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HomePoliticsThere is no muzzling of dissent in the country: Prasar Bharati CEO

There is no muzzling of dissent in the country: Prasar Bharati CEO

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Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati said mainstream media was feeding off the frenzy created on social media.

Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati said Wednesday that the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh should not be seen as an attempt to silence dissent. The reality, in fact, is quite the contrary, he said.

“I don’t think there is any such environment where dissent is being muzzled,” he told ThePrint, adding that “some people” were creating a frenzy on social media and that mainstream media was “feeding off this frenzy”.

“The media is, in fact, writing actively on issues. On a recent issue related to our organisation itself, you had even our former CEO writing in newspapers,” Vempati said. “Now, no one would suggest that journalists should mute or tone down news. What may be needed though is that people should be conscious of the environment. The ground realities of society, which has a low threshold and could get provoked to violence, also cannot be ignored.”

Soon after news broke Tuesday evening that Lankesh had been murdered, Vempati had tweeted:

The tweet by Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar about the Gauri Lankesh murder

“Here was a lady with a long history of contrarian views who would ask uncomfortable questions to everyone. People may have noticed one particular ideology, but she also questioned the local government,” Vempati told ThePrint.

“So unless we fully understand what was the context of the crime that happened and unless the police say something on that, for people to rush to judgment within 15 -30 minutes of the news coming in is odd,” he said.

(Also read: Gauri Lankesh’s activism or journalism can’t be used to justify her brutal murder)

Vempati said there is a lack of accountability and fact checking in media reports.

“And these incidents didn’t even happen in BJP-ruled states but in Congress ones. So it is certain that there are some people on social media who benefit from creating and feeding on such a frenzy…there is a tendency now to want to get noticed,” he added.

On recent instances of PTI being ticked off by the I&B minister, Vempati said that the public broadcaster was now increasingly conscious of the “quality of content” coming from news agencies and that there is more fact-checking of information.

Prasar Bharati is also seeking greater accountability from PTI as AIR and Doordarshan are probably its biggest customers, he added.

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