Report of the Sub-Committee on Retrenchment of Journalists During COVID- 19

FOCUS

This report has been drafted by a sub-committee created by the Press Council of India (PCI) to study the retrenchment and job losses of journalists during the Covid-19 pandemic. It evaluates the period between March 2020 and February 2021. The sub-committee was first formed on December 10, 2020 but its existence lapsed by October 2021. It was later re-constituted with a mix of old and new members on May 26, 2023.

The report details the work of the committee, from its inception to how its members approached the issue at hand. Data was requested from various employer organisations through questionnaires, labour commissioners were contacted through letters. Affected journalists were contacted through in-person testimonials and online forms where approximately 50 responses being gathered. The questions pertained to their retrenchment experiences, financial and emotional states, and their current employment statuses.

Some notable recommendations made to improve journalists’ job security include the provision of insurance for journalists; provision of safety gear when necessary; easy access to benefits and entitlements; and implementation of steps to protect the mental health of journalists.

This 22-page document is divided into nine sections: Terms of reference (Section 1); History (Section 2); First round of letters (Section 3); Mode of gathering information (Section 4); Letter to labour commissioners (Section 5); Testimonials from public hearings (Section 6); Trends and findings (Section 7); Recommendations (Section 8); and Further research (Section 9). 

    FACTOIDS

  1. According to the report, journalists in India were working overtime to cover news from newsrooms, hospitals, quarantine zones and crematoriums. This was often without institutional support and even safety gears. Citing reports from media portals The Caravan and Newslaundry, the report notes that at least two newsrooms emerged as Covid-19 hotspots.

  2. Independent estimates culled by journalists Balwinder Singh Jammu and Cyril Sam states that at least 2,300-2,500 journalists were retrenched during the pandemic. The numbers are likely to be higher, the report adds, since this data referred only to large, English-language media houses.

  3. As per the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, industrial establishments employing, on an average, 100 or more people a working day need the government’s approval to lay off their employees However, none of the labour commissioners reported being aware of any journalists’ lay-offs in their jurisdiction, when contacted by the sub-committee.

  4. Public hearings were held in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata between October 28, 2023, and November 4, 2023. 51 journalists from from 17 different organisations spanning the languages of English, Hindi, Maratha deposed before the committee there. It was revealed that only 15 journalist (29.4 per cent) were currently employed in full-time journalism jobs. The rest are either unemployed (14 journalists which accounted for 27.4 per cent) or self-employed through various means, including freelance journalism (22 journalists which accounted for 43.1 per cent). 

  5. The statements by journalists highlighted that retrenchments were mostly done in batches wherein the majority of the lay-offs occurred between June and September 2020.

  6. About 80 per cent of the journalists who participated in the depositions stated that they were forced to do one of three things during job dismissals: resign, opt for voluntary retirement or accept termination. Around the same percentage of journalists also said that they had not been given any advance notices about retrenchments or pay cuts.

  7. With only 17 of the retrenched journalists responding positively when asked if they had received their entitled severance pay, the journalists reported resorting to various methods to stay afloat financially. These include dipping into family savings (34 journalists), taking loans (17 journalists) and relocating (12 journalists). Further, they reported that severe wage cuts accompanied retrenchments and ranged between 20 per cent to 50 per cent.

  8. The retrenchments also took a toll on the emotional wellbeing and self-confidence of 80 per cent of the journalists. Around 54 per cent of the journalists reported going into social withdrawal and 60 per cent reported being depressed.


    Focus and Factoids by Nandini Ranganathan.

    PARI Library's health archive project is part of an initiative supported by the Azim Premji University to develop a free-access repository of health-related reports relevant to rural India.


AUTHOR

Sub-committee on the Study of Journalists’ Retrenchment during COVID-19 

COPYRIGHT

Press Council of India 

PUBLICATION DATE

2024

TAGS

#retrenchment #covid-19-lockdown #journalists

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