Thursday, March 25, 2010

Now LiC wants to sue IE for defamation.

In response to the airing of the dirty laundry of cHindu by IE (and lots of our readers who brought this up to us) LiC has taken matters in his own hands. Which means he cowers back to the courts to fight it out than explain matters to the public.
has decided to launch defamatory proceedings, civil and criminal, against Archna Shukla, Senior Editor, The Indian Express, the Editor-in-Chief, Editors, and Publisher of The Indian Express and The Financial Express and others responsible for the publication of “highly defamatory material.” This relates to news stories published in The Indian Express and The Financial Express of March 25, 2010 purporting to be reports on Mr. Ram’s role and actions in relation to developments within the newspaper group and the company.

It does not deny the change in the power centers.
Mr. N. Murali has been re-designated Senior Managing Director of the Company and will have the responsibility and supervisory powers of the department of Circulation. K. Balaji has been appointed Managing Director of the Company with effect from March 20, 2010.

Well lets see how this battle plays out...

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

To paraphrase a saying about French intellectuals, the wannabe Communist may carry the Chairman's sayings in his left breast pocket but his checkbook is very securely ensconced in his right trouser pocket. (The directions are not accidental.)

Dirt Digger said...

Anonymous,
haha thats the best maxim of the year so far. Thanks.

Sudhir said...

This washing of the dirty laundry in public by the warring parties within our fav paper is getting real interesting (and entertaining too!) :D

This outlook blog has the details:

http://blogs.outlookindia.com/default.aspx?ddm=10&pid=2225&eid=31

Also, I asked Malini this:

now that it is out in the open, can you tell us why a Mr/Ms X is better than Y as editor-in-chief ?

She replies back saying:

"the fight is not over positions but on issues"

I ask her back,

hmm, thanks for the clarifcation. my Q was bcos i think stand on issues depends on person occupying positions :)

also, the issues on which the fight is happening, are they ideological or mostly administrative like IE suggested?

Well, she didn't reply for that question though :D

- Sudhir

Anonymous said...

Apparently IE is not afraid of the Editor-in-Chief!

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/thehinduwarintheopenramstripsmuraliofpowers-hesayswontquit/595910/0

"The Hindu war in the open: Ram strips Murali of powers, he says won't quit"

According to this report, Murali would try to "make Ram see reason and retire as Editor-in-Chief as committed by him in September 2009 and ensure a smooth transition."

Besides: Murali was blunt in his email(to the employees): "At the Board meeting on 20th March, some Directors subjected me to utter humiliation and attempted disempowerment. I will resist all attempts to deny me my rights, responsibilities and duties as the Managing Director."
---------------
With so much happening (and already happened) it is somewhat pathetic to see Mr. Ram (who has been chmapioning "press freedom )threatening a rival paper with defamation!

Anonymous said...

Express gives back to Ram!

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/willsuetheindianexpress-thefinancialexpressram/595908/

In a statement, The Express Group said today:

"The report, 'Battle for control breaks out in The Hindu very divided family', (The Indian Express, The Financial Express, March 25, 2010) is based on information received from multiple and high-level credible sources.

"All facts were verified and cross-checked to the highest standards of accuracy and fairness that The Express Group holds itself to. We believe our report was neither malicious nor defamatory.

"We have great regard for The Hindu as an institution and for its Editor-in-Chief N Ram as a journalist and editor for their commitment to principled journalism.

"We stand by our report and the reporter."

Here, in full, is the email exchange between Shukla and Ram.

Anonymous said...

A telling comment in another site:

"The news that N.Ram - a champion of freedom of expression by journalists - is planning to take Indian Express for defamatory , is hilarious! At 65 Ram should gracefully quit and plan to settle down either in Tibet, a place he visits often to write about the 'glorious' developments under CHina or in Qatar, where his bosom pal M.F.H. has settled down. Ram can enjoy his retired life in total peace in either of these two places!"

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-hindu-war-in-the-open-ram-strips-murali-of-powers-he-says-wont-quit/595910/

Sudhir said...

Malini replied to my earlier question of whether the issues are administrative or ideological in nature. Here is her reply:

"I think many latent issues relating to management of newspaper have come to the surface, including editorial direction"

- Sudhir

Srikumar said...

Guys please tell us whether N Ravi lesser acerbic towards Hindus/Right/BJP
If no; it makes no difference for us. For a fact Malini is even more contemptuous towards the 'right'. At least Lic has ideological clarity Malini is definitely not as insightful as Lic.
Anyway we will have less of China and Commie bootlicking. That’s for the better

Srikumar said...

Another interesting thing:
South IE Eic Aditya Sinha has tweeted about this as early as March 17:

"Turmoil at People's Daily of Chennai. Top dog turns 65 in May, but has refused to honour agreement and step down."
12:37 AM Mar 17th via web
http://twitter.com/autumnshade

Never knew he is on twitter.
Now he is continuing to pour sarcasm on the Hindu family saga.

He uses the undeniable 'People's Daily of Chennai' to refer to Hindu and also calls Lic a dog!!!!!!!!!!!


Never knew he is on twitter.
Now he is continuing to pour sarcasm on the Hindu family saga.

He uses the undeniabe 'People's Daily of chennai' to refer to Hindu and also calls Lic a dog!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Amen!

It will be a greater disaster if Malini P were to return to take charge of the editorial dept.. She has such a pathological hatred towards anything "Hindu" and BJP, Chief Ram is anytime more tolerable (on a relative scale).

Venkat Ramanan said...

May be Malini was trying to please the top man by behaving p-sec? What is she is alone and can behave her own way?
Anyways, as long as N Ram was/is there, no one knows that the writer really wants to write. Ram would be editing every other article to make it look secular and so Malini's articles might have also got the same treatment?
let us give her benefit of doubt and observe her IF she gets a chance to act on her own

Anonymous said...

Folks, we don't have (as yet) the reaction of Ram's usual pen pals - Kasim Sait, David Milton, Anantha Padmanabhan et al on the churnings at the top. They would be sitting impatient to beat the drum. May be Ram has not yet given the signal.