In the cutthroat, yell-louder-than-the-next-guy world of the Indian media, there are very few exceptions to the norm. The Tribune, a Chandigarh-based newspaper popular in Punjab, Haryana and Jammu, used to be one of them. Unlike most other media organisations in India, it is run by a trust. This once meant it was immune to the more unpalatable tendencies of the Indian news media. But, as is true across the industry, the Tribune is no longer the paper it once was.
In a series of YouTube videos posted over the last two weeks, Kanwar Sandhu, one of Punjab’s most respected journalists who just resigned as executive editor of the Tribune, has laid out what he sees as an abuse of the paper's position. Sandhu’s videos, with titles like “how trustees have hijacked Tribune Founder’s will,” allege that the paper has become the personal propaganda tool for trustees, is unnecessarily endearing itself to the new government at the centre and is failing to follow through on the mandate set by its founder.
“During the last couple of years, the paper has been hijacked by some people ‒ some editors, some editors-in-chief and some trustees,” said Sandhu, who spent less than two years at the paper as executive editor. His chief allegation is that one trustee in particular, NN Vohra, currently governor of Jammu and Kashmir, has allegedly been “using and misusing” the paper to his own ends, and that others in the organisation have turned a blind eye to this.
“More stories have appeared in the paper about the governor than about the prime minister of India,” Sandhu said. “When I raised this and other issues with the editor-in-chief, I was told that the J&K Governor is different from other governors. Where is this listed? Does the constitution say that? We were all told in the Tribune that the Tribune has a strategic interest in J&K. Did the founder’s will say that?... The trustees refused to meet me on this.”
The veteran journalist claims that five local pages are devoted to the Jammu and Kashmir edition, which barely sells, compared to just four pages for the Punjab and Haryana editions, which is where the Tribune sells the most. "The J&K edition is being run as a personal fiefdom of the J&K governor," Sandhu told Scroll.in. "This is the newspaper that I started my career with. When I joined the newspaper after so many years, I thought maybe I could contribute to it. But I soon realised that some of the trustees were running it for their own personal benefit."
Step-fatherly treatment
Another allegation Sandhu makes in the videos concerns the approach of the trustees to its publications. In addition to the English-language Tribune, the trust also runs two regional language papers, the Dainik Tribune in Hindi and the Punjabi Tribune. According to Sandhu, these were the papers that had real scope for growth, not the English language publication. Yet they ended up getting the step-fatherly treatment from the trustees and the editor-in-chief.
“Except for one odd person, almost all editor-in-chiefs did not know either Hindi or Punjabi," Sandhu said. "It’s like in battle if the general doesn’t know the language of the troops.”
Most of the things that Sandhu mentions, like editors using the paper’s column space to report on the deaths of their kin without allowing staff to do the same or trustees getting inordinate coverage, are par for the course at most Indian newspapers. Those however tend to be family owned companies with proprietors.
“I’m saying all this because the Tribune is a people’s trust,” Sandhu, who began his career at the paper, says in one video. “Someone has to bell the cat, and unfortunately I have to be the one.”
Sandhu, who has spent 35 years in journalism, had a similarly unhappy end to his previous job at Day & Night news. That was a 24-7 news channel which he partially founded, with the aim of providing hard-hitting, unbiased news for the Punjab region. Although it ran for a few years and did a number of impactful stories about the government in charge, cable companies refused to carry the channel, allegedly due to political pressure, making it impossible for Day & Night to continue as it had done before.
Now, having left a second job in a row because of editorial difficulties, Sandhu says he plans to set up something called the Free Media Initiative. "I would be setting up a production house, there are people who say we should set up a newspaper," he told Scroll.in "It's been almost 35 years in the profession, and I'm mostly happy with the way things have turned out. But I always thought that, since the Tribune is a paper that is trust-run, it would be more independent. The contrary is true. It doesn't even take up cudgels for other journalists."
Having previously spent time at India Today, the Indian Express and the Hindustan Times, Sandhu said he didn't expect his career to end at a place where the work became more about journalists than the journalism. "Somebody has to speak up for fellow journalists. It's just unfortunate that I never prepared to be actually crusading for the media, but I think I've ended up doing it. It's not my choice, but someone has to do it."
Scroll.in has contacted Vohra and the editor-in-chief of the Tribune seeking responses to Sandhu's claims but they did not respond.
We welcome your comments at
letters@scroll.in.
In a series of YouTube videos posted over the last two weeks, Kanwar Sandhu, one of Punjab’s most respected journalists who just resigned as executive editor of the Tribune, has laid out what he sees as an abuse of the paper's position. Sandhu’s videos, with titles like “how trustees have hijacked Tribune Founder’s will,” allege that the paper has become the personal propaganda tool for trustees, is unnecessarily endearing itself to the new government at the centre and is failing to follow through on the mandate set by its founder.
“During the last couple of years, the paper has been hijacked by some people ‒ some editors, some editors-in-chief and some trustees,” said Sandhu, who spent less than two years at the paper as executive editor. His chief allegation is that one trustee in particular, NN Vohra, currently governor of Jammu and Kashmir, has allegedly been “using and misusing” the paper to his own ends, and that others in the organisation have turned a blind eye to this.
“More stories have appeared in the paper about the governor than about the prime minister of India,” Sandhu said. “When I raised this and other issues with the editor-in-chief, I was told that the J&K Governor is different from other governors. Where is this listed? Does the constitution say that? We were all told in the Tribune that the Tribune has a strategic interest in J&K. Did the founder’s will say that?... The trustees refused to meet me on this.”
The veteran journalist claims that five local pages are devoted to the Jammu and Kashmir edition, which barely sells, compared to just four pages for the Punjab and Haryana editions, which is where the Tribune sells the most. "The J&K edition is being run as a personal fiefdom of the J&K governor," Sandhu told Scroll.in. "This is the newspaper that I started my career with. When I joined the newspaper after so many years, I thought maybe I could contribute to it. But I soon realised that some of the trustees were running it for their own personal benefit."
Step-fatherly treatment
Another allegation Sandhu makes in the videos concerns the approach of the trustees to its publications. In addition to the English-language Tribune, the trust also runs two regional language papers, the Dainik Tribune in Hindi and the Punjabi Tribune. According to Sandhu, these were the papers that had real scope for growth, not the English language publication. Yet they ended up getting the step-fatherly treatment from the trustees and the editor-in-chief.
“Except for one odd person, almost all editor-in-chiefs did not know either Hindi or Punjabi," Sandhu said. "It’s like in battle if the general doesn’t know the language of the troops.”
Most of the things that Sandhu mentions, like editors using the paper’s column space to report on the deaths of their kin without allowing staff to do the same or trustees getting inordinate coverage, are par for the course at most Indian newspapers. Those however tend to be family owned companies with proprietors.
“I’m saying all this because the Tribune is a people’s trust,” Sandhu, who began his career at the paper, says in one video. “Someone has to bell the cat, and unfortunately I have to be the one.”
Sandhu, who has spent 35 years in journalism, had a similarly unhappy end to his previous job at Day & Night news. That was a 24-7 news channel which he partially founded, with the aim of providing hard-hitting, unbiased news for the Punjab region. Although it ran for a few years and did a number of impactful stories about the government in charge, cable companies refused to carry the channel, allegedly due to political pressure, making it impossible for Day & Night to continue as it had done before.
Now, having left a second job in a row because of editorial difficulties, Sandhu says he plans to set up something called the Free Media Initiative. "I would be setting up a production house, there are people who say we should set up a newspaper," he told Scroll.in "It's been almost 35 years in the profession, and I'm mostly happy with the way things have turned out. But I always thought that, since the Tribune is a paper that is trust-run, it would be more independent. The contrary is true. It doesn't even take up cudgels for other journalists."
Having previously spent time at India Today, the Indian Express and the Hindustan Times, Sandhu said he didn't expect his career to end at a place where the work became more about journalists than the journalism. "Somebody has to speak up for fellow journalists. It's just unfortunate that I never prepared to be actually crusading for the media, but I think I've ended up doing it. It's not my choice, but someone has to do it."
Scroll.in has contacted Vohra and the editor-in-chief of the Tribune seeking responses to Sandhu's claims but they did not respond.