By Abdul Gani, TwoCircles.net,
Guwahati: In yet another incident of betrayal and cheating, 170 odd journalists and workers of a Guwahati based media house have been forced to go on the streets, literally. After the closure of Seven Sisters Post, an English daily and Bengali dailySakalbela in the month of April in 2013, the same fate on Prime News has really exposed the poor scenario of media industry in the country and especially in Assam.
The Brahmaputra Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. owned by Mr. Suresh Prithani, which had taken over the channel in 2012 repeatedly made promises of increments and investments in the news channel. However they neither fulfilled those promises nor had they informed the employees about any development taking place in this regard.
Employees of Prime News stage protest in front of Guwahati Press Club
In a letter addressed to the Union Information and Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari the employees of the channel alleged, “Despite a lot of stories in the air about the channel being closed down or sold over, the employees were kept in the dark about everything. The management never gave any clear answer to the queries of the employees”.
They also allege that the management of Prime News, without any prior notice, had declared on 30th September 2013 that the channel will be closed down from the next day.
“It is worth mentioning here that for several months despite repeated queries by the employees of the news channel, the management as well as the managing editor was denying that the channel might be closed down or sold over,” the employees said.
However, on 30th September last, the management abruptly informed the employees that the channel will not be on air from the very next day and two months’ salaries will be paid. Following this the employees demanded a formal closure notice and immediate disbursement of 4 months’ salary as the closure was not declared earlier to prepare the employees for other career options.
Now, they also urged upon Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi to intervene in the matter and to do the needful so that these journalist and non-journalist workers of the channel can be assisted in some way or the other. Besides, the employees took out a rally to protest the sudden closure of the house.
Journalist Forum Assam too criticized among others the way at which the house closed down leaving all the employees with an uncertain future.
Extending support to various protests organized by the Electronic Media Forum of Assam (EMFA) against the closure notice of the 24×7 satellite news channel, the JFA has urged the state chief minister Tarun Gogoi to intervene for the benefit of the affected employees of Prime News.
The management apprised the employees that it had to pay nearly two crore to the cable operators of Assam as distribution fees, which has not materialized. It resulted in the blackout of Prime News for nearly three weeks in the last month.
As Prime News was also not available through any Direct to Home (DTH) service, the news channel was virtually not visible for all these days resulting in very poor TRP ratings. Taking advantage of the situation, the proprietor of the channel had suddenly decided to close it down, said a statement issued on Saturday by JFA president Rupam Barua and secretary Nava Thakuria.
The Assam based scribes body argued that the money received by cable operators annually from Guwahati based privately-owned television channels for distribution among subscribers should be made taxable. Moreover, the cable operators should be asked to provide due receipts to subscribers against their monthly charge of that range from Rs 200 to Rs 300 for the service.
Assam, with a population of over 30 million, supports 26 morning dailies and seven privately owned satellite news channels with few entertainment & cable channels. These channels beam news and other programs in various languages, primarily in Assamese with English, Hindi, Bengali and various regional languages to virtually cater to the need of nearly 60 million populace of the alienated north-eastern region of India.
The EMFA had lately organized a human chain covering the faces of agitators with black strips in front of the Guwahati Press Club on October 4 to raise their voices against the closure of Prime News. Hundreds of participants also shouted slogans demanding to improve the working condition of media persons in Assam with due salary and other facilities.
The JFA statement concluded with the appeal to the conscious citizens and the civil society groups of Assam to stand beside the employees of Prime News at this moment of crisis and uncertainty.