One major area of concern for the YSR Congress party government headed by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy ever since it was formed in May this year has been its not-so-good media relations.
Majority sections of the media, which had hitherto been toeing the line of Telugu Desam Party, have not been giving much positive coverage to Jagan and his government. Especially the national media has been skeptical about the new government’s decisions.
Of course, Jagan has been taking some bold and controversial decisions such as review of power purchase agreements, termination of Polavaram project contract and ignoring the much-publicised project of Amaravati, the capital city of the state.
They created a lot of uproar in the national media, which have looked at these decisions in a critical angle.
Unfortunately, the existing media relations wing, comprising people mostly from Jagan’s media house Sakshi, have not been able to present the proper perspective of these decisions and convince the media to get some positive coverage.
Against this backdrop, the appointment of veteran journalist Devulapalli Amar as national media advisor to the chief minister is expected to bring about a marked change in the media relations of the Jagan government.
Having been associated with media at the national level, Amar knows it is easier said than done. It is not so easy to manage the national media houses, however friendly Amar has been in the media circles in Hyderabad, to get positive coverage for Jagan.
As a media advisor, Amar has to defend Jagan’s decisions and for that, he should have solid backing from the bureaucrats and political leadership.
Unlike other media advisors and PROs of Jagan who are hardly accessible to any media person, Amar has to be accessible to everybody, especially in the national media, and make available all the necessary information.
It remains to be seen how far Amar will be given freedom to deal with the media houses.
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