In another exit of journalists from NDTV, the channel’s senior journalist Nidhi Razdan announced on Saturday that she is leaving the media house. She is currently the executive editor of NDTV 24×7, the English news channel from the NDTV group, and also a main anchor on the channel.
In a post on Twitter on Saturday, Nizdan Razdan announced that she had taken up a teaching job at Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts & Sciences as Associate Professor. The journalist said that her 21 years career at NDTV has come to an end. Razdan said that she will be joining the premier university later this year, but didn’t specify when she will be leaving the channel.
Some personal and professional news: after 21 years at NDTV, I am changing direction and moving on. Later this year, I start as an Associate Professor teaching journalism as part of Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences 1/n
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) June 13, 2020
Announcing her exit from the left-wing media outlet NDTV, Nidhi Razdan said that the media network had taught her everything and claimed that she was proud of the work, stories they covered especially ‘at a time when the much of the media has surrendered its objectivity’.
It is pertinent to note that Nidhi Razdan, during her days at NDTV, has been caught several times for propagating fake news.
Nidhi Razdan joins a long list of journalists to leave the channel which is not faring well in recent years. Its viewership is dwindling and is facing several investigations by agencies over allegations like tax elevation, money laundering, insider trading, non-disclossure etc. Several journalists and technicians associated with NDTV have left the channel in recent times, which includes controversial journalist Barkha Dutt, former CEO Vikram Chandra, and Abhigyan Prakash, who was head of the group’s Hindi channel NDTV India.
According to reports, NDTV had cut the salaries of its employees earning above Rs 50000 per month in April this year. The cut was reportedly between 10% to 40%, based on the salary slab of the employees. In a disclosure made to stock exchanges, the channel had said that it was forced to undertake cost-cutting measures as its advertising revenue was impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic and the overall slowdown in the economy. There is also a rumour going around that the channel has decided to give honourable exit to its senior employees as it is not able to afford to their high remunerations.
NDTV pioneered private news channel industry in India, and its journalists have launched several major news channels in the country. Former NDTV journalist Arnab Goswami has launched Times Now and Republic TV, while Rajdeep Sardesai had launched CNN News 18 before moving onto India Today. Incidentally, all four channels have much more viewership than NDTV, which makes a direct impact on the revenues of the channel. Over the years, NDTV’s anti-India and anti-Hindu biases have become more prominent among the viewers, which have resulted in lost viewership. The channel’s troubles with financial malpractices have also not helped. These issues have resulted in the exit of senior journalists and star anchor from the channel, with Nidhi Razdan joining the list now.
