her mother.

He said the staff held a meeting after their editor’s assassination and unanimously decided to dedicate the next editor to Gauri, besides staging a protest to decry her murder.

One-woman army

Gauri started Gauri Lankesh in 2005 after differences crept up between her and her brother Indrajit Lankesh over the ideology of Lankesh Patrike, which was founded by their father P Lankesh. While Gauri was the editor of Lankesh Patrike after their father’s demise, her brother was its proprietor-publisher and looked after its business side.

Currently, Gauri Lankesh has 35 employees: eight reporters in Bangalore, 15 in the rest of the state and 12 in administrative roles. Every Friday, Gauri would preside over editorial meetings at their office in Basavanagudi to set the tone for the next week’s edition.

A columnist who writes for the tabloid, Chandragowda, said Gauri planned every edition by herself and would decide which story would go on which page. Seconding that, Megharaja said all the reporters would take prints of their stories and leave it in her office. She’d go through them, shortlist some for publishing and coordinate with the reporter concerned if more information was needed.

Raju said Gauri would even coordinate for the tabloid’s printing and see to it that the pages were sent to the printer on time.