Link to video trailer here.
Dina Thanthi is still a family-owned paper. The Thanthi Trust, of which Dina Thanthi is a part, is run by Balasubramanian Adityan, the grandson of founder-editor CP Athithanar. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the newspaper has 16 editions and boast of a daily circulation figure of 17, 14,743.
The Thanthi trust has a turnover of USD 1.2 billion and employs nearly 20,000, with the bulk of them working out of their head office in Chennai’s EVK Sampath Road, a few kilometres from the Chennai Central railway station.
Apart from Dina Thanthi, the group also owns the following media outlets and other businesses.
Media outlets:
- Thanthi TV
- Hello FM 106.4
- Malai Malar (Evening daily)
- Nellai Malai Murasu (Evening daily)
- Rani weekly
- Rani Muthu (weekly)
- Gokulam Kathir (weekly)
- DT Next (English daily)
Educational institutions:
- Adhitanar college of arts and science, Thiruchendur
- Dr Sivanthi Adhithanar college of engineering
- Govindammal Adhithanar college for women
Organisational Structure
The Dina Thanthi is very much a top to bottom organisation. From the interviews conducted so far, respondents stated that the various bureaus are informed of what news developments will occupy the front page of the newspaper across centres. The reporters at multiple centres are also mandated to cover news stories assigned to them, as opposed to coming up with story pitches and following up on them.
“There is a feudal structure that governs the newspaper still,” says RC Amuthan, a senior journalist in Tamil with over three decades of experience in the field. He adds, “There are no edit meetings as such. Often, the city editor or the news editor calls up various reporters and asks them for stories from their particular beats or asks them to follow up on a particular angle. As Amuthan says, “There’s hardly any scope for things like investigative journalism in this setup. If you do take up investigative pieces, your boss will be your first obstacle to cross.”
A peculiar characteristic of Thanthi is that the power centres at its various bureaus inevitably rests with the management. “In Thanthi, the editorial is not a big thing; it’s all about management,” says Amuthan. He adds, “The onus is on the journalist to do things that are appeasing to management; otherwise, it’s challenging to survive there.”
It is also the case at Dina Thanthi that the distributors of the paper double up as stringers/ reporters for the paper as well. “In small towns, the distributor becomes a representative of the newspaper. Thus, when any news developments occur, he is informed of it, and this person goes on to file stories for the newspaper as well,” says Professor Arasu. He adds, “Many a time, it is the same person who handles the information gathering and news reporting as well as advertisement gathering for the newspaper.”
Editorial Policies
Thanthi’s editorial outlook has primarily remained the same in its over 75-year history. The overarching theme behind their paper is to essentially “keep it simple”. “If I have to say one line about Thanthi, then it would be that it will enable a person who can’t read very well to take up reading. It’s a stepping stone of sorts in that sense,” says Amuthan.
Founder-editor CP Athithanar issued various guidelines on how to report on happenings and what kind of language to use. Various interviewees state that he also used to take a copy of the previous day’s newspaper, mark out all that he felt was incorrect with it, and make sure all journalists working at the establishment received a copy. His various suggestions/ corrections were later compiled as the Ithalazhar Kaiyedu or Journalists’ Guidelines, which detail various aspects of writing, reporting, and even what words to use for news reports.
Athithanar’s focus on a simple language also served to bridge a crucial gap between the written and the spoken word in Tamil. While these two sections of the language were sacrosanct and never mixed before Thanthi came into the picture, he brought many aspects of the spoken language into the written. “Even a school dropout could suddenly pick up and read the newspaper, get to know what’s happening around the world. This would have been impossible before Thanthi,” says Amuthan.
In terms of their political leanings, Thanthi is well-known for being pro-establishment, regardless of which party is in power. The paper is known for being equally supportive of the ruling party, as it is critical of the opposition during the reign of both the AI-ADMK and the DMK at various points in time in Tamil Nadu. They also do not take overt political leanings apart from exceptional situations. As veteran journalist, Nurullah says, “Whoever came to power, the Thanthi people will be the first to land up in their offices with the biggest garland.”
The focus is more on readability and the so-called ‘spice’ value of a particular news item. The news reports are written keeping this in mind as well. Like many other Tamil newspapers, Thanthi does not have an editorial and op-ed page as well. It is only during extraordinary situations such as the imposition of the emergency rule in the 70s that editorials are written.
While the paper’s language and outlook have grown to be more polished in recent times, its basic tenets remain the same.
Recruitment patterns
In terms of recruitment, Thanthi still follows traditional recruitment patterns and does not recruit extensively from journalism schools. “Many of my friends who work at Thanthi state that most recruitments happen at the local temple festival in Kayamozhi, the native village of Athithanar,” says Amuthan. “So every year during the temple festival, there will be many who come to recommend one of their kin or a person known to them and ask for them to be awarded a job at the newspaper. There have also been occasions where the Thanthi management has even provided offer letters and posted new employees in various bureaus.”
As Arunachalam Mari Sami, who worked at the newspaper from 1954 till 2007, recalls, “I was recruited and posted in Thiruchi. The salary then was 50 or 60 rupees, and I was also provided with a cycle allowance of 10 rupees. They had asked me a lot of questions before giving the job and chose me among all the other people there based on my answers.”
Most of Thanthi’s employees are perceived to be from the same community as its owners or at least from the same region, in and around the village of Kayamozhi in Thirunelveli district. In the newspaper, it is said that once a person is hired, they used to be brought to a dormitory either in Chennai or wherever they were posted and provided for food and other basic requirements. They would work in their assigned department, be it editorial, administration or logistics, during the entire day and return to the dorm at night. Only a portion of their salary would be avoided to them directly. The remaining would be partially deposited in a PF account, and the rest would be sent as a money-order back to their parents or family in their villages. In this way, the newspaper’s management retained its workforce.
“After Dinakaran came into the picture at the beginning of this millennium, things changed,” says Amuthan. “They were offering exponentially higher salaries, and this, of course, led to a slew of attrition from the established dailies. So both Malar and Thanthi were forced to hike up their salary rates,” says Amuthan.
Nurullah, a veteran journalist in Tamil, says, “The new papers coming up changed the scenario a lot. As of now, Thanthi is pretty competitive in its salary rates. It is also important to note that there are hardly any women employees at Thanthi, even today.”
Sibi Arasu is an independent journalist based in Bangalore. He writes primarily on environmental issues and climate change. He has worked as a journalist for more than a decade. He has written for several leading Indian and international publications, including the BBC, Hakai Magazine, Caravan magazine, The Hindu, The Times of India, and the Hindustan Times.
Link to the first part here.
Link to the second part here.