The latest story to emerge from KCR camp is that the Telangana Chief Minister has issued instructions to his cabinet colleagues and MLAs that they must not sit quietly if negative stories are being written about them or the government.
Apparently, he had told them that they must file cases against media people who write stories about the corrupt practices of ministers and MLAs.
KCR had told the ministers not to make any mistakes and warned them against committing personal mistakes too. His logic is that if the ministers and MLAs have nothing to fear or hide, then the media will not have an opportunity to cook up stories about them.
However, he told them that they must take action against and respond strongly to stories targeted at maligning individuals. According to one story, KCR had given strict instructions that cases must be filed on newspapers and channels that write such stories.
But being in a responsible position and leading a state as the chief minister, is it right for him to pass such instructions? No government has issued such specific instructions to file cases against media in the past.
Well, Mr Chief Minister must realize that his tactics of scaring the media may not work always. However, it is equally important to action against media houses that specifically deride individuals and malign them.
Of course, the onus is on media houses to report responsibly. But they cannot be threatened to write soft, propaganda pieces for government all the time. This would be detrimental to the very principles on which democracies thrive.
