News Broadcasting
Reuters’ US scribes protest outsourcing to India
MUMBAI: The protest in the US against outsourcing is getting louder and angrier. A few days ago US employees of news organisation Reuters protested the outsourcing of editorial jobs to India.
Their union has begun its legal challenge to the company’s attempt to cover Wall Street from Bangalore.
The Newspaper Guild of New York’s charge is that offshoring US-based editorial jobs violates its contract with Reuters. The case will be heard before an independent arbitrator, whose decision is binding.
The case could take months to complete. As the lawyers square off, journalists and other employees picketed Reuters US headquarters in Times Square and other US bureaus at lunchtime. Their aim was to call attention to the dispute.
New York Guild president Barry Lipton says, “Instead of focusing on producing the highest quality news, Reuters is now focussed on producing the cheapest news. This change is not just bad for our members, it’s bad for Reuters and its clients.”
The Guild states that it had alerted Reuters managers last August that the exportation of jobs violated their contract. However, the London-based news and information company went ahead with its plans to expand its Bangalore-based editorial staff that was set up to write about American companies and other selected US financial news.
Lipton adds, “This is remote-control journalism, with low-paid reporters in India writing US news to US editors. It produces a cheaper product but adds no value to stories with reporting at the source.” Although no Guild-covered employees have lost jobs to offshore outsourcing to date, that could change in a few weeks with the Reuters’ plans to move other US-based editorial jobs to Canada and Singapore.
The exportation of New York-based reporting jobs to Bangalore comes just a few years after Reuters built its Times Square office tower and received millions of dollars in tax breaks by agreeing to retain and increase jobs in the city. The Guild and Reuters have been in contract negotiations for more than two years, with management seeking to slash healthcare coverage, retirement benefits and job security.
Reuters reporters in Bangalore are mostly responsible for extracting basic financial information from company news releases and quarterly earnings reports. Tasks like interviewing a company president, talking to analysts and covering breaking news, will continue to be done by more experienced journalists working in the countries where those companies operate.
News Broadcasting
Network18 Q4 revenue grows 9.7 per cent, EBITDA at Rs 30 crore
PAT improves to Rs 306.6 crore, margins steady amid cost pressures.
MUMBAI: Not all news is breaking, some of it is quietly improving. Network18 Media & Investments Limited appears to be doing just that, tightening losses and stabilising margins even as costs continue to weigh on the business. For FY26, the company reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,955.1 crore, up from Rs 1,896.2 crore in FY25, signalling modest top-line growth in a challenging media environment. Total income stood at Rs 1,978.2 crore, compared to Rs 1,913 crore a year earlier.
Profit after tax came in at Rs 306.6 crore for the year, a sharp turnaround from Rs 3,225.4 crore in FY25, largely reflecting the absence of large exceptional items that had inflated the previous year’s numbers. On a more comparable basis, the company’s operating performance showed signs of gradual stabilisation.
However, the quarterly picture remained under pressure. For the March quarter, Network18 reported a loss of Rs 53.1 crore, narrower than the Rs 98.1 crore loss in the same period last year, but still indicative of ongoing cost challenges.
Expenses continued to track high. Total expenses for FY26 stood at Rs 2,235.7 crore, up from Rs 2,197.8 crore in FY25. Key cost heads included operational expenses of Rs 765.9 crore, employee benefits of Rs 475.9 crore, and marketing, distribution and promotional spends of Rs 427.1 crore, underlining the continued investment required to sustain reach and engagement.
At an operating level, margins remained under strain. Operating margin stood at 2.33 per cent for FY26, marginally higher than 1.77 per cent in FY25, while net profit margin remained negative at -13.02 per cent, though improved from -14.89 per cent.
On the balance sheet, total assets rose to Rs 8,957.6 crore as of 31 March 2026, from Rs 8,317.5 crore a year earlier. Equity strengthened to Rs 4,958.7 crore, while borrowings increased to Rs 3,112.8 crore, reflecting a higher reliance on debt to support operations.
Cash flows told a mixed story. While financing activities generated Rs 83.9 crore, operating cash flow remained negative at Rs -24 crore, highlighting ongoing pressure on core cash generation. Cash and cash equivalents, however, improved to Rs 33.9 crore from Rs 1.8 crore.
The numbers point to a company in transition growing revenues, trimming losses, but still grappling with structural cost pressures. In a sector where scale often comes at a price, Network18 seems to be inching towards balance, one quarter at a time.
