The attacks and threats on the media personal have seen a steep increase in recent days.The Mid-day reporter J.Dey’s murder is just an example showing the extent to which the attacks on the media has increased. This was a third murder of a journalist within the span of six months . The other two were the reporters of hindi newspaper - Dainik Bhaskar and Nai Dunia. Apart from murders, there are many other instances where the reporters and photographers are being physically attacked. In almost seven out of ten cases, the reporters were beaten up by police officials while either taking pictures of a strike or the dead militants. The Fourth estate has become the fair game for all the perpetrators who have no qualms in taking law into their hands. In some of the states of India, the complaint lodge by the scribes wasn’t accepted as an FIR but taken as non-cognizable complaint.
The other incidents of harassments on media personal include the Karnataka police charging a Tehelka reporter with a criminal case under sec.506 for undertaking the systematic investigation of a case against a political leader.
If these kind of harassment and attacks persist, will the media able to perform its duty fairly in our democracy? If media stops concentrating on the social/ criminal issues and look after their preservation, then the citizens and constitution of India will be at loss.
Excerpts from The Hindu : http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Sevanti_Ninan/article2109230.ece
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