Along with everything else that has been hit in Tamil Nadu on account of the flooding, media operations too were temporarily affected.
Tamil news channel Puthiya Thalamurai had to shut operations for two days as their office in Ekaduthangal area of Chennai was flooded with water, S Thangavelu, Assignment Editor told The News Minute.
“We did not broadcast for 48 hours. We resumed the broadcast on Friday 3:30 pm,” he said.
Jaya News, which is owned by Mavis Satcom Ltd but is a mouthpiece of the ruling AIADMK, was also mildly affected as its office in Ekaduthangal was waterlogged for a few hours some days ago.
The Hindu newspaper, which is headquartered on Mount Road in the state capital could not print the paper. There was no Chennai edition on Wednesday for the first time in its 137-history, except for declared festival holidays such as Ganesh Chathurti and Diwali. Workers could not access the press, which is located in Maramalinagar, which is located 30 km from the city, the publisher N Murali told the BBC. The Hindu has been published every day since 1878.
For two consecutive days, The Times of India too, could not print its Chennai edition. The newspaper has four editions in Tamil Nadu, none of which were printed. The newspaper’s staff could not print the editions for Thursday and Friday, on account of lack of connectivity. The epapers were done by the Mumbai and Delhi offices. However, as power and telephone began to be restored on Friday, the newspaper’s Saturday edition has been printed.
The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board had shut down power in areas where there was waterlogging so as to avoid casualties through electrocution. On Friday, senior officials of the board told the media that power had been restored in areas where water had receded.
Lack of access to news was a severe impediment that affected people’s perception while rains lashed the city. Although the people of Chennai were at centre of the proverbial and literal storm, they knew practically nothing of what was happening across the city and elsewhere. As rains began to decrease on Friday morning, there was a beeline for newspapers and power was still down, as people were hungry not just for food, but also information.