HANDMAIDENS OF POLITICS

BY Vincent D Souza| IN Media Practice | 13/04/2002
HANDMAIDENS OF POLITICS

HANDMAIDENS OF POLITICS

The Indian state of Tamilnadu is becoming a classic case study of media bias. Sun TV and Jaya TV do not hide their compulsions at all. That they serve the interests of the DMK and the AIADMK is well known. But the fourth estate as a whole is biased against Chief Minister Jayalalitha who bears a strong animosity towards the press.</synopsis>

If the state-run Doordarshan is the propaganda handmaiden of the Indian Government, then in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, two private channels serve their political masters very well.

This had been demonstrated with élan in the run-up to the recent State Assembly elections in May, and now in the no-holds-barred confrontation between the ruling party, the AIADMK led by a former film actress, J, Jayalalitha, and the opposition DMK party, led by a veteran politician of 60 years experience, M. Karunanidhi.

Sun TV and Jaya TV do not hide their compulsions at all. That they serve the interests of the DMK and the AIADMK is known to everybody, even beyond the state’s boundaries.

The two channels come into their own when the call comes from their masters. Sun TV, with its early-starter advantage and clever programming, has made money while Jaya TV, (owned by members of the family of AIADMK Member of Parliament T T V Dinakaran who is related to Jayalalitha’s controversial best friend and aide, Sashikala), is still a mix of amateur and crass programming.

The cable TV channel war went into top gear during the Assembly elections in April May 2001 with utterly biased reportage. The war peaked following the coronation of Jayalalitha as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

A few instances of the unprofessional and biased reporting bordering on wilful provocation by Sun TV following the arrest of the DMK leader and former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, whom Jayalalitha succeeded last May

  • Footage showing Karunanidhi being roughed up and taken away are repeated many times over in the same section of a news bulletin. The bulletin is run almost every 30 minutes for over 3 hours on the day of the event (June 30, 2001).
  • The ‘other side’ story has no place in the reportage.
  • Anchors read out scripts that are completely biased and in some instances, personalized to the point of being opinionated and hectoring the audience.
  • The TV station puts out a phone number to enable people to ‘respond’ to the event. Though the anchor dissuades inflammatory comments and suggestions supposedly made by the general public, there is bias in the presentation.

That last move by Sun TV triggered the filing of a case by the City Commissioner charging the channel for inciting the public, causing ill-will and disharmony (under Sec.19 of Cable TV Regulation Act). A police team is said to have tried to force its way into the DMK headquarters which houses Sun TV operations in Madras city and threatened to stop the transmission. Police did not serve notice on other cable channels that telecast the ‘footage’.

Sun TV’s management (the CEO is Union Minister Murasoli Maran’s son Kalanidhi Maran) charged that the freedom of statement was being challenged. The phone-in option was taken off by Sun TV during the course of the day. The ‘arrest’ was the only news on the channel, viewers were made to believe.