About UsMadhyamam - Five W's and an HWhat Madhyamam is the third most popular daily in Malayalam, and the first international Indian daily. It is published from eight centres in India, most of them in Kerala, and from seven centres in the Middle East-in fact, it is the first international publication among all Indian dailies.
Where Published simultaneously from India, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, it enjoys the largest circulation among Keralites in all GCC countries. It has wide readership among Malayalis in India and abroad. Its web edition is accessed from nearly all continents.
When The inaugural editorial on 1 June 1987 noted: "Madhyamam comes to you, the reader, with a clear sense of purpose... Mass media are today passing through a period of degeneration. This sphere is not an exception to the general deterioration of values. The face of truth is being concealed behind the glitter of gold. In this murky situation we offer wholesome journalism reflective of a healthy worldview free from narrowness, communalism and extremism. " The daily has now passed two decades; Madhyamam Weekly started publication in 1998.
Why Ethical journalism is the very raison d'être of Madhyamam. What Madhyamam offers to the reader is the sheer value of unbiased news, the credibility of its contents and the integrity of its stand. When the media pander to the high and mighty they forfeit their credibility. Their overindulgence in power politics makes them vulnerable to vicious influences. When they mix news with views the educated readers have reason to distrust them. A profit-driven media culture vitiates both itself and the society. Madhyamam has exposed several financial swindles, manipulative trade practices, state excesses, political scams and the undue power wielded by predatory corporates. It has uncovered the travails of the downtrodden and the dispossessed, dalits, adivasis, minorities and women. It has stood in the forefront of environmental causes, and has ruthlessly exposed polluters and sleazy capital. It has rigorously withstood attempts to offend women's dignity be it in sensationalised news stories or in advertisements; indeed, the advertisement policy of the paper is categorical in rejecting such material.
How From day one Madhyamam set down the norms and principles that should guide its editorial and business functions. Facts are sacred, and are to be recorded independent of views. As a human endeavour it is certainly fallible, but whenever it slipped it has owned up the fault and corrected itself. Madhyamam broke, among other exposés, stories of land encroachments, farming frauds, and kidney trade and smuggling. Recently, its investigative story on the shocking malpractices in the name of assisted fertility that deny women and newborn babies their human and biological rights won as many as five major awards. Madhyamam has openly and unequivocally opposed communal or sectarian forces of all hues, and terrorist tendencies that destabilise the country, at the same time resisting the anti-democratic tendencies within the government. It has always upheld the rights of the downtrodden. Madhyamam has ensured that its business policy too is transparent and ethically sound. It is run by a Trust, rather than a company, so that it is not constrained by statutory market compulsions of a business concern. Both in editorial content and advertisement it has kept within the limits of journalistic discipline. In a highly competitive environment Madhyamam dares to reject substantial advertisements merely because they seek to promote fraudulent financial practices, or present women in undignified ways, or publicise evils like alcoholic drinks, cigarettes, money chains, gambling and speculation and usurious 'blade' companies.
Who The Madhyamam team has always been oriented towards observance of ethical principles in journalism. Guided by visionaries like K C Abdullah Moulavi, Vaikom Muhammad Basheer and Kuldip Nayar, and led by P K Balakrishnan, K A Kodungallur and later by C Radhakrishnan, Madhyamam has a team of journalists committed to ethical values and trained in the profession. So far, it has bagged nearly ninety awards including Best Editorial Awards (four times), Ramnath Goenke Award, Statesman Award, UNICEF Award, PUCL Award, Harivansh Rai Bachan Journalism Award, Asian Development Institute Award, National Media award of UNDP, and Pravasi Journalism Award. Its major contribution to the media scene, it feels, is to have proved that ethics are not only possible in journalism, but viable too. Madhyamam is published by the Ideal Publications Trust, a no-profit body that aims at providing non-partisan and value-based journalistic services in the interest of an egalitarian, just and intellectually vibrant society, and against the demeaning compulsions of free market. The Chairman of the IPT is T Arif Ali; its Secretary is P A Abdul Hakeem. O Abdurahman is the editor of Madhyamam. Madhyamam seeks to lend voice to the marginalised classes, to women who suffer widespread neglect, and to those victimised by state policies, fascist and extremist trends and discrimination. Notably, it has resisted attempts to portray women as mere objects of male gaze in advertisements and features. While it may not have succeeded in swaying the market or the public decisively, it certainly has managed to project an alternative vision.
Trend-setter Regional newspapers used to be too localised to deal with international issues seriously. Madhyamam for the first time in Malayalam devoted an entire page to international affairs. Today there is greater and more balanced awareness of global happenings in the reading public, and many papers have daily quota of international news. Madhyamam was the only Malayalam paper which had a correspondent reporting the Iraq war from the battlefront. Far from sensationalising issues, it aims at taking up issues and debating them; Madhyamam Weekly, which started in 1998, virtually leads informed debates within the society. It is one of the most influential periodicals in Kerala, providing in-depth reports and analyses of significant social issues. It has brought into focus many political, cultural and literary issues. The unearthing of the grim truth behind the murder of an Engineering student, Varghese, was one of its early achievements. In an explosive exposé, it brought to light what could be one of the first "fake encounter killings" in India-the Adivasi leader "Naxal Verghese" had been brutally shot by the state police during the Emergency, as the penitent policeman himself revealed in a letter handed over to Madhyamam. Madhyamam Weekly has reshaped the reading habits of the Malayali by highlighting real issues as against sensational sob-stuff and soft porn. Varadya Madhyamam, the Sunday special, is a mix of culture, arts, literature and health. Kudumba Madhyamam is a regular pullout for the family. Veliccham is a weekly pullout, a treasure of knowledge and information, exclusively for the student community. Madhyamam Annual is a veritable cultural event for the Malayali. The comprehensive reference and source book on higher education, Vidya, is brought out annually, and is an acknowledged hit.
Extension and Social Outreach Services Veliccham Programme is a unique initiative that provides for a creative interface of the newspaper and the academic community. Under its banner, counselling and motivation classes are organised in schools. Competitions, seminars and exhibitions are also held. Under the Madhyamam Computer Club, platform is provided for the exchange of views; it is a global forum for IT-related activities, the first of its kind. It oversees the weekly feature titled 'Info- Madhyamam'. This is a favourite haunt of computer-savvy youngsters. Seminars, workshops, technical classes, exhibitions and study tours are organised. Madhyamam Computer Club also educates people about IT and e-ethics. It services a mailing group with an average of 1200 active members. The Club is live, online and offline. Madhyamam Health Care, inaugurated by Sri A K Antony, Chief Minister of Kerala in 2001, has provided the soothing touch to thousands of patients in need of treatment and surgery. With the partial withdrawal of the state from services including health care, treatment has become expensive. Our programme mobilises resources to provide for better prevention of diseases, greater awareness about health and health care and affordable treatment and surgery where necessary. The programme has a panel of 200-odd doctors offering advice and services; Madhyamam has also signed MoUs with nearly 300 super-speciality hospitals to provide affordable services to the needy. Over three crores of rupees have been spent so far, benefiting many thousands of patients.
Be With Us Madhyamam believes that journalism, like any other human endeavour, must distinguish between right and wrong. A newspaper must also give generous space to dissenting voices, and hold aloft the model of value-based journalism. God willing, it will continue to tread the same path. It has in its own small way proved a turning point in Malayalam journalism. It has to survive as the voice of the voiceless. So far it has braved several odds. Our appeal to you is-be with us, support us, correct us, so that true journalism and truth journalism will not die out.  |
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