‘Editorial views shrinking’: Malini Parthasarathy resigns as The Hindu chairperson

Journalist Malini Parthasarathy has quit as the chairperson of The Hindu Group Publishing, she said in a tweet on Monday, stating that the “space and scope” in the publication for her “editorial views was shrinking”.

Hinting at possible differences with the Board, she said her efforts at the organisation was to free “our narrative” from “entrenched ideological bias”, and the scope for her efforts “has narrowed”.

“My entire endeavour as chairperson and director, editorial strategy, was to ensure that The Hindu Group revives its legacy of fair and unbiased reporting.”

Later in the evening, The Hindu Group Publishing announced that journalist Nirmala Lakshman has been appointed as the chairperson of the group. Lakshman has held senior editorial positions at the publication for decades.

The clash between Malini and her cousin and editor-in-chief of the Hindu, N Ram has come to the fore at several instances over the years, especially on Twitter. Recently, Malini responded to RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy’s criticism of the Hindu’s fact check on the sengol controversy in a tweet, saying that they will “make changes if the facts are incorrect”. On the contrary, N Ram had backed the reporter who had done the fact check and also held a press meet to debunk the government’s claims around the sengol.

Meanwhile, a report at the News Minute cited sources, saying that Malini’s term as chairperson was coming to an end, and “she had proposed the role of editorial director. However, this was opposed by the Board”.

Malini had taken over as chairperson of the publication’s Board from N Ram in July 2020.