The popular media outfits Sakshi, ABN and Eenadu directly accuse each other of being fake news peddlers and supports YSRCP, TDP respectively.
The media in Andhra Pradesh - Sakshi Vs Eenadu and ABN.
It’s no longer “between the lines” but “between the colours” in Andhra Pradesh. The news and views here have to be carefully elicited, as they are drowned in two colours – yellow and blue – respectively of the TDP and the YSRCP. The nexus between the regional dailies, television channels and the political parties is an open secret.
The leading daily, Eenadu, owned by Ch Ramoji Rao, tops the chart with 16-18 lakh estimated average copies per day. ABN, a popular TV channel, is owned by Vemuri Radhakrishna — both belong to a community associated with former chief minister and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, and has close ties with him.
Sakshi, a regional daily and TV channel, is the second-largest publication in terms of circulation, with approximately 10-12 lakh copies per day, is headed by YS Bharati, the wife of YSRCP chief and Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
It is common knowledge that it’s not just a fight between the political parties but also between these media houses. Not only do these media outfits directly accuse each other of being fake news peddlers, but they also take their fight to court.
In the run-up to elections, the situation becomes more interesting and concerning, with the conflict escalating.
An Andhra Jyoti photographer Krishna, who went to report on a political campaign of the YSRCP, Siddham, in Anantapur on 18 February this year, was brutally beaten up by the party cadre.
Two days later, the Eenadu office in Kurnool, which published an article against Panyam MLA Katasani Rambhupal Reddy, was attacked.
Naidu sent a letter to the DGP regarding the media attacks, while former TDP minister Bandaru Satyanarayana warned of retaliation against Sakshi media.
But, what are the deciding factors in the relationship between the parties and media? It is caste, money and political agenda.
Eenadu, founded in August 1974 by entrepreneur Ramoji Rao from the Kamma community, has largely occupied the media space, sidelining entrenched entities like Andhra Patrika, Andhra Prabha and Krishna Patrika.
Eight years later, Eenadu turned out to be a key factor in the rise of NTR, who founded the Telugu Desam Party in 1982 and came to power in just nine months.
Eenadu carried everything from NTR’s speeches to photographs, including his open-air baths and lunches on the roadside. On 5 January, 1983, Ramoji Rao published a signed editorial on the front page of Eenadu, openly appealing to the public to vote for TDP.
While other dailies struggled to cross the one lakh mark, Eenadu reached as many as five lakh copies in 1983 after NTR’s victory with the headline “Telugu Desam — A Super Hit!!”
NTR became the first non-Congress chief minister in the state. It is reported that the then prime minister Indira Gandhi quipped, “Who says NTR has won? It is Ramoji Rao who has won.”
Eenadu continued its association with NTR even during his Opposition years, particularly during the anti-arrack movement against the Congress in the 1990s.
The newspaper led a series of cartoons that gained popularity in creating awareness against liquor consumption. This campaign eventually helped the TDP secure the women’s vote as NTR included total prohibition in his manifesto for the December 1994 elections.
Ramoji Rao appealed to women as Shakti-swarupini — goddess Kanakadurga — urging them to slay the demon Saraasura — the liquor devils — by ousting the government that lacked the courage to announce total prohibition.
Within a month, NTR implemented the liquor ban in Andhra Pradesh. However, after 28 months, his successor and son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu lifted the ban, citing it as an impractical model for the state.
V Lakshmana Reddy, a retired professor and social activist who was part of the literacy movement and the anti-liquor movement, recalls how Eenadu took a U-turn in supporting Naidu when he lifted the ban. Ramoji Rao editorially described the lifting of prohibition as ‘A right decision at the right time.’
Eenadu also ran a series of cartoons against NTR, supporting Naidu’s coup against NTR. The cartoons portrayed NTR as a man swayed by his second wife, Lakshmi Parvathy, and mocked him for lacking individual decision-making abilities.
Ever since Naidu took the reins, Eenadu and Ramoji Rao have been seen aligning with him.
In a setback to Naidu, the YS Rajasekhar Reddy-led Congress was elected to power in the 2004 elections.
Eenadu acted as the mouthpiece for Naidu, and this is amplified by other media startups that gained prominence.
YSR, the then chief minister, even used to read out published copies of Eenadu and other media affiliated with TDP on the floor of the Assembly.
Notable television channels that supported Naidu and criticised the Congress government included ETV (part of Eenadu, started in 1995), ABN (started in 2009), TV5 (started in 2007 by Bollineni Rajagopala Naidu), and Mahaa News (started in 2012 by Inaganti Venkatarao).
A common factor among these media outlets, which incidentally supported Naidu and criticised the government, was caste. A blog by the Kamma community displayed the caste-held names of the heads of these media outlets.
YSR’s loyalist, then MP Undavalli Arun Kumar, even filed a case against Ramoji Rao in 2007, alleging the illegal collection of deposits in the name of Margadarsi Chit Funds.
In an appeal challenging the state government’s inquiry into financial fraud allegations citing attacks on journalists, the Supreme Court rejected Ramoji Rao’s plea, stating that he was wearing two hats — one as a newspaper owner and the other as the proprietor of a chit fund company.
Further, in a significant move, YS Rajasekhar Reddy launched a media house — Sakshi — in 2009, during his tenure as the chief minister, a month before the general elections.
Professor E Venkatesu from the Department of Political Science at the University of Hyderabad and a member of CSDS Lokniti stated that it was a dominant caste confrontation.
Since independence, the domination has been between two communities — the Reddys and the Kammas.
Read our earlier report on how members of two prominent families and communities are running four parties in Andhra Pradesh.
Venkatesu said: Initially, they fought for landholding and political power, and now, with changing times, they seek to retain power in media communications. Therefore, the battle of ‘agenda setting’ has been initiated by political parties in the media.
A setback occurred when YSR died in a chopper crash in September 2009.
After YSR’s demise, the paper began featuring the late chief minister’s picture along with the masthead. It started playing a crucial role, akin to that of Eenadu to NTR for YS Jagan, during his tussle with the Congress for the chief minister chair.
A week before Kiran Kumar Reddy’s swearing-in as chief minister on 19 November, 2010, Jagan’s Sakshi television channel aired a special programme called ‘Hastagatam,’ critical of the Congress and its leadership, Sonia Gandhi.
The on-screen titles posed questions about corruption charges plaguing the UPA government. A week later, YS Jagan resigned from the Congress, and Sakshi journalists extensively covered his campaigns.
Even as legal challenges emerged with investigating agencies and properties under ED attachment, Sakshi did not stop and continued propagating the injustice meted out to YSR’s family by Sonia Gandhi over the cases registered against YS Jagan after his departure from the Congress.
Since 2014, while being in Opposition, Sakshi continued to question various policies of Naidu, comparing them with YSR’s tenure.
It became a topic of contention with a series of articles written against TDP leaders, focusing on the purchase of lands in the proposed capital Amaravati and allegations of money laundering. These reports shook the government.
Sakshi received warnings of a takeover by the management from then TDP Finance Minister Yanamala Rama Krishnudu for its alleged malicious campaign against the government.
In response, Sakshi was banned from TDP-related events and advertisements. On the other hand, Eenadu, ABN, and other affiliated media houses continued to promote the proposed capital and debunk reports from Sakshi as fake.
Allegedly, Sakshi faced an unofficial ban in many rural areas by the government in nexus with local cable operators.
YS Jagan and his YSRCP barred TDP-affiliated media houses from entering press meets and events, alleging that they were distorting facts, including portraying empty chairs to suggest low attendance.
In the lead-up to the elections 2019, Sakshi published an article titled ‘Narakasura,’ on 17 March that year, showing Naidu holding an axe and holding that he was the person behind the death of YS Jagan’s uncle, YS Vivekananda Reddy.
Later, Vivekananda’s daughter, YS Sunita, accused her cousin Kadapa YSRCP MP Avinash Reddy of murdering her father for political reasons.
Following the 2019 elections, YS Jagan came to power and initiated legal action against Ramoji Rao in the Margadarsi Chit Funds case, filed by former MP Undavalli Arun Kumar. The Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (CID) is also investigating the case, with Ramoji Rao describing it as vindictive.
In retaliation to the earlier Sakshi ban, TV5 and ABN Andhra Jyoti were taken off-air in many places in the state. Managements alleged that their channels were assigned unfavourable channel numbers, in order to place Sakshi in a prominent position.
Eenadu even challenged the state government order issued in December 2022, granting a monthly allowance to employees and volunteers working with secretariats to subscribe to a newspaper.
During a campaign meeting on 18 February, 2024, YS Jagan accused TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, along with media outlets Eenadu, TV5, Maha News, and ABN, along with Pawan Kalyan, of launching a war against him.
S Nagesh Kumar, a senior journalist and former resident editor of The Hindu, as well as the former general secretary of the Andhra Union of Working Journalists, expressed concern about the influence of political funding and caste affiliations in Telugu media.
He emphasised the importance of media adhering to the principles of the fourth estate, including impartiality and objectivity.
He highlighted that media organisations like Sakshi or Eenadu, and their affiliates, should provide news as a sacred duty, presenting opinions in columns but avoiding the inclusion of twisted facts.
Dr CM Vinaya Kumar, Head of the Journalism Department at Andhra University, pointed out that media organisations with investors having political interests prioritise their management’s preferences over public interests when setting agendas.
Prof E Venkatesu echoed this sentiment, stating that in Andhra Pradesh, there is no neutral ground. Journalists are often compelled to take a stand either in favour of the TDP or the YSRCP due to factors such as advertisements and revenues.
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