SYED KHALIQUE AHMED
NEW DELHI, JULY 6
Speakers at a discussion on Monday (July 4, 2022) on the theme of “Creeping Infringement of Media Freedom and Assault on Personal Liberty of Journalists” called upon media persons all over the country to unite despite differences in their political beliefs to fight the assault on media freedom in the country.
The discussion was organized at the premises of the Press Club of India in collaboration with the Editors Guild of India, Indian Women’s Press Corps, Press Association, Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ), Digipub News India Foundation, and Working News Cameramen Association.
Among those who addressed the meeting included eminent journalist T N Ninan and Editor of The Wire Siddharth Varadarajan.
— Press Club of India (@PCITweets) July 4, 2022
Initiating the discussion, veteran journalist T N Ninan said that the primary problem with the media was that people working in this industry were not united on one platform.
Stating that it was not possible without unity to fight the kind of assault that the media has been facing in the last few years, he stressed the need for the entire media fraternity to agree on one common issue of Press Freedom by giving up whatever differences were there among themselves.
As the establishment is slapping stringent provision of law against media persons who exposed the weaknesses of the government and brought it before the people, Ninan appealed to form a legal aid cell to fight the cases of individual journalists who themselves did not have adequate resources to defend themselves against the government in a court of law. As for expenses for the legal battle, he advised creating a legal aid fund through crowdfunding.
Ninan also suggested setting up a panel of advocates willing to help journalists being targeted by the establishment.
Pointing out that the journalist bodies should go beyond mere issuing of statements, he exhorted media persons to come out of their comfort zones and be prepared for a battle to defend the cause of media freedom.
Stating that there was a full-blown attack on media freedom in the country, founding editor of The Wire news website Siddharth Varadrajan pointed out that the arrest of journalist Mohammed Zubair had captured the essence of all that was wrong with the Government of India.
He said that the reason for the arrest of Zubair was that the AltNews, a fact-checking website of which he is a co-founder with Pratik Sinha, frequently exposed the claims of the regime. The AltNews debunked the false claims of the government and hence, it became an obstacle to the false propaganda of the government. So, the regime first slandered the AltNews website and then arrested Zubair because he also happened to be a Muslim. A Muslim journalist- Sana Mattoo – was the other day prevented from flying abroad to be present at the release of her book. So, there is a method in the madness employed by the regime. He said that the only charge against Zubair was that he tweeted four years ago a clip from a forty-year-old film that is said to have injured the religious feelings of a community. And he was booked after four years of his tweet, based on a complaint made through a Twitter handle with a false name. So, there is an ecosystem that was targeting journalists in the country. Since Section 153A and Section 295A cannot take the case far, the police have now levelled the money-laundering charge against him.
Varadarajan warned that “if this is allowed, then it will be replicated with other journalists and editors in future.”
He also suggested the need for journalists to unite and prepare a team of lawyers to defend media persons in court. Varadarajan and several journalists from his news portal are themselves facing court cases on the frivolous ground.
In his concluding remarks, Press Club of India President Umakant Lakhera pointed out that journalists were attacked under a plan. While Covid restrictions have been removed all over the country, this restriction continues in Parliament and journalists are not allowed to enter Parliament to cover the proceedings of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The Covid restrictions have been extended for journalists’ entry to ensure that information inconvenient to the government does not go out to the masses.
Stating that Zubair’s arrest amounts to violation of human rights, Lakhera said that he has been targeted based on a ‘benaami’ tweet and efforts are now being made to demonize the entire community of journalists.
Stating that efforts are being made to create fear among journalists all over the country, PCI President said that this was a very dangerous trend intended to crush media. If this happened, there would be total anarchy in the country.
Lakhera also expressed concern over the radicalization of media and injecting communal poison into society by changing the mindset of journalists. Such a thing had never happened in the past in India.
DUJ president S K Pandey said that it was the worst phase of journalism under the current political dispensation in which the best of Indian journalism was being killed by the regime.
Sandeep Shankar, general secretary of Working News Cameramen Association and IWPC president Shobhna Jain also expressed their views. Jain said it had become difficult for the journalists to ask questions from the government.
PCI general secretary Vinay Kumar read out a resolution passed unanimously by those attending the discussion. The resolution expressed serious concern over a plethora of FIRs registered against journalists and ED raids on media houses. The resolution said that while Zubair was arrested on trumped up charges, those who made hate speeches are moving around freely.
(Syed Khalique Ahmed is the Chief Editor of indiatomorrow.net)
