Sakshi () is an Indian Telugu-language media group. The group owns the daily newspaper '' Sakshi'', 24-hour news channel

Sakshi TV Sakshi TV () is an Indian Telugu-language 24-hour news channel. It was launched on 1 March 2009, by Indira Television Ltd. owned by Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. It is currently run under the chairmanship of Y. S. Bharathi Reddy, wife of Jagan Moh ...

, and associated digital ventures. Its first asset, ''Sakshi'' newspaper, was launched on 23 March 2008 by Jagati Publications Ltd. owned by Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. Sakshi TV was launched on 1 March 2009, by Indira Television Ltd., also owned by Reddy. The group is currently run under the chairmanship of Y. S. Bharathi Reddy, wife of Jagan Mohan Reddy. As of 2019, ''Sakshi'' newspaper had an average daily circulation of 10.64

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2, 2, 3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. F ...

, ranking second in circulation among Telugu daily newspapers behind '' Eenadu'' and sixteenth in India across languages. The newspaper and TV channel are widely regarded as propaganda outlets for Jagan Mohan Reddy and his party

YSR Congress Party The Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (, YSRCP or YCP), often shortened to simply the YSR Congress Party, is an Indian Regionalism (politics), regional political party based in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The party was initially registere ...

Sakshi newspaper

''Sakshi'' newspaper is promoted by Jagati Publications Ltd. The newspaper was launched on 23 March 2008 with 23 editions nineteen editions from Andhra Pradesh, and four from

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, and

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. At a price of 60 per month, ''Sakshi'' was marketed as a less expensive alternative to all other prominent Telugu dailies at the time which were priced at 96100 per month. To stand out from its competition, ''Sakshi'' adopted high-quality production values. It had 30-pages, all of them in colour

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...

format. The paper's layouts were designed by Mario Garcia. Of the total Andhra Pradesh Government budget of about 200

crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

for print media commercials for the years 2008-11, ''Sakshi'' newspaper was allotted over 50% amounting to 101.63 crore. This was attributed to the undue preferential treatment ''Sakshi'' newspaper received during the chief ministership of Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy. Circulation According to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, from July to December 2019, ''Sakshi'' had an average daily circulation of 10.64

. It ranks second in circulation among Telugu daily newspapers behind '' Eenadu'' and sixteenth in India across languages.

Sakshi TV

Sakshi TV started airing on 1 March 2009. It is promoted by Indira Television Ltd., with Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of then

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

, Y. S. Rajashekhara Reddy, as the Chairman. The channel was initially named Indira Priyadarsini. According to Ramakrishna Reddy, the first Editor-in-Chief of the channel, it was renamed to cash in on the popularity of the ''Sakshi'' newspaper which was launched a year before the channel by Jagan Mohan Reddy. At its launch, the channel claimed to be the first

HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...

channel in the country. It was marketed as being primarily targeted at the youth. Of the nearly 40

that

Government of Andhra Pradesh The Government of Andhra Pradesh, abbreviated as GoAP, is the Administrative division, state government and the administrative body responsible for the governance of the States of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Amaravati is the capital ...

spent on ads in

electronic media Electronic media are media that use electronics or electromechanical means for the audience to access the content. This is in contrast to static media (mainly print media), which today are most often created digitally, but do not require ele ...

for the years 2009-12, Sakshi TV got advertisements worth over 17 crore. This was attributed to the undue preferential treatment Sakshi TV received during the chief ministership of Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy. Sakshi TV has been found to be in breach of the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) code of ethics on various occasions.

Digital assets

* Sakshi.com - Telugu-language news portal. Publishes news in politics, business, crime, sports, science, entertainment, technology etc. * Sakshi Post - English-language news portal, hosted on Sakshi.com at english.sakshi.com. Initially launched as Sakshipost.com in October 2012. * Sakshi e-paper - Digital version of the Sakshi daily newspaper. Also contains archives of previous editions. * Sakshi Live TV - Live video feed of Sakshi TV. Also contains video snippets and archives of previously telecasted shows.

Sakshi Excellence Awards

''Sakshi Excellence Awards'' is an annual awards ceremony organized by Sakshi media group to honour and recognize the individuals and institutions of various fields. Launched in 2015, it primarily rewards the people from the Telugu-speaking community across the world.

Criticism

The newspaper and TV channel are widely regarded as propaganda outlets for Jagan Mohan Reddy and his party

(YCP). They are criticized for their biased coverage of the political rivals of Reddy and YCP. Sakshi TV has been found to be in breach of the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) code of ethics on various occasions. According to a CBI chargesheet filed against Jagan Mohan Reddy, most of the investments in the media group were

quid pro quo ''Quid pro quo'' (Latin: "something for something") is a Latin phrase used in English to mean an exchange of goods or services, in which one transfer is contingent upon the other; "a favor for a favor". Phrases with similar meanings include: " ...

bribes by those people who had benefited from their unfair deals with his father Y. S. Rajashekhara Reddy's government. Sakshi group is part of a recent trend, wherein businesspersons-turned-politicians across India launched their own media organisations as a political strategy to influence public opinion to further their political interests. Rajasekhara Reddy's death and conspiracy theory On 2 September 2009, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, father of Sakshi TV promoter Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, died in a helicopter crash. In January 2010, Sakshi TV broadcast a

conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

advanced by the American journalist Mark Ames in the Russian online tabloid, ''

The eXile ''The eXile'' was a Moscow-based English-language biweekly free tabloid newspaper, aimed at the city's expatriate community, which combined outrageous, sometimes satirical, content with investigative reporting. In October 2006, co-editor Jake ...

''. It alleged that the Ambani brothers of Reliance group of companies orchestrated the death of Rajasekhara Reddy. TV5 channel broke the story while Sakshi TV and NTV relayed the report aired by TV5. The report led to massive attacks against the business establishments owned by the two Ambani brothers in Andhra Pradesh. On 8 January 2010, criminal cases were filed against Sakshi TV and NTV while two senior journalists of TV5 were arrested. Editors Guild of India asked the channels to desist from "irresponsible reporting" and condemned the reporting as sensational and against the principles of journalism.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Telugu-language mass media Companies based in Hyderabad, India Publishing companies established in 2008 2008 establishments in Andhra Pradesh