Vaiko joins Tamil Nadu TV war with own infotainment channel
SOUTHERN SPICE MDMK chief says channel will ensure that his views are carried ‘faithfully’
It (channel) worsens an already fragmented audience...They are already divided on line of language, between Tamil and English news – now political parties have captured mouthpieces which talk to people in terms of caste, ethnicity, political leanings
CHENNAI: MDMK leader Vaiko announced on Monday that he will launch a new TV channel, Madhimugam (derived from the Tamil italicisation of the party’s name, Ma Thi Mu Ka) so that his views could be “faithfully carried as we do not get adequate coverage in mainstream media.”
The channel would be a combination of both entertainment and news, he added: A difficult prospect given the plethora of other political channels, such as Sun TV and Jaya TV.
“It’s a form of political capitalism,” says Sashi Kumar, a veteran journalist and founder of Asianet. “Because all news channels in the state are allied to one political party or the other, you never get to know what the truth is.”
The fact that they are run by political parties, Kumar argues, means their broadcasts only amount to propaganda. “If you watch Jaya TV (owned by the AIADMK) and Sun TV (owned by DMK patriarch Karunanidhi’s grand-nephew, Kalanithi Maran) it sometimes looks like they are talking to each other, rather than the viewers.”
During last year’s devastating floods, for example, the contrast between channels affiliated to the two main parties was striking.
Kalaignar TV’s anchors repeated that the “government SASHI KUMAR, Veteran journalist and founder of Asianet
had done nothing” — a common criticism over Jayalalithaa’s perceived indifference and inaction during the floods.
Jaya TV, on the other hand, ran with headlines such as “Chennaiyil mazhai nivarana” (Rain relief in Chennai), with bulletins stating that AIADMK party workers were assisting in relief efforts.
“It worsens an already fragmented audience,” Kumar argues. “They are already divided on line of language, between Tamil and English news — now political parties have captured mouthpieces which talk to people in terms of caste, ethnicity, and political
leanings.”
The MDMK are just the latest example of a political party launching a channel.
Dr Ramadoss’s caste-based PMK owns Makkal TV, the Congress runs Vasanth and Mega TV, while the BJP owns Lotus TV.
Thol Thirumavalavan’s VCK owns Velicham TV, which is a cable only channel, while the Naam Tamilar Katchi, an ultranationalist party modeled along the lines of the Shiv Sena, runs Tamilan TV.
According to the Broadcast Audience Research Council private Tamil news channels are the market leaders in the state.