The Sakshi daily, which was launched a year ago, may not get the “Largest Circulated Telugu Daily” tag to be issued by the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC). The tag is now being held by Eenadu, with a little over 12 lakh copies of circulation.
The Sakshi daily started with over 13 lakh copies and claimed that it would soon wrest the tag from Eenadu. In fact the daily had also pampered the advertising agencies across the State by sponsoring a five-day foreign tour for them.
However, the internal sources say that the Sakshi’s effort to win the tag have failed as the paper’s circulation dropped by over one lakh copies. The difference between Eenadu and Sakshi is now one lakh and it would not be possible for Sakshi to get the tag this year. Interestingly, the gap between Eenadu and Sakshi increased to one lakh from the initial 20,000 (as claimed by Sakshi) only after the return of Y S Rajasekhar Reddy’s government.
If the paper fails to get the tag this year, it would not be possible for it to get it in the near future as Eenadu enjoys the same patronage by the readers after the elections. Those who have shifted from Eenadu to Sakshi before the elections are now returning by dropping Sakshi.
Another interesting aspect, now seen in Sakshi is that the daily is asking its staff to quit, due to recession. The top bosses of the daily have started asking their staff to resign as it became difficult for their maintenance and in the next couple of weeks more than a dozen staffers are likely to move out of the paper. It is sad that Sakshi, a newspaper that spoke against Eenadu’s style in dealing with staff, is now doing the same, perhaps even in the worst form.
Eenadu had paid some compensation to the staff members, who were asked to quit, but the Sakshi is not willing to pay anything except the salary for the period. One wonders how the daily can claim to be better than Eenadu, when it treats its staff in the most unwanted style.
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