Thread by @panchlight

#Toxicnewsrooms? Ask me. I saw someone literally die in front of me. He suffered a massive heart attack and breathed his last in an e-rickshaw on way to LNJP. Before we talk about #toxicworkculture, first we need to understand what is a #toxicworkplace. @IndEditorsGuildv

“...a workplace that is marked by significant infighting, where personal battles often harm productivity. Toxic workplaces are often considered the result of toxic employers and/or toxic employees who are motivated by personal gain (power, money, fame, or special status)

, use unethical, mean-spirited, and sometimes illegal means to manipulate people …” Toxic workers do not recognize a duty to organization or their co-workers in terms of ethics or professional conduct. They don’t recognize merit and thrive in an atmosphere of favouritism

and like to be a part of/create lobbies. How did newsrooms become a haven for such stress, bias, and targeting of people? Why have scores of journalists left the field altogether? @dhanyarajendran

Even as they once put their very lives at stake for the need to achieve deadlines, send out a copy in double quick time? Staring at the computer for endless hours? Jeopardise their health and screw their work-life balance.

I thought let me not keep quiet and say what I have to, in the hope that others will speak up too. As journalists, we are taught to ask the right questions. I have some.

Why is it that when a “small” employee wants to raise a question within and about the system, she or he is normally shut down by the seniors? #Longthread

Sometimes, that employee is called unstable, unprofessional or a menace. Then a narrative is created within the office that the person in question is not good enough. #toxicworkculture

First, you won’t pay enough — how does a journalist survive in Delhi at Rs 30-40,000 a month when the rent is Rs 15,000, auto fares for a month at least Rs 10,000, plus food and other necessities of life?

(No, we can’t take the free bus ride as, what else, we have deadlines) — and then grumble about quality. Isn’t it time you settled for a little less profit and gave journalists a little more?

We like to show the mirror to authorities, why don't we then look at the mirror ourselves sometimes? Who will probe the probers? @PressCouncil_IN @pressfreedom

I am saying all this because I recently lost a colleague – a soul brother – on duty. One of his last words was, ‘If I didn’t come, no one would have believed me that I was unwell’. How shameful for all of us! It's easy to find out where it happened. But let me save you the bother

Death I talk about happened at The New Indian Express in its Delhi office. Garipalli Swaraj was not keeping well for some time & was not given leaves. He was not given enough time to rest. All he wanted was to go back home, live with his only parent–his father, a retired teacher.

He was manipulated right in front of my eyes. Despite being a very good worker, he was told by his senior that he’ll be served a termination notice. Do we even understand what such ‘threats’ do to a person?

People working 55 or more hours each week face an estimated 35% higher risk of a stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from #heartdisease, compared to people following the widely accepted standard of working 35 to 40 hours in a week, the @WHO says in a study.

@WHO I know journalists, and even some senior editors, who start their day at 7 am and are at it till much after midnight. How many hours a day is that? Do the math. And imagine what it does to your health, mental and physical. No job is worth the risk of stroke or heart disease.

I am not holding the office responsible for my colleague's death. But I have some points to raise. Everyone is fighting a battle within. And if a workplace only adds to the struggles, stress, and fear of losing a job, then aren’t you pushing a person towards his or her end?

Are there mechanisms in place to address these issues? I see none, anywhere in India's newsrooms. As an organisation, isn’t it your responsibility to take care of every employee and give them the right to speak? #FreedomOfSpeech

We are taught to raise our voices against bad work cultures in other sectors, but do we exercise the same ethics in our newsrooms? Salary disparity (and then you say talent is disappearing from journalism. @newslaundry

@newslaundry The answer isn't hard to find), fear-mongering, false narratives, internal politics, favouritism and stress have gripped newsrooms.

Why is it normal to shout in a #newsroom? Let me break it to you. It's not cool anymore. #newspapers , before they write those long editorials and teach the world what to do and what not to do, need to have a relook at their newsrooms, which are now becoming "killing rooms".

At the junior level, things get even worse. Subeditors, designers, and many of the "lowly staff" contribute too much to the making of a newspaper you get to read every day. Readers don't know our names. Sometimes even our bosses don't. We live in oblivion. @ShekharGupta

It’s a thankless job but we chose to do this, so I have no complaints there. But if your employee dies in front of you, please give her/him the respect they and their families deserve.

A small obit, maybe "all-centres"? Why not? When one lived, the #newsroom was his second home and now they are gone, we simply move on without a word in acknowledgement.

The cases I have been witness to are numerous, but here are some recent ones. In the last organisation, a news website where I worked, I saw an employee struggling.

She had always worked on the news desk, but she was one day transferred to a desk for which she had no prior experience or inclination. Because no one was ready to join that desk, a newcomer was made a scapegoat.

When she raised her voice against it, her manager would not clear her attendance, deliberately. The emails to his seniors also did not work. HR was also not of any help. She left that place.

In the last newspaper where I worked, I have seen four people being asked to leave. The editor never thought of clarifying with the targeted employees. Did they have a job? No one asked.

In the same organisation, a designer, who doesn't wish to be named, had to show proof of his ailing mother to get leaves. @newslaundry @BrutIndia

@newslaundry @BrutIndia He was also told by his boss that "we all have mothers, but we need to work". The designer resigned upon hearing this. On then did he get the "required" leaves. There are several such instances where the "boss" has asked for "proof" from his juniors.

I have always been vocal about mental health, including my own, and I have no qualms in saying that I do take medicines for that. Anti-depressants. But when tried to ask the editor about Swaraj, she called me "unstable" in a room full of journalists.

Do you expect this from a "well-regarded" editor who writes long editorials every week to "educate" people? @IndEditorsGuild

@IndEditorsGuild This is a classic example of insecurity, insensitivity, toxic work culture.
My friend's death was, to put it straight, an absolute abuse of power. You know that we fear losing our jobs. You know the weaknesses and play on that. How unjust!

Not that I haven't seen good bosses. I have worked under some. They have been kind to me & people around me. They taught me. They accepted me the way I was. They made me a better human. I am so grateful to them. I get courage from them. From their sense of honesty and fair play.

My intention here is not to shame any person, so I have mentioned no names. It is to put it out there for all to think of ways in which to make our lives a little easier, to give us hope in profession, & to make it strong in the face of assaults from social media. Pause. Rethink.

Why are we driving #journalists out of the industry? Are we giving preference to lobbies over merit? Are we being honest enough? Is there something to retrieve after having sold off our souls? Are there things to look forward to? Perhaps there are.

There are a few good people in power still around. But we need many more of them for the industry to slow down -- and maybe even turn back -- from its rush towards oblivion. #toxicnewsrooms @IndEditorsGuild @PressCouncil_IN @GENinnovate