New Delhi, (Samajweekly) Hours after the opposition INDIA bloc released a list 14 news anchors from whose shows its leaders would stay away, the News Broadcasters & Digital Association (NBDA) said on Thursday that such a move takes the nation back to the Emergency era, when the press was gagged, and independent opinions and voices were crushed.
It also said that the decision taken by the INDIA media committee sets a dangerous precedent, as the ban goes against the ethos of democracy.
“The NBDA is deeply anguished and concerned by the decision taken by the INDIA Media Committee not to send their representatives on shows and events hosted by certain journalists or anchors. The decision taken by the INDIA Media Committee sets a dangerous precedent,” the NDBA said in a statement.
It said the ban on representatives of the opposition alliance from participating in TV news shows anchored by some of India’s ‘top’ news personalities goes against the ethos of democracy.
“It betokens intolerance and imperils press freedom. The opposition alliance claims to be the champion of pluralism and free press, but its decision betrays callous disregard for democracy’s most fundamental tenet – the inalienable right to openly express ideas and opinions,” the statement said.
“The NBDA urges the opposition alliance to withdraw its decision of boycotting certain journalists and anchors as such a decision would amount to browbeating journalists and stifling freedom of speech and expression of the media,” it added.
The remarks came after the media committee of INDIA said, “Pursuant to the decision taken by the INDIA coordination committee at its meeting on September 13, the INDIA parties will not send their representatives on the shows and events of the following anchors: Aditi Tyagi, Aman Chopra, Amish Devgan, Anand Narsimhan, Arnab Goswami, Ashok Shrivastav, Chitra Tripathi, Gaurav Sawant, Navika Kumar, Prachi Parashar, Rubika Liaquat, Shiv Aroor, Sudhir Chaudhary and Sushant Sinha.”
On Wednesday, while addressing the media after the first meeting of the coordination committee at the residence of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal had said, “The coordination committee authorised the sub-group of media to decide upon the names of the anchors on whose shows none of the INDIA parties will send their representatives.”
