Chiru to have a news channel soon?

Will Praja Rajyam Party own or run a news channel of its own? Rumour mills have churned it out several times that Praja Rajyam Party had been contemplating the launch of an exclusive news channel or a newspaper to voice its concerns and focus its activities.

The PRP hogged extensive media limelight ever since the party was launched and its supremo entered the electoral politics. However, the party’s drubbing at the hustings and the intra-party bickering slowly came to the surface and the party became a hot target of criticism from several quarters.

The Monday’s attack of ABN channel office and its employees by PRP activists drew large-scale condemnation in media circles. However, the PRP attack followed adverse publicity given by the ABN channel and its print media device, the Andhra Jyothi newspaper which analysed the paucity of funds affecting the day-today functioning of the Praja Rajyam Party.

The media was vertically divided over the justifiability of the attack. The PRP’s ire over the adverse publicity was discernible when the party did not have a strong media weapon to project its viewpoints.

It is well known that the Chiranjeevi family has a minority stake in the Maa TV and the news channel could have been used to highlight the PRP activities. The license for the news channel was obtained a year ago and the Maa TV owners had no objection to lease the channel to Chiranjeevi’s  family, it was learnt. But party insiders have realized that the entertainment channel could not  be used for political purposes to a great extent.

However, the PRP top-brass on Tuesday decided to own and launch an exclusive television news channel, which can propagate the party’s ideology and disseminate the party activities across the state. It was rumored earlier that Chiranjeevi could launch T channel with K Ramachandra Murthy as its head as Murthy has been associated with Andhra Jyothi.

 The core committee members of the party felt the need to own a publicity mechanism which can actually provide adequate coverage to PRP’s political campaigns and road-shows. There are several news channels such as ETV, TV-N and Sakshi TV which are associated with certain political parties or groups.

The PRP leaders have suggested the launch of an exclusive PRP channel within two months if all goes well.