Mannika Chopra
It was a classic, eye catching, above-the-fold, story. Expectedly then when the report appeared on September 8 in Mumbai`s DNA it sent alarm bells ringing in Delhi. Without any ambiguity, the single column report said that Subhash Chandra as chairman of the Essel group, was going to join the board of directors of the news wire agency, United New Of India (UNI), with a 60 per cent shareholding. Essel, a group with DIVerse interests including amusement parks, education, telecommunications and IT is also a leading media player. It owns over 20 channels, cable distribution and DTH companies and along with the Dainik Bhaskar group co-owns DNA.
Vehement opposition to the reported move came swiftly from UNI`s 1000-odd employees across the country. UNI`s workforce feared that the plan was part of the seismic shift that was taking place in the media world in which the power of the press was being redistributed unevenly in favour of the corporates. "Ironically, the agency that had been set up by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to counter the monopoly of the Press Trust of India (PTI) is now in danger being monopolised by one industrial group, " says Mukesh Kaushik, general secretary of the UNI Worker`s Union, Delhi. UNI’s general manager, M.K. Laul was unavailable for a comment.
Established in 1961, UNI was formed under Article 25 of the Companies Act which essentially meant that it was a no-profit agency and that all its income was to be ploughed back into it. Co-owned then by a clutch of five media houses- Hindustan Times, The Times of India, Anand Bazaar Patrika, The Hindu and Deccan Herald -who collectively contributed Rs 3,100 to own it, today it has 27 shareholders represented by nine directors, including the original five co-founders. But UNI never really managed to become a mighty news service, and was perhaps profitable for only five years of its 45 year-old existence. Often mismanaged and at times unmanaged, UNI, available in English, Hindi and Urdu with nearly thirty bureaus and nearly 1000 subscribers, still managed to hold its own against PTI.
Soon after DNA’s revelations UNI`s staff went on the offensive. A 14-member action group was formed and an anguished press release was circulated but carried cautiously only by three Delhi dailies. Last Friday a well attended protest meeting was held in UNI`s spacious grounds at 9, Rafi Marg. Old and young, wearing their uneasiness openly, they gathered to hear the representatives of the Editor`s Guild; Delhi Union of Journalists, Left politicians such as D Raja and A B Baradhan, and Abhishek Singhvi of the Congress. They all spoke in the same tenor; espousing the cause of freedom of the press and making a case for public interest. The meeting was much more than a petition drive highlighting as it did the risks involved for the old media when confronted by an expansionist, competitive, media.
Asish Kaul, spokesperson and vice president, Essel group, in a telephonic interview confirmed the proposed sale that was being routed through MediaWest a financial investment company created by Chandra. But he said he was in no position to ascertain the exact quantum of the Essel`s group`s holding or its evaluation. "The UNI board is expected to meet on September 26 and then the details will be made clear then," he said. Kaul also paraphrased Chandra`s intentions to make UNI a globally recognized wire service at par with Bloomberg and Reuters. " Mr Chandra does not think of UNI in terms of money but in terms of great journalism," said Kaul sounding as if he was reading from a prepared script. It was professionalism that the industrialist was going to stress, not profitability. And since UNI was run by a trust comprising publication houses the "acquisition" would not be of the conventional type, Kaul said.
For UNI workers the basic cause of anxiety was the lack of transparency that accompanied the deal. With no visible negotiations between members of the board and Chandra, the grey areas began to look murky. One of the most controversial figures in the Indian media Chandra, often labeled as India`s Mr Murdoch, is known to be a bone picker tycoon, one who could squeeze blood from stone. In constructing his media empire he was known to use a scalpel when required. Employees with inglorious track records and non-profitable departments had regularly been excised. No wonder UNI’s employees -all of whom are on the journalist wage board--were apprehensive about large-scale retrenchment. A Financial Express report suggested that 700 employees would be forced to take VRS.
Another major cause of worry was that UNI would retreat from its core competence of serious journalism and become just another commercially-oriented media enterprise. Besides there was the fear that having him at the helm of the organisation would weaken it as an independent, credible news organisation. "The question is not why Mr Subhash Chandra should buy a stake in UNI but whether he will merge it with his other news organizations " says H.K. Dua, editor-in-chief of Chandigarh’s Tribune one of the few papers in India to be run by a trust.
True with a dwindling subscriber base and employees leaving in droves, the ailing news agency had been bleeding for decades. UNI’s dilapidated offices, flanked by a legendary canteen, possessed the old world charm of a bygone era in which a cutting edge approach had no space. Earnings had slowed down so much that salaries were being delayed. It was only a matter of time before major structural changes were going to be implemented but the news of the reported takeover was too sudden and did not even fit in with the constitution and spirit of UNI. Since Chandra’s motives were not clear all kinds of motives were being attributed to him including his eyeing UNI’s 2000 sq m of prime property in Delhi as also in Hyderabad and Bangalore. There was a good chance then that though Chandra might talk of creating a journalistic legacy, his eye was firmly on the cash register.
Mannika Chopra is a Delhi based media columnist and can be contacted at mannikachopra@yahoo.com