Journalists slam attacks on media during CAA protests

Journalists' organisations here on Thursday staged a demonstration against attacks on media persons during the coverage of protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and the high-handed behaviour of police.

They also slammed the government's tendency to suspend of Internet during such agitations, and the recent advisories to news channels which warned against "anti-national attitudes".

Members of the Mumbai Press Club, Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh, Television Journalists Association, Bombay News Photographers Association, Mantralaya and Vidhimandal Vartahar Sangh and Brihanmumbai Union of Journalists held a candlelight vigil outside the Press Club.

"The organisations representing journalists in Mumbai are concerned and distressed at the widescale attacks on media persons covering the current protests.... We condemn both law enforcement agencies as well as private players who have been trying to curb the right of media persons and networks to report freely," they said in a statement.

Omar Rashid, a journalist of The Hindu in Lucknow, was detained by the police without any reason and was threatened and subjected to communal slurs, the statement claimed.

Seven journalists in Mangalore in Karnataka were detained for no reason and their video equipment was snatched away, it said.

Arun Shankar and Vaisakh Jayapalan of the Matrubhumi News were seriously injured when covering the protests near Delhi Gate in the national capital, the journalists said.

Dinesh R and Wasim Sayeed of Asianet News were attacked during the protests by Jamia Milia Islamia students, the statement said. Wasim, who was seriously injured in stone-pelting, had to be admitted to a hospital, it added.

The police and government authorities as well as the protesters must "let media do their duty", the journalists said.

The statement also slammed the Information & Broadcasting Ministry for issuing "advisories".

"In another dangerous trend, the I&B Ministry, in the guise of clamping down on 'inflammatory' reporting, has issued at least two 'advisories to TV channels threatening action.

"The advisories warn against 'anti-national attitudes' and 'anything affecting the integrity of the nation' catch- all phrases that can be easily used to silence news networks that are inconvenient to the government standpoint," the statement said.

The protesting journalists also said the "trend" of suspending Internet during protests "is a regressive and anti-democratic measure".

"Courts have recognized access to the Internet as a basic right," the statement said.