एक्सप्रेस समूह और द हिंदू के संपादक एन राम में दो-दो हाथ
एक्सप्रेस समूह ने द हिंदू के संपादक एन राम के आरोपों को खारिज कर दिया है। समूह की वेबसाइट पर छपी रिपोर्ट में कहा गया है कि द हिंदू के पारिवारिक झगड़े के बारे में फाइनेंशिअल एक्सप्रेस और द इंडियन एक्सप्रेस में छपी रिपोर्ट पूरी तरह सही है। उस रिपोर्ट में दर्ज सभी तथ्य पुख्ता हैं। एक्सप्रेस ने पूरी तहकीकात के बाद ही अर्चना शुक्ला की वो रिपोर्ट प्रकाशित की। इसलिए समूह रिपोर्ट और रिपोर्टर दोनों के साथ हैं और एन राम की कानूनी कार्रवाई की धमकी से नहीं डरता।
यह एक चौंकाने वाला झगड़ा है। आमतौर पर मीडिया में ऐसे झगड़े नहीं होते। एक अघोषित षणयंत्र के तहत मीडिया घराने आपसी विवादों पर चुप्पी साधे रहते हैं। लेकिन इस बार इस अघोषित षणयंत्र के नियम टूट गए हैं। नियम तोड़ने का श्रेय गया है इंडियन एक्सप्रेस को। द इंडियन एक्प्रेस ने सत्ता के गलियारे में सबसे अधिक दखल रखने वाले देश के चंद बड़े संपादकों में से एक नरहिम्हन राम के ख़िलाफ़ 25 मार्च को पहली रिपोर्ट प्रकाशित की।
उस रिपोर्ट में बताया गया कि कैसे एन राम पहले 65 साल की उम्र होने पर द हिंदू से रिटायर होने को तैयार थे, लेकिन अब रिटायरमेंट की तारीख नजदीक आने पर इससे इनकार कर रहे हैं। अर्चना शुक्ला की उस रिपोर्ट में यह भी बताया गया कि अख़बार के पब्लिशर कस्तूरी एंड सन्स में अधिकारों को लेकर लड़ाई चल रही है और एन राम उसी का फायदा उठा रहे हैं। उस रिपोर्ट से यह भी जाहिर होता है कि कैसे सियासत में वंशवाद के ख़िलाफ़ गला फाड़ने वाले मीडिया में वंशवाद फैल रहा है।
इंडियन एक्सप्रेस की उस रिपोर्ट के बाद द हिंदू में शुक्रवार को एक रिपोर्ट छपी। जिसमें कहा गया कि एन राम अब इंडियन अर्चना शुक्ला और इंडियन एक्सप्रेस और फाइनेंशियल एक्सप्रेस के प्रकाशक और संपादक के ख़िलाफ़ मुक़दमा करेंगे। मानहानि का मुक़दमा। द हिंदू की रिपोर्ट में दावा किया गया कि एक्सप्रेस ने सूत्रों के हवाले से कुछ झूठी बातें प्रकाशित की हैं और इससे एक्सप्रेस की बुरी नीयत का पता चलता है।
एन राम के आरोप के बाद एक्सप्रेस समूह की तरफ़ से जवाब की प्रतीक्षा थी। अब एक्सप्रेस समूह ने जवाब दे दिया है। फाइनेंशिअल एक्सप्रेस की वेबसाइट पर मौजूद रिपोर्ट में बताया गया है कि अर्चना शुक्ला की रिपोर्ट में कुछ भी ग़लत नहीं था। सारे तथ्य सही तरीखे से रखे गए हैं। यही नहीं इस मुद्दे पर अर्चना शुक्ला और एन राम के बीच हुई बातचीत को भी प्रकाशित कर दिया गया है। इससे अंगुली एक बार फिर द हिंदू के संपादक एन राम की तरफ़ उठ गई है। यह देखने लायक होगा कि वह अपने एलान के मुताबिक एक्सप्रेस समूह के ख़िलाफ़ मुकदमा करते हैं या फिर खामोश रह जाते हैं। जैसा कि आमतौर पर ऐसे मामलों में होता है।
Indian Express first story
24 march, 2010
Battle for control breaks out in The Hindu very divided family
Archna Shukla
Posted online: Thursday , Mar 25, 2010 at 0133 hrsNew Delhi : A bitter battle has broken out among family members for control of one of the country’s oldest and most respected media companies, Kasturi & Sons Ltd, the publisher of the 132-year-old English newspaper The Hindu and business daily The Hindu Business Line.
At the heart of this battle is the proposed retirement of publisher and the group Editor-in-Chief N Ram and his decision to dig his heels in.
The first casualty in the battle is N Murali, Ram’s younger brother and the company’s managing director. He was divested of his powers this week and replaced with K Balaji, a member of the extended family and also a board member. According to people close to the developments, the board is split, one group supporting Ram and the other seeking his retirement.The sources claimed that at a meeting held last September, Murali, who also looked after administrative processes at the company, proposed governance norms for retirement of family members on the board.
“While the retirement age for all employees at Kasturi is 60 years, there was no such stipulation for board members. It was proposed by Murali that 65 years be set as the retirement age for board members,” said the sources.The Kasturi board of directors has 12 members, descending from four cousins — G Narasimhan (father of N Ram, N Ravi, N Murali); S Parthasarathy (father of Malini Parthasarathy, Nirmala Lakshman and Nalini Krishnan); S Rangarajan (father of Ramesh Rangarajan, Vijaya Arun and Akila Iyengar) and G Kasturi (father of K Balaji, K Venugopal and Lakshmi Srinath).
According to the faction opposed to Ram, all members at the meeting agreed to the proposal and Ram, who turns 65 this May, was identified as the first member to step down from the board followed by Murali and N Ravi, who will turn 65 in August 2011 and 2013 respectively. It was also decided, these sources said, that after Ram’s retirement, Ravi would take over as Editor-in-Chief of the group while Malini Parthasarathy would be appointed the editor of The Hindu and Venugopal the editor of The Hindu Business Line.
In a follow-up meeting held in February, however, Ram is said to have declined to give up the positions he holds across the company, including the board membership, the sources said.
However, in an email response, Ram said: “No retirement age has been stipulated for directors or the editor-in-chief or editor etc. No retirement age is stipulated in the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Company.”
On whether he had agreed to give up all positions in May this year, he said that was “completely, utterly wrong.”
Prior to the meeting in February, Ram is said to have recruited two family members in the company: Narayan Lakshman, son of Nirmala Lakshman; and Vidya Ram, his daughter.
A PhD from London School of Economics, Narayan was hired as the Washington correspondent of The Hindu whereas Vidya, a graduate from the Columbia School of Journalism, was appointed the European correspondent of The Hindu Business Line.
This was strongly objected to by Murali, Ravi and Malini Parthasarthy, among other members, who alleged that these appointments were made without the board’s consent and proper governance norms were not adhered to.
They also pointed out several alleged financial irregularities in the way in which Kasturi’s resources, financial as well as editorial, were used to further the interests of some board members.
The family members had another stormy meeting on March 20 where the issue of retirement and, also, the norms for induction of family members on the board were supposed to be discussed. “Instead of these issues, the pro-Ram faction targeted Murali alleging he was trying to tarnish the image of the company,” a source said.
Murali was eventually removed from the position of the MD. A formal announcement to this effect, however, has not been made as yet.
Meanwhile, Ram declined to comment on whether the board had decided to divest Murali of his powers saying it was an internal matter of the company.On allegations of irregularities in appointments of family members, he said: “Any appointment of a relative of a Director that needed approval by both the Board of Directors and Shareholders before going to the central government was approved unanimously without a murmur of dissent by any Director or Shareholder. Every one of the 12 Directors of the Company approved every such appointment.”
N Ram response in The Hindu
26 march, 2010
N. Ram to sue Indian Express and Financial Express writer, Editor-in-Chief, and Publisher for defamation
Chennai: N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu and Group publications and Director of Kasturi & Sons Limited, 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.
“These reports are riddled with demonstrable falsehoods and defamatory assertions, some of them attributed to unnamed sources, made with reckless and malicious disregard for the facts and the truth,” Mr. Ram said in a statement issued in Chennai on Thursday. “And this despite the professional courtesy I extended to the journalist and the newspapers by responding precisely and factually to five specific questions emailed to me on March 24 by Ms. Shukla.”
Mr. Ram said that the Board of Directors of Kasturi & Sons Limited, publishers of The Hindu, Business Line, Frontline, and Sportstar, took the following decisions in its meeting of March 20, 2010:
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.
Mr. K. Balaji has been appointed Managing Director of the Company with effect from March 20, 2010.
Mr. N. Murali, Senior Managing Director, and Mr. K. Balaji, Managing Director, will have responsibility and supervisory powers of the department of Accounts.
Mr. N. Murali will share the responsibility of the Industrial Relations function with Mr. K. Balaji, Dr. Nalini Krishnan, and Mr. R. Ramesh.
Mr. K. Balaji, Managing Director, will have the responsibility and supervisory powers of the departments of Production and EDP. He will also handle all matters relating to the purchase of newsprint and other raw materials.
Dr. Nalini Krishnan and Ms. Vijaya Arun will have the responsibility and supervisory powers relating to General Administration, Employee Health and Welfare, and Corporate Social Responsibility.
Mr. R. Ramesh will have the responsibility and supervisory powers of the department of Advertising.
Ms. Akila Iyengar will have the responsibility and supervisory powers for overseas business.
Ms. Lakshmi Srinath will have the responsibility and supervisory powers for Group events.
Indian Express second story
26 march, 2010
The Hindu war in the open: Ram strips Murali of powers, he says won’t quit
Archna Shukla
Posted online: Friday , Mar 26, 2010 at 0324 hrsNew Delhi : Battlelines have been drawn for what could be a protracted dispute among board members of Kasturi & Sons, the publisher of The Hindu and The Hindu Business Line.
Stripped of his powers by publisher and group Editor-in-Chief N Ram, Managing Director and his brother N Murali has hit back saying that he will not quit. And that he 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.”
Ram, incidentally, has denied that he made such a commitment.
“Some members of the Board of Directors have been trying to systematically undermine and erode my authority and responsibilities and rights and obligations,” Murali wrote in an email to “colleagues” in the company today. “I will not allow that to happen.”
Murali, as The Indian Express reported today, is said to have proposed a retirement age for members of the board — one of the hot-button issues that polarised the board.The board is split with one faction proposing that all directors retire at 65. Ram turns 65 in May. The other faction is opposed to the proposal.
Murali was blunt in his email: “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.”When contacted by The Indian Express, Murali said his email was in response to a circular sent by Ram to heads of departments announcing a change in his designation and his role.“The circular was sent announcing my re-designation as senior managing director whereas I am currently the managing director. Along with this, all my powers were substantially and purportedly removed. My post has been given to another board member,” said Murali. “My responsibilities have been farmed out to some other members on the board.”
While Murali declined to name the new appointee, sources said K Balaji, the younger brother of K Venugopal, currently the joint editor of The Hindu Business Line, has been appointed as managing director in place of Murali by the faction supporting Ram.
In an email response to The Indian Express yesterday, Ram had declined to comment on Balaji’s appointment saying it was an “internal” matter of the board of directors.
Meanwhile, some members of the board posted messages on Twitter indicating their stand in the fight. Responding to a message from Ram on his decision to initiate defamatory proceedings, civil and criminal, against The Indian Express and The Financial Express, N Ravi, his younger brother and also a board member, said: “When The Hindu has taken a strong stand against criminal defamation, to use it as a threat to silence journalists does seem strange.”
Another board member Malini Parthasarathy said in her message: “As journalists, why should we be afraid of public scrutiny?”
Besides the proposed retirement age, another bone of contention among the family members is the appointment of two children of two board members in senior editorial positions in the US and Europe.Sources in the group said the anti-Ram faction raised objections to the manner in which these appointments were made. Ram, in his email response yesterday, maintained “any appointment of a relative of a Director that needed approval by both the Board of Directors and Shareholders before going to the central government was approved unanimously, without a murmur of dissent by any Director or Shareholder.”
Sources in the company, however, said that three shareholders of the company expressed their concerns. They are Murali’s children Kanta and Krishna and Ravi’s daughter Aparna.
In fact, in a strongly worded letter to board members, all three of them questioned the manner in which family members were appointed. They wrote: “It is essential that the Board considers issues of corporate governance and the appointment of family members seriously. To point out the obvious, the business cannot accommodate every member of the family, particularly when there are no institutional mechanisms in place to prevent the receipt of unjustifiably large entitlements over a long period of time. Each of us, whether in the previous, current or next generation, has received and continues to receive tremendous benefits from Kasturi and Sons, which far outweigh those received by non-family employees. It is high time that we recognize that our privileges are derived primarily from the contributions and loyalty of over 3500 non-family employees. Each one of us has, in some way or the other, abused their loyalty, trust and contribution.
“The inequitable and arbitrary system that currently exists is not only unfair to non-family employees but to shareholders as a class as well. If there is ever any intention of instituting sound and modern corporate governance practices and discontinuing the feudal system that exists, then issues such as the ones we have raised need to be addressed squarely, honestly and without fear or favour.”
Financial express story on N Ram threat
26 march, 2010
Will sue The Indian Express & The Financial Express: N Ram
New Delhi: Responding to a report in The Financial Express and The Indian Express on Thursday about the battle in The Hindu boardroom, The Hindu, in a statement on its website, said that its editor-in-chief N Ram ‘has decided to launch defamatory proceedings, civil and criminal’ against senior editor Archna Shukla (the reporter), the editor-in-chief, editors, and publisher of The Indian Express and The Financial Express responsible for the publication of ‘highly defamatory material.’
“This relates to news stories published in The Indian Express and The Financial Express …purporting to be reports on Ram’s role and actions in relation to developments within the newspaper group and the company,” the statement said.
The statement quoted Ram as saying that the reports are “riddled with demonstrable falsehoods and defamatory assertions, some of them attributed to unnamed sources, made with reckless and malicious disregard for the facts and the truth.” Ram added: “And this despite the professional courtesy I extended to the journalist and the newspapers by responding precisely and factually to five specific questions emailed to me on March 24 by Ms Shukla.”
In a statement, The Express Group said on Thursday: “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.
Archna Shukla:
Mr Ram, this is with regard to reports doing the rounds that there is a sort of power tussle going on at The Hindu.
I have gathered the following information and I will appreciate if you could comment on them.
1. I have gathered that in a board meeting in September last year, it was decided among board members that you will step down as editor-in-chief of the group in May this year when you turn 65. Is this correct?
2. I am told that you have decided against stepping down and while some members are supporting your decision, some, including Mr Ravi, Ms Malini Parthasarathy and Mr Murali, are against this decision. Is this correct?
3. Has The Hindu board stipulated a retirement age for board members and also, the editor-in-chief or can one hold these positions for as long as he or she has the support of the board?
4. I am told that you and some other members of the board have decided to divest Mr Murali of his powers and instead make Mr Balaji the MD. What are the reasons behind the removal of Mr Murali?
5. I am told that Mr Murali was opposed to the induction of the children of some of the family members hired at very high salaries and that led to unpleasantness among members and finally, his ouster. Is this correct?
I have to file my story today. I will appreciate if you could respond to this email at your earliest convenience or allow me to call you on your phone.Ram’s response: Here are my answers to your five questions. They are on the record:
Answer to Q1: Completely, utterly wrong.
Answer to Q2: No comment because it is at present an internal matter of the board of directors of Kasturi & Sons Limited.
Answer to Q3: No retirement age has been stipulated for directors or the editor-in-chief or editor etc. No retirement age is stipulated in the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Company.
Answer to Q4: No comment for the reason mentioned in the answer to Q2. If any relevant decision is communicated down the line in the Company, you will know.
Answer to Q5: Totally wrong, as the written record will show. Any appointment of a relative of a director that needed approval by both the board of directors and shareholders before going to the central government was approved unanimously, without a murmur of dissent by any director or shareholder.
Every one of the 12 directors of the company approved every such appointment. To describe the relevant salaries as “very high” would be laughable; in fact, if the precise numbers were revealed, the salaries or remuneration would be characterised as “rather low.” They are similar to what other foreign correspondents of our newspaper Group get. Best.
N. Ram, editor-in-chief and Publisher, The Hindu and Group publications…
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