Nation facing undeclared emergency over the past 10 years, says N. Murali

Participating in the 67th anniversary celebrations of The Hindu and National Press Employees’ Union in Chennai, The Hindu Group Publishing Private Limited Director N. Murali said there is “silent assault” on both the freedoms, particularly with newspapers not being allowed to reflect the true situation.

The country and the media industry had been facing an undeclared ‘Emergency’ during the past 10 years similar to the period between 1975 and 1977, threatening freedom of speech, said N. Murali, Director, The Hindu Group Publishing Private Limited (THGPPL) on Friday. 

Participating in the 67th anniversary celebrations of The Hindu and National Press Employees’ Union in Chennai, Mr. Murali drawing parallels with the Emergency period when media freedom and political freedom were curtailed, said there is “silent assault” on both the freedoms, particularly with newspapers not being allowed to reflect the true situation.

“Still a few news publications including The Hindu, The Wire, The Telegraph, and Deccan Herald, are not afraid to tell the truth,” he said. The media industry, particularly the print publications, were facing several challenges in the form of steep increase in the newsprint cost and reduction in advertisement revenue, without much increase in the cost of advertisement.

According to him, the golden period for the newspaper industry, which witnessed profits of nearly 60% in advertisement revenue, was when the economy was liberated from licence raj during 1991-92. However, over the years with many online social media platforms coming up and the present younger generation not reading newspapers, the advertisement revenue has come down drastically by 29%.

N. Ram, Director, THGPPL, echoing the views of Mr. Murali regarding the assault on journalists by filing fake cases under draconian laws, pointed out India was ranked 161 in the World Press Freedom Index-2023 carried out among 180 countries by Reporters Without Borders.

Mr. Ram, who praised former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi for his contribution to journalism and media, however, argued that the setting up of the Fact-Check Unit by the State government recently was “unnecessary”. He said that hope which helped people overcome the COVID-19 pandemic would help in overcoming the several challenges faced by the country in the future. 

Kanimozhi, president, The Hindu and National Press Employees’ Union and DMK MP, thanked the management for giving Deepavali bonus to its employees. She said the management had always remained shoulder to shoulder with the employees and at the same time the employees cooperated with the organisation whenever it faced challenges.