By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI: The mass retrenchment carried out by the newspapers and media organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and in the subsequent period rendered more than 2,500 journalists unemployed across the country. The majority of these journalists were threatened, forced to resign and even terminated without following due process, pushing them into penury, helplessness and prolonged depression.
A report on the retrenchment of journalists during the COVID-19 pandemic, released by the Press Council of India (PCI) this week, has revealed these disturbing facts. The report, titled “Report on retrenchment of journalists by media groups during the COVID-19 period”, was prepared by a sub-committee of the PCI formed in September 2023 to study the impact of laying off of journalists during the pandemic.
The PCI earlier took suo motu cognizance of the widespread job losses in the media industry. The 22-page report was prepared based on the depositions of a total of 51 journalists from 17 news organizations across English, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali languages and 12 journalist unions and associations.
The testimonies were collected by the sub-committee during public hearings in the Press Clubs of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Journalists from English language news media based in New Delhi and Mumbai represent a bulk of those who deposed before the committee.
According to the report, 80% of the journalists who lost their jobs during the pandemic were forced to resign, opt for voluntary retirements, and terminated from their positions by their news organisations.
The report pointed out that most of these journalists were coerced into resigning or terminated without notice.
The report stated that independent estimates by former PCI member Balwinder Singh in Jammu and independent journalist Cyril Sam had found retrenchments to be around 2,300 to 2,500. However, the actual figures are likely to be higher as their data is restricted largely to the English language media.
Nearly 80% of those who deposed were from three major publishers – 19 from Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd., 14 from HT Media and 8 from The Hindu Publishing Group. Journalists from English-language news media based in New Delhi and Mumbai represent a bulk of those who deposed before the committee.
The report, prepared on the basis of physical depositions and online submissions, was adopted by the PCI on August 5. The sub-committee 2023 included Gurbir Singh, Prajnanda Chowdhury, P. Sainath, Snehashis Sur, L.C. Gupta and Cyril Sam.
Only 25% of the journalists who deposed before the committee said that they received formal emails from their companies about retrenchments. In nearly 75% cases, all communications regarding retrenchments were oral. At the physical hearings, 80% journalists claimed they were forced to resign and did not receive any advance notice or formal communication about salary cuts and retrenchments.
Kavitha Iyer, currently working as an independent journalist, was retrenched from the Mumbai bureau of Indian Express on July 27, 2020 after spending 18 years at the publication. The report cited an email to her colleagues that was published in 2020 with Iyer’s permission. Iyer said she was informed at a meeting – at which she was asked to leave her phone outside – that she would have to resign and accept the relieving letter or be terminated.
Ashish Rukhaiyar, former markets editor with The Hindu newspaper, was terminated from his position on June 19, 2020. In an open letter to news organisations on August 3, 2020, he wrote on LinkedIn: “Reporters were sacked over the phone. Some were called to the office and told to submit their resignation on the spot. News about discontinuation were pasted on notice boards. They were threatened that if they do not resign, they would lose out on payouts they are entitled to under the law. There was absolutely no method in this madness. No memos, no performance-related warnings, no red flags in appraisals, etc.”
Sunita Tewari, who had been associated with the Hindustan Times for over 20 years, was asked to resign from ‘Nandan’ magazine, a children’s magazine associated with the publication, on August 30, 2020. The magazine was reportedly discontinued the same month. Tewari testified before the committee that after she was asked to resign, her diabetes shot up and subsequently, she was diagnosed with depression.
Tewari also testified that one of her colleagues, Santosh Gupta, a designer at the organization, died by suicide after being retrenched. The report noted that most of the journalists who deposed before the committee felt that they were personally attacked for their work.
According to the report, Indian Express retrenched at least 35 to 40 journalists between July 11, 2020 and July 30, 2020, across various verticals and publications. The report noted that the journalists who lost their jobs during the pandemic plunged into severe financial crisis, without the organizations being ready to pay compensation.
Significantly, several of these journalists, especially reporters and photographers, had been working on the ground in hazardous conditions during the pandemic and the nationwide lockdown spending from their own pockets for PPE kits, masks and other safety gear. Only 37% of the journalists who deposed before the committee have received severance pay according to their contracts.
Deepak Turbhekar, a photographer with Mumbai Mirror, was asked to resign in January 2021 by the organization over a WhatsApp call. The organization had on December 5, 2020 decided to discontinue the publication of their daily print edition. Turbhekar, who had spent over 16 years with the organization was threatened that if he did not resign, he would be terminated leading to his provident fund, gratuity and other benefits being held back.
The report stated that Turbhekar broke down before the committee while explaining his current financial condition. He has been struggling financially for three years. The company just paid him one month’s salary on his resignation. He used up the PF money to repay his home loan in Mumbai and surrendered his insurance for a mortgage.
Turbhekar explained that he was forced to sell his wife’s jewellery to support his elder daughter’s education. He has a younger son studying in the third standard. “I don’t have money to buy equipment for photography and am no longer doing news photography as it isn’t sustainable. Freelance news photographers are paid between only Rs. 100 to Rs. 150 per photo. I see no hope for the future,” he said.
The report noted that many like Turbhekar have chosen to quit journalism due to financial constraints. One of them was Prashant Nakwe, former photo editor with The Hindu, Mumbai, who was terminated from the organization on June 22, 2020 by an email. He has quit journalism and is now helping his wife with a home-cooked food and tiffin business that she was forced to start following Nakwe’s retrenchment.
“We were expected to file daily pictures during the pandemic and were not provided with any safety gear or compensated for out-of-pocket expenses incurred for safety gear. Now the kitchen knife is more often in my hand than the camera,” Nakwe told the committee. Along with the dire financial situation, the sudden loss of a livelihood has also taken a toll on these journalists’ mental health, according to the report.
“The retrenchments emotionally affected 40 (80%) journalists who deposed before the committee. Retrenchments also impacted the self-worth and confidence of 40 (80%) journalists. Depression was reported by 30 (60%) journalists and 27 (54%) experienced social withdrawal. Senior journalists, in particular, were emotionally the most affected. This was also witnessed in physical hearings where many senior journalists experienced emotional turmoil and were moved to tears,” the report noted.
According to the report, the situation exacerbated for the journalists as the news media organizations refused to consider the directive passed by the Central government listing media professionals as essential workers in the face of the pandemic.
“The reasoning for including the news media in the essential workers category was a recognition that the circulation of news and information is especially very important during crisis periods when people are struggling to cope with the changing pandemic situation on a daily basis, and when rumour mills in the unofficial channels of information are clouding people’s understanding. However, we have to record that this essential workers directive was ignored by most of the media companies, and they showed scant respect to the Union government’s directive, firing and retrenching journalists at will,” the report stated.
The report also pointed out that the government did little to bring into action its own directive.
“When journalists in Mumbai and Maharashtra appealed to the state government to give essential worker status and allow media persons to use the local trains and transport without hindrance, then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray rejected the demand. Requests by journalist representatives to then Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar to intervene and prevent wholesale terminations of media persons by companies also fell on deaf ears,” the report said.
“If journalists do not have job security, then at that very juncture the freedom of the press is compromised,” the report observed before listing out recommendations to create a safe environment for journalists to work. Highlighting that at the centre of the issues faced by media professionals with regard to job security is the existing contract system and casual system of employment, the report urged the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the Ministry of Law and Justice to come up with a model contract with certain mandatory clauses.
The clauses include a minimum tenure of service from 7 to 10 years, provision of giving PF, Gratuity, Employees’ State Insurance in applicable cases, provision for leave, yearly increment in salary, etc. The report also recommended a severance payout of a minimum of six months of salary in case of termination or retrenchment.
