Stop Press: The opacity of Indian media layoffs

A lack of scrutiny and laws enable media owners to treat journalists like gig workers.

WrittenBy:Chitranshu Tewari
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ā€œI went out of my way to work during this coronavirus lockdown. I rendered my services to the publication over the protests of my family. But what do I get for all this? A layoff!ā€

This is what a Mint employee told Newslaundry after being laid off. The quote isnā€™t unique or out of the ordinary; it represents what is now a template across news media companies. Employees who have worked with outlets for years are being asked to pack their things and leave, within a day's notice, with little information or clarification.

This take-it-or-leave-it style of layoffs has unfolded across the industry ā€” from legacy dailies that include the Hindu, Hindustan Times and the Times of India, to regional outlets like Sakal Times.

Employees are asked to either resign with offered terms, or be terminated. Often, this message is conveyed via a phone or video call. Those who have not been axed continue to work in uncertainty, anxious about their job security. Such has been the opacity of companies around these decisions that journalists at the Hinduā€™s Mumbai bureau had to write to the chairperson and the CEO to seek clarity over ā€œsocial media posts and word-of-mouth speculationā€.

Media layoffs: a story not good enough for news outlets

News media remains a beat that is either ignored or looked down upon in India. Unlike both legacy and new age outlets overseas, where media is a one of the important beats, talking about and on the media in India has long been seen as navel-gazing. In many ways, itā€™s been an unsaid rule too: Thou shall not report on the ecosystem youā€™re a part of, and name or call out any other outlet.

A news ecosystem that is reported on and held accountable helps build a more robust institution of media. Especially at a time when political leaders across nations have vilified it and mobilised attacks on it. The need for media analysis was one of the core principles that Newslaundry was founded on in 2012.

Years later, while the media is certainly analysed now, newsrooms continue to not allocate resources to the subject or see it as a beat. Itā€™s not surprising then that the mass layoffs across outlets has mostly failed to find a place in the print and broadcast media. After all, itā€™s difficult for an organisation to keep its own employees in the dark about job security when it is reporting on the lack of transparency in layoffs carried out by another company.

Our lack of coverage and reportage on the media ecosystem makes it easier for media proprietors and owners to treat their employees like gig workers. And the media owners try their best to keep it that way. At Newslaundry, as part of our focus on the media, we have reported and tracked these layoffs for weeks now. Often, when our reporters reach out to the management of a company for a layoff story, they are either ignored or receive a tight-lipped response.

Do journalists have any legal protections?

Yes and no.

The only legislation applicable here is the Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act. Enacted in 1955 to regulate the working condition of newspaper journalists, it also extends the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, to journalists.

Why only newspapers or print media, though? Because the law was enacted in the 1950s and is yet to be extended to TV, radio and digital media.

Hereā€™s the part that may be relevant for termination. Section 16(2) of the Working Journalists Act states:

ā€œNothing contained in this Act shall be construed to preclude any newspaper employee from entering into an agreement with an employer for granting him rights or privileges in respect of any matter which are more favourable to him than those to which he would be entitled under this Act.ā€

As Anumeha Yadav notes, ā€œthe Act provides crucial protections for journalists against arbitrary termination, and even under the contract system, journalists continue to be protected by the Working Journalists Act.ā€

In July last year, Hartosh Singh Bal, political editor of the Caravan, won against his former employer, Open, in an industrial dispute he had filed for wrongful termination. It took Bal, one of the countryā€™s most recognisable editors, more than five years to fight it out in court. Now imagine the odds if one is a reporter, with little resources and time to go after the might of legacy media institutions.

Should the Working Journalists Act cover digital and broadcast media too? With a lack of any other law to address the working conditions of journalists, yes. Journalists, who often work on stories that can always upset those in power, need this protection.

Hartosh Singh Bal agreed. He said that the Working Journalists Act should be extended to television and digital media, and that ā€œfiring cannot be arbitrary, it requires norms, proceduresā€, and ā€œ journalists need safeguards against managementā€.

That said, even most print journalists remain unaware of the Act or that it can be applied to contractual employees.

As labour law violations continue to find place in the front pages of dailies, what helps media owners to treat their employees as gig workers is a mix of both the lack of reporting on the media, and the lack of laws to regulate the working conditions of journalists.

***

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***

This was the ninth edition of Stop Press, an effort that is primarily an exercise to learn more about the hows and why of the news ecosystem.

For suggestions and feedback, do write to chitranshu@newslaundry.com. If you liked what you read, do sign up below:

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