Hindu Editor Malini resigns, Suresh Nambath takes over

Chennai: Malini Parthasarathy, Editor of The Hindu, has resigned. The management has appointed its National Editor Suresh Nambath as the interim editor of the newspaper.

Malini Parthasarathy has confirmed her resignation.

Meanwhile, chairman of The Hindu Board of Directors N Ram said Malini Parthasarathy had tendered her resignation which was accepted by the Board. Until a suitable replacement was found,  Suresh Nambath, as interim editor, will take care of the day-to-day affairs of the paper, Ram added. .

Sources said that one of the reasons for differences between Malini and The Hindu board was the way their Mumbai edition was launched recently and the expenditure incurred then.

In her letter to colleagues, Malini stated,

“Dear colleagues,
In view of the strong feedback I have been receiving on "general dissatisfaction" with my performance as Editor these last 11 months, I hereby resign from the post of Editor, The Hindu, with immediate effect.
I also want to place on record my deep disappointment that my performance has been judged so harshly within such a short span of time, without any cognisance of the landmark initiatives in my tenure- the launch of the Mumbai edition and the total upscaling of editorial content. I have also put in place strong talent-driven and experienced teams in different centres.
I leave with a sense of pride and satisfaction that I have consistently upheld basic journalistic values.
 
I will continue to serve as a Wholetime Director. 
 
Sincerely
Malini Parthasarathy"

In the last few years, The Hindu group activities have been marked by internal strife and some high profile resignations including that of Rahul Pandita, the Op-Ed page Editor. He resigned within a year of joining The Hindu. He alleged that Malini interfered with his working and that there was “absolutely no freedom for the current editors”. 

In July 2014, the Hindu’s Rural Affairs Editor P Sainath and Praveen Swami, the newspaper’s Strategic Affairs Editor & Resident Editor in New Delhi, too had resigned.

The Hindu earlier appointed Siddharth Varadarajan, the newspaper's Delhi Bureau Chief as the Editor of The Hindu, with a view to professionalise the newspaper. Varadarajan resigned in October 2013, with the Board led by N Ram charged with not allowing professionals to run the newspaper.

Malini Parthasarathy was then made the Editor and N Ravi the Editor-in-Chief.

She took over officially as head of editorial operations on February 1, 2015 from N Ravi, who quit from his post on January 31. She was the newspaper's first woman editor.