TELANGANA AGITATION - TELUGU MEDIA'S ACTIVIST ROLE

Dr Marri Channa Reddy might have been lucky to have had two stints as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, while at the same time, he was quite unlucky, if one believes in the concept of luck that is, when he led a violent agitation in the late sixties for separate statehood for Telangana. Though Reddy’s agitation took the lives of hundreds of students ruining the academic career of thousands, Dr Reddy did not achieve his goal.

Was it because he was an inefficient leader? Far from it. He was a most dynamic leader of his time, political strategist, not one with his tongue firmly placed in his cheek, steady and full of fire. He might have had some weaknesses, but hypocrisy is not one among them. In a way, he is just the antonym of the TRS chief K Chandrasekara Rao.

Why then did Reddy fail though it is too early to say about the success or failure of KCR?

In the late sixties there were no television channels to give live coverage of all the events big or small. There was only Deccan Chronicle group which also published Andhra Bhoomi from Hyderabad. Telugu dailies like Andhra Prabha or Andhra Patrika or Andhra Jyoti were being published either from Chennai or Vjayawada. There was no gully-to-gully coverage of events, nor were there mini supplements for each and every district and for different regions in the metro to give extensive coverage to the agitation. That is why, chief minister Rosaiah has expressed his concern over the “over-enthusiasm of the media” (Athi Uthsaham) in covering the present agitation.
So, KCR is very lucky, unlike his preceding agitator, to have nearly 15 television channels covering every “act” of the agitation “live” as if nothing else is happening in the world. Additionally, we have nine Telugu dailies which might have combined readership of atleast three crores, not only providing oxygen to the agitation, but fanning the fire as well.

Switch on any Telugu news channel at any point of time, you will find someone, never mind his political status, base or credibility, will be giving a lecture, those days of short bytes of 15/20secs duration are gone, ventilating his demand. The lectures would be repetition galore.

So long as KCR was in Khammam government hospital, the demand was for his shift to Warangal or Hyderabad. Once he was brought to Hyderabad, the demand was for Sonia to make a statement. This only confirmed the perception of atleast a section of the Congressmen that Rosaiah is an ineffective leader. Rosaiah was not in the reckoning even for the ordinary workers.

Press conferences from Telangana Bhavan are “live” whenever they take place irrespective of who addressed the press meet. As a result, even the grass root level worker of the TRS was hogging the limelight.

By thrusting the mike on anyone and everyone found among a group of agitators, the channels were only spreading rumours about KCR’s health. Every one who had a pink shirt or khandwa was interviewed for the non-stop coverage and their only talking point would be a warning to the state government or outbursts against “Andhra officers”. The word “Andhra” became a pejorative term. It was taken to ridiculous proportions when TRS MLAs attributed motives to the doctors at Khammam hospital because they were perceived to be from Andhra region. Such divisive statements went on air unchallenged by the media. There was no time for the media to do very simple verification of facts as they were otherwise busy in “ live” coverage of agitation from as many spots as possible so that there was extensive coverage to provoke people in the name of “sentiment”. No channel had the time to tell the viewer as to what happened to the “sentiment” at the time of general elections and when KCR decided to stay away from the GHMC polls.

Though the government was found napping in the initial days, it started issuing health bulletins and the director of NIMS would say that KCR’s condition was stable. But neither the activists nor the reporters would pay any heed to those bulletins. They would come back to their own conclusion that KCR’s health has deteriorated and that if something happens to him, the entire state would be on fire.

Channels were also spreading “lies” that KCR slipped into coma through the bytes of man on the street. It was nothing but professional stupidity for a reporter to ask a bystander about KCR’s health even after relaying the official health bulletins. A reporter asked the NIMS director what would happen to KCR after two days. Probably, he wanted the director to say that it may worsen so that it becomes a sensational headline and thus provoke the agitators. Look at this gem of a script from an anchor: KCR PARISTHITHI ANDOLAKARNGA MAROCHCHANI KONDARU NAMBDUTHUNNARU.

Yet another straight provocation came from a reporter on the OU campus on Monday. Even as the Police were preparing themselves to evict the students from the campus, the reporter goes live to say that the government brought officers from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions to sabotage the students movement. The OU campus was described as “war zone”. Rapid Action Force does not belong to a region. Either it was sheer ignorance on the part of the reporting staff or pure malice.

Almost all the activists who were before the camera were just issuing threats that if a bill for separate Telangana was not introduced before 10th, entire state would be set on fire. Not satisfied with this, some even said that they won’t hesitate to kill people from the coast. It was absolutely unprofessional and irresponsible for the channels to air the bytes of bystanders especially when they were instigating violence. No channel was an exception to this unjournalistic conduct.

What stood as a pleasantly sharp contrast to the Telugu dailies (each daily was carrying atleast 50 pix everyday) and channels reportage was the coverage by English dailies published from Hyderabad. There was no attempt to sensationalise the events. On the contrary, one could notice the efforts to put things in perspective. Deccan Chronicle was the first daily to report the possible support the agitators were getting from Maoists, for which there was a protest in front of the office of the daily and burning of the effigy of its proprietor.

Times of India (Hyderabad) was another daily whose resident editor, Kingshuk Nag came out with a perspective piece (Is KCR riding a tiger he cannot get off?) Having lost his relevance in AP’s political firmament, KCR was trying to get his relevance back. This was the thrust of the story. He was on the dot when he compared KCR with Raju character in RK Narayan’s novel “Guide”. Though some may consider it uncharitable to KCR, it was nevertheless bold journalism.

New Indian Express resident editor GS Vasu also wrote an edit page article pointing out the mistakes committed by KCR in the past and stating that the police brutality on the Osmania University campus might come to his rescue to regain his lost credibility.

The television coverage of the Telangana agitation should be a case study for those who take to media research. It also highlights the urgent need for Broadcast Regulator. Television, as a mass medium, can play an extraordinary role in reaching the masses at the grass root level, especially when there is a tremendous growth in the number of channels. What is needed is less sensationalism with an eye on TRPs, and more objective and analytical coverage of events. Will they rise to the occasion?