Not too long ago, the Tamil TV news landscape was a mockery of journalism, with channels like Sun TV and Jaya TV being just party mouthpieces. Puthiya Thalaimurai, and the many other channels which followed, changed that by putting the viewer first and giving them better journalism. The journalist ecosystem in Tamil Nadu, which once had heavy Brahmin dominance - and still does in many ways - has seen more diversity in the last few years, and that is thanks to the politics of social justice espoused by Tamil journalists who are under attack now, and their peers. Even so, there is valid criticism against Tamil TV journalism, like any other media ecosystem. There are pressures of TRP, self-censoring, authoritarian team leaders, interfering owners, and personal agendas. But what’s being attempted now is a hostile takeover of the Tamil TV media so a right-wing lobby can control the entire ecosystem, and that can be considerably worse than anything the Tamil TV media has ever seen, as evidenced by what we see on English and Hindi news channels today.
Ramanathan S, ‘Why TN journalists are fighting the right-wing attack on Tamil TV media’, The News Minute
