The notable Malayali journalist from Kerala Sri. Unni Balakrishnan, the head of Mathrubhumi News, has resigned from his job, exposing the favoritism displayed by Kerala news networks for the Communist party. According to rumors, channel management persuaded him to support the communist party which compelled him to resign.
Sri. Unni Balakrishnan joined Mathrubhumi News in 2012. Unni has conferred the Kerala State Award for Best Interviewer in 2015.
In the year 1994, Unni began his career as a Sub-Editor for the Malayalam Socio-political Weekly Kalakaumudi. In 1996, he joined Asianet Television as a Sub-Editor and was instrumental in the launch of Malayalam’s first private broadcasting company. Sri. Unni Balakrishnan served in several roles in Asianet’s New Delhi office.
He had multiple opportunities to report on notable incidents/events while working at the Asianet Delhi Bureau, including the Kandahar plane hijacking, Kargil conflict, Delhi serial bomb bombings, Mumbai terrorist assault, and general elections. He reported on the SAARC meeting in Islamabad in 2002 with then-Prime Minister Sri A B Vajpayee. In 2005, he went to Paris to cover the Indo-French nuclear summit, in 2006, he went to the United States to cover the UN General Assembly, and in 2010, he covered the Indo-Arab summit, all while following India’s then Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh.
The Loktantrik Janata Dal politician M V Sreyamskumar, an ally of the ruling CPI-M, owns the Mathrubhumi Television network. And according to insiders, the management believes that supporting the government will boost the channel’s viewership. In Kerala, it is well known that most news networks’ editorial approaches favor CPI-M.
Mathrubhumi News used to be in the top three news channels in the ratings, but the arrival of Janam TV, 24 NEWS, and other new news channels knocked Mathrubhumi closer to the bottom.