Kerala newspaper, news agency non-journalists confederation formed

Kochi, Apr 9 (UNI) A state-level association of the non-journalists working in newspapers and the news agencies, called the 'Kerala Newspaper Employees Federation-News Agency Confederation', was formed here today.

Inaugurating the confederation, Mr Sebastin Paul, MP, said that the confederation was a necessity as the atmosphere had changed much in the recent times.

''In the media industry, newspaper owners are now recruiting employees on contracts and outsourcing is also coming in. In this situation, a confederation like this was a necessity for realising the various demands of the empoloyees,'' Mr Paul said.

The confederation would bring the Kerala Newspaper Employees Federation (KNEF), the Kerala UNI Staff Association, the Kerala UNI Employees Union and the PTI Employees Union on to a common platform.

KNEF general secretary V Balagopal, KNEF president K N Lathanathan, HMS national president Thamban Thomas and KUWJ general secretary N Padmanabhan were also present.

A 15-member state committee of the confederation was formed with Mr R Madana Mohanan Nair (PTI) as president and P Dinakaran (Mathrubhumi) as general secretary. The other members are Gopan Nambat (Deshabhimani), V Sasidharan Nair (UNI), K S Sabu (Kerala Kaumudi), Vinod Kumar (UNI), Sivaprasad (UNI), Alfred D'Cunha (UNI), M V Varghese (PTI), James Kutty (Malayala Manorama), Kora C Kunnumpuram (Deepika), Vijayaraghavan (Chandrika), Kareem (Madhyamam) and Ajay Kumar (Indian Express).

UNI CGV ARC APA1707