Bengaluru, July, 8,
Safety of journalists continues to be a cause of concern and the demand for a special protection law needs a greater push and we need to put pressure on the government to pay heed to our demand, Indian Journalists Union (IJU) general secretary Sabina Inderjit said at the two days national executive council (NEC) meeting of IJU, which held at REVA University, Bengaluru, on July 6&7.
Cases against harassment, attacks and killing of journalists just don’t seem to ebb, she said while highlighting the latest case of burning to death of Chakresh Jain, a journalist in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh for his reportage, allegedly by a district level officer of State government on June 20.
Though the SP set up a SIT, there has been no progress, the IJU general secretary added recalling the case of 2015, wherein Sandeep Kothari, rural journalist in the Balaghat district was also burnt to death and his body left near a rail track.
This shows the growing intolerance among the ruling elite over perceived adverse reporting and contrary opinion in the media, she said.
Highligthing the attacks on digital media, she said while both men and women journalists are being trolled online if their views are against the ruling dispensation, women seem to face the bigger brunt as not only are remarks sexist but there are threats of raping them.
The IJU demanded that the real people behind such trolling armies must be brought to book and their people only.
Representatives from 15 states unions affiliated to IJU presented their state report on the first day of the NEC meeting which was presided by the IJU president Amar Devulapalli.
Earlier, REVA University chancellor Dr. P Shyama Raju who inaugurated the two days IJU-NEC meeting in his speech said, “This University dreams to produce good journalists”.
IJU in a resolution expressed grave concern at the 10 percent hike of newsprint in the central budget. IJU demanded withdrawal of hike in newsprint prices from the budget.
Karnataka State journalists Union (KSJU) hosted the two day NEC meeting and all together 120 delegates 15 states participated the event.
