The Times Group has decided to shut down the publishing of the Pune Mirror due to the economic crisis precipitated by the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic and will relaunch Mumbai Mirror as a weekly. They will, however, continue to maintain a digital presence.
Pune Mirror shuts down.. #MumbaiMirror to become a weekly edition. A sad day 🙁
— Tanvi Shukla (@tanvishukla) December 5, 2020
The Times Group said in an official communication, “Sadly, just as the pandemic, lockdown and unprecedented economic crisis have laid low many great ideas and initiatives before they could fully take root, they came as a body blow for the still-young brand. Not only has the newspaper industry been among the hardest-hit in terms of revenues, it has been weighed down by an import duty that has added to newsprint costs.”
“With the long-held hope of a stimulus not materializing and the Indian economy now officially in recession, it is with a heavy heart that the group has decided to cease publication of Mirror in Pune and relaunch Mumbai Mirror as a weekly. They will, however, continue to have a strong digital presence,” it added.
The statement said further, “Following months of discussions and deliberations, we have made this extremely difficult and painful decision to recalibrate our portfolio of publications. We truly value the contribution of our journalists and other staff towards building such a strong brand in a relatively short time and thank them for their hard work and great effort.”
Media houses have been laying off employees ever since the economic crisis hit following the lockdown measures that were adopted to curb the spread of the virus. Earlier, India Today had decided to shut down the Mail Today tabloid and laid off its employees. In April, leftist website The Quint sent 45 employees on indefinite leave. In June, The Hindu shut down its Mumbai edition and asked several of its employees to resign effective immediately. According to several reports in different media outlets, around 410 journalists lost their job till mid-June due to Covid-19 pandemic.
