New Delhi: The Editors Guild of India Saturday “deplored the indefensible acts of violence” perpetrated on employees of Prag News, a 24X7 Assamese news channel, by police forces and demanded an inquiry into the incident.
“The Guild demands that an inquiry should be instituted to identify those who indulged in such violence against journalists, and punish the guilty,” it said in a statement.
The Guild said its attention was drawn to a social media video that showed uniformed policemen running amok outside the Prag News offices, targeting cameramen belonging to the television channel with their batons.
The Guild has also expressed concern over a recent advisory issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to all private television channels asking them to desist from showing content that could incite violence or cause law and order problems or ‘anti-national’ feelings.
It believes that the media’s overall commitment to responsible coverage of developments in the country should not be questioned through such an advisory.
“It is the media’s responsibility to report freely and truthfully and fairly. The Guild decries such a regressive advisory that interferes in the functioning of a free media, and urges the government to withdraw it,” the statement said.
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The media and the government are like oil and water, not meant by nature to mix. On a lighter note, the fact that so many impassioned edits each morning advise the government on how it should run the country does not mean the government gets a reciprocal right to advise Editors how they should run their newsrooms.