At a time when jobs are difficult to come by and salary reductions have cut into most salaried class’ budgets since last year, there’s some good news today. No, we are not talking about the new channel from the India Today Group (Good News Today), but a letter from owner-founder of the organization, Aroon Purie, to his colleagues in the print media business of the group.

“Over and above the Ex-Gratia Award given recently, I have decided that salary reductions for all LMI staff shall be reversed, effective September 1st, 2021, Purie, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, India Today Group, said in an internal communication to Living Media India (LMI) staff .

LMI is the company that operates the ITG’s print magazines, including the iconic India Today.

Pointing out that the reduction of salaries, which the group was compelled to implement in June 2020, was the “most painful decision” he had to make in the 46 years he had worked in India Today, the maverick Chairman explained that the pandemic had sucked out all advertising revenue from the print media business.

“With the economy contracting, advertising, our primary source of revenue, virtually collapsed, plus distribution was impacted due to corona lockdowns. The only way to survive was to reduce costs. I thank everyone for working together through the crises undeterred,” he wrote in an emotional mail, which has been reviewed byIndianbroadcastingworld.com.

Going on further to laud the team, Purie said, “You have shown courage, resourcefulness, forbearance, and ingenuity. We have not missed a single issue and maintained the quality our readers expect from us. While we are nowhere near pre-COVID levels or expect to be there in the foreseeable future, we must move on and adjust to a new reality. I have faith in our strong brands, content, our team’s belief in the magazine, and our will to succeed.

Expecting more advertisers to see the value and return to repose their faith in the group magazines, Purie said, “I am particularly pleased with this announcement because India Today is very precious to me. I always want the best for it. Despite the churn in the media landscape, magazine stories have a profound and lasting impact. Advertisers see that too. I hope more will.

“I am pleased to note that we have lived up to what I said in a letter from the Editor on our 25th anniversary, ‘Men age, magazines don’t’. The good times will return. They have to. We will all then progress and prosper with our magazines,” he concluded and thanked all staff for their commitment.”

The ITG group has recently made some high-profile journalistic appointments for its magazines.