Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar
Rao
It has been nearly four days that
two Telugu news channels - TV9 and
ABN - are off air in Telangana.
Reason: They annoyed the powers-
that-be with their programming last
week and the cable operators, miffed
at the manner in which Telangana
elected representatives were spoken
about, took them off air.
All through the Telangana agitation,
the TRS had huge issues with the
anti-Telangana and anti-TRS line
that many in the media fraternity
adopted. Their ire was directed
particularly at vernacular media -
both print and electronic - that were
owned by people from coastal
Andhra Pradesh. In fact, when the
state was bifurcated and
subsequently a TRS government was
elected, one of the biggest concerns
was the lack of a powerful pro-
Telangana media - both print and
electronic. I will come to that in just
a bit.
In this case, the satirical programme
that was aired on TV9, by the
admission of many of its own senior
staffers, crossed the line. The
language used for the MLAs of the
new Telangana Assembly was
derogatory, highly objectionable and
in bad taste. It spoke of how the
MLAs who were of the standard of
seeing touring talkies had been
elevated to the level of watching a
movie in a multiplex. It insinuated
that some of the legislators fumbled
while taking oath because they were
in high spirits. The tone and tenor
of the programme was that this
political establishment was
incapable of ruling a state.
Telangana Chief Minister K.
Chandrasekhar Rao was livid. And
perhaps understandably so. And like
most of his ilk, converted the barbs
into an attack on Telangana as a
whole. MLAs in the Assembly spoke
of moving a privilege motion against
the channel in spite of TV9
apologising for the programme's
content. But before any of that could
happen, operators took the decision
to pull the plug off the two
channels. It is anyone's guess about
whether it was a suo moto decision
or on the prodding of the powers-
that-be. ABN also bore the brunt
reportedly because of content critical
of the TRS.
What does this mean for the uneasy
relationship that exists between
much of the Telugu media and the
Telangana establishment? Two steps
back because the response of the
TRS has taken the confrontation to
one between institutions. One would
have expected the elected
representatives to respond more
maturely to situations. The Congress
and the TDP has now spoken against
the decision to blank out the
channels.
Yes, the self-righteous media started
this slander campaign but it could
have been blunted better by making
them apologise, say 20 times in a
day for a month. That would have
hurt their credibility much more
than pulling the plug. This makes
the common man on the street think
the government through the
operators is employing strong-arm
tactics.
The perception that has gained
ground is that TRS is sending a very
clear message. Mess with me at your
own risk. And that the next time,
any channel or publication will be
more than careful about what it
puts out.
A section of the TRS also believes
that in the absence of a strong
media that talks in its favour, a
perception will be built that the
residuary Andhra Pradesh state is
doing better under Chandrababu
Naidu, as compared to Telangana
under KCR. The game plan of such a
media exercise would be to pump up
TDP's chances in Telangana when
polls take place in 2019. The TRS is
trying to blunt that by ensuring it
starts its own newspaper at the
earliest.
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