Resist temptation of moving fast on sensitive stories: Editors Guild

The Editors Guild of India said it was "disturbed" by the recent turn of events with respect to reports published by news portal 'The Wire' on Meta

The Editors Guild of India on Friday said it was "disturbed" by the recent turn of events with respect to reports published by news portal 'The Wire' on Meta and urged newsrooms to "resist the temptation of moving fast on sensitive stories".

The statement comes after The Wire retracted a series of its investigative reports claiming Meta, the parent company of social media giants -- WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram -- had accorded special privileges to BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya that enabled him to get posts removed from its platforms.

The Guild also withdrew references it had made in its earlier statement to reports carried by The Wire on an app called Tek Fog after the news portal removed the said stories following "serious questions on the veracity of their reporting".

"The Guild is also disturbed by the recent turn of events with respect to the reports published by the Wire on Meta. The Guild is conscious of and emphasises the need for extra care in investigative journalism, and urges newsrooms to resist the temptation of moving fast on sensitive stories, circumventing due journalistic norms and checks," a statement issued on Friday morning said.

With regards to Tek Fog, the Guild had issued a statement on January 11, expressing deep concern about the online harassment and targeting of women journalists.

"Amongst other instances, the statement had also referred to a series of reports carried by the Wire on an app called the Tek Fog. Since the Wire has removed those stories as part of their internal review following serious questions on the veracity of their reporting, the Guild withdraws the references made to all those reports," it said.

However, the Guild reiterated that online trolling of women journalists remained an important issue, and that better safeguards need to be put in place, including a strong and effective complaints and redressal system for the victims.

BJP's Malviya on Thursday said he will file criminal and civil proceedings against The Wire, as he accused the news portal of using "forged documents with a view to malign and tarnish" his reputation.