Malini Parthasarathy, former executive editor of The Hindu,
Malini Parthasarathy, former executive editor of The Hindu, resigned from the board of The Hindu Group Publishing Private Limited (THGPPL), she tweeted on 5 June 2023, hinting at possible differences within the organization.
Parthasarathy, whose term as chairperson of The Hindu Group Publishing also ended simultaneously, tweeted, “My term as Chairperson of The Hindu Group Publishing ends. However, I have also resigned from the Board of the THGPPL as I find the space and scope for my editorial views shrinking. My entire endeavour as Chairperson and Director, Editorial Strategy was to ensure that The Hindu Group revives its legacy of fair and unbiased reporting.
“Also my efforts were to free our narrative from entrenched ideological bias. Since I find the scope for my efforts has narrowed, I have decided to move on. I thank all my well-wishers and friends who have supported this challenging journey.”
Following Parthasarathy’s exit, the company unanimously appointed Nirmala Lakshman as chairperson of the Board of Directors of THGPPL for three years. Lakshman has held senior editorial positions at the publication for years, leading the re-launch of several feature sections and the creation of new ones, such as ‘The Hindu Literary Review’, ‘Young World’, and ‘The Hindu in School.’
Lakshman is the founder and curator of Lit for Life, The Hindu’s literary festival. She served as the chairperson of Kasturi Media, publishers of The Hindu Tamil Thisai, the group said while announcing her appointment.
Parthasarathy’s exit comes days after the group relaunched its fortnightly news magazine Frontlinein Delhi, in which both she and her cousin and The Hindu Group Publishing’s director N Ram shared the stage. The magazine was started in December 1984.
Media reports suggest differences have been brewing between Parthasarathy and N Ram for some time. News Laundry reported that recently, Parthasarathy responded to RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy’s criticism of The Hindu’s fact check on the sengol controversy, saying that they will “make changes if the facts are incorrect.”
However, N Ram had backed the reporter who had done the fact check and held a press meet to debunk the government’s claims around the sengol, a gold-plated sceptre, installed in the new Parliament House by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
