Srinagar: Terming the recently issued advisory to journalists on live encounters by police as “draconian and undemocratic”, the Editors Guild of India (EGI) on Saturday demanded immediate withdrawal of the diktat saying that live reporting from conflict areas was one of the most important journalistic duties and requires extreme grit and determination on the part of reporters.
In a statement issued in New Delhi on Saturday, the EGI demanded the withdrawal of Kashmir Police’s advisory forbidding journalists from reporting live encounters with militants on the specious plea that it is “likely to incite violence” or that it can promote “anti-national sentiment”.
“Nothing can be further from the truth. Visibly, the police is giving an impression of trying to maintain peace by attempting to control the fallout of violence in a high strung environment, but what is being instead done is an attempt by the security forces to escape from any kind of media scrutiny about the flow of events behind the violence,” reads the joint statement issued by President Seema Mustafa, General Secretary Sanjay Kapoor and Treasurer Anant Nath.
“Live reporting from conflict areas, including encounters between government forces and militants, is one of the most important journalistic duties of any responsible media, and requires extreme grit and determination on the part of reporters,” the statement added.
However, suggesting a remedy the Guild said that at best, there may be some guidelines that can be issued with respect to reporting from such scenes, with the aim of protecting the integrity of tactics and plans of security agencies, as well as to avoid journalists from interfering with the evolving situation and from sensationalising the issue that can stir up emotions at audience’s end.
“Globally those have been the norms adopted by responsible governments. In this respect, the advisory of Kashmir Police is draconian and undemocratic, and flies in the face of the stellar role journalists have played in reporting conflict in the country. Therefore the advisory must be withdrawn immediately” the handout added.
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