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Eenadu

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This article is about the newspaper. For the 1982 Malayalam film, see Ee Nadu. For the 2009 Telugu film, see Eenadu (2009 film).

Eenadu
ఈనాడు
Front page of Eenadu, 5 June 2024
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Ramoji Group[1]
Founder(s)Ramoji Rao
PublisherEenadu Publications
Editor-in-chiefM.Nageswara Rao (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, New Delhi editions)
D.N. Prasad (Telangana edition)[2]
Founded1974; 50 years ago (1974), Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India
LanguageTelugu
HeadquartersSomajiguda, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Circulation1,351,956[3] (as of Dec 2022)
Websitewww.eenadu.net

Eenadu (Telugu: ఈనాడు; lit. 'Today/This Land')[4] is the largest[5] circulated Telugu-language daily newspaper of India sold mostly in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.[6]

It was founded by Ramoji Rao in 1974.[7] He remained Chief Editor until 2020.[2]

Name

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Eenadu is a polysemic word which has two meanings in Telugu language — "today/this day" and "this land".[4]

History

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Early days in Visakhapatnam

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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.[8] 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.[9] 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

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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.[10]

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.[11] However, the magazines stopped circulation in 2017 due to lack of demand in favour of web content.[12]

Political impact and TDP support

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Support of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) by Eenadu has been recorded since the party's foundation in 1982.[13] 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.[14][15] 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,[16][17] although this view has been challenged.[18] 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.[18][19] 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.[19] Reportedly, Ramoji Rao sent a bill to Rama Rao for 3 million (30 lakh) rupees for the assistance he had given to the campaign.[14] 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.[16][20]

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.[21] 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.[22] 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.[23] 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.[24][25]

Further publications

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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.[26] 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.[10]

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

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Eenadu newspaper is owned by Ushodaya Enterprises Private Limited, a part of Ramoji Group.[27] 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.[28]

Circulation

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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.[29] For Q2 2019, Eenadu ranks eighth among the most circulated Indian-language dailies with a circulation of 1,614,105.[5] Thus there was a loss of 24.18% during COVID.

References

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  1. ^ "India - World Newspapers and Magazines - Worldpress.org". www.worldpress.org. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
  2. ^ a b 'ఈనాడు' నుంచి తప్పుకున్న రామోజీరావు. Samayam Telugu (in Telugu). 14 December 2019. Archived from the original on 15 May 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  3. ^ "Highest Circulated Daily Newspapers (language wise)" (PDF). Audit Bureau of Circulations. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 July 2023. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  4. ^ a b Kumar, Shanti (1 October 2010). Gandhi Meets Primetime: Globalization and Nationalism in Indian Television. University of Illinois Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-252-09166-7.
  5. ^ a b "Highest Circulated Dailies, Weeklies & Magazines amongst Member Publications (across languages)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 August 2020.
  6. ^ "IRS 2012 Q1 Topline Findings p. 11" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2014.
  7. ^ Kumar, Shanti (1 October 2010). Gandhi Meets Primetime: Globalization and Nationalism in Indian Television. University of Illinois Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-252-09166-7.
  8. ^ Gundimeda 2017, pp. 193–194.
  9. ^ "Eenadu Classified Ad Booking Online". www.bookmyadvertisement.com. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  10. ^ a b Kumar, Shanti (August 2008). "Hollywood, Bollywood, Tollywood". In Kavoori, Anandam P.; Punathambekar, Aswin (eds.). Global Bollywood. NYU Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-8147-4799-5. Archived from the original on 10 March 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
  11. ^ "Eenadu soars to top circulation spot among Andhra Pradesh dailies in less than five years". India Today. 28 February 2014. Archived from the original on 3 April 2024. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  12. ^ "Curtains for Ramoji's Magazines". 4 November 2017. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
  13. ^ Gundimeda 2017, p. 192.
  14. ^ a b Donthi, Praveen (30 November 2014). "How Ramoji Rao of Eenadu wrested control of power and politics in Andhra Pradesh". The Caravan. Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  15. ^ Kandula 2021, p. 37.
  16. ^ a b Simhadri, Somanaboina; Ramagoud, Akhileshwari (2022). "Telugu news media: The beginnings and growth". The Routledge handbook of the other backward classes in India: thought, movements and development. Abingdon, Oxon. ISBN 978-1-003-15287-3. OCLC 1266207904.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. ^ Gundimeda 2017, p. 194.
  18. ^ a b Kandula 2021, pp. 39–40.
  19. ^ a b Menon, Amarnath K. (15 February 1983). "Of Cherukuri Ramoji Rao, Eenadu and Telugu Desam". India Today. Archived from the original on 30 May 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  20. ^ Amarnath K. Menon (2 December 2013). "In one month, Telugu daily Udayam touches remarkable circulation figure of 2,24,000". India Today. Archived from the original on 27 February 2018. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  21. ^ Gundimeda 2017, p. 196.
  22. ^ Gundimeda 2017, p. 198.
  23. ^ Gundimeda 2017, p. 199.
  24. ^ Inukonda, Sumanth (23 September 2019). Media, Nationalism and Globalization: The Telangana Movement and Indian Politics. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-429-53564-2. Archived from the original on 23 September 2022. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  25. ^ Tata, Madhavi (7 April 2008). "We Are The News: YSR's son storms Andhra Pradesh with a 23-edition Telugu daily". Outlook. Outlook Publishing. pp. 8–9. Archived from the original on 23 September 2022. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  26. ^ "Eenadu Epaper". 21 March 2023. Archived from the original on 4 November 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  27. ^ "About Ramoji Group". Eenaduinfo.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  28. ^ "Who owns the media in India | Media Ownership Monitor" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 January 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  29. ^ "Highest Circulated Dailies, Weeklies & Magazines amongst Member Publications (across languages)" (PDF). Auditbureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 8 March 2023.

Bibliography

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See also

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