Getting ugly: media politics in AP
Projections that suit their regional political and business interests are high on the agenda of these channels.
It is futile to expect ethics at this point, says MADABHUSHI SRIDHAR.
The division of the state is bringing out the worst in the media in Andhra Pradesh. It is bias laced with sensationalism, conduct that displays no sense of judgment whatsoever.
A Congress leader Anam Vivekananda Reddy from Coastal Andhra, called upon people not to burn effigies, but to burn live figures. Go and burn them, he said, referring to K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and other Telangana leaders. The media did not condemn such incitment, instead they reported it. Even as they denounced KCR for the comment that some of employees have to go to the Andhra capital after the division.
Every day there are umpteen number of such examples of bias in the media. For a common man, there is a serious drought of ‘news’ while he is subjected to flood of one sided ‘views’ by the biased electronic media in ‘to be divided’ Andhra Pradesh. Like all political parties, the electronic media and Telugu newspapers are also split vertically. Out of 24 TV channels 21 are in the hands of corporate and political giants. And just four channels (of which one is yet to establish itself ) belong to Telangana. Of the 21 only a few channels try to be neutral, but hardly objective. Imagine numerous channels dishing out anti-Telangana content, which can hardly be countered by the not-so-rich Telengana channels.
Projections that suit their regional political and business interests are high on the agenda of these media houses. It is futile to talk about ethics and legal regulations of media.
A Congress leader Anam Vivekananda Reddy from Coastal Andhra, called upon people not to burn effigies, but to burn live figures. Go and burn them, he said, referring to K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and other Telangana leaders. The media did not condemn such incitment, instead they reported it. Even as they denounced KCR for the comment that some of employees have to go to the Andhra capital after the division.
Every day there are umpteen number of such examples of bias in the media. For a common man, there is a serious drought of ‘news’ while he is subjected to flood of one sided ‘views’ by the biased electronic media in ‘to be divided’ Andhra Pradesh. Like all political parties, the electronic media and Telugu newspapers are also split vertically. Out of 24 TV channels 21 are in the hands of corporate and political giants. And just four channels (of which one is yet to establish itself ) belong to Telangana. Of the 21 only a few channels try to be neutral, but hardly objective. Imagine numerous channels dishing out anti-Telangana content, which can hardly be countered by the not-so-rich Telengana channels.
Projections that suit their regional political and business interests are high on the agenda of these media houses. It is futile to talk about ethics and legal regulations of media.
They also publish stories against each other and most of the times engage their time and space with mutual venom-spilling exercises. If Telangana is the issue they report against unitedly, on all the other occasions, they write against each other more on caste lines than on the lines of politics or parties. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Joint Action Committee (JAC) several times exposed the bias of the pro-Andhra channels which are determined not to give actual reports of the agitation. Those who speak against the agitation are given more ‘prime’ time and prominence.
Every word and sentence of TRS and JAC leaders constitute the theme of TV debates and the biased media on its own generates the content to ridicule, oppose, twist or misinterpret. This continued even after the July 30 declaration of Telangana. Now TRS and the JAC are questioning the media’s overenthusiastic and exaggerated presentation of the agitation. Undue highlighting or repeats or use of all techniques to maximise dharnas, bundhs, resignations, and destruction of statutes in Andhra since July 30 can be found. Burning of tyres and destruction of statues of Congress leaders are shown in close up, in slow motion and repeated, besides using them as clips for montages of news bulletins which is shown twice in every break.
After the Congress Working Committee (CWC) declared Telangana, all the channels in AP telecast live, the statement of Congress MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, reassuring anti-Telangana forces that Telangana would never come and the Bill introduced by the UPA government in Lok Sabha would be defeated. He also said that AP Assembly would defeat the Telangana Resolution. When the ‘Devil’s Advocate’ Karan Thapar asked whether the CWC was fooling the whole of India with the decision of Telangana, Lagadapati had nothing to say. Those who did not watch Karan Thaper’s show, were bombarded by the repeated showing of that ‘statement’ through almost all Telugu channels.
Lagadapati proclaimed, recently, that he would take political renunciation if Congress gives a nod to Telangana. Except for T News and T Daily, every other media has failed to remind him of his promise.
The Hindustan Times reported that the Leader of Opposition Chandrababu Naidu relentlessly tried to prevent Congress leaders from declaring Telangana state again (the earlier declaration was on December 10, 2009) on July 30 in return for saving the Kiran Kumar government for the last two years.
The ‘leak’ strategy
The most interesting part of the entire episode of ‘division of Andhra Pradesh’ during the last week of July was the ‘leak’ strategy adopted by Congress high command before the actual announcement. This has ignited hundreds of heated debates in TV studios (but not in the Legislative Assembly). The powers that be tested through the media the likely ‘reactions’ to their propositions, and altered them till the resolution was finalized in the CWC.
Another story that was ‘leaked’ was the Centre’s proposal of ‘Rayala Telangana’ state, i.e., creating a state with ten Telangana districts plus two (Ananthapur and Kurnool) from the four Rayalaseema districts- while Kadapa and Chittoor were to be tagged on to Coastal Andhra after division. The leaks provoked Rayalaseema leaders who as a result made angry statements against splitting of their region. There was neither a demand nor a reason behind the bifurcation of Rayalaseema. It was considered as a vote-linked strategy to weaken the strength of the YSR Congress Party and the Telugu Desham Party. Another purpose of this ‘leak’ could be to engage people in an unnecessary debate and mentally prepare them for division of Andhra Pradesh.
The Economic Times wrote that ‘Rayala Telangana’ was a clandestine proposal by the Reddys to dominate Telangana (Reddys constitute 8% of the population but they have been in power for most of the six decades). The feudal Reddy Zamindars of Telangana and factionist feudal landlord Reddy politicians (mostly in Congress and YSRCP) from Rayalaseema wanted to dominate the politics of prospective Telangana state. Local media did not address this issue at all. The Hindu reported on August 3, that Rayala-Telangana is still not ruled out and that the AICC struck a secret deal on Rayala Telangana.
TDP’s ban on a section of media
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Chandrababu Naidu, who was once considered an efficient manager of the media relations, has banned (On June 13, 2013) Sakshi newspaper, its TV channel (belonging to YS Jaganmohan Reddy), Namasthe Telangana daily and T News Channel, which favour Telangana, from covering the TDP programs. The TDP leadership says they were fed up with the non stop tirade and campaigns by these media houses owned by political parties. “These media men attack us as if they are whole time representatives of the political entities which own them. In garb of media, they act like political activists who are devoted to serve the political designs of their masters”, the TDP said.
Struggling since 1956, the people of Telangana though caught between broken promises, unimplemented Presidential Orders, unending agitations and highly hostile Seemandhra politicians including their media, hope to realise their dream of Telangana.
Madabhushi Sridhar is Professor & Coordinator, Center for Media Law & Public Policy, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad.