Hyderabad: The Wire Telugu, a new website meant to bring The Wire closer to its Telugu readers, was unveiled on January 6 at the Basheerbagh Press Club.
The editorial team will comprise Konduri Veeraiah, Nelluru Narasimha Rao, I.V. Ramana Rao, Kapu Srinivas and Koya Chandra Mohan.
The vibrant and diverse news landscape of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is always innovative in terms of news entrepreneurship. The Wire Telugu will run on the idea that India is not only a union of states but also a union of languages, and that readers in all languages have the right to get the most accurate possible news of their time.
Sanjaya Baru, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said that in recent years more than 100 journalists have lost their lives – something that he stressed was unprecedented and had not happened even in the period of Emergency in the 1970s. Baru said that it is up to independent journalists to challenge the hegemony of mainstream media and reach a greater number of people.
Siddharth Varadarajan, one of the founding editors of The Wire, said that The Wire Telugu is an appropriate gift on the website’s 10th anniversary.
The Wire model cuts out the role of the investor and relies on the reader and their support for sustenance, Varadarajan said.
True to the spirit of a democratic country, in India we should demand accountability of the government every day, he added.
M.K. Venu, another founding editor of The Wire, said that there is a strong need for a standalone independent media. In spite of defamation suits against The Wire, he said, it is committed to the truth.
Seema Chishti, the editor of The Wire said that the media nowadays is reduced to crime, cinema, cricket, and astrology. She also lamented that the powerful state is out there to suppress every little voice raised against it and insisted that news should remain for the public good.
Parakala Prabhakar, a noted public intellectual, and Ghanta Chakrapani, the vice-chancellor of the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University, both noted the contributions of The Wire in the independent media landscape.
Mohammad Riyaz, the chairperson of the Telangana Grandhalaya Parishat, said that he would extend all his support to The Wire Telugu.
Along with the team of The Wire Telugu, several veteran editors and journalists graced the occasion.
