[Reader-list] Now, a saffron TV channel

[Britta Ohm]

Thanks for posting this, Subhash, how very interesting to see how open  
propaganda is not contradictory but inherent to the (questionable)  
democracy of economic liberalism.


Am 18.11.2010 um 16:00 schrieb Subhash:

> Now, a TV channel from saffron stable
> Harie, Nov 18, 2010, 05.28am IST
>
> HYDERABAD: If TV viewers in the state thought that there is an
> overkill of news channels projecting the political news and viewpoints
> of leading politicians and parties, the field might get a little more
> crowded in a few months time.
>
> Convinced that the idiot box is the route to political success and
> growth, state BJP president G Kishan Reddy too is all set to go live
> 24/7.
>
> Kishan Reddy told TOI that a TV news channel is on the cards but
> clarified that it will not be the mouthpiece of the BJP but more to
> project his agenda though it will be in sync with the party's to a
> large extent. "The channel is on course but still a few months away as
> there are several loose ends that needs to be tied up," he said.
>
> What sounds interesting is the appetite for risk by the young BJP
> president to project himself as a potential leader and venture into a
> domain that continuously bleeds owners revenue. That too at a time
> when the public is already exposed to 32 local TV channels. The
> minimum amount required to launch a channel would be about Rs 16 crore
> and can go up to about Rs 50 crore with the monthly operational cost
> hovering in the range of Rs 2 crore to Rs 10 crore. Kishan Reddy,
> however, was not willing to reveal the start-up or operational cost of
> his channel. It is not known whether the Reddy brothers from
> neighbouring Karnataka would have anything to do with the channel.
>
> Separatist party, Telangana Rashtra Samiti, has a dedicated news
> channel 'Raj News' to propagate the cause of Telangana, while other
> channels like Zee 24 Gantalu and HMTV are suspected of having a
> leaning towards Telangana.
> Though it supposedly began as a Congress mouthpiece, Sakshi TV became
> the voice of Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy. Other news channels like
> TV5, iNews and NTV too have a pro-Jagan slant.
>
> Besides active backing of channels like ETV, Mahaa TV and ABN Andhra
> Jyothy, the Telugu Desam Party has an exclusive channel in Studio N.
> Interestingly, Gemini News, owned by Sun Network, and the top-rated
> Telugu news channel TV9, for now, are not directly linked to any
> particular political party in the state. Praja Rajyam Party president
> K Chiranjeevi has a television channel of his own, Maa TV, but has
> abandoned its news division. It, however, promotes movies of
> Chiranjeevi and his family members in a big way.
>
> Given such background, Kishan Reddy's move to launch a TV channel
> doesn't really come as a big surprise, though it arouses enough
> curiosity on the kind of flavour it would adopt to make an entry with
> a bang.
>
> The BJP chief's aides said he has been working overtime to rope in
> like-minded people to make the channel a reality.
>
> "Kishan is testing the waters, especially when the Telangana movement
> has reached a critical phase. We also want to reach out to the people
> of Telangana region and spread word that BJP alone was the first
> political party to have made up its mind on the formation of a
> separate state and it was the only effective political alternative to
> the Congress party," an aide of the BJP president said.
>
> Read more: Now, a TV channel from saffron stable - The Times of India
> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Now-a-TV-channel-from-saffron-stable/articleshow/6944901.cms#ixzz15e8MZeHw
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---------------------------------------
Dr. Britta Ohm

Institute of Social Anthropology
University of Bern
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