The Supreme Court transferred on Monday a petition filed by Ushodaya Publications, owner of leading Telugu daily Eenadu, which challenged the Andhra Pradesh’s Government Order (GO) on the grounds that it aimed at improving the sales of Sakshi newspaper, allegedly owned and controlled by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The petitioner has approached the Apex Court against an order passed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court, which refused to stay the GO in question.

The Bench of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice P.S. Narasimha and Justice J.B. Pardiwala transferred the plea to Delhi High Court on the grounds that the matter was not between two newspapers, but was between two political parties.

The Apex Court noted that it would be in the interest of justice that the petition was transferred to Delhi High Court.

It directed the Bench presided by the Chief Justice of the High Court to take up the matter, while granting liberty to the parties to move the High Court for variation of the interim order of such directions as sought.

Representing the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Senior Advocate C.S. Vaidyanathan contended that such a transfer would cast aspersions on the Andhra Pradesh High Court. 

The Apex Court then ruled that transfer to the Delhi High Court would not reflect upon the conduct of proceedings in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. 

The Andhra Pradesh government had passed a Government Order, which sanctioned Rs.200 per month from the State funds as additional financial support for each Gram Volunteer/Ward Volunteer to enable them to purchase one widely circulated Telugu newspaper, so as to give them more knowledge and awareness on contemporary issues and information on government schemes.

The petition by Ushodaya Publications alleged that the price ceiling in GO was fixed in a manner so as to promote Sakshi. It pointed out that the monthly subscription charge of Sakshi was Rs.176.50 per month, whereas the charge for Eenadu was Rs.207.50 per month. 

The publishing house alleged that the government had purposely fixed the additional grant of Rs 200 per month to suit the monthly subscription charges of Sakshi to help the newspaper grow over and above the circulation of Eenadu. 

The petitioner moved the Supreme Court after the Telangana High Court refused to stay the GO.

(Case title: Ushodaya Enterprises vs State of Andhra Pradesh)

Anchoring Communalism

The Campaign for Ethical Media Reporting—a Bengaluru-based group of activists, parents, lawyers and academicians—has put out a statement against the communalisation of the coronavirus outbreak by sections of the media. The group, which works towards making media more accountable, says: “This disturbing trend emerged following the increase of Covid-19 positive cases following the religious gathering in Delhi—hosted by Tablighi Jamaat.”

It also goes on to state: “Some sections of the media took to labelling the entire community as ‘corona criminals’ propagating a ‘corona jihad’, and laying the blame for the entire pandemic at the doorstep of the Muslim community. There were also wild and baseless allegations by news anchors and politicians that the virus is being spread on purpose to defeat the lockdown. All of this has given a dangerous communal colour to the reporting of the pandemic.”

The statement concludes with the reminder that “Any approach which bases itself on the stigmatisation of a section of the population detracts from our fight against Covid-19 and puts the entire country at risk.”

Paper Trail

A number of newspaper publications have jointly issued a statement saying that newspaper distribution has largely stabilised across India barring a few cities and “ranges from 75 percent to 90 percent of the base number of February”. The statement was issued by major publications like Dainik Bhaskar, Dainik Jagran, Eenadu, Hindustan, Patrika Group, Amar Ujala, Daily Thanthi, Sakshi, Dinamalar, Deccan Herald, Hindustan Times and Divya Bhaskar.

The statement adds that the government has for the right reasons categorised newspapers as an essential commodity. Regarding the measures in place, the statement said: “We had to move swiftly to address the sanitation at the plant floors, education, safety and sanitisation of the vendor network and the safety of our large workforce,” adding: “We have undertaken education and sensitisation drives with our reader base to apprise them of the safety we have deployed at every level to make the newspaper safe in their hands.”

Despite that assurance, major centres like Mumbai, Pune and the NCR are still facing problems of distribution and shortage of vendors.

Victims of the Virus

Apart from news magazines like Outlook which have suspended print publication, and newspapers feeling the pinch due to vendors and subscribers fearing safety issues to do with the coronavirus outbreak, it is now the turn of publications devoted to lifestyle and entertainment.

Last week, Worldwide Media suspended the print content production of its publications—Filmfare, Grazia India, Femina, Lonely Planet India, Good Homes and Hello!. The statement from the group says: “In consideration of the current lockdown, the safety of its team and vendors across the country and the unprecedented disruptions caused in the supply chain, Worldwide Media will follow a digital-first publishing schedule for its content, until further notice.”

Worldwide Media is owned and operated by The Times of India group, India’s largest media conglomerate.

Network Problems

In the midst of the coronavirus crisis and the rising viewership of news channels, this is the last thing any channel would want. Network 18, owned by Mukesh Ambani, has lost three of its top journalists. Last week, the trio—Bhupendra Chaubey, executive editor, CNN-News 18; Sudeep Mukhia, executive editor, CNN-News 18; and Praveen Thampi, executive editor, News18.com put in their papers.

In an internal memo, Managing Director Rahul Joshi said they were vital to the institution but “with a heavy heart, I wish them the best for their future endeavours”. What those endeavours are is not quite clear but media insiders say they are in talks with a rival TV network.

Chaubey will be especially missed—he has been with the channel for two decades (TV 18 was earlier owned by founder Raghav Bahl) and was a prominent face of the network’s political coverage. As Joshi admitted: “Bhupen was the lead prime-time face of this channel for almost a decade. It’s difficult to imagine CNN-News18 without the face that launched a thousand quips!”

Lead picture: UNI