IN an apparent fallout of the Niira Radia tapes controversy, Vir Sanghvi, who was Advisory Editorial Director of HT Media Ltd, has been divested of his editorial designation and re-designated as Advisor, HT Media.
Sanghvi, who wrote a weekly column Counterpoint, had announced last week that the column would "take a break."
When asked about the change in designation, Rajiv Verma, CEO, HT Media, in an email reply said:"Vir Sanghvi title(Advisor)."
Later tonight, Verma sent a text message to The Indian Express saying that the two issues (re-designation and the Radia tapes) are not connected.
On the tapes, Radia is seeking Sanghvi's help in reaching out to the Congress leadership and Sanghvi assures her of help. Sanghvi also seems to be discussing the content of his yet-to-be-written HT column. Sanghvi has claimed that he was merely "stringing a source" along and this was part of the journalistic process.
"There has been no discussion on this issue among the company's board members as yet," said a senior board member.
When contacted, Sanghvi claimed that the decision (to re-designate) had no link to the current controversy."Four, f ive months ago, a decision was taken that the title of director should only be given to people who are members of the HT Media board.S ince Iam not a member of the board, it has been decided to change my designation to Advisor."
Incidentally, as late as November 19 -after the Radia tape transcripts were published -HT issued a note on its website that identified Sanghvi as Advisory Editorial Director.
"While the authenticity of these transcripts cannot be ascertained, Hindustan Times would like to reiterate its steadfast adherence to a code of ethics of the highest levels and values that involve integrity, credibility and transparency in our constant endeavour to bring news and analysis that is unbiased, balanced and authentic to its readers," it said.
Source: Indian Express