Hard times at The Hindu

The Hindu, the 140-year-old newspaper published by Kasturi and Sons, is facing the heat thanks to declining advertising revenue. It needs to chart out its future. Fast.

The Hindu is one of the oldest newspapers in India, but it is now facing a crisis as ad revenue declines and newsprint costs rise

Going against its ethos, it is now asking employees to leave the company voluntarily in an effort to control costs

However, it also needs to look at editorial expenditure and reassess the level of autonomy granted to editorial

It has started a number of new digital experiments including a paid news app. But digital businesses take time to build

20/20. Perfect vision. An unimpeded view of what is and what lies ahead. Kasturi and Sons, the company that publishes the 140-year-old newspaper The Hindu, seemed to have found this clarity last year. In an email circulated among employees in May 2017, Rajiv C Lochan, the company’s CEO, spoke of a Vision 2020 for the company. It was aimed at revamping the business to keep up with the times.

Print news is a shadow of its former self, and Kasturi and Sons—which publishes Business Line, Frontline, and Sportstar in addition to The Hindu—is no exception.

AUTHOR

Shashidhar KJ

Shashidhar has been a journalist for over six years and has worked with The Times of India, The Financial Express and MediaNama, his last assignment. He is a fine bloke, and by that, I mean unusually quiet. Over the years, Shashidhar has written on several subjects. Banking, startups and technology, media, and also financial technology. He started his career on the desk at the old lady of Boribunder. At The Ken, Shashidhar works out of Mumbai and writes on telecom and financial technology. What he really wants to talk about though is his vinyl collection.

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