Chennai: The Madras Union of Journalists on Saturday expressed “shock and pain” at the reports that the Times of India plundered the classified advertisements of Deccan Chronicle in Hyderabad and a court there has ordered police probe.
“MUJ statement was made “in the interests of ethical and healthy journalism from another newspaper by Times of India in what appears to be an unfair and unethical attempt to hoodwink its readers into believing that it is a leader in this classified ads segment. This appears aimed at hurting the advertisement revenue of Deccan Chronicle through unethical and illegal ways”, said MUJ president R. Mohan in a statement while responding to the reports in DC about the Times pill-
aging its classified ads.
“Since a newspaper’s financial health depends much on its advertisement revenue and any attempt at hurting that financial health would certainly harm the journalists working in that newspaper, MUJ strongly condemns Times of India for indulging in such unethical pillaging of Deccan Chronicle’s classified advertisements and expects Times of India to desist from such improper conduct in future”, Mr Mohan said.
He said the MUJ statement was made “in the interests of ethical and healthy journalism in our great democracy and for protecting the welfare of our journalist comrades in Deccan Chronicle”.
“The Madras Union of Journalists, which is the largest and the oldest union for journalists in South India serving the journalist community for the last 60 years has always expressed itself in the strongest terms and responded quickly whenever journalists came under threat from unscrupulous managements, intolerant governments and other undemocratic institutions”, Mr Mohan asserted.
