• Source: Eenadu

Eenadu (Telugu: ఈనాడు; lit. 'Today/This Land') is the largest circulated Telugu-language daily newspaper of India sold mostly in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
It was founded by Ramoji Rao in 1974. He remained Chief Editor until 2020.




Name


Eenadu is a polysemic word which has two meanings in Telugu language — "today/this day" and "this land".




History






= Early days in Visakhapatnam

=
Eenadu was launched from Visakhapatnam on 10 August 1974 by Ramoji Rao, a businessman who had previously achieved success with Priya Pickles and Margadarsi Chitfunds. At that time, the Andhra Prabha, owned by the Indian Express Group, was the leading regional newspaper.
Initially, the circulation of Eenadu was limited. When launched in the city of Visakhapatnam, it was not able to sell more than 3,000 copies a week. Eenadu found itself struggling to become a daily publication among publications. However, it was popular in certain regions and rivalry was still an issue. Eenadu hired a new set of directors to be part of its key decision and management group which drove it towards what it is today: the most highly circulated newspaper in the region.




= Expansion to other regions

=
Eenadu began with a print order of 4,000 copies, composed by hand and produced using a second-hand printing press. But by the time it was admitted into the Audit Bureau of Circulations in 1976, its circulation had already reached a readership of 48,000. By 1978, Eenadu surpassed Andhra Prabha's circulation and, by 1995, two other rivals Andhra Patrika and Udayam folded, leaving Eenadu with over seventy-five percent of the audited circulation of Telugu dailies.
Its expansion has partially been attributed to its use of regional dialects, colloquialisms, idioms and sarcasm in its reporting, as well as colorful pictures with captions.
When Eenadu expanded to Hyderabad in 1975, it divided the city into target areas, recruited delivery boys three months in advance and handed out the paper freely for a week. During the 1980s, technology-enabled Eenadu to spread over larger areas beyond only the main cities. Earlier, it was difficult to manage even the three editions of the 1970s (the Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Hyderabad editions) because the only communication facilities available to the publication at the time were the telegram, telephone, and teleprinter, all of which had limited presence in rural Andhra Pradesh.
By 1979, the newspaper expanded to include Sitara, a weekly film magazine, Vipula, a monthly magazine with short stories, Chatura, a monthly novel and Annadatha, a farmer's monthly. However, the magazines stopped circulation in 2017 due to lack of demand in favour of web content.




= Political impact and TDP support

=
Support of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) by Eenadu has been recorded since the party's foundation in 1982. This has been attributed to Ramoji Rao's disdain for the Congress government, to the point that he planned to create a regional party on his own accord, and a personal rapport he formed with the party founder and leader N. T. Rama Rao, who he had first doubted but eventually saw political potential in. Another factor that has been cited is caste politics, with both Eenadu and the TDP being perceived as Kamma-oriented organisations and both Raos being Kammas themselves, although this view has been challenged. During the 1983 elections, the party and the paper formed a symbiotic relationship as Eenadu not only publicised, promoted and ran positive stories on Rama Rao's campaign, but also gave more direct support, such as utilising its network of journalists to inform and advise Rama Rao on local issues for his stops and designing party advertisements through Ramoji Rao's marketing agency. This coverage led to a massive increase in subscriptions, with Eenadu going from a circulation of 230,000 copies to 350,000 in the six months of Rama Rao's electoral campaign and becoming one of the state's most popular newspapers. The TDP would go on to successfully sweep the election, making Rama Rao the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, and over half a million copies were printed of Eenadu to declare this victory. Reportedly, Ramoji Rao sent a bill to Rama Rao for 3 million (30 lakh) rupees for the assistance he had given to the campaign. In response, film personality Dasari Narayana Rao and industrialist Gireesh Kumar Sanghi would launch pro-Congress newspapers of their own and eventually become members of the Rajya Sabha on the Congress ticket.
When Rama Rao and his government faced crises and parliamentary revolts in the 1980s, Eenadu continually supported him and clamored for his restoration to power. Despite Rama Rao's growing unpopularity in the later part of the decade due to perceptions of failed promises, the paper refrained from criticising him before expressing some concerns about his leadership in response to his continued loss of public support and the Congress victory in the 1989 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election. In the 1990s, as fissures developed between Rama Rao and his son-in-law and prominent party leader Chandrababu Naidu, Eenadu ultimately took Naidu's side, publishing mocking portrayals of Rama Rao depicting him as being manipulated by his new wife Lakshmi Parvathi, and eventually played a key role in the internal party coup by supporting Naidu's power grab. This paved the way for Naidu to become the next Chief Minister and ensured a friendly relationship between the paper and his administration. During the reign of Congress governments, Eenadu went on the offensive and became their "chief critic"; both Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and his son Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy would "fight back" during their time in power. This took on multiple forms, from the 2004 investigation of Margadarsi for irregular financial practices to the launch of Sakshi in 2008 under Jagan Mohan Reddy's ownership as a "counter" to what his father, the CM at the time, claimed was "biased news" from traditionally TDP-supporting papers.




= Further publications

=
With the introduction of offset printing, photocomposing software and computers, Eenadu was able to launch editions in smaller towns like Tirupathi in 1982. From the 1980s, the news editor of Eenadu oversaw an enormous local-based news gathering and disseminating organization from his Hyderabad office.
By the end of the 1980s, there were six substantial Telugu dailies running, and the business was highly competitive. In 1989 Eenadu introduced "district dailies (tabloid edition)" to carry its presence not only into district towns like Rajamahendravaram, Karimnagar, Guntur and Adilabad, but also taluka towns like Suryapet and Tadepalligudem. Each publication center required forty engineers to run its printing presses. Eenadu's district dailies were based on market research asserting that heavy local content would generate new groups of readers and boost advertising revenue. Currently, the district dailies print local news specifically for each major location in the area, thereby negating the need for any separate local daily. Few special sections are published every day of the week. To support the local tabloid dailies, Eenadu hired "stringers" working for the commission who coordinated their reporting with editors over the telephone and contracted bus companies to transport their reports back to the district headquarters for publication. Additionally, to increase revenue, the newspaper recruited salespersons to convince local businesses to buy ad spots.
Eenadu later ventured into other markets such as finance and chit funds (e.g. Margadarsi chits), foods (Priya Foods), film production (Ushakiran Movies), film distribution (Mayuri Films), and television (ETV). All the businesses are organized under the Ramoji Group.




Ownership


Eenadu newspaper is owned by Ushodaya Enterprises Private Limited, a part of Ramoji Group. As per the 2018 report of Media Ownership Monitor, Ramoji Rao and family own 97.56% stake in Ushodaya Enterprises. In terms of individual ownership, Ramoji Rao holds 42.26%, his eldest son Cherukuri Kiron holds 28.36%, and his daughter-in-law Cherukuri Vijayeswari (wife of the deceased younger son, Cherukuri Suman) holds 25.38% shares in Ushodaya Enterprises.




Circulation


According to the Audit bureau of circulation for the H12022, Eenadu had a circulation of 1,223,862, ranked at 7th place among daily newspapers in India. For Q2 2019, Eenadu ranks eighth among the most circulated Indian-language dailies with a circulation of 1,614,105. Thus there was a loss of 24.18% during COVID.




References






= Bibliography

=
Gundimeda, Sambaiah (24 July 2017). "Caste, Media and Political Power in Andhra Pradesh: The Case of Eenadu". History and Sociology of South Asia. 11 (2): 192–203. doi:10.1177/2230807517718308. ISSN 2230-8075. S2CID 155248634.
Kandula, Ramesh (2021). Maverick Messiah: A Political Biography of N.T. Rama Rao. Gurgaon, Haryana, India: Ebury Press. ISBN 978-0-670-09393-9. OCLC 1237107554.




See also


Sakshi




External links


Official website
• Source: Ee Nadu

Ee Nadu is a 1982 Indian Malayalam-language political film directed by I. V. Sasi, written by T. Damodaran and produced by N. G. John. The film stars Balan K. Nair with Mammootty, Ratheesh, and T. G. Ravi in supporting roles. The music score was handled by Shyam. The film talks about how politicians and the rich people in society exploit their power and ignore the pleas of the general public. This film was loosely based on a spate of liquor poisonings that occurred in Vypeen in Kerala that claimed 77 lives.
The film was released on 14 April 1982 and was a commercial and critical success. The film went on to become the highest grossing South Indian film of 1982. N. G. John won the 1982 Filmfare Award for Best Malayalam Film for the film. The film was remade in Telugu with the same name. It was also remade in Hindi as Yeh Desh and in Tamil as Idhu Enga Naadu.




Plot


A group of students at a college, led by Prathapan, constantly cause problems on campus by instigating strikes and harassing female students. Venu, a corrupt politician from a small political party, is the MLA in the area. Venu's party's support is crucial for the ruling government, which would lose its majority in the house without it. Meanwhile, the people in the area are fighting against water pollution caused by a factory, but Venu accepts bribes from the factory and refuses to take any action. Comrade Krishna Pillai, Venu's uncle, is an honest and ideological politician who helped organise the people in their fight against the factory. Pillai goes to the excise minister, a former friend of his, to put a stop to the factory, but the minister is associated with Venu and says he cannot do anything.
Meanwhile, Salim, a Kerala man employed in the Gulf and a well-wisher of Pillai, returns home and offers his support for Pillai's organising people against the factory. Porinju, a local spurious liquor maker and party goon of Venu's party, returns from jail. The liquor supply in the area is controlled by a wealthy liquor baron named Karunakaran, who is also the father of Prathapan. Karunakaran's goons attack Porinju's liquor unit. Venu arranges a compromise between Porinju and Karunakaran, and Porinju starts making liquor for Karunakaran.
Prathapan creates issues at college again by forcefully kissing a poor girl named Radha. The principal dismisses him from college, but Venu intervenes and gets him back in the college. Prathapan takes revenge on Radha for complaining to the principal, and Radha jumps off the window and dies. Prathapan and his gang are arrested by Alexander, an honest policeman who is not ready to take bribes from Karunakaran and leave Prathapan. However, when he receives orders from his superiors, he is forced to let Prathapan go. Meanwhile, Pillai meets with Prathapan's mother and it is revealed that they knew each other in the past when Pillai was in hiding due to his party activities, and Pillai was about to marry her. But Karunakaran, an assistant of Pillai at the time, cheated Pillai and betrayed him to the police.
Salim returns home again, but this time he has lost his job in the Gulf. Meanwhile, a big party meeting is happening in the area. Karunakaran forces Porinju to mix surgical spirit to supply large amounts of liquor for the event. Over 2,000 people die after consuming spurious liquor. Alexander investigates the case. He has all the evidence against Karunakaran but is offered a bribe to leave Karunakaran out of the case. Alexander loses faith in the system and decides to accept the bribe. Karunakaran's release from the case leads to public outrage, and the government asks the excise minister to resign. Venu decides to remove support for the government and form a new government with him as chief minister. Pillai organises people against Venu. Karunakaran sends his henchmen to kill Pillai, and he is killed in front of Karunakaran's wife, who then informs the police. Karunakaran is arrested. Venu's chances of becoming chief minister are halted by the people.




Cast






Release and reception


The film was released on 14 April 1982. It received positive reviews. N. G. John won the Filmfare Award for Best Film - Malayalam for the year 1982 for the film.
The film was a blockbuster of 1982. It was the highest grossing South Indian film of 1982.




Soundtrack


The music was composed by Shyam and the lyrics were written by Yusufali Kechery.




Remakes






Awards


Filmfare Award for Best Film - Malayalam won by N.G. John (1982)




References






External links


Ee Nadu at IMDb

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Ishtam (film Telugu 2001)
• Ramoji Rao
• Satya Nadella
• Praveen K. L.
• Krishna (pemeran)
• Ummadi Kutumbam
• Harish Shankar
• N. T. Rama Rao
• Padmalaya Studios
• Malliswari (film 1951)
• Eenadu
• Unnaipol Oruvan (2009 film)
• Ramoji Group
• N. T. Rama Rao
• Network18 Group
• ETV Network
• Tiger Nageswara Rao
• Tiragabadara Saami
• Pindam
• Ee Nadu