Whenever there is an opportunity, YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy does not hesitate to name and shame the “yellow media” like Eenadu, Andhra Jyothy, TV5 etc, for running a negative campaign against his government and favouring the Telugu Desam Party.
But surprisingly, his own government officials do not hesitate to grant favours to one of these yellow media houses – Eenadu, notwithstanding the fact that it is an out-and-out anti-Jagan.
While there is a criticism that the Jagan government doles out massive advertisements to his own media house Sakshi, one can find that Eenadu is also equally getting the benefits.
One can understand giving advertisements to the print edition of Eenadu on par with Sakshi, because Eenadu is still the largest circulated daily and denying him an advertisement might lead to legal complications.
But there is no compulsion for the government to give advertisements even to the digital version of Eenadu.
Take for instance, the state mining department has recently issued an advertisement to Eenadu and Sakshi on supply of sand to the doorsteps of consumers.
According to sources, the cost of advertisement in the digital version of the daily was Rs 8 lakh per month, which is the highest rate charged by any media house(Only on Mobile). Yet, the department chose to give the ad to Eenadu digital version.
The readers can find negative stories against Jagan in the digital version of Eenadu and also a positive advertisement for Jagan beneath the same. This is highly ridiculous.
“When the TDP was in power, then chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu used to give advertisements in a big way to Eenadu, but deny the same to Sakshi, which was also a highly circulated daily. Why should Jagan give ads to Eenadu now?” a YSRC activist asked.
He said the Information and Public Relations department has been completely messing up with advertisement policy.
“With the amount being spent on costly advertisements in Eenadu, the government can encourage smaller papers and digital media by giving them business so that the government can get huge mileage,” he added.
