Ban on Jagan’s (sakshi)Saakshi channel by Chandrababu
S.R.Seshu
The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu has apparently taken a leaf from his Telangana counterpart’s book in dealing with rival media houses. Babu is world-famous for his media friendly approach but he took a tough stand against Saakshi channel, owned by the opposition leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy, in the wake of Kapunadu leader Mudragada Padmanabham’s agitation.
Journalists took to streets against the ‘dictatorial attitude’ of the Andhra Pradesh government and launched a tirade against Babu. Saakshi channel is firing all cylinders against the ‘gruesome attack on the fourth estate’ and Journalist Union leader-turned-Saakshi anchor Devulapalli Amar and his good friends in the media are blasting this “barbaric act of throttling media.”
A few months ago, the Telugu Desam government allegedly tried to block out N-TV, which allowed its Chief Editor Mr.Kommineni Srinivasa Rao (KSR), Babu’s friend-turned-foe, to rap the government across the knuckles in a live show every morning. As the popularity of the live show is zooming through, Babu felt the heat and pushed the N-TV management to withdraw Kommineni’s show. It was the first sign of intolerance against media by the TDP government after coming to power. A day after Kommineni joined Sakshi channel to resume his show, the development’s in Mudragada’s home town forced the government to enforce the blockade against the channel.
Akin to the Telangana Rastra Samithi government, TDP regime too took the help of cable operators to implement the block out idea. It may be recalled that the cable operators of Telangana simply plugged out two channels (TV-9 and ABN-Andhra Jyothi) for going harsh on new legislators. Notwithstanding a series of protests by journalists and condemnation from the lovers of democracy across the nation, the ban remained same till judiciary intervened. On records, the TRS government is nothing to do with this anti-democratic act but it is anybody’s guess who was behind the cable operators!
When agitations like Kapunadu is on the rise, the governments should divert the attention of people and journalists. Hence, the best way is to gag media. “Once media is gagged, the entire attention will be on freedom of press. In this process, the real issue gets sidelined or diluted. That is exactly what is happening in AP now,” an analyst said suggesting us to read the statements of leaders like Jagan Mohan Reddy and Chiranjeevi.
“Leaders are forced to talk about the attack on media freedom first. Then comes the real issue of Kapus, who once realigned to capture the political power. We should understand that there is a grand master political plan behind media gagging everywhere,” he observed. We can’t fully support this version, which looks to be skewed, but it is indeed an angle to study/understand the political developments in both the States.
