Until a few years back, heads used to roll in media organisations when a news article was inaccurately reported. That used to come as part of the accountability of the fourth estate towards its noble work of disseminating news in its truest form. But what is happening in a section of the media, notoriously nicknamed as ‘yellow media’, especially with regard to Andhra Pradesh, simply suggests that there is no place anymore for such sublime practices.
Led by Eenadu and Andhra Jyothy, the crony media of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is dishing out a daily dose of venomous campaign against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan and his YSRCP government. Facts, truth and ground realities are hardly a yardstick for these pamphlet-like publications in their bluster campaign. For many years now, they are stooping so low in their vilification of YS Jagan that they no longer care for the plummeting trust and reputation in the public view. For this precise reason, Eenadu is even distributing its newspaper free of cost at several places. The motive behind this is to spread misinformation as rapidly as possible to as many people as they can, before the truth eventually prevails.
In one such latest attempt, Eenadu came up with a ‘stinker of news article’, alleging that a container truck illegally entered and exited the chief minister’s camp office in Tadepalli. Eenadu mischievously used the term ‘container’ to create a forced comparison in the readers’ minds with the recent drug bust in Visakhapatnam port. The writeup carried the headline ‘Endukocchindi.. Yem tecchindi?’ (Why did it come and what did it bring in?). An image of the truck making its way inside was also published as part of the article.
For obvious reasons, Eenadu’s report intended to insinuate that the so-called ‘container van’ smuggled in something suspicious. Within hours of the daily publishing the article, the iTDP hooligans went berserk on social media platforms, trying to tarnish YS Jagan and use the article for their advantage. Leading from the front was TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh, who tweeted, wondering why the police did not check the vehicle when it was heading inside the CM’s residence cum camp office. He asked if the container van was carrying the ‘Brazil stuff’ (inferring smuggled drugs from the South American country) or swindled liquor money or the files from secretariat for the purpose of hiding them.
But, like in every previous instance, it did not take too long for the truth to emerge and serve as a slap in the face for all the pro-TDP campaigners. The vehicle actually turned out to be the ‘pantry van’ that is used in the chief minister’s convoy to cater to the needs of the CM and his entourage. With YS Jagan set to embark on his 21-day-long ‘bus yatra’ under the title ‘Memantha Siddham’, the van was only carrying the requisite paraphernalia to the camp office.
The van had already proceeded to Allagadda where YS Jagan was embarking on his bus tour from Wednesday. Using CCTV footage, the police identified that it was the mischief of ETV reporting team which violated the rules, by filming the footage of the vehicle and then misusing it, by casting aspersions on its entry. The police are reported to be in plans to initiate action against the media team and the publication for spreading canards with no apparent basis.