According to a report by news website The Wire, the PTI board decided to constitute a search committee of its own to select the successor to Editor-in-Chief and Chief Executive Officer M K Razdan. Hormusji N Cama, board chairman, told the website that some members of Parliament (MPs) approached board members to recommend certain candidates. Cama said there was no question of looking at candidates recommended by politicians.
PTI, founded in 1949, is the country's pre-eminent news agency and is looking for a successor to Razdan as he is set to retire soon. Thousands of newspapers, television channels and websites of all languages across India rely on the news feeds of PTI. The news agency has a large pool of reporters spread across the country. Given its reach, all governments are sensitive to PTI reports. PTI is governed by a 16-member board, 12 of whom are representatives of owners of India's topmost media houses and four are 'independent members'.
The report by The Wire's Siddharth Varadarajan said, the three candidates who had applied "are all well-disposed towards the Narendra Modi government and the ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)". "The decision to rebuff these suggestions is an indication of the weakening hold of the government over media owners, who make up the bulk of the PTI board," the report said.
This time the board had decided to separate the two functions of the CEO and editor. Some in the board are inclined to look at in-house talent on the editorial side and an outsider who can look after the administrative and human resources functions. Cama told the website that board members were intrigued when some applied for the editor's job, even when PTI was looking for someone to head the administrative side.
According to Cama, the applicants told board members that they were asked to apply by some politicians.
The report claimed other board members, on condition of anonymity, pointed to an influential politician in the current government trying to push the case of the three applicants.
The current composition of the PTI Board are: Hormusji N Cama (chairman, The Bombay Samachar), Riyad Mathew (vice-chairman, Malayala Manorama), Vineet Jain (Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd), Mahendra Mohan Gupta (Jagran Prakashan Limited), Aveek Kumar Sarkar (ABP Pvt Ltd), Viveck Goenka (The Express Group), Vijay Kumar Chopra (The Hind Samachar Ltd), M P Veerendra Kumar (The Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Co), N Ravi (The Hindu), Sanjoy Narayan (HT Media Ltd), K N Shanth Kumar (The Printers (Mysore) Pvt Ltd). and R Lakshmipathy (Dinamalar).
Four independent directors are Jimmy F Pochkhanawalla, Shyam Saran, Deepak Nayyar and R C Lahoti.