A couple of days ago, a notice was put up on the notice board in Sakshi media office at Banjara Hills in the name of Editorial Director.
The content of the notice was that there should not be any deliberate negative stories against the Chandababu Naidu government; and if at all there are any, there should not be more than two a week. And there should be at least three to four positive stories to balance the negative stories. And there should not be more than three or four positive stories in favour of YSR Congress party.
The notice sent shockwaves among the employees of Sakshi media. Though the notice was removed by evening, it was a talking point among the employees. Apparently, the management (read Jaganmohan Reddy) is learnt to have felt that the newspaper should not look like a YSR Congress party pamphlet but take a neutral stand.
After all, money through government advertisements is very much essential in view of the financial crisis in the management.
There is no doubt that the newspaper should be neutral, but that does mean the management should declare it openly asking the staff not to write negative stories against the government. It has to play the role of the constructive opposition, exposing the irregularities in the government and its misrule.
In any case, most of the Telugu media in Andhra Pradesh has been blowing the trumpet of the Naidu government and Sakshi was the only media which had been writing boldly against the rampant corruption in the TDP rule. If Sakshi also throws up its hands, who will question Naidu?
