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The joke among reporters in Tamil Nadu often went, “If you can be a journalist here, you can be a journalist anywhere.”
Information and communication – vital for any reporter to do his/her job – was largely restricted in the state, especially under the tenure of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. After all, it was a government that hardly ever spoke to the media, and therefore the public. And even if it did, it was only through press releases.
For years, Jayalalithaa and her administration remained off-limits to the press corps, with a gag-order imposed on ministers, legislators, party functionaries and bureaucrats. Inaccessible to the media until the very end, the former AIADMK supremo’s contempt for anyone who was critical of her regime was well-known.
But it’s been nearly seven months since Jayalalithaa passed away, and nearly five months since Edappadi Palaniswami was sworn in.
And while EPS may harp on about “running Amma’s government”, what of his regime’s relationship with the media? TNM spoke to a few journalists from Tamil Nadu, who have witnessed the transition of power up-close.
Unlike Jayalalithaa’s tenure, most journalists admit that ministers are now more accessible, and willing to speak to the media.
He adds that what little information he sources comes from bureaucrats, who often fear that they are being tracked. “Bureaucrats who trust us will give information. But they too are scared, often calling me back from on another number.”
With TN Secretariat as his beat for the last few years, Ajay* a reporter for a Tamil news channel, says a lot has changed since Jayalalithaa passed away.
But while his ministers have become more accessible, the CM himself has given only one press meet since he took office. Both the English news channel journalist and Ajay point out that EPS does give the occasional sound byte – but only to reporters outside of Chennai.
Rahul compares EPS to how former Finance Minister P Chidambaram treats the press in Chennai as opposed to their counterparts in New Delhi. “It’s a Chidambaram kind of scenario, where he will speak to reporters elsewhere but not in Chennai. But even on the day EPS gave a press meet at the Secretariat, he did not field too many questions. It was just a show,” says the print reporter.
However, an editor with a leading Tamil news channel disagrees with this observation by field reporters, noting that he has met with the CM on several occasions.
But it’s not just accessibility that has changed under the EPS government. He points out that the state bureaucracy is functioning with a lot more freedom these days.
However, the editor alleges that corruption is the order of the day, with ministers and bureaucrats claiming their slice of the pie.
But his optimism is not shared by many of his peers. The English news channel reporter believes the same opaqueness continues after Jayalalithaa.
(This article was first published on The News Minute and was republished with permission.)
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