Jaya Plus’s Coverage Of Tamil Nadu’s Current Crisis Is Skewed

The political melodrama unfolding in Tamil Nadu (TN) has almost reached its climax. Yesterday, eight days into a political deadlock, the Supreme Court pronounced Chief Minister-hopeful VK Sasikala and two of her relatives — her nephew Sudhakaran and sister-in-law Ilavarasai — guilty in the 20-year-old disproportionate assets case. 

Trying to make sense of all the political clamour and legal developments, the media has broadcast voices from the Sasikala and O Panneerselvam (OPS) camps. The national and local media brought us each and every development, now matter how bizarre, in the OPS versus Sasikala drama. Speaking to Newslaundry, television anchor and political analyst Sumanth C Raman said, “Seventy five per cent of the media gave a reasonably balanced view of the current situation. But some channels have gone pro-Sasikala.”

One of those channels is Jaya Plus.

From the very first day when Panneerselvam rattled the calm by revealing he had resigned his post under duress, Jayalalithaa-founded Jaya Plus remained seemingly oblivious to this tremendous announcement. The channel evidently had its representative at Marina beach on February 7, when OPS presented his statement to the media, but it chose to not include him in their telecast.

A Jaya Plus microphone can clearly be seen in the above screenshot from Thanthi TV. According to a Jaya Plus source who requested anonymity, the microphone was held by the driver of the channel’s outdoor broadcast (OB) van. We weren’t the only ones to notice this.  

While the rest of the country was glued to OPS, Jaya Plus viewers were treated to Dr C Vijayabaskar, the Health Minister of the state discussing swine flu.

For the reporters of Jaya Plus, covering a significant event is fairly obvious. Speaking to Newslaundry, the same source told us, “The reporting team and the editorial team have different heads. Hence, we don’t know what goes on air, it is completely up to the edit team.”

Shifting loyalties?

The popular image of OPS has been that of a man prostrating himself before Amma or with her picture visible through his neatly-starched, translucent shirt pocket. The first time OPS was asked to step in for then chief minister Jayalalithaa was in 2001. This happened again in 2014 and finally in December 2016, after her demise. Given the significance of his relationship with Amma, Jaya Plus‘s conscious decision to exclude him from the narrative is significant.

According to an article in the Business Standard, Sasikala owns 80 per cent shares in Mavis Satcom, the company that owns Jaya Plus. The report says she claimed a 75.8 per cent stake while serving a jail term (with Amma) in 2014. The shares were transferred from existing directors of the company, Venkatesh and Maruthappa Palanivelu, increasing her stake to 80 per cent. 

However, records of the company on the website of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs suggest that though there was a transfer of a majority of shares, Sasikala still isn’t one of the directors of the company. 

Speaking to Newslaundry, Raman said that even during Amma’s reign, Sasikala’s ‘Mannargudi family’ was running the channel. “TTV Dinakaran’s wife Anuradha used to look after the channel, Dinakaran is Sasikala’s nephew,” he said. “The channel has always been controlled by them.”

Yesterday, Jaya Plus utterly buried its head in the sand in response to Sasikala’s conviction. While other television channels dedicated all their coverage to the verdict, Jaya Plus aired a cookery show on — wait for it — how to make the perfect paneer pulav.

The end of that segment was followed by an exclusive press conference held by Sasikala at the Koovathur resort where the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MLAs are not under siege, but voluntarily staying put. This is when she named Edappadi K Palanisamy as the new party leader while expelling OPS. There was no anchor or reporter providing commentary. All viewers saw were “breaking news” plates. 

(Translation: O Panneerselvam has been removed from the party for flouting party guidelines.)

(Translation: K Palanisamy has been chosen as the legislative party leader of AIADMK.)

Note the time stamp. Fifteen minutes later, it was the same plate, announcing Palanisamy’s appointment. Raman told Newslaundry that this obfuscation is a normal practice in Tamil Nadu. “Even during election results, if a party is losing, their respective channels start showing movies,” he said.

All major parties in TN have a media mouthpiece. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the opposition party in TN, has Kalaignar TV and Sun News. Captain TV was founded by Vijaykanth of Desiya Murpoku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK). 

Today, even as Chinnamma left for Bengaluru’s Parapana Agrahara jail, the mics of Jaya TV  most keenly picked up chants of “Chinnamma Vazhgai” (Long live Chinnamma) or “Dhrohi Panneerselvam” (Traitor OPS).

Update: The piece had erroneously stated that Makkal TV is owned by DMK. The channel was founded by Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader Ramadoss. We regret the error.