TV9 has been a revolution in the electronic media. Its emergence broke the monotony and monopoly of the government-owned DD news.
That was a big hit in the Telugu states with people patronizing the channel for its new style of presentation of news 24 hours.
However, this patronage of the people had to a major extent, prompted the channel owners and the journalists, headed by Ravi Prakash, to indulge in blackmailing and minting money.
The channel had gone to the extent of sensationalizing every news to attract more viewers and thus increasing the channel’s rating.
Over the years, to be very specific till the exit of Ravi Prakash, the channels content was disliked and even hated by the people, though the rating had always been top.
Ravi Prakash made tall claims about his business and professional qualities that have kept the channel on the top of the rest.
Proving Ravi Prakash wrong, the channel continues to be on the top and more interesting is that the contest had improved. The content is no longer cheap and blackmailing as it used to be in the past.
There is no Ravi Prakash and there is no sensationalism but still the channel continues to enjoy the patronage of the people in the two Telugu States.
It is not Ravi Prakash or the sensationalism of news presentation that keeps the channel atop. It is clearly the values that the organization maintains to win the confidence of the people.
The media in the Telugu States is politically biased and the media has its own political agenda.
The viewers and the readers are well aware of the political interests of the media. But what matters is the presentation of the news and the style that they adopt to present the news.