Obtuse family-owned media company without a clue to regaining lost circulation and obsessed with imitating its competitors.
Will not allow new ideas, high favouritism and biased treatment of anybody wrongly perceived as a threat, "journalists" terrified of the management, the same old coterie rules the roost with the editor who has no real control over what is happening. It is unbelievable that so much insecurity and malice has the upper hand within such a small and incredibly mediocre organisation!
The thuggish and imbecilic "editor" does not care to interact with most employees directly, except his coterie, whose only claim to credibility is their long tenures within the organisation. He totally lacks class of any sort in dealing with others, has elementary school English skills, with his perception of employees being heavily manipulated the coterie of senior employees.
Moreover, harassment through tasks which are impossible to fulfill(considering the limited space and huge number of publishable stories - both agency and from inhouse staff of the newspaper - being filed every day) and personal disrespect shown by editor and his fawning senior staff(who are forced to fall in line) through uncalled for comments, insulting and abusive behaviour, use of unparliamentary language and expressions, veiled physical threats, pointing out non-existent mistakes, forcing team-members to quarrel with you, incitement to plagiarism, high level of entitlement to free gifts and junkets among employees, to name a few.
The most common harassment tactic this writer witnessed was the editor randomly picking up some story or the other from the pages of any of the numerous general and business papers in the Bangalore market and saying, "This story SHOULD have appeared today." Such claims cannot be made on hindsight after plucking out any story at random from some other newspaper(different papers carry different stories and that's the way it's supposed to be, right?), especially when a news cycle is running.
Note that the above statement is made the day after the edition appears and insults all norms of fairplay and commonsense, besides making a mockery of independent news selection and working autonomy. The whole thing seemed to be some kind of farce at best and joke at worst.
The put-on show of anger in the above instance was clearly personal, as really imporant stories "missed" by others were always immediately glossed over. This drama would be followed by rude and dismissive remarks by the imbecile editor, who also refuses to discuss exactly what his personal problem is.
The problem seemed to be only in my case, which again, was clearly personal, as admitted to me by employees with proximity to the editor - this, after repeated enquiries.
The tactic of using inbuilt flaws in any job(like asking a salesman to pick up orders from anybody you fancy) to damn somebody unfairly, combining it with a malicious dose of thuggish, abusive and dismissive behavior, is highly unprofessional and Deccan Herald seems to have made a fine art of this dubious practice with numerous employees down the years.
Other cons of the place include widespread plagiarism of reports filed by news agencies, copycat stories or replications of stories which appear in other newspapers, lack of independent story-boarding and constantly peeping into what other papers are doing, "follow-ups" of inconsequential stories appearing in other papers forced upon reporters without discussions.
Non-existent mistakes being pointed out, behaviour designed to personally provoke and bring out strong outrage in you by planning and creating unnecessary arguments and quarrels, not to mention, repeated attempts to abuse the editorial process by questioning established reporting norms and style-sheets.
As it is, this newspaper has too many mistakes(factual at the reporting level and grammatical/syntactical) to merit mention. Recruiting mediocre people with an eye on cost overheads is a strategic imperative. Numerous careless mistakes, oversights and errors brought about either by sheer ignorance of the language or general issues are the inevitable results. HEADLINES ARE OFTEN LIFTED WHOLESALE FROM THE WEBSITES OF OTHER NEWSPAPERS AND ONLINE NEWS OUTLETS. Finding these "mistakes" and pretending to be shocked about them keeps the editor and his senior staff engaged.
FOR THOSE LOOKING FORWARD TO WORKING IN THIS ETHICALLY CHALLENGED AND UNPROFESSIONAL COMPANY: Avoid Deccan Herald whether you are a starter in the profession or experienced. The place looks deceptively old world, but you will soon see the malice, jealousy and deceit beneath the surface and wonder how human beings can stoop so low. The more you know your job, the more likely that they will treat you like an alien. If you are a starter in the profession, you will stagnate for years while going through the motions in an emotionally retarded state without talking to anybody around(best way to keep your job!); if experienced(and the editor "likes" you), prepare to enter otiose hibernation and spew half-knowledge on everything around(looking very serious throughout as a grave visage is mistaken for scholarship), till the day you retire.
All the airs and officiousness that the senior staff put on are a defence mechanism to hide their ignorance on various issues, not to mention even basic English skills. JUST DISAGREE WITH THEM VERY POLITELY AND YOU WILL SEE THEIR TRUE COLOURS INSTANTLY! DECCAN HERALD IS THE KIND OF SOULLESS AND VALUELESS SYSTEM YOUR TEACHERS WARNED YOU ABOUT. WOULD YOU JOIN THEM JUST FOR CAREER STABILITY? OR, IS THERE MORE YOU WANT FROM LIFE? THINK ABOUT IT.
And, YOU WILL ALSO LEARN HOW TO LIE AND SLANDER OTHERS WITHOUT BATTING AN EYELID OR EXPERIENCING THE SLIGHTEST TWINGE OF GOOD CONSCIENCE. YOU WILL SURVIVE, AND THAT IS THE MOST "IMPORTANT" THING OF ALL, BUT WOULD YOU CALL THAT A CAREER? OR A LIFE WHERE YOU MADE A DIFFERENCE?
Suggestions to company management
It's only a job you offer people, not lifesaving medicine, disaster mitigation or surgical procedures. So, take it easy, control your temper, uncalled for cheap behaviour, the rash words and behave yourself with others.
You must be amazingly stupid to believe that your juvenile insults and childish disrespect to others can actually give you happiness. Does it, dear friend? For heaven's sake, GROW UP AND DO JUSTICE EVEN TO YOUR HUGELY INADEQUATE EDUCATION AND HALF-KNOWLEDGE ON ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING!:)
For a start, avoid thuggish and disrespectful conduct with senior employees and spreading and believing your own insecurities by slandering and creating cooked-up stories about them. I can understand the background you come from, but still, make the effort to learn to talk and behave decently without using obscene language or threatening physical violence against a person. Four-letter words should not be used in meetings and you know it. Good behaviour is definitely applicable to you. You are doing nobody a favour, but you are harming yourself immensely with your boorish and intemperate conduct, AND YOU KNOW IT!
I haven't disciplined you on the spot only because my professional standing, culture and reputation is better than yours. Believe me, putting thuggish elements like you in place would have been very easy, but in the process, I did fear that my reputation would become as bad as yours.
I would suggest that you do not sabotage the work of an employee, especially those who have proved their mettle numerous times in their careers, by trying to use operational anomalies(like inability to use every single story filed in the world on a single day in the paper) to damn them. It is downright cheap and malicious behaviour. Realise that class and decency can't be bought with all the money in the world.
Behave yourself and teach your senior employees to behave decently as well. Sort out any issues you have by talking to the employees concerned indepth instead of running away from them and damning them taking advantage of your ownership of your mediocre company. Be better human beings, that's the most important "missing story" in your case, besides, the lack of basic culture, decency or basic intelligence. The day you develop these all-important human qualities is the day your company will do well again. Good luck.
Lastly, come out of your feudal ways of behaviour and thinking. It's not "smart" at all, and doesn't evoke admiration. Respect people, revenues will then roll in. Do not fear meritorious employees and pick up quarrels with them by creating non-existent "problems" out of thin air, while hugging mediocre ones who can't put together a grammatically correct sentence or rush to the dictionary/library to find out the meaning of the word "frigid" - or who Beethoven is. Shame.
Journalism(or for that matter, any profession) is about people and unlimited tolerance for those who have repeatedly proved themselves and don't need childish tricks played upon them after joining your company. Behave!
Never forget that the adults you scorn using trumped-up reasons, or no reason at all, were the same school children whom you claim to adore. Be tolerant with those who have merit(ie., the same tolerance you display with the army of idiots in your ranks).
Please encourage your journalists to give up the craze for free gifts, trinkets and junkets. Good journalism does not need these inducements. You have built up too much entitlement and job security in them, leading to them taking you for granted. Lip service to journalistic values does not help if you don't practise what you so gratuitously preach.
Good values are the result of strong convictions, no compromise on work quality, empathy towards everyone and the courage to stand by one's values. Deccan Herald must strive hard to acquire them through repeated practice and setting up of an ethical code of conduct for the management as well as the employees who can be inspired by the management's commitment to honesty, transparency, respect for others and good values.
And, respect good people in the profession and TRY TO LIKE THEM INSTEAD OF SPREADING SLANDER AND HATRED AGAINST THEM. Don't try to frame people using bogus alibis or trap them into corruption. People who have values which you cannot even dream of can NEVER fall into your juvenile traps - THAT'S THE LESSON YOU MUST HAVE LEARNT AFTER THE TRICKS YOU TRIED TO PLAY ON ME, ALBEIT UNSUCCESSFULLY.
It will help your organisation immensely if you learn to become decent human beings. Otherwise, people will simply walk away AFTER TRYING LONG ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU SEE GOOD SENSE. And, these people who have the guts to stand by the values of journalism they believe in, will not be starving or begging for a livelihood after leaving a juvenile company like yours, so kindly be enlightened on that aspect as well.
