The digital world may not turned the print media irrelevant yet, but it has certainly impacted the commercial viability for many. The India Today group is the latest victim of this trend.
In the face of increasing losses, the group has decided to shut down its print editions in Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil, though the Hindi version has been spared, according to a TVNews4 report.
The editor-editor-in-chief of the group, Arun Poorie conveyed the news to his employees in an internal letter and assured them of a fair compensation.
"The India Today weekly editions of Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam have been incurring loss for over two decades. ...we have come to the conclusion that we don't see the viability of these editions in the foreseeable future. It is, therefore, with a heavy heart that we have decided to discontinue these editions," Poorie said.
The group's Chennai office also seems to be hit. "The office in Chennai will now be a smaller Bureau. Some colleagues who are already contributing to the English edition will be retained in ITE and be part of this Bureau," he said.
The situation is symptomatic of the situation prevailing in the print medium, ever since online, or digital media, started becoming the preferred source for news.
Other publications, such as Deccan Chronicle have also been hit because of dwindling circulation and rising costs, which has led to either staff rationalisation (meaning less number of staff) or complete shut down of certain editions.
