Thiruvananthapuram: Close on the heels of CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan defending party mouthpiece Deshabhimani’s decision to accept an advertisement from controversial businessman V.M. Radhakrishnan, the paper said on Monday that those who wanted to see Deshabhimani's closure were behind the controversy.
The advertisement hailing the party plenum in Palakkad, which was issued by Surya Group owned by Radhakrishhan, an accused in a murder case, had caused huge embarrassment to the CPM.
The paper in an editorial said ‘Prabhatam’ whose editor was EMS Namboodiripad, was closed down in 1935 after the British imposed a hefty fine.
“Deshabhimani may be the CPM mouthpiece but it is also a newspaper which functions on commercial basis. The paper can survive only if it gets advertisements,” the editorial said.
It went on to say that a newspaper cannot seek police verification report and check the background of each advertiser before accepting advertisements. This is not possible for either Deshabhimani or any other paper.
“If newspapers were to give advertisements after checking the antecedents of advertisers, then most papers would have to go without ads. In such a situation a newspaper will have no option but to shut shop,’’ it stated.
The editorial pointed out that Deshabhimani had always guarded against the misuse of news space by advertisers and added that it would continue to do so.
