The Delhi High Court today reserved its decision on web portal Cobrapost's appeal against a single judge order restraining it from making public a documentary alleging that various media houses have indulged in unethical practices like paid news.
A bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and A K Chawla said it will pronounce its verdict in a few weeks after hearing arguments on behalf of the web portal and Dainik Bhaskar Corporation Ltd, on whose plea the single judge's order had come.
During the arguments, the court asked Dainik Bhaskar (DB) why an interim stay order should continue in its favour when 44 other publications have not enjoyed the same benefit.
Senior advocate Sajan Poovayya, appearing for DB, contended that the sting operation carried out by a journalist of the portal amounted to entrapment and added that the single judge should decide if the interim order should continue to operate or not.
The bench, however, appeared to disagree as it said that when a public official is caught in a sting, he looks like a deer caught in the headlights of a vehicle, but when it was a journalist or a publication, "then you call it entrapment".
The court also said that "whistleblowers come in different forms".
It further said,"You (media) are in the game. You are out to unravel what everyone else is doing. You are as much a public figure as a politician" and asked "Since when have pressmen become so thin skinned?"
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