The war between Eenadu and Sakshi occupies front seat pushing the other news to the inside pages.The immediate reason for this war has its roots in the Sakshi getting the 12.56 lakh circulation duly certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), which is currently headed by Ch Kiran, the MD of Eenadu. Now the difference between Sakshi and Eenadu is just 50,000 copies.
For all these years, perhaps for over two decades, Eenadu remained unchallengeable daily in the State with over 13 lakh circulation and holding the tag of “The Largest Circulated Daily in Andhra Pradesh”. The other papers, like Udayam, Andhra Jyothi, Andhra Prabha, Andhra Patrika, Andhra Bhoomi, could not compete with Eenadu and were far behind in circulation. It was something like the total circulation of all Telugu news papers put together was less than Eenadu alone. The survival of small papers became difficult and the government officials were frightened to release advertisements.
Whatever appeared in the paper became news and readers had to believe in that. There was no one to question the news that was carried in Eenadu. As an undisputable media house, Eenadu enjoyed the clout from every section in the State.
No police ever dared to enter into the establishments of Eenadu group. No Income Tax official ever tried to touch the files of the any of the Eenadu group companies. No Commercial Tax officer ever dared to look at the establishments belonged to the Eenadu group. No politician ever dared to question the Eenadu group. No rejoinder was published in Eenadu for several years.
This was how a man who sold pickles on a cycle in 1960s had emerged as the State’s strongest and richest person in three decades. Dozens of the cooperative banks were closed just to keep Margadarsi survive. It took a decade and a half for firms like Sri Ram Group to enter into financial services in the State, due to threats from Eenadu!
Now, in late 1990s, a Congress leader, Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, raised his voice. He tried to expose Eeandu and make public understand the nexus between Eenadu and Telugu Desam. Today, people are able to understand the relation between the TD and Eenadu.
Having exposed this relationship, Rajasekhar Reddy launched Sakshi, to counter Eenadu or give a second version to every news that appeared in Eenadu. In the beginning Sakshi acted as a paper that published rejoinders for Eenadu news.
Now, Sakshi has emerged as the nearest competitor, eating into the advertisement tariff. Those who were hit or beaten below the belt by Eenadu immediately backed Sakshi. They included investors, industrialists, employees, journalists, readers, newspaper agents, paper boys, advertisers and advertising agencies. All of them stood firmly behind Sakshi to hit at Eenadu’s monopoly. To certain extent, they have succeeded.
In the process, the two papers have earned the brand of being pamphlets to the political parties. Today, the situation is such that Sakshi can not pull itself away from Congress, while Eenadu can not wash off its pro-Telugu Desam brand. If they do so, it is for sure that they will die soon. Whether Ramoji Rao likes or dislikes, he has to keep Eenadu with the TD and whether Congress helps him or not, Jaganmohan Reddy will have to carry Congress over his shoulders.
Not many people are ready to buy what these two papers print as news. However, people read and enjoy the news that talks about the rival. Today, people are able to understand the backdoor activities of Eenadu and Sakshi.
The news about Eenadu in Sakshi or vice versa has become great entertainment for the people these days and there is no one to respond. It is only a few fellow journalists who feel pity for the two media houses that are stooping down to throw mud at each other. In the process, the two media houses are in the cesspool, each trying to project the other has more dirt.It is good for the media if both the groups realize their mistake and come out of the septic tank from where they are penning their news today against each other.
