(S.R.Seshu)
May be due to the blind business-political rivalry or dictates from the powers-that-be, almost all newspapers blocked yesterday’s protest rally undertook by scores of journalists before submitting a memorandum to the Governor against the blockade of Sakshi news channel by Andhra Pradesh government.
The host, Sakshi newspaper, only allocated half page space on page-5 in the main edition for a story and two big pictures under the headline ‘Mediyaaku sankellaa…siggu..siggu..(Shame, shame…chains to media freedom). It made eight separate boxes to air the voices of senior journalists like Varadachary, Ramachandra Murthy, Amar, Sreenivasa Reddy, Sailesh Reddy, Amarnath and last but not the least, Kommineni Srinivasa Rao, who recently joined Sakshi TV channel to continue his popular live show due to the arm-twisting by the AP government. The same story was prominently published in Sakshi’s Andhra Pradesh edition on the front page.
Sakshi’s rival and TDP’s alter-ego, Eenadu, relegated the news bit to page-15 of the Hyderabad district mini with a black and white photo. There is no coverage in Andhra Jyothi, whose channel (ABN-Andhra Jyothi) was blocked-out by the Telangana government for about a year. Apart from Namaste Telangana, the leading English newspapers, The Hindu, Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle too didn’t publish anything on journalists’ protest rally. Except Sakshi, no news channel dedicated much air space for the well-attended protest rally.
It clearly indicates that it is a deliberate attempt by the managements or editors to hush up the event, which otherwise would have occupied decent space along with striking photographs of slogan-shouting journalists. It is surprising that the newspaper revered for its impartial, objective and ethical journalism, The Hindu, too joined the bandwagon to block out the news!
The rally proceeded from Press Club to Raj Bhavan where the senior editors led by Sakshi Media Group Editorial Director, K.Ramachandra Murthy, submitted a memorandum to the Governor ESL Narasimhan urging him to intervene and take action against the AP government.
K. Ramchandra Murthy said blocking out a TV channel for exposing government’s misdeeds is a clear act of anarchy and all democratic forces should unanimously oppose it. “If we do not resist this kind of actions of governments, it can happen to any other media and in any other state in the country which will adversely affect the people in general,” Mr. Murthy said. Indian Journalists Union (IJU) leader Devulapalli Amar said the matter will be pursued with the Press Council of India.
The absence of editors-K.Srinivas (Andhra Jyothi), Katta Sekhar Reddy (Namaste Telangana) and K.Srinivas Reddy (Telangana Today) is quite conspicuous during the protest rally. Another fiery former Editor and the Press Academy of Telangana Chairman Allam Narayana too bunked the event.
We are not sure whether the newspapers didn’t carry anything about the rally fearing a backlash from the AP government. “Mr.Ramachandra Murthy personally called senior editors and journalists to invite them to take part in the protest rally. We are shocked to see no coverage in the mainstream media. The AP government might have issued a fatwa against publishing the news related to the protest,” a senior journalist observed.
Maintaining journalistic standards, however, The Hans India being edited by Journalism Educator Prof.K.Nageshwar, published a small four column bit without a photo on page-5 (see the clipping in this story) under a matter of fact headline, ‘Journo Unions seek Guv’s Intervention.’
However, The Hans India committed a cheap trick. It didn’t mention the name of K.Ramachandra Murthy, who had launched the newspaper when he was with the Kapil Group, in the report. OMG, dogs are eating dogs in Hyderabad media!
