N. Ram, the former editor-in-chief and publisher of The Hindu, says he believes Gautam Adani has already acquired majority control of NDTV. The newspapers have reported Adani has 37.4% of the channel’s shares but Ram says: “My understanding is he’s crossed the line and he has majority control of NDTV. It’s a done deal.” He added, “It’s very unfortunate this hostile take over has succeeded.”
Ram spoke at length about the assurances Adani has given The Financial Times about how he will run NDTV. These assurances include a commitment to maintain its independence, give it a global footprint and raise it to the status of The Financial Times and Al Jazeera and an offer to Prannoy Roy to continue as chairman.
Ram says Adani faces a serious and possible irresolvable dilemma when he identifies independence as “the courage ….to also say…the government is doing the right thing everyday” and yet insists he wants to give NDTV “ a global footprint…to compare to The Financial Times and Al Jazeera”. The definition of independence has a clear government-inclined bias because, as Ram put it, no government “is doing the right thing everyday”. Yet if this is to be the channel’s news philosophy under Adani then NDTV will not achieve the status of The Financial Times or, even, Al Jazeera.
A second contradiction could arise from the fact Adani may have the funds to give NDTV a global footprint and make it viewable all over the world but if in the process his news philosophy has damaged its credibility it will not attract viewers.
