India

NEW DELHI: The Government on Monday issued the formal notification for constitution of wage boards for journalists and non-journalists of newspapers and news agencies. The two wage boards would be chaired by the former judge of the Kerala High Court, Justice K. Narayana Kurup, and would have 10 members each representing the employers, the working journalists and the non-journalists. As per the...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday approved the setting up of a new wage board to recommend the minimum emoluments and perquisites for working journalists. “Formal orders regarding this will be issued shortly by the labour ministry,” said a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). “Working journalists may be reassured that the prime minister has fulfilled the assurance he had...

The world may be flat, as New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has written, but I always liked to think I was standing on a hill. Now comes the news that pasadenanow.com, a local news site, is recruiting reporters in India. The website’s editor points out that he can get two Indian reporters for a mere $20,800 a year — and no, they won’t be commuting from New Delhi. Since Pasadena’s city...

LOS ANGELES: A local news Web site’s editor who hired two reporters in India to cover suburban Pasadena said he’s been so overwhelmed by handling reaction to his plan that he had to postpone publication of their first stories. James Macpherson said he hasn’t found the time he hoped to have to train one of his new staffers to cover Monday night’s City Council meeting, which is shown live on the Web...

PASADENA, Calif: The job posting was a head-scratcher: “We seek a newspaper journalist based in India to report on the city government and political scene of Pasadena, California, USA.” A reporter half a world away covering local street-light contracts and sewer repairs? A reporter who has never gotten closer to Pasadena than the telecast of the Rose Bowl parade? Outsourcing first claimed...

When is local journalism not really local? When it’s about Pasadena and written by someone in India. James Macpherson, editor and publisher of the Pasadena Now website, hired two reporters last weekend to cover the Pasadena City Council. One lives in Mumbai and will be paid $12,000 a year. The other will work in Bangalore for $7,200. The council broadcasts its meetings on the Web. From nearly 9...

Suddenly the media scene seems to be undergoing a dramatic metamorphosis in Agra, all to the advantage of the readers who have many more choices now. A new mid-day daily tabloid called DLA has finally entered Agra’s media ‘mandi’ with a bang, leading to intense competitive war with all kinds of innovative schemes and discounts. Local journalists never had it so good, with ample opportunities...

GUWAHATI, March 21 – North East Newspaper Society, an organization of the owners of the newspapers of the North East region has been formed today to promote and protect the interests of the newspaper industry in the region. An executive committee of the Society has also been formed with Kanaksen Deka of Agradoot as president, PG Baruah of The Assam Tribune group as vice president and GL Agarwala...

Pune, February 12: THE socio-cultural divide between the English and regional language press had given rise to ‘English elitism’ and a peculiar caste and class structure in the Indian media, said Loksatta editor Kumar Ketkar. He was speaking at a University Grants Commission-sponsored National Conference on ‘Regional Language Press: New Era, New Challenges’ organised by the UoP’s Department of...

The Supreme Court has stayed an Assam government order cancelling accreditation to the North East Television (NETV) correspondents to cover the 33rd National Games in Guwahati which began Friday, news agencies reported. A bench of Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan and Justice DK Jain stayed the February 6 order of the state government's Media Accreditation Committee after hearing NETV's counsel and...