ITV

Tag: DUJ

  • NBA, DUJ condemn attack on journalists outside Patiala House courts in Delhi

    NBA, DUJ condemn attack on journalists outside Patiala House courts in Delhi

    NEW DELHI / MUMBAI: The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has condemned the assault by lawyers and others on journalists and cameramen, especially women journalists, who were reporting from Patiala House Court ON 15 February.

    The incident occurred when JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar was to be produced in the Court. 

    Condemning the incident and terming it as an attack on the freedom of the press, NBA president Rajat Sharma called it a cowardly attack meant to intimidate journalists carrying out their work in disseminating news and information, a service that is essential for any democratic society. 

    Senior journalist and India Today Group consulting editor Rajdeep Sardesai said, “The journalists are rightly showing solidarity to what happened yesterday at the Patiala House. What happened yesterday was unexpected. The way the lawyers acted is just shocking. The journalists should definitely unite and stand as one against this.”

    Expressing his doubts on the credibility of the lawyers present at the Patiala Court, he added, “Who are these lawyers? They behaved more like politicians. Denoting the media with such terms is just not accepted.”

    NDTV India senior executive editor Ravish Kumar said, “It is good to see journalists showing solidarity and coming together but the problem is that there are still many journalists who have not united to fight against this. What happened yesterday in the premise of a court is shocking. It is the right of any person to get a lawyer. The terrorists also get lawyers and the lawyers have taken up such cases in the past. The problem is that the lawyers have started to behave like judges. They should follow the ethics taught to them in their law schools.”

    CNN-IBN executive editor Bhupendra Chaubey opined, “I genuinely believe that this is a threat to the expression of one’s views in today’s politics. This type of lynch mob is dangerous and has to be tackled soon. It is good to see journalists coming together to fight this. This looks like a new definition of nationalism, which is being written now in our country. Nationalists and anti-nationalists are now defined by the ruling party but that is ideally supposed to be an individual’s decision. The way it has happened is just not acceptable.”

    Earlier, the Delhi Union of Journalists had also condemned the attack at Patiala House as well as at the campus. The DUJ has given a call for observance of a Black Day on 19 February.

    The Union strongly deplored the beating up of journalists, students and teachers in the Patiala House Courts by “goons.” Several of them including a few journalists were severely injured and had to be taken to the hospital.

    The DUJ said it was “surprising that though there was a heavy presence of the Police, it refused to intervene despite repeated requests by those who were being beaten up.”

    The DUJ demanded the immediate arrest of all those who indulged in this violence. “It is the responsibility of the police to provide protection to journalists who were discharging their duty,” it said.

    Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal later said at a party briefing that a matter in this connection had been mentioned in the Supreme Court and was likely to be heard tomorrow (17 February).

  • NBA, DUJ condemn attack on journalists outside Patiala House courts in Delhi

    NBA, DUJ condemn attack on journalists outside Patiala House courts in Delhi

    NEW DELHI / MUMBAI: The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has condemned the assault by lawyers and others on journalists and cameramen, especially women journalists, who were reporting from Patiala House Court ON 15 February.

    The incident occurred when JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar was to be produced in the Court. 

    Condemning the incident and terming it as an attack on the freedom of the press, NBA president Rajat Sharma called it a cowardly attack meant to intimidate journalists carrying out their work in disseminating news and information, a service that is essential for any democratic society. 

    Senior journalist and India Today Group consulting editor Rajdeep Sardesai said, “The journalists are rightly showing solidarity to what happened yesterday at the Patiala House. What happened yesterday was unexpected. The way the lawyers acted is just shocking. The journalists should definitely unite and stand as one against this.”

    Expressing his doubts on the credibility of the lawyers present at the Patiala Court, he added, “Who are these lawyers? They behaved more like politicians. Denoting the media with such terms is just not accepted.”

    NDTV India senior executive editor Ravish Kumar said, “It is good to see journalists showing solidarity and coming together but the problem is that there are still many journalists who have not united to fight against this. What happened yesterday in the premise of a court is shocking. It is the right of any person to get a lawyer. The terrorists also get lawyers and the lawyers have taken up such cases in the past. The problem is that the lawyers have started to behave like judges. They should follow the ethics taught to them in their law schools.”

    CNN-IBN executive editor Bhupendra Chaubey opined, “I genuinely believe that this is a threat to the expression of one’s views in today’s politics. This type of lynch mob is dangerous and has to be tackled soon. It is good to see journalists coming together to fight this. This looks like a new definition of nationalism, which is being written now in our country. Nationalists and anti-nationalists are now defined by the ruling party but that is ideally supposed to be an individual’s decision. The way it has happened is just not acceptable.”

    Earlier, the Delhi Union of Journalists had also condemned the attack at Patiala House as well as at the campus. The DUJ has given a call for observance of a Black Day on 19 February.

    The Union strongly deplored the beating up of journalists, students and teachers in the Patiala House Courts by “goons.” Several of them including a few journalists were severely injured and had to be taken to the hospital.

    The DUJ said it was “surprising that though there was a heavy presence of the Police, it refused to intervene despite repeated requests by those who were being beaten up.”

    The DUJ demanded the immediate arrest of all those who indulged in this violence. “It is the responsibility of the police to provide protection to journalists who were discharging their duty,” it said.

    Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal later said at a party briefing that a matter in this connection had been mentioned in the Supreme Court and was likely to be heard tomorrow (17 February).

  • NBA, DUJ condemn AAP’s remarks about media

    NBA, DUJ condemn AAP’s remarks about media

    NEW DELHI: The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has expressed shock at what it described as ‘the unverified and objectionable’ allegations being made by Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal and his associates against news television channels. The leaders of AAP have been alleging that news channels have been “paid” by rival political parties to drive their agenda in the run up to the general elections.

     

    NBA has reminded Kejriwal and his associates that the electronic media is independent and is discharging its responsibilities in a fair, transparent and balanced manner and urged AAP not to hurl unsubstantiated and unverified charges at the electronic media.

     

    NBA requested Arvind Kejriwal, the convener of AAP, to immediately refrain from making such preposterous allegations failing which NBA members would be forced to reconsider coverage of the activities of the Aam Aadmi Party.

     

    The Ethics Council of the Delhi Union of Journalists also condemned both repeated vile sniping against select media channels and the equally venomous threats to select media by the AAP.

     

    It said the DUJ is deeply concerned at the falling standards of objectivity in media coverage of the current elections by some TV channels, working on the assumption that they are key players in deciding who will rule the country.

     

    Sensationalism and hype are very evident these days in election reporting, particularly in coverage by television channels and other electronic media. Attempts to influence and manipulate the media through various means are also in evidence.

     

    The DUJ said: “As journalists, we cannot condone the AAP Party’s strong language against the media in various papers on 15 March but we also recognise that the media itself loses credibility if it carries paid news and biased views. Hence we demand an impartial inquiry by the Election Commission into the allegations made into the election coverage so far.”  

     

    The Press Council too must objectively examine the election coverage to detect any irregularities rather than just issue guidelines which these days are not followed.

     

    The DUJ further demanded that the Election Commission conduct an impartial inquiry into the ostensibly objective election polls being flashed by various media. The allegations of manipulation of poll results on behalf of various political parties need to be addressed.

     

    The DUJ added that the economic crisis has made the media, particularly the electronic media, vulnerable to influence from big advertisers. It is well known that the election propaganda budgets of the two main political parties are enormous and that much of this money is being fuelled into the media, whether in the form of advertising or otherwise. Some other parties also have substantial budgets for media campaigns. The spate of government advertising over the past months has been clearly aimed at influencing the voting patterns in favour of the ruling party.  The increasing ownership of media by powerful corporate houses is also adversely influencing the media’s objectivity.          

     

    DUJ president Sujata Madhok and General Secretary S K Pande said: “We uphold the right of all journalists to report news and views freely and fearlessly. We call for greater vigilance within the media to ensure that the highest standards of professionalism prevail.”