The News Minute | October 25, 2014 | 4.00 pm ISTWe watch news every day, but the stories of who owns the media organisations are as interesting as the news these channels report. According to data released by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, there are 394 news and current affairs channels in our country, out of a total of 669 television channels that have been given permission to function by the government. Here’s a short guide to who owns the news channels in Kerala:Click on these links for Kannada, Tamil and Telugu news channels. Full list here.Asianet News is a Malayalam news channel From Asianet News Network Pvt Ltd that started transmission in 2001. In 2006, Jupiter Media and Entertainment Venture owned by Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar acquired the channel. Though Rajeev Chandrasekhar has endorsed Narendra Modi extensively, the channel follows its own editorial policy and was recently boycotted by the BJP in Kerala for negative reportage about them.Indiavision is a Malayalam news channel from Indiavision Satellite Communications and is owned by Former minister M K Muneer . This was the first 24-hour news channel in Malayalam, and was launched in 2003. Though Muneer belongs to the Indian Muslim League, India Vision has largely maintained a free editorial policy and even broke some of the big stories against the League. It had temporarily stopped operations for a few hours in March 2014, after a group of employees protested against non-payment of salary. Following this, managing editor M P Basheer’s employment was terminated by the management. Manorama News is a Malayalam news channel from the Malayala Manorama group, which is owned by the Kottayam-based family of Kandathil Varghese Mappila. It went on air on August 2006. The channel is headed by Johny Lucose, who is Director (News) and is overseen by Jayanth Mamman Mathew (Deputy Editor, Malayala Manorama) Malayala Manoramais one of the oldest media companies in the country. Malayala Manorama Company was incorporated by Kandathil Varghese Mappillai at Kottayam on 14 March 1888.Mathrubhumi News, a news channel from Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Ltd was launched in January 2013. The parent company Mathrubhumi was established in 1922, but in 1989, Socialist Janata (Democratic) political party leader and planter M P Veerendrakumar took over as Managing Director. Unni Balakrishnan, who was the Regional bureau Chief of Asianet News, joined Mathrubhumi TV during its inception as Editor-in-chief of the channel.Reporter TV is a Malayalam news channel from Indo-Asian News channel Private Ltd. Its CEO is MV Nikesh Kumar. Nikesh Kumar, a popular news personality of Kerala was the first editor-in-chief of India Vision, and later started Reporter TV. Nikesh is the son of M V Raghavan, veteran communist leader. People TV is a channel is owned by the Malayalam Communications Limited in which the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has shares. Its Managing Director is John Brittas. People TV with its clear allegiance to the communists, actively bashes the Congress in Kerala. One of the biggest recent political scandals of the state, the solar scam, was first broken by the channel.TV New is a news channel jointly owned by the businessmen of Kerala through the Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI). Its original name was TV Now, but according to sources, the name had be changed to TV New over legal hurdles, as another channel had a similar sounding name.