CHENNAI — A copyright and content dispute has surfaced between prominent national dailies, with The Hindu publicly alleging that The Indian Express plagiarized substantial portions of an exclusive interview and used an copyrighted photograph without permission or attribution.
According to a public statement issued by The Hindu on November 5, the exclusive interview with actor Rishikanth was conducted by journalist Srinivasa Ramanujam at the publication’s Chennai headquarters and published on November 3, 2026. The newspaper alleged that The Indian Express subsequently rewrote major segments of the interview into its own report and reproduced an accompanying photograph taken by The Hindu‘s photographer, Thamodharan B., without consent or citation.
Emphasizing professional standards in its disclosure, The Hindu noted that while referencing exclusive reporting is accepted industry procedure, reproducing an entire story through reworded text and uncredited media constitutes a breach of journalistic ethics and copyright principles.
