Events & Personalities
Media consolidation
"The intention of this arrangement is good — to do something for the betterment of the community. We must be positive. The blame game must stop. We must work together for the greater good of all. Jam-e-Jamshed (JJ) and Parsi Times (PT) will remain independent entities with a common goal — the welfare of the community — and we wish to put an end to petty bickering and nonsense,” said PT owner and Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustee Kersi Randeria over the phone to Parsiana on August 5, 2016 about the teaming up of PT owned by him and JJ, the community’s oldest newspaper.
In the area of finance, "there will be a synergy. We are in too small a space to fight with each other. To survive, we have to work together. The content of the two newspapers will not overlap as the readership profile is different. It will be like The Times of India and Mumbai Mirror,” he drew an analogy. Both, however, are owned by one company. Here the ownership of JJ is said to remain with the family of Adi Dubash.
In the area of finance, "there will be a synergy. We are in too small a space to fight with each other. To survive, we have to work together. The content of the two newspapers will not overlap as the readership profile is different. It will be like The Times of India and Mumbai Mirror,” he drew an analogy. Both, however, are owned by one company. Here the ownership of JJ is said to remain with the family of Adi Dubash.The commercial arrangement between PT and JJ is not open for public debate, Randeria maintained.
Allaying apprehensions that criticism of the BPP will no longer be permitted in JJ, Randeria was emphatic: "Yes, criticism will be tolerated in both JJ and PT. Even genuine criticism of Kersi Randeria will find a place in both publications! Dinshaw Mehta is a politician. Let the law deal with him. Only relevant material will be taken for publication — not any old rubbish.” He was dismissive of the WhatsApp messages criticizing the management merger as being irrelevant.
The announcement in PT of July 30, 2016 that JJ would be under the "sole management of Parsi Times Multimedia Private Limited with a common board of directors” had sent shock waves through the community which had been closely watching the opposing editorial policy in the two weeklies of late.
Allaying apprehensions that criticism of the BPP will no longer be permitted in JJ, Randeria was emphatic: "Yes, criticism will be tolerated in both JJ and PT. Even genuine criticism of Kersi Randeria will find a place in both publications! Dinshaw Mehta is a politician. Let the law deal with him. Only relevant material will be taken for publication — not any old rubbish.” He was dismissive of the WhatsApp messages criticizing the management merger as being irrelevant.
The announcement in PT of July 30, 2016 that JJ would be under the "sole management of Parsi Times Multimedia Private Limited with a common board of directors” had sent shock waves through the community which had been closely watching the opposing editorial policy in the two weeklies of late.
(Above): Jam-e-Jamshed and Parsi Times; (top): Kersi Randeria
Though the announcement explained that the aim behind this "unison is two-fold — to add to the commercial viability in economies of scale for two publications catering to the same and quantitatively limited audience; and to provide the community with the best of this synergy as JJ is patronized for its traditional leanings and PT is the choice of the exuberant youth.” But the move has not gone down well with the traditional patrons of JJ.
Describing it as a "startling and scary development,” The Parsee Voice, in an email signed by H. M. Mistry, wrote that in "corporate parlance, it would mean the takeover of Jamé... This is the worst thing that can happen to the community. Jamé, under its current editor, clearly espoused the traditional viewpoint whereas PT is unabashedly liberal! While the two newspapers are supposed to co-exist, it’s obvious that the community will lose the benefit of reading conflicting viewpoints on various issues of importance.”
In total agreement with these apprehensions was former BPP chairman Mehta who responded to Mistry’s email with "there will be no independent paper where one can ventilate various community grievances especially against the BPP trustees, since PT is owned by one of the most dangerous reformists (who) is now also a (BPP) trustee... Our only remedy is to start another independent paper with support of concerned community members to be the watchdog of community affairs.”
Describing it as a "startling and scary development,” The Parsee Voice, in an email signed by H. M. Mistry, wrote that in "corporate parlance, it would mean the takeover of Jamé... This is the worst thing that can happen to the community. Jamé, under its current editor, clearly espoused the traditional viewpoint whereas PT is unabashedly liberal! While the two newspapers are supposed to co-exist, it’s obvious that the community will lose the benefit of reading conflicting viewpoints on various issues of importance.”
In total agreement with these apprehensions was former BPP chairman Mehta who responded to Mistry’s email with "there will be no independent paper where one can ventilate various community grievances especially against the BPP trustees, since PT is owned by one of the most dangerous reformists (who) is now also a (BPP) trustee... Our only remedy is to start another independent paper with support of concerned community members to be the watchdog of community affairs.”
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