DUJ-NAJ Condemns Increasing Attacks on Journalists
THE National Alliance of Journalists (NAJ) and Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ), in a statement issued on October 17, have expressed grave concern at the notice by the Press Council of India to independent and critical magazine ‘The Caravan’ regarding the story ‘screams from the army post’. It has also noted the increasing attacks on journalists countrywide amidst reports of verbal targeting of journalists in Uttar Pradesh and arrest of a journalist in Telangana.
Calling for the widest possible unity on common issues, to save journalism and the dignity and service conditions, which are also being increasingly threatened, it has noted that the Press Council of India (PCI), which normally claims to be a toothless body, has reacted to a issue and a complaint even after the Caravan had already withdrawn the story months ago. Surely, the Press Council cannot be the censor of the government.
The NAJ and DUJ have strongly condemned the verbal targeting of journalists in Uttar Pradesh with threatening tweets on X by a BJP MLA Shalabh Mani Tripathi in the wake of the Bahraich riots and the arrest of Telangana journalist Gowtham Pothagoni. Tripathi, MLA and former media adviser to chief minister Yogi Adityanath, issued a list of Muslim media persons covering the riots on October 15 and alleged their reporting is biased but ignored the presence of journalists from other religious and social backgrounds who reported in a similar vein. NAJ and DUJ deeply regret this attempt to label journalists according to their personal religious identities instead of referring to them as professionals simply doing their jobs. If reportage of a riot is inconvenient for politicians, they must not shoot the messenger.
The arrest of the Hyderabad journalist, who reports for the channel Telugu Scribe, comes seven months after he made a video of a farmer criticising the government of chief minister Revanth Reddy and praising former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. Four FIRs have been filed against Pothagoni, three of them for this video alone. He is charged with “attempting to create political tensions and promoting disharmony among the public’ and “insulting” Reddy and his government. NAJ and DUJ have urged the immediate withdrawal of the charges against Pothagoni, and called upon journalists’ bodies to band together and resist all attacks against journalists.
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