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The editor of 'The Hindu' newspaper has been ousted in the latest turbulent chapter of a company run by four branches of the same clan
The news was short, dramatic, and delivered via social media. "With The Hindu's owners deciding to revert to being a family-run and edited newspaper, I am resigning with immediate effect," tweeted Siddharth Varadarajan.
Mr Varadarajan's sudden resignation last month has triggered a wave of reaction through India's media; just two-and-half years earlier, the 48-year-old had been made the first external, "professional" editor in the newspaper's 135-year-old history. The role had previously only been held by a family member.
Yet few could have been surprised at Mr Varadarajan's exit, given the toxic feud within the various branches of the newspaper-owning family that has raged for decades.
But observers say events at the newspaper, which has considered itself the industry standard, carry consequences for India's entire media industry.
"This is a reminder that in India, owners of a business, even media houses, treat professionals as low-caste labour," said Madhu Trehan, a veteran journalist who now runs NewsLaundry.com, a media watchdog website. "The required subservience grates on even the most humble professionals, so it is especially difficult for journalists who, of course, have attitude."
Originally founded in 1878 in the southern city of Chennai as a weekly newspaper by four law students, The Hindu's holding company - Kasturi and Sons...