Live from Kerala: Occupy Newsroom

TV New, a news broadcast channel launched by the Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Kochi a little over six months ago, on 14 July 2014, and funded by a group of NRIs, had hired 250 journalists drawn from almost all districts in Kerala. Soon, however, its bureaus started closing one by one. By last September, its staffers had stopped receiving their salaries, and on 6 December, the channel went off air. On 30 January, the channel itself became news when 20 of its journalists started living full-time within its studio. “Most of us were not in a position to pay our monthly rent and were asked to move out. Hence we started living inside the studio, as we had no other option,” says R Balakrishnan, who used to be the News Editor of TV New.

After eight days of having staffers squat in the office, the channel’s management arrived at a settlement with the protestors, who agreed to move out of the studio. They were given their November salaries and promised the rest of their dues in three weeks. They were also assured that the channel would be relaunched soon. The journalists have threatened to go on a similar strike again if these promises are not kept. TV New is not an exception. Its situation is in keeping with a crisis that television news is facing in Kerala.

Indiavision, the channel that pioneered 24×7 news in the state, has been off air for a week and is on the verge of closing down. Journalists have repeatedly gone on strike there. Salary payments have been behind schedule for years. Last year, there was a strike at Indiavision that an anchor announced on air and the news team then shut the channel down. Another channel Reporter TV is also facing a financial crisis “This is glorified slavery,” says N Padmanabhan, president of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists. “Indiavision has not paid salaries for three months. Reporter TV keeps paying small amounts once in a while.”

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Shahina KK