Who is the happiest after the elections in Telangana? Parties? No. Each party shelled out over 400 crore for campaigning to bribing the voters. Candidates? No! The winners have borrowed so heavily that they have to start taking kickbacks immediately to pay their debts and keep something for the next elections. Those who lost have no hopes of getting back the money. What about the voters? They sold their vote for a pittance and will have to pay for it all the five years.
So, who is the only one who got benefited by these elections? It is the media of course!! The media did not invest in the elections. It got paid for giving coverage to parties, candidates and leaders. The media has devised fixed plans for coverage. A day with the leader will cost some fixed amount. A news coverage will get this much. A candidate appearing in a TV debate will get this much. The air-time of the parties was fixed on the basis of the emoluments the latter paid. Every party has fixed packages - a euphemism for the amount to be paid for coverage. Even the channels that strongly rooted for a party, had given coverage only on the basis of the amount they got.
According to an estimate by leading channel BBC, the Telugu channels may have made at least Rs 100 crore from this assembly elections. We have Lok Sabha elections coming next in Telangana and assembly and Parliament elections in neighbouring AP. This means more bucks for the media!!
So, who is the only one who got benefited by these elections? It is the media of course!! The media did not invest in the elections. It got paid for giving coverage to parties, candidates and leaders. The media has devised fixed plans for coverage. A day with the leader will cost some fixed amount. A news coverage will get this much. A candidate appearing in a TV debate will get this much. The air-time of the parties was fixed on the basis of the emoluments the latter paid. Every party has fixed packages - a euphemism for the amount to be paid for coverage. Even the channels that strongly rooted for a party, had given coverage only on the basis of the amount they got.
According to an estimate by leading channel BBC, the Telugu channels may have made at least Rs 100 crore from this assembly elections. We have Lok Sabha elections coming next in Telangana and assembly and Parliament elections in neighbouring AP. This means more bucks for the media!!